Maldives

[Red@8]

Going to the Maldives. First time. Any suggestions for hotels? Any suggestions for things to do?

[BavarianBeast]

Sick, enjoy!

If you want all inclusive, check out Diamonds Thudufushi or Constance Moofushi if your budget allows. If not, check out Hurawalhi Island resort.

Not much to do there other than relax on beach, do some diving/snorkel.

[taemo]

Definitely one of the nicest places we've been to

I let my wife pick the resort as Maldives was one of her bucket list and I let her go crazy as it was our 'baby-moon'

She picked Anantara Veli as it was easy to get to from Male (30min speed boat from the airport included with the accomodation cost)

Her original choice required a small plane flight (600US$ more)

Anantara has 4 types of resort as well.
Veli is for couples only
Dhigu is for families
and 2 more which are for ballers.

We stayed 2 nights in Dhigu and 2 nights in Veli.
If you can afford it go Dhigu, we felt underwhelmed with Veli after seeing the Dhigu villas haha.

Breakfast was included and its basically buffet style.
We went half-board (pre-paid dinner) as we would be full after breakfast anyway, then just share a light snack for lunch (burger or fries) and have dinner at 5.
Price wise, it's very similar to Europe/North America.
If you want to bring some snacks, go to the grocery stores in Male and buy there, alot cheaper (think SE Asia price vs Western price)

Also don't bother getting Maldives Money if you will be just at the resort, resorts accept US$ only anyway.
Maybe only 40$ worth for shopping in the capital if you plan to.

Here's a video I compiled from our trip
Aid4OQ_n8MI

and yeah, not much to do there other than relax, snorkle, swim, eat.
we talked to some people at the airport and what they did was day tour at various resorts.

[msommers]

Can't help with hotel but being in the Maldives to swim with whale sharks and manta rays is on my bucketlist -- mad jelly.

[hurrdurr]

Went to the Maldives during my honeymoon. Stayed at Veligandu - did All Inclusive. The island was 600m everything accessible by barefoot. It was pure paradise. We stayed in an over the water bungalow as well as a beach bungalow. My best advice is when you pick your resort you really need to know the amenities they have and the costs to do any types of excursions so that you're not surprised when you get there. For example - I forgot sunscreen (idiot) it was $60USD or something crazy. A small bag of chips was $6USD, 1 Hour Jetski rental was $200USD etc.

As mentioned bring USD, we brought Maldivian dollars and it was practically useless.

I've never stayed anywhere as remote, beautiful and picturesque - don't skimp out and enjoy every minute.

[SR54RNR]

Going to the Maldives. First time. Any suggestions for hotels? Any suggestions for things to do?

The wife and I stayed at Vilamendhoo in the Maldives. We got an over water bungalow on the adult only side, all inclusive. Would recommend for sure! As for things to do, we snorkelled daily on the house reef, and went on a whale shark snorkelling trip. Other than that, just relax and enjoy.

[nj2Type-S]

my wife and i are thinking of going to the Maldives in February. however, what is the best time to go there? we definitely want to go to an all-inclusive resort. are there things to do at night, or is it mainly just hanging out? thanks!

[ExtraSlow]

I'm really surprised so many Canadians have been or are going to the Maldives. That's a hell of a long trip. Literally one of the furthest places you can go from Canada in terms of travel times if I'm reading google flights correctly. I haven't been, so I can't say anything bad about it once you are there, but I'd rather save 12 hours travel time and go somewhere like the Cook Islands or Fiji if I was looking for a tropical paradise.

What am I missing here?

[taemo]

I'm really surprised so many Canadians have been or are going to the Maldives. That's a hell of a long trip. Literally one of the furthest places you can go from Canada in terms of travel times if I'm reading google flights correctly. I haven't been, so I can't say anything bad about it once you are there, but I'd rather save 12 hours travel time and go somewhere like the Cook Islands or Fiji if I was looking for a tropical paradise.

What am I missing here?

