What excursions cost in the Maldives: the full price table

A sandbank excursion costs USD 40 from a guesthouse island and USD 250 from a resort. It is frequently the same sandbank, and occasionally the same boat.

That multiplier is the most important number in Maldivian trip planning, and almost nobody publishes it. What guides do publish is a single price per activity, which is useless, because the price depends entirely on who is selling it to you.

This is the reference page for the whole block: what each excursion costs from each kind of seller, what the quoted number excludes, and what a week of activities realistically adds to a bill.

Table of Contents show

Why the same trip has three prices

Three sellers, three cost structures.

An independent operator on an inhabited island owns a dhoni, employs a crew and sells seats. Overheads are low, competition on the main street is direct, and the price reflects both.

A guesthouse books that operator on your behalf, sometimes at cost, sometimes with a margin. Convenient, and worth comparing against the shopfront.

A resort runs its own boats, pays resort wages, maintains resort standards, and adds a service charge and tax on top. You are buying a managed experience with a departure time that suits the property.

None of these is dishonest. A resort excursion generally includes better equipment, fewer people, a guide who briefs properly and towels waiting on your return. Whether that is worth three times the money is a real question with no universal answer — and on a private island, it is not a question you get to ask, because there is no alternative seller.

The master price table

Indicative bands, per person, at 2026 rates. Guesthouse-island figures are what the shopfront charges; resort figures are typical published excursion prices before tax.

Excursion	Guesthouse island	Resort
Half-day snorkelling trip	USD 30–60	USD 80–150
Sandbank trip	USD 35–50	USD 150–300
Dolphin cruise	USD 30–45	USD 80–150
Sunset cruise	USD 25–40	USD 90–200
Night fishing	USD 30–45	USD 90–150
Whale shark day trip	USD 70–120	USD 150–250
Hanifaru manta snorkel, from Dharavandhoo	about USD 60 all-in	USD 150–300
Single fun dive, with equipment	USD 55–90	USD 110–200
Local island visit	USD 25–40	USD 80–150
Turtle snorkelling trip	USD 35–60	USD 90–160
Night snorkelling	USD 40–70	USD 90–150
Full-day multi-stop excursion	USD 60–100	USD 200–400
Private boat charter, half day	USD 150–300 per boat	USD 400–900 per boat

Two things to notice. The excursion gap is narrowest where the cost is mostly fuel and time, and widest on the ones a resort can dress up — sandbanks, sunsets and private dining.

And the private charter line is priced per boat, not per person, which is why it becomes sensible at four or more people. The same arithmetic that governs shared versus private speedboat transfers applies to excursions.

What the quoted price excludes

This is where budgets break, and it is worth reading before comparing any two numbers.

Tax and service charge. At a licensed tourist business, a 10% service charge is applied and then 17% TGST on top, which compounds to roughly 28.7% above the menu price rather than 27%. A USD 150 resort excursion is USD 193 on the bill. The mechanism is in our guide to money in the Maldives.

Marine park and conservation fees. USD 6 to 15 per person at most protected sites. South Ari charges around USD 10 per diver. Hanifaru’s conservation permit is USD 20 to 30 and is sometimes quoted separately, sometimes included.

Equipment. Snorkelling gear is usually included on guesthouse trips and often rented at resorts. Dive equipment is nearly always extra, at about USD 15 per dive for BCD and regulator.

Nitrox, at USD 5 to 10 per fill.

Lunch, on full-day trips. Sometimes included, frequently not, and worth asking specifically.

Photographs. Some operators sell a photo package afterwards. Nobody mentions it beforehand.

Fuel surcharges, which appear when fuel prices move and are the main reason a quoted price changes mid-season.

What is negotiable

More than most visitors assume on an inhabited island, and almost nothing at a resort.

