Thoddoo is an isolated inhabited island that administratively belongs to North Ari atoll, Maldives. It's quite large by Maldivian standards, it will take about an hour to circumvent it. In 2014, it had a population of about 1,500 people (including foreigners).
Thoddoo Island is surrounded by a wonderful beach. The locals are very friendly and very welcoming, but due to Muslim restrictions you can only swim at the designated tourist beach which sometimes is called the bikini beach. While outside the tourist beach it advisable to wear beach clothing rather than bikinis or swimming slips.
The film Ghosts Can’t Do It was filmed the Island of Thoddoo. The cast stayed in tents on the beach.
This island is a farm island: mainly passion fruits and papayas are grown, and they are among the tastiest and freshest you can eat. Mangoes, watermelon, eggplants, zucchinis, tomatoes, lettuce are grown very limited.
Island can be reached by a fast boat from Malé everyday at 16:00, trip takes 1 hour and costs USD30-35 (as of Jan 2017). In the opposite direction to Male it leaves at 07:00. This schedule is not very reliable so it's better to check with your guesthouse in Thoddoo for the timing and pricing. Companies operating on this route:
Three times weekly (Sa M W at 07:00) there is a public ferry to Rasdhoo, trip takes 1 hr 15 min, costs Rf 21. The boat then proceeds to Ukulhas, departing at 13:00, trip takes 55 min and costs Rf 21. And other islands of North Ari Atoll: Bodufulhadhoo (trip takes 1 hr 30 min from Rasdhoo), Mathiveri (2 hours), Feridhoo (3 hours), Maalhos (3 hr 30 min) and Himandhoo (4 hours).
Ferry dock, 4.43925°, 72.96439°. It doesn't have a building or anything of that sort. Just a marine with handful of boats. 2016-11-01
You can see the Fresh fruit farms
Lots of grocery shops with very extensive range of products, big variety of fruits and vegetables.
There is an ATM of Bank of Maldives near the ferry dock, which is the only ATM on the island. It also worth to note that any place on the island will readily accept US dollars as a payment, but not credit cards.
There are a few souvenir shops in the island.
Some guest houses allow you to use their kitchen.
About twenty of accommodation options exist, most of them are very simple guesthouses. Price range is roughly USD50-80 (2016), it gets much cheaper during off season and doubles during peak season.
Both mobile operators (Dhiraagu and Ooredoo) operate on the island and offer LTE connection.
Guesthouses tend to have WiFi with a very slow and sometimes nonexistent Internet. While restaurants either don't have WiFi or refuse to share their WiFi passwords with customers not staying at their hotel.