The only reason we did Maldives was because we were already in the Philippines for a family wedding and saw that Maldives was only 6 hours away from Manila and flight ticket was only 500$ (Manila to KL then KL to Male).
We had a 12 hour layover in KL too so we took the opportunity for a day trip tour as I always wanted to see KL anyway.

The thing with Maldives is that really it consists of hundreds of different islands and resorts so everyone's experience will probably be different unless you stayed on the same island/resort.
We've been to the French Polynesia (Moorea and Bora Bora) and right now I have to say that Maldives (at least the resort we went to) has the nicest beaches and shades of blue water that we've been to.


https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4672/25714897928_3fdb4b0105_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/Fbkzg7)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/Fbkzg7) by e Dieta (https://www.flickr.com/photos/111304155@N05/), on Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4712/39657511552_26f6414a47_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/23qp7xb)Untitled (https://flic.kr/p/23qp7xb) by e Dieta (https://www.flickr.com/photos/111304155@N05/), on Flickr

[Mitsu3000gt]

Can't help with hotel but being in the Maldives to swim with whale sharks and manta rays is on my bucketlist -- mad jelly.

You can do this in Mexico around Cozumel if it's more likely that you will be down there instead of the Maldives or Philippines. Definitely a cool experience:

https://photos.smugmug.com/Cozumel-2015/Whale-Sharks/i-PzGXpjG/0/c49ad896/L/DSC_1141_1-L.jpg

[taemo]

my wife and i are thinking of going to the Maldives in February. however, what is the best time to go there? we definitely want to go to an all-inclusive resort. are there things to do at night, or is it mainly just hanging out? thanks!

They said best weather is November to April with high season being December to March.
We went on the 2nd week of January as the price were cheaper after the Christmas holidays.

Unless you are staying nearby a city, then your night activity will depend on the resort you are staying. They might have a lounge pool bar you can relax and have some drinks after dinner but be prepared to spend $ for drinks.
Plus remember that Maldives is primarily a muslin country.

[ExtraSlow]

The only reason we did Maldives was because we were already in the Philippines for a family wedding and saw that Maldives was only 6 hours away from Manila and flight ticket was only 500$ (Manila to KL then KL to Male). That makes a ton of sense. Thanks and great pics.

[sexualbanana]

I'm really surprised so many Canadians have been or are going to the Maldives. That's a hell of a long trip. Literally one of the furthest places you can go from Canada in terms of travel times if I'm reading google flights correctly. I haven't been, so I can't say anything bad about it once you are there, but I'd rather save 12 hours travel time and go somewhere like the Cook Islands or Fiji if I was looking for a tropical paradise.

What am I missing here?

With a an average elevation of 4 feet, I think Maldives has popped up on a lot of peoples' lists for fears its going to be underwater in 50 years. So I've heard.

[Red@8]

With a an average elevation of 4 feet, I think Maldives has popped up on a lot of peoples' lists for fears its going to be underwater in 50 years. So I've heard.

Yup, there has been a lot of this information running around.

Thanks for the tips so far guys.

I was initially thinking about staying at Cheval Blanc. I think I am going to pick one of the Hotels of my CC list that match up to what you guys have stayed at. Has anyone eaten at any of the underwater restaurants?

[jwslam]

Can y'all please ballpark for me what a Maldives trip cost you per person?

[taemo]

Can y'all please ballpark for me what a Maldives trip cost you per person?

Flight to Maldives will vary.. maybe 1000-1700$ from Calgary depending on the flight that you take.
Flight from KL or Singapore to Male should be cheap.

Resorts will vary too - 300US$+ but I would splurge and get an over the water bungalow (900US$+)
Depending on the location of your resort, you may also have to pay for transportation fees from Male to your resort (500 US$+)

Meal.. most resorts have option for half-board (breakfast and dinner) and full-board (lunch included), half board was more than enough for us as we would eat a big breakfast late around 9am or 10am and then supper at 5pm or 6pm. If we wanted a light lunch, then we would share a burger and fries for 15-20US$

If you have the opportunity to stay in Male, stay there on your first night and buy snacks and foods at the local groceries to bring at your resort.

