Villingili, administratively known as Villimalé is an island in the North Male Atoll and is considered the fifth district of Malé City. It lies about two kilometres (1.2 mi) west of Malé island and is reachable via local ferry service that operates 24 hours, between Malé and Villimalé.

Location within Malé City

Villimalé is to the west of Malé Island:

History

Villingili was historically inhabited and was often burned and looted by frustrated Malabar pirates who could not penetrate the defenses of

Malé Malé is the capital and most populous city of the Maldives. With a population of 211,908 in 2022 within its administrative area and coterminous geographical area of , Malé is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. The city i ...

. In 1961, the original residents of Villingili were resettled in

Hulhulé Hulhulé (), located at , is an island in the North Malé Atoll of the Maldives where the city's airport, Velana International Airport, is located. The island has no permanent population. It is one of the islands closest to the capital island M ...

to free up agricultural land near

. A prison was built on the island in 1962, and a resort was opened in 1973. Villimalé used to be a resort earlier before it became a residential island. In fact it became the second resort to start operations in Maldives, after the first resort in Maldives,

Kurumba Kurumba may refer to: * Kurumbas (tribe), an indigenous community in the Indian states of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu * Kurumba languages, spoken by the Kurumbas * Kurumba Gounder, a caste of Tamil Nadu, India * Kurumba, Panchthar, village in ...

became over-booked. Between 2010 and 2016 an adolescent

drug rehabilitation Drug rehabilitation is the process of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and street drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, heroin, and amphetamines. The general int ...

centre was operated near the public beach of Villimalé.

Tourism in Villimalé

Villimalé currently attracts a lot of local visitors and popular holiday destination among the residents of

and

Hulhumalé Hulhumalé (; Dhivehi: ހުޅުމާލެ) is a reclaimed island located in the south of North Malé Atoll, Maldives. The artificial island is being built up by pumping sand from the sea floor, in order to meet the existing and future housing, i ...

, specially during the weekends. There are several hotels and guest houses in Villimalé that also attract tourists from abroad. Villimalé is also home to Liquid Water Sports, one of the few hydro sports hubs in Maldives. It actively promotes flyboarding and is a Zapata certified Professional FlyBoarding Partner.

Image gallery

File:A View of the Laccadive Sea from Villingili.JPG, A View of the Laccadive Sea from Villimalé

References

Islands of the Maldives Populated places in the Maldives {{Maldives-geo-stub