Maldives

Is the Maldives safe to visit?

Yes. For a resort holiday it is one of the safest trips in Asia. Police logged 3 homicides in 2023, about 0.6 per 100,000 people, and crime on the resort islands, where most visitors spend their whole stay, is rare. Road crashes, the biggest killer of tourists in much of the region, barely apply, since you reach your island by speedboat or seaplane. The real danger is the water. We score the Maldives 81, far above Sri Lanka and just above the United Arab Emirates.

The sea is the main risk

At least 112 tourists died in marine accidents in the Maldives over six years, according to AFP. That works out to a death every few weeks. Most are drownings while snorkelling or swimming. The atolls sit in open ocean, and strong tidal currents run through the channels between reefs and along the outer edges. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary warns that these currents can drag swimmers away from the shore, and it updated its swimming advice again in August 2026.

Diving carries its own risks. In May 2026, five Italian divers, including a university research team, died exploring a cave at about 60 m in Vaavu atoll, the deadliest diving accident in the country's history. A Maldivian rescue diver also died during the search. The FCDO notes that many resorts are more than an hour from one of only three hyperbaric chambers. Near the whale shark sites of the South Ari Marine Protected Area, boat propellers have killed swimmers, and rules on propeller guards are not fully enforced.

What helps:

• Ask resort staff each day where it is safe to swim and snorkel, and respect flags.
• Snorkel with a buddy and a float, and avoid reef channels on an outgoing tide.
• Dive within your certification. Cave and deep dives need specialist training.
• On boat trips, check there are life jackets for everyone.

Malé, crime and the law

Outside the resorts, the FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary reports gang-related violence, including knife crime, mainly in Malé and Hulhumalé. Visitors are rarely involved, but avoid empty streets on foot after dark. Petty theft happens even on resorts, so use the room safe.

The bigger legal risk is the law itself. Alcohol is legal only on resort islands, and you can be arrested for carrying it out. Drug penalties are severe, transit bags are scanned, and even small amounts of cannabis can lead to arrest. Same-sex relations are illegal. Outside resorts, cover shoulders and upper legs, and do not eat or drink in public during Ramadan days.

Terrorism

The US keeps the Maldives at Level 2 because of terrorism and says attacks could happen on remote islands, where help would take longer to arrive. The FCDOFCDO travel adviceThe UK government's travel advice for each country, which can advise against all travel or all but essential travel to specific areas.More in the glossary lists the incidents: knife attacks by Daesh supporters that injured three foreigners in Hulhumalé in 2020, a bomb in central Malé in 2021 that injured a senior politician and bystanders, a knife attack on a politician in 2022, and a plot foiled in 2025. None of these targeted a resort island, but the threat is real enough to explain why we score conflict at 72 rather than 90.

Health, care and sea level

Dengue, chikungunya and measles are present, so use repellent and check your MMR vaccination. The bigger problem is distance. The only fully equipped hospitals are in Malé and Hulhumalé, and from a remote atoll a medical evacuation can take hours and may need a seaplane, which flies only in daylight. Travel insurance with evacuation cover is essential.

About 80% of the Maldives' islands sit less than a metre above sea level, and the World Bank projects 0.5 to 0.9 m of sea-level rise by 2100. For a visitor today, that means occasional flash flooding on low islands and swell-driven flooding, not a reason to cancel. The south-west monsoon, from about May to October, brings rougher seas and more cancelled boat trips.

How we scored it

Violent crime (95) and road safety (90) are the strongest factors, and petty crime (82) is also good. Health (68) and natural hazards (68) are lower, reflecting the distance to hospitals and hyperbaric chambers and the drowning risk. Conflict (72) reflects the terrorism threat. Confidence is medium because homicide counts are so small that one case moves the rate, and the Maldives is not covered by the Global Peace IndexGlobal Peace IndexAn annual ranking of 163 countries by how peaceful they are, based on conflict, crime, militarisation and political instability.More in the glossary.