{"id":29429,"date":"2019-06-21T17:30:20","date_gmt":"2019-06-21T09:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/?p=29429"},"modified":"2026-03-15T13:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T05:45:09","slug":"10-days-in-maldives-day-07-huraa-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/2019\/06\/21\/10-days-in-maldives-day-07-huraa-island\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Days in Maldives – Day 07 – Huraa Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

Truth to tell, prior to departure, I did have some trepidation about the length of time we\u2019d be spending on a local island, and that we\u2019d be staying in a guest house. The touristy private island resorts, where we\u2019d be spending the subsequent four days, are what most guests to the islands will Instagram about. But these local islands are where visitors to the Maldives would be able to come closer to how the Maldivians live and work, short of getting a very special permit to visit the other local islands that do not normally permit guests at all. But if we chose the wrong guest house or local island, we\u2019d be pretty much stuck unless we changed accommodations quickly. There would have been options for the latter of course, since this was the low season: we\u2019d just need to suck up the costs involved.<\/p>\n

Either way, I kept my expectations modest: we\u2019ve been to several island resorts elsewhere in Asia that are also hosted on working and resident islands at this point, and there are significant differences to what you see in front of and behind the gate and wall. Huraa<\/b> is indeed pretty much like this: the locals do try their best to keep the general area clean. But the major development going on around the island by way of construction of new private dwellings, and also a massive amount of reclamation going on at the east side of the island – where The Sunrise Huraa is located – showed, with construction equipment in several areas, the presence of building materials, opened-up grounds for cabling work and so on. None of these finally bothered us too much: because if it does, you\u2019d really be better off staying in the walled-off exclusive resorts as the local islands really aren\u2019t for you then.<\/p>\n

Sameer, the owner and our host during our stay on Huraa Island, shared on our night of arrival that there are just 1,200 inhabitants on the island. An article I read elsewhere noted that the population in 2016 was 750. I\u2019m not sure which number, including ones in between those two, is more accurate – but the island at no point felt congested. It was low season, true: but that would largely contribute towards the very few other visitors we encountered over the seven days, and perhaps a portion of the guest service industry (as in they might be working in other occupations when they do not have bookings at their guest houses). The locals were all invariably polite and would frequently say hi to us when we walked past – something that Singaporeans normally do not do, mind you, so we gladly reciprocated their greetings.<\/p>\n

There are numerous other signs that we were living among locals too. For instance, our guest house is situated several meters from their island mosque, and calls to prayer ran every several hours – a reminder that the Maldivians are deeply religious, and guests to their islands need to be respectful of that. Or the morning routines I observed when I did my two early morning sojourns to photograph the sunrise – the islanders cycling to work at the walled-off Pearl Sands of Maldives resort on the northern tip of Huraa. Or the locals sweeping sand off their dwelling exteriors. Or other even earlier morning risers who had been up doing cardiovascular workouts at the soccer field.<\/p>\n

There were also signs of the small service industry too. Sameer shared that there were about eight guest houses, including his, currently on the island – and I expect more to come up once the reclamation project completes. There are perhaps a dozen shops on the island too which serve both guests and locals, offering snack foods, toiletries, apparel, and snorkeling gear. Accompanying that are half a dozen small cafes, many of which offer a range of cuisine: including local (mee and nasi gorengs), Italian (pastas and pizzas), Western (e.g. burgers, sandwiches) and also selected Asian (e.g. curries). The items you order can take a while to prepare though: a waiting time of 45 minutes after we placed our dinner orders is common, and this was during off-peak season where we were frequently the only diners in the cafe. Main courses are routinely between 60 to 180 MYR, so reasonably priced for the quality of cooking – which was always savory and tasty.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The village mosque.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
A very different visual vibe compared to the typical private islands.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Lots of new dwellings being built on the island.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The Harbor Cafe, where we ate a number of times.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The pier on the west side of the island.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Little shelter as we make our way westwards to find lunch.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Sleepy village.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Many little swings dot the island for kids to enjoy themselves.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The general area isn’t as manicured and pristine as the private islands of course, but it’s still pretty.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Crystal clear turquoise-colored water.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In all; we can\u2019t do a head-to-head comparison on how Huraa compares to the other local islands in the Maldives, since this is the only one we spent a substantial amount of time in. But this we can say though: if you\u2019re limited in the length of time you can spend on a Maldivian holiday, then I reckon a stay at the exclusive resorts will easily net you the kind of photographs you\u2019ll want to bring home, and with little effort. But if you have more than just a few days to spend, then I\u2019d very highly recommend a stay on a local island. Aside from experiencing and witnessing a closer representation of the real Maldives, you\u2019ll save loads of cash too on accommodation and dining at least.<\/p>\n

Onto the next segment of our stay @ Olhuveli<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Truth to tell, prior to departure, I did have some trepidation about the length of time we\u2019d be spending on a local island, and that we\u2019d be staying in a guest house. The touristy private island resorts, where we\u2019d be<\/p>\n

Read More 10 Days in Maldives – Day 07 – Huraa Island<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[653,608,613],"class_list":["post-29429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-traveling","tag-maldives-2019","tag-sony-a7-iii","tag-sony-fe-24-105mm-f4-0","wpcat-17-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/blog-2019-maldives-day-05-A7_05730-huraa-exploration.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29429"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38517,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29429\/revisions\/38517"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}