New Town Inn

There is no reef to score here.

Malé is the capital — a dense port city ringed by seawalls, harbour walls and reclaimed land. The island sits on a reef, and satellites map it, but there is no beach entry and no snorkelling from the shore. Properties here are city hotels and guesthouses: pick them for the airport, the ferries or the city, never for the reef.

If the reef is why you are coming, start with the measured rankings or the reefs you can swim to instead. We would rather lose the click than pretend.