Where are you planning on staying? If you are planning on going to a resort which is basically one tiny coral island = one resort then you should be fine! If you are planning on going to the city and staying there then perhaps you should take the regular big city cautions as it did look a bit "rough" when we did a walk around.

You can't just pop from one resort island to another. Any visits must be pre-arranged in most cases. If you do visit a resort island, then single women are there regularly and there are zero problems.

When travellers visit 'the Maldives' without a resort destination in mind, usually they are visiting its capital island/city - Male. It is a city and agree with Hanuman to 'take the regular big city cautions' walking around. That said, based on statistics for crimes like muggings and thefts, Male is a lot safer than London or New York.

Bruce
www.maldivescomplete.com

www.mymaldives.com/travel/biyadhoo-island-resort.html

good personal experience here in past... plenty of singles too

booking.com agoda.com otel.com good rates...

Metro areas dodgy stick to the resorts you will be fine.

travel.state.gov for a heads up.

uncbigdog, you may have a misunderstanding of “touring” in the Maldives. It is not really possible to tour from island to island. There are only a handful of inhabited islands, and other than Gan, IMO none of them would merit a visit. Instead, one goes and stays on a resort island. There is one resort per island, and no inhabited island shares space with a resort (other than in Gan, see below). Sometimes there are other resorts nearby where one can go for a meal or the day. You can also go to uninhabited islands for the day for a Robin Crusoe experience. Sometimes, there are small inhabited islands nearby where you can make a short visit, these tend to be rather canned as they are sponsored by your hotel (who provide the boat, as otherwise you have no way of getting from island to island.) It is difficult to see island life (other htan on Gan, more below), so IMO hwile the Maldives are gorgeous phsucallya, and the people are quite nice, it is not a place to go to wander form island to island seeing “island life”.

Male, the capital and where the main airport is located, is tiny, quite congested and offers virtually nothing for a tourist. While quite safe (I have wandered almost all of it on my own over the years), it is NOT AT ALL worth spending any time in unless you have a few hours before a flight. (It is also shut up pretty tight on Fridays, so bear that in mind.) There are no bars or nightlife of any sort.

Gan, which is located at the bottom of the very southernmost atoll in the Maldives, is actually a very charming little place. It’s a string of islands linked together by bridges, there are some small villages, and a good bit of the original coral buildings still left, some shops and a few restaurants along the beach roads. You can bike most all of it. The southern Maldivians try to do their own thing and are somewhat less conservative than the northern people who have the political power (for a small country, there is a huge amount going on politically). To get to Gan, you most likely have to first fly to Male and then connect to a flight on to Gan. (Gan is an international airport, but I think it only takes charter flights from overseas, I don’t think you can fly there from anywhere but Male.) The flight down to Gan is by the way spectacular and be sure to do it at least one way during the day to appreciate the views. Its like flying over emerald and sapphire jewelry.

There is one resort hotel in Gan, called Equator Village, see http://www.equatorvillage.com/; its got a lot of run down colonial charm actually and might not be a bad choice. There may be guest houses in other parts of Gan village, you mighty try Lonely Planet.

The Maldives are not a place to visit if you need shopping, museums, lots of restaurants, night life, cities or even villages. It is a Muslim country and alcohol is only permitted on the resort islands, but it is not an overly conservative place, women are out and about and take active roles in the professions.

On a resort island, you have no safety isssues. IMO in travelling in many parts of the Maldives on my own (include Male), you would not have any safety issues. I would just advise against a trip to the Maldives unless you are OK with spending the bulk of your time on your hotel island. It’s great if solitude is what you want, but if you want to experience village life, the arts, restaurants, etc, then it would not be a good choice. The beach areas of India or Thailand would be better, and Bali would also be a good choice. (Even Gan, charming as it is, would not offer anything like India, Thailand or Bali could offer.)

Yes, safe for single ladies. Just like anywhere else, be sensible and aware of your surroundings.