On a guesthouse island:

The headline price, if you are booking two or more excursions with the same operator. Ten to twenty per cent is a normal discount for a package.
Group size. Asking to join an existing trip rather than start a new one is usually cheaper.
Inclusions. Lunch, water and equipment are often thrown in rather than discounted.
The date, which matters when an operator has a nearly full boat tomorrow.

At a resort: the price is the price. What is occasionally flexible is timing, group composition and whether a private departure can be arranged at the shared rate on a quiet day.

Never negotiate on safety. An operator who drops the price by cutting the guide, the second crew member or the life jackets is the wrong operator. Our guide to safety in the Maldives sets out what actually goes wrong on the water.

Where to book

Four ways to book an excursion, in ascending order of price.

The street operator. Walk the main road of a guesthouse island and three shopfronts will sell the same trip. Compare, then book. This is the cheapest route and it takes twenty minutes.

Your guesthouse. Convenient, occasionally identical to the shopfront price, occasionally with a margin on top. Ask what they charge, then check one shopfront before deciding.

Online in advance. Rarely cheaper, occasionally necessary — dive courses, Hanifaru in peak season, anything on a fixed date.

The resort desk. The only option on a private island, and priced accordingly.

One thing worth booking ahead regardless: anything with a cap. Hanifaru permits, dive courses and fixed-date events sell out in season, as our activities overview notes.

Minimum numbers, cancellations and weather

The small print that catches people.

Most excursions carry a minimum party size. Four people is typical on a guesthouse island. If the boat does not fill, you either pay the difference, move to another day or cancel.

Weather cancellations are the operator’s call, and a good operator makes it early. Refunds are standard for a cancelled trip; partial refunds for a shortened one are not.

Wildlife is not guaranteed. Many whale shark and dolphin operators will repeat the trip free or at reduced cost if nothing is found. Ask before booking, not afterwards, and treat any guarantee of sightings as a marketing claim.

Your own cancellation usually carries a 24-hour deadline. Inside that, expect to pay for the excursion regardless.

In the southwest monsoon, from roughly May to November, build a spare day into any plan that depends on a specific excursion — the pattern is in our monsoon guide.

A week of excursions, three budgets

For two people, excluding accommodation, transfers and meals.

Budget week on a guesthouse island. Two half-day trips and one full day: sandbank, snorkelling and a whale shark excursion. Roughly USD 280 to 420 for two, plus park fees.

Moderate week. Four excursions including a dive or two, a night fishing trip and a full-day outing. Roughly USD 500 to 800 for two from a guesthouse island; USD 1,200 to 2,000 for the equivalent from a resort.

Resort week with set pieces. Three excursions plus a private sandbank dinner and a spa treatment each. Comfortably USD 2,000 to 3,500 for two, before tax.

Set that against the accommodation totals in our high and low season comparison and the pattern is consistent: on a guesthouse island the excursions are a visible share of the trip cost, and at a resort they disappear into the villa rate.

Excursion prices for families

Child pricing is inconsistent across the country and worth asking about directly.

Children commonly pay 40 to 50 per cent of the adult excursion price on guesthouse islands, and resorts vary from free-under-six to full price from twelve.

Infants are usually free and usually still need to be counted for the boat manifest.

Which excursions suit children. Sandbank trips, short snorkelling outings and turtle trips are the reliable ones — short, shallow and with something happening. Night fishing works surprisingly well with older children because there is action every few minutes.

Which do not. Whale shark excursions involve hours on a boat and repeated entries into open water against current. It is a long day for a small child and the price is the same whether they last the distance or not.

Ask about minimum ages. Some operators set them for insurance reasons, particularly on dive and whale shark trips.

The family arithmetic. Two adults and two children on three guesthouse-island excursions across a week come to roughly USD 400 to 550. The same programme from a resort runs three times that, which is one more argument in favour of the inhabited island for families who want to do things rather than sit still.

What the money actually buys at a resort

Worth stating fairly, because the three-times multiplier reads like a rip-off and frequently is not.

Fewer people. A resort sandbank trip carries six; a guesthouse one carries sixteen.

