Bring US dollars in cash and a Visa or Mastercard, and you will not need to change money before you land. The Maldivian rufiyaa (MVR) is held at about MVR 15.42 to USD 1, resorts and most guesthouses bill in dollars, and every shop, café and taxi will take a clean US note. You only need rufiyaa for small things: the public ferry, a bus, a corner shop, a market stall. Get that from an ATM at the airport or in Malé, because rufiyaa is almost impossible to buy abroad and worth nothing once you leave. Here is how money actually works here, from someone who pays for the ferry in rufiyaa every week.
Quick answer: what to pay with where
| Where you are paying | Best option | Also accepted | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resort (room, food, spa, excursions) | Card, billed in USD at checkout | USD cash | 10% service charge and 17% TGST added unless the price says “net” |
| Guesthouse on a local island | USD cash | Card (often 3–5% surcharge), bank transfer | Confirm the card surcharge before you rely on it |
| Local restaurants and cafés | MVR or USD cash | Card in bigger cafés in Malé and Hulhumalé | USD often taken at a flat MVR 15, change in MVR |
| Public ferry (MTCC), bus, market, small shops | MVR cash only | RTL bus card | Ferry MVR 22–53, bus MVR 10–15; nobody takes a card |
| Taxis in Malé and Hulhumalé | MVR cash | USD, change in MVR | Fixed fares: MVR 70–85 airport to Malé or Hulhumalé |
| Speedboats, dive centres, excursions | USD cash | Card with surcharge, sometimes | Quoted in USD; keep USD 20–50 in small notes |
Work out the budget first, then the cash: our daily costs guide shows what a local-island day adds up to, and you can compare fares to Malé on book.toptravelsky.com before deciding how much to bring.
The rufiyaa and the dollar: how the rate works
The Maldives Monetary Authority keeps the rufiyaa in a narrow band around MVR 15.42 per US dollar, and the rate has barely moved in years. Banks and the airport counter buy dollars at roughly 15.30–15.40. Shops take a dollar note at a flat MVR 15, which costs you under 3%, and give change in rufiyaa. Tourist prices are quoted in USD because the economy runs on it: resorts collect from foreign guests in dollars, so your final bill is in USD even if you never see a note. Bring US notes printed 2009 or later with no tears or pen marks; old or damaged bills are refused everywhere, and nobody in a village shop can change USD 100, so carry 1s, 5s, 10s and 20s. Euros and pounds work at resorts and at Bank of Maldives at a worse rate; on a local island they are nearly useless.
ATMs: where they are, what they cost, what they give you
Bank of Maldives (BML) runs almost every ATM a tourist will use: two in the Terminal 1 arrivals hall at Velana Airport, one by the old Terminal 2, dozens across Malé, several in both phases of Hulhumalé, and one each on the busiest guesthouse islands such as Maafushi, Thulusdhoo, Dhiffushi and Dhigurah. Smaller islands and every resort island have none, so get cash before the boat. Most machines pay rufiyaa only; the US dollar ATMs are marked and sit outside international arrivals, in central Malé, in Hulhumalé Phase 1 and at the Maafushi branch. BML adds about MVR 30–100 per withdrawal on a foreign card, on top of your own bank’s fee, and the per-transaction limit varies from MVR 2,000 on older units to MVR 10,000 or more on newer ones; your card’s daily limit is usually the tighter cap. Make one sensible withdrawal rather than ten small ones, and decline the offer to convert to your home currency: that dynamic currency conversion typically costs 3–5% more.
Check guesthouse prices in Male
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BML branches open Sunday to Thursday, roughly 08:30 to 14:00, and close Fridays, Saturdays and public holidays; ATMs keep working. The BML counter in airport departures changes leftover rufiyaa back to dollars; keep your ATM receipts, because it can ask where the rufiyaa came from.