So maybe budget 3000-5000 per person for a 5day stay.

[lasimmon]

If you have to ask, you can't afford it.

[hurrdurr]

If you have to ask, you can't afford it.

How so?

Being price curious relates to not having money?

Did you write that just to write something? What did you contribute? Are you funny? Is this a joke? Do you feel accomplished? Fuck you

[lasimmon]

Cool your jets tough guy. Its the internet. Watch a movie or two.

[2Legit2Quit]

https://i.4pcdn.org/o/1411667721180.png

[01RedDX]

.

[RX_EVOLV]

It's on our bucket list to stay at those water bungalow at the Maldives but it's so expensive!

We looked into it briefly before when our friend was planning to get married there. Flight was $2K. Water taxi to resort was $1000. Resort was $1500-$2300/night.. plus food and everything we figured it would've been a $20K trip to go for a week.. They ended up having their wedding somewhere else.. thank god..

[hurrdurr]

Went to the Maldives during my honeymoon. Stayed at Veligandu - did All Inclusive. The island was 600m everything accessible by barefoot. It was pure paradise. We stayed in an over the water bungalow as well as a beach bungalow. My best advice is when you pick your resort you really need to know the amenities they have and the costs to do any types of excursions so that you're not surprised when you get there. For example - I forgot sunscreen (idiot) it was $60USD or something crazy. A small bag of chips was $6USD, 1 Hour Jetski rental was $200USD etc.

As mentioned bring USD, we brought Maldivian dollars and it was practically useless.

I've never stayed anywhere as remote, beautiful and picturesque - don't skimp out and enjoy every minute.


Found the brokeass. :D

yep :rolleyes:


Cool your jets tough guy. Its the internet. Watch a movie or two.

I'm tough? You were insulting someone for asking about the price of a vacation, does that make you tough? What does watching a movie have to do with anything?

[vengie]

yep :rolleyes:



I'm tough? You were insulting someone for asking about the price of a vacation, does that make you tough? What does watching a movie have to do with anything?


The internet is serious business today....

He was quoting Fast and Furious.
Let me paint a picture...
Supra pulls up next to a ferrari

Paul Walker: Nice car, what's the retail on one of those?
Douchey Ferrari owner: More than you can afford pal, ferrari *revs engine*
Torretto: Smoke him.

Paul walker proceeds to smoke him

[hurrdurr]

If you have to ask, you can't afford it.


The internet is serious business today....

He was quoting Fast and Furious.
Let me paint a picture...
Supra pulls up next to a ferrari

Paul Walker: Nice car, what's the retail on one of those?
Douchey Ferrari owner: More than you can afford pal, ferrari *revs engine*
Torretto: Smoke him.

Paul walker proceeds to smoke him

??? I'm not mad at the F&F Meme.

Either way you're right - I'm being a cunt :devil:

[lasimmon]

The internet is serious business today....

He was quoting Fast and Furious.
Let me paint a picture...
Supra pulls up next to a ferrari

Paul Walker: Nice car, what's the retail on one of those?
Douchey Ferrari owner: More than you can afford pal, ferrari *revs engine*
Torretto: Smoke him.

Paul walker proceeds to smoke him

Well Beer Fest actually

“What’s a ZJ?”

“If you have to ask you can’t afford it”

[Team_Mclaren]

It's a lonnnngg way there. We had our wedding in HK so naturally we picked Maldives for our honeymoon. It's basically another full day of travel till you get to the resort (from HK).

It is awesome and relaxing tho. I had an all inclusive plan so food and drinks were all free. imo it's worth it cause one meal can be 50USD/person.

There's isnt much to do other than water activities, but the experience was outstanding. I booked my package in HK and it was approximately 4k/person. I also had a stop over in Singapore on our way back to HK ($ extra).

[davidI]

We're headed there for 12 days in August after 6 weeks in Sri Lanka.

Neither my girl nor I are the relax in a fancy villa type so we'll likely try to stay on the local islands and get a feel for more of the local food / culture. We may treat ourselves to a couple nights on a resort island if there are some good activities available but it's not the priority for us since we tend to find luxury spots more stuffy than enjoyable.