Better equipment, maintained and fitted properly.

A guide who briefs. Marine briefings, safety briefings and a no-touch policy on every excursion, which our guide to reef health explains the importance of.

Timing built around you rather than around filling the boat.

Recovery. Towels, cold drinks, a shower, and somebody carrying your bag off the boat.

And the trade-off in the other direction: guesthouse operators know their water intimately, work it daily, and often deliver a better wildlife encounter for a third of the price. Neither is universally better. They are different products, and the honest comparison is in our guide to resort and inhabited islands.

Excursions from Malé and Hulhumalé

Overlooked, and the cheapest entry point to the water in the whole country.

Day excursions run from the capital area to sandbanks, snorkelling sites and nearby islands, priced like guesthouse-island trips rather than resort ones.

They suit two situations. A long layover with a day to fill, and the first or last day of a trip when flight timings have already put you in Malé or Hulhumalé. Our guide to getting into the city covers that arrangement.

The catch is travel time. An excursion leaving Greater Malé spends longer reaching good water than one leaving a guesthouse island in the same atoll, so a half day becomes most of a day.

The public ferry is not an excursion, but it is the cheapest boat ride in the country at around USD 1.50. On a clear morning the two-hour run to a guesthouse island beats several paid trips, and our ferry guide covers the network.

Red flags

Five, and the last one matters most.

A price far below the local range. The saving is coming from somewhere: an older boat, no second crew member, no guide in the water, or a longer wait to fill seats.

No mention of life jackets or safety equipment.

A guarantee of animals. Nobody can guarantee a whale shark.

Cash up front with no receipt for anything expensive.

Reluctance to say what is included. The single most reliable warning sign. An operator who cannot answer “does that include lunch, equipment, park fees and tax” in one sentence is an operator whose price will grow.

Tipping on excursions

Separate from the price, and covered fully in our tipping guide.

Excursion or boat crew: USD 5 to 10 per person for a half day, more for a full one.

Dive guide: USD 10 to 20 per trip.

Not obligatory anywhere. A 10% service charge is already applied at licensed businesses and is distributed to staff by law. A tip recognises the individual, which the service charge cannot.

Cash, in small notes, because excursion boats have no card terminal with a gratuity line and there is no ATM on a resort island.

How excursion prices move through the year

Less than accommodation does, and in a different pattern.

Excursion prices are broadly stable across the year. Unlike villa rates, which can double in high season, a sandbank trip costs roughly the same in February and in July. The cost is fuel, crew and time, and none of those changes with demand.

What changes is availability. In high season, boats fill and popular excursions sell out a day or two ahead. In low season you may be the only booking, which means either a discount to fill the boat or a cancellation because it did not fill.

Fuel surcharges are the real variable. When fuel prices move, operators adjust, and that is the main reason a price quoted online three months ago no longer matches.

Capped excursions are the exception. Hanifaru permits in the August to October peak, and dive courses in the dry season, are genuinely scarce rather than merely busy — the seasonal mechanism is in our diving season calendar.

The low-season advantage is negotiating room. An operator with a half-empty boat in June will do a deal that the same operator in February will not.

What excursions are worth the money

The opinionated section, because a price list without one is a spreadsheet.

Best value among guesthouse excursions: whale shark trips, night fishing, and a guided snorkelling trip with a good local guide. All three deliver at USD 30 to 120 what a resort charges triple for.

Worth the resort premium, occasionally: private sandbank dining and anything where the point is exclusivity rather than the activity. You are buying the absence of other people, and that is a real product.

Rarely worth the excursion budget anywhere: jet skis and motorised water sports, which cost more here than anywhere and are identical to jet skis everywhere. Our water sports guide covers the category.

Free and better than most of the list: the house reef at seven in the morning, covered in our snorkelling guide.

The general rule: pay for access and expertise, not for atmosphere. A guide who finds animals is worth money. A boat with nicer cushions is not.