Cards: who takes them and what it costs
Visa and Mastercard work at every resort, at the airport, in Malé supermarkets and larger cafés, and at most guesthouses on the main islands; Amex is resort-only in practice. The catch on local islands is the surcharge: guesthouses and dive centres pass on 3–5%, and some quote a lower price for cash, so ask before you put an excursion on a card. Resorts rarely add a surcharge but your bank may: a card with no foreign-transaction fee saves the usual 2.5–3.5% on every overseas charge. Tap-to-pay is common in Malé and Hulhumalé; on a village island keep cash as the fallback, and tell your bank you are travelling so the first withdrawal is not blocked.
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How much cash to bring
For a resort stay, USD 100–200 in small notes covers tips and a taxi; everything else goes on the room bill. For a week on a local island such as Maafushi, plan on about USD 300–500 in cash per person: guesthouses often want cash, excursions are USD 25–120 each and usually cash, and ferries and shops want rufiyaa. Withdraw MVR 1,000–2,000 at the airport for ferries, buses and a SIM card, and top up at the island ATM if there is one. If you overnight near the airport first, our Velana layover guide lists exactly what the ferry, bus and taxi cost.
Check guesthouse prices in Maafushi
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Tipping in the Maldives: what is normal
Tipping is not compulsory anywhere in the country. Resorts add a 10% service charge to every bill, shared among staff by law, then 17% TGST on top, so a USD 20 cocktail is USD 25.74 before you tip anything. Most guests still leave something for the people they dealt with directly, in US dollars, at the end of the stay: USD 2–5 a day for housekeeping, USD 10–20 a day for a villa host or butler, USD 5–10 per trip for a dive guide or snorkel crew, and USD 5–10 for a waiter who looked after you all week. On local islands tips are smaller: USD 5–10 to a boat crew after a good whale-shark day, a USD 10–20 envelope for guesthouse staff at the end of a week, and rounding up a taxi fare in Malé. Rufiyaa is fine for locals; dollars suit the many resort staff from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India who send money home.
Mistakes to avoid
- Buying rufiyaa at home. Almost no bank abroad stocks it and you cannot sell it back once you leave.
- Arriving with only large or old US notes. Shops refuse pre-2009 and damaged bills.
- Accepting the home-currency conversion on an ATM or card machine. Choose MVR or USD and let your bank convert.
- Expecting a card to work on the ferry, the bus, in a market or at a small guesthouse. Those are cash, often rufiyaa cash.
- Leaving with a wallet of rufiyaa. Change it at the airport BML counter before departure.
Limits on cash you can carry in and out are covered in our visa and entry requirements guide; for choosing where to take your dollars, start with the best local islands for tourists.
Frequently asked questions
Should I bring US dollars or rufiyaa to the Maldives?
Bring US dollars in small, newer notes. The rufiyaa is held at about MVR 15.42 to USD 1, dollars are accepted everywhere, and you can withdraw rufiyaa from a Bank of Maldives ATM at the airport for ferries, buses and small shops.
Are there ATMs on local islands in the Maldives?
Only on the bigger guesthouse islands such as Maafushi, Thulusdhoo, Dhiffushi and Dhigurah, and usually just one machine. Smaller islands and all resort islands have no ATM, so withdraw cash at Velana Airport or in Malé first.
Do Maldives ATMs charge foreign cards a fee?
Yes. Bank of Maldives adds roughly MVR 30–100 (about USD 2–6.50) per withdrawal on a foreign card, plus your own bank’s charges, so make one larger withdrawal rather than several small ones and decline the on-screen currency conversion.
How much should I tip at a Maldives resort?
A 10% service charge is already on every resort bill. On top of that, USD 2–5 a day for housekeeping, USD 10–20 a day for a butler and USD 5–10 per trip for boat or dive crew is normal, given in US dollars at the end of your stay.
Can I pay by card at a guesthouse in the Maldives?
Most guesthouses on the main tourist islands take Visa and Mastercard but add a 3–5% surcharge, and some only take cash for excursions. Confirm when you book and carry enough US dollars to pay the full stay in cash if needed.
Exchange rates, ATM fees and tipping ranges correct as of October 2026 and based on current Bank of Maldives and Maldives Monetary Authority rates. TopTravelSky is based in Malé — tell us if you spot a change.