There's no road network linking the Maldives' islands — the entire country is water, so how you move between islands is one of the first practical questions to solve, and it's genuinely tied to which atoll you choose to stay in.
Speedboat
The standard transfer for resorts in Malé (Kaafu) Atoll and other nearby atolls. Fast, runs any time of day, and generally the most comfortable option in calm seas — though it can get bumpy in the wet season.
Seaplane
The classic Maldives image: a floatplane landing beside your resort's jetty. Used for resorts roughly 30–90 minutes from the airport by air. Seaplanes only fly in daylight, are shared with other passengers heading to different resorts (so routes can involve multiple stops), and need to be booked as part of your transfer package — they aren't something you can hail independently.
Domestic flight + boat
For the furthest atolls — parts of the south like Addu, or far northern atolls — the route is a short domestic flight to a regional airport, followed by a local speedboat or dhoni to the island itself.
Public ferries (for local-island travel)
If you're travelling independently between inhabited local islands rather than to a private resort, the government-subsidised ferry network is the budget option — slower, timetabled, and a completely different pace to a resort speedboat transfer. See our local island guesthouses guide for how that style of travel works day to day.