Addu City guide: the southernmost atoll of the Maldives

Addu Atoll is the last atoll before the open Indian Ocean to the south. Its official code is Seenu (S.), so you will see addresses like “S. Hithadhoo”. Addu City is a city council rather than an atoll council. It covers the main inhabited islands of the atoll, which are run as districts of one city:

• Feydhoo – next to Gan, on the link road
• Hithadhoo – the largest island and main centre
• Hulhudhoo – on the north-east rim, sharing one island with Meedhoo
• Maradhoo – on the link road (including the Maradhoo-Feydhoo district)
• Meedhoo – Meedhoo and Hulhudhoo together are often called Hulhumeedhoo

Gan, home to the airport, is part of the atoll and is joined to the rest by road. The 2022 census counted about 25,000 people in Addu City, with Hithadhoo alone at around 13,700 (Maldives Bureau of Statistics). That makes Hithadhoo the most populous island outside the Malé area.

For how Addu fits among the 20 administrative atolls, see our Maldives atolls guide.

Addu’s story in the 20th century is unusual for the Maldives. In 1941, during the Second World War, the Royal Navy began building a secret base in the atoll for the Eastern Fleet, using the deep, sheltered lagoon as an anchorage. An airstrip was built on Gan.

In 1957 the airfield became RAF Gan, a staging post on Royal Air Force routes across the Indian Ocean. It brought jobs and new ways of life to the southern islands. The base also sat in the background of the short-lived breakaway United Suvadive Republic (1959–1963), which joined Addu, Huvadhu and Fuvahmulah before the islands returned to the Maldivian state. The British left in 1976, and the old airfield later became today’s Gan International Airport.

Our history of the Maldives puts this period in a wider context.

The link road

The islands of Gan, Feydhoo, Maradhoo and Hithadhoo are joined by a long causeway known as the Addu Link Road. Reported lengths vary, from about 12 to 16 km depending on where you measure. It is being rebuilt under a government project (as reported in 2025).

You can cycle or take a taxi from the airport to Hithadhoo without a boat, which is rare in the Maldives.

Getting around

• Taxis run along the link road and within Hithadhoo. Agree the fare before you set off if there is no meter.
• Bicycles and scooters can often be hired through your guesthouse. Traffic is light but real; wear a helmet on a scooter.
• Hulhumeedhoo (Meedhoo and Hulhudhoo) is not on the link road. Boats cross the lagoon to it; ask locally for the current crossing.

By air

Gan International Airport (GAN) is the gateway. Domestic flights link it with Velana International Airport in Malé, taking roughly 70–90 minutes. The airport also has a small number of international routes, but these change often, so check current schedules with the airline before planning around them.

If you are flying into the Maldives first, our guide to getting around the Maldives covers connections from Velana.

By sea

Addu is a long way from Malé by boat, so most travellers fly. If you are combining Addu with Fuvahmulah, the one-island atoll to the north, check flights and any sea links locally, as services vary.

In October 2020, UNESCO added Addu Atoll to its World Network of Biosphere Reserves, alongside Fuvahmulah. A biosphere reserve is not a park with fences. It means people keep living, fishing and working, while certain core areas are strictly protected.

Eedhigali Kilhi and Koattey

The best-known protected area is on the northern tip of Hithadhoo. Eedhigali Kilhi (also spelt Eydhigali) is one of the largest wetlands in the Maldives: a brackish lake with mangroves, reeds and shallow pools. Next to it is Koattey, whose name means “fort”. Together they form the core of the Addu nature park.

What you might see:

• Herons and egrets stalking the shallows
• Migrant waders in the northern winter months
• Mangroves along the lake edge

Other protected sites include wetlands and mangrove areas on Hithadhoo and Hulhumeedhoo and the Kudakandu area of the lagoon, where fishing and taking coral are banned. Read more in our guide to protected areas of the Maldives.

White terns

Addu is the place in the Maldives to see the white tern, known locally as dhondheeni. These small white seabirds breed in Addu and Huvadhoo atolls, laying a single egg on a bare branch. The bird is protected by law, and it has become a symbol of Addu. In the central atolls, sightings are very rare.

Please keep your distance from trees where terns are roosting or nesting, and never touch an egg or chick. See our birds of the Maldives guide for more.

Addu’s lagoon and outer channels are known among divers. The best-known site is the wreck of the British Loyalty, an oil tanker with a wartime story:

• In 1942 she was hit by a torpedo from a Japanese midget submarine in Madagascar, later refloated and towed to Addu in 1943 to serve as a fuel storage ship.
• On 9 March 1944 a German submarine, U-183, fired a torpedo through a gap in the anti-submarine nets at the Gan channel and hit her again. She stayed afloat.
• In January 1946 she was deliberately sunk in the lagoon after the war.

Today the wreck lies between Hithadhoo and Maradhoo. The bottom is reported at around 33 m, deeper than the 30 m limit for recreational diving set by the Ministry of Tourism, so most dives stay on the upper parts of the hull. It suits experienced divers with a licensed dive centre.

Channel dives can bring strong currents. See diving in the Maldives.

Addu feels like a small town as much as an island, with schools, mosques, shops and cafés along the roads. People are used to visitors, but this is home first.

The Addu dialect

Addu has its own form of Dhivehi, often called Addu bas. It differs noticeably from the Malé standard in sounds and vocabulary, and speakers from the north can find it hard to follow at first. Written Dhivehi is the same across the country. Greetings in standard Dhivehi are still warmly received.

Local island rules still apply

Addu’s islands are local islands, so the national rules apply: no alcohol, swimwear only on designated bikini beaches, shoulders and knees covered elsewhere, and no topless sunbathing anywhere. Shops close for a while at Friday midday prayers. Our what to wear guide and local islands guide explain more.

Addu and a small island like Dhiffushi offer two very different trips. Addu has roads, a city feel, wetlands, wartime history and white terns, but it needs a domestic flight. Dhiffushi, on the eastern rim of North Malé Atoll, is a village of about 1,270 people, 40–50 minutes from the airport by shared speedboat, where life moves on foot and the day begins with the country’s first sunrise. With only a few days, an island near Malé is simpler (see how to get to Dhiffushi); with a week or more, Addu rewards the flight.

• Money: carry some rufiyaa for taxis and small shops; US dollars are less useful away from tourist businesses.
• Taxes: guesthouses with 50 rooms or fewer on inhabited islands charge a green tax of USD 6 per guest per night, plus 17% Tourism GST (MIRA).
• Weather: Addu is hot all year. Being close to the Equator, it does not follow the central atolls’ monsoon pattern exactly, so check the Maldives Meteorological Service forecast before you go.