Prices by activity, in detail

Cross-references to the guides that cover each properly.

Diving — single dives, packages, courses and the full cost stack, including why a USD 110 dive becomes USD 184, are in our diving guide.

Snorkelling — free from most house reefs, USD 30 to 60 guided, in our snorkelling guide.

Whale sharks — USD 70 to 120 from a guesthouse island, plus the park fee, in our whale shark guide.

Manta rays — the Hanifaru permit is USD 20 to 30 and a guided trip from Dharavandhoo about USD 60, in our manta guide.

Surfing — boat transfers to breaks at USD 10 to 25 per person, in our surfing guide.

Sandbanks, dolphins, night fishing and local island visits each have their own guides in this block: sandbank trips, dolphin cruises, night fishing and local island excursions. Each covers what the excursion includes as well as what it costs.

How these prices were compiled

Stated plainly, because a price page without a method is a guess.

These are bands, not quotes. Every figure is a range drawn from multiple operator price lists, resort excursion menus and traveller reports across 2026. No single operator is named, because naming one turns a reference page into an advertisement and dates it within a season.

Guesthouse-island figures are shopfront prices on the established tourism islands. Smaller and more remote islands run lower, and islands with only one operator run higher.

Resort figures are published excursion menu prices before service charge and tax. Individual properties sit well above and below the bands.

What we have not done is average the two into a single national figure. That number would be wrong for every reader, which is exactly what most published Maldives price guides produce.

How to check any of it: ask two operators on the same island for the same trip and compare. The spread between them tells you more about the local market than any published range can, and it takes ten minutes.

When these figures drift, and they will, the structure of the page still holds: the three-times multiplier, the compounding tax and the list of exclusions are stable even when the numbers move.

Questions travellers ask

How much do excursions cost in the Maldives? From a guesthouse island, roughly USD 25 to 60 for a half-day trip and USD 60 to 120 for a full day. From a resort, two to three times that, plus a service charge and tax compounding to about 28.7%.

Why are resort excursions so much more expensive? Resort wages, smaller groups, better equipment, a guide who briefs, and tax and service charge on top. It is a different product rather than the same one marked up — though the sandbank is frequently the same sandbank.

Can you negotiate excursion prices? On an inhabited island, yes: ten to twenty per cent for booking several trips with one operator, or by joining an existing group. At a resort, no.

What is not included in the price? Commonly: tax and service charge, marine park fees, dive equipment, nitrox, lunch on full-day trips and photograph packages. Ask before booking.

What happens if the weather cancels my trip? Refunds are standard for a cancellation made by the operator. Partial refunds for a shortened trip are not. Build a spare day into monsoon-season plans.

Is a sighting guaranteed on wildlife trips? No, and any operator claiming otherwise is overselling. Many will repeat a whale shark or dolphin trip free or cheaply if nothing is found — confirm that before you book.

How many excursions should I budget for? Two or three across a week is the pattern most experienced visitors settle on. That is roughly USD 280 to 420 for two people from a guesthouse island.

Should I book online in advance? Only for things with a cap: Hanifaru permits in season, dive courses and fixed-date events. Everything else is cheaper and easier booked locally.

What to take away

The same excursion costs roughly three times as much from a resort as from a guesthouse island, and it is frequently the same boat to the same place.
The quoted price excludes tax and service charge compounding to about 28.7% at a resort, plus park fees, equipment, nitrox and sometimes lunch.
Prices are negotiable on inhabited islands — ten to twenty per cent for a package — and fixed at resorts.
Two or three excursions across a week is the right number, at roughly USD 280 to 420 for two from a guesthouse island.
Pay for access and expertise, not atmosphere. The best-value trips in the country are whale sharks, night fishing and a guided snorkel with a local guide.

Next step: before booking anything, ask one question — “what does that price include, and what will I pay on top?” An operator who answers in a sentence is telling you the real number. One who does not is telling you something else.