Has anyone had more "local" experiences they can share? It seems most here have done the honeymoon / instagram style vacay.

[Team_Mclaren]

We're headed there for 12 days in August after 6 weeks in Sri Lanka.

Neither my girl nor I are the relax in a fancy villa type so we'll likely try to stay on the local islands and get a feel for more of the local food / culture. We may treat ourselves to a couple nights on a resort island if there are some good activities available but it's not the priority for us since we tend to find luxury spots more stuffy than enjoyable.

Has anyone had more "local" experiences they can share? It seems most here have done the honeymoon / instagram style vacay.

I dont know how much "local" experience you'll get as the only major city is Male and it's just a stop gap between the international airport and the resorts. The city itself is pretty ghetto imo (i only spent one night of 8 hours there tho).

[taemo]

We're headed there for 12 days in August after 6 weeks in Sri Lanka.

Neither my girl nor I are the relax in a fancy villa type so we'll likely try to stay on the local islands and get a feel for more of the local food / culture. We may treat ourselves to a couple nights on a resort island if there are some good activities available but it's not the priority for us since we tend to find luxury spots more stuffy than enjoyable.

Has anyone had more "local" experiences they can share? It seems most here have done the honeymoon / instagram style vacay.


12 days in Maldives? you might end up getting bored.
Really the local place you will easily explore is Male.
We stayed there overnight on our first night as we arrived late afternoon and wanted to stock up on some snacks before heading
to the resort.
I went for a walk in the early morning (before 6am) and surprisingly most people were already awake, kids were playing soccer, there were lots of locals swimming at the beach. Unfortunately we didn't have time to check the local wet fish and fruit markets.

There are other local islands that you can visit and stay for cheap but I don't know much about transportation and good accommodations.
I researched for decent airbnbs but let my wife pick the resort since Maldives was her bucket list and babymoon.
https://www.neverendingfootsteps.com/travel-the-maldives-on-a-budget/

[davidI]

I dont know how much "local" experience you'll get as the only major city is Male and it's just a stop gap between the international airport and the resorts. The city itself is pretty ghetto imo (i only spent one night of 8 hours there tho).

I've heard good things about Maafushi, Guraidhoo, and Fulidhoo so we'll probably just choose a couple of those for most of our time :dunno:

https://www.neverendingvoyage.com/fulidhoo-maldives/

[Maxx Mazda]

We're headed there for 12 days in August after 6 weeks in Sri Lanka.

Neither my girl nor I are the relax in a fancy villa type so we'll likely try to stay on the local islands and get a feel for more of the local food / culture. We may treat ourselves to a couple nights on a resort island if there are some good activities available but it's not the priority for us since we tend to find luxury spots more stuffy than enjoyable.

Has anyone had more "local" experiences they can share? It seems most here have done the honeymoon / instagram style vacay.

The Maldives outside of the resorts is still a very poor third world country. There really isn’t much to do it’s so small. Oh, and extremely Muslim, so a lot of western customs and luxuries are frowned upon by the locals.

[davidI]

The Maldives outside of the resorts is still a very poor third world country. There really isn’t much to do it’s so small. Oh, and extremely Muslim, so a lot of western customs and luxuries are frowned upon by the locals.

Sounds perfect to me.

[davidI]

Just finished our trip to Male, Fulidhoo, Maafushi, and Gulhi. Still doing the final calculations but I suspect we spent less than US $1500 for 2 people for 12 days and had a great time.

Decent standard of accommodation, good food (fresh grilled fish or curries most nights but not a lot of vegetables), and a couple excellent snorkelling trips as well as a sunset fishing trip (caught 3 and grilled them up for dinner).

The beaches on each island were great but we probably liked Fulidhoo's beach the most (but the actual island the least due to the people still being a little unaccustomed to tourists). There's not a lot to do on Gulhi but the beach is great and some decent snorkelling. Maafushi would be the easiest place to spend some time due to all the tours (snorkeling, diving, etc.) and restaurants and such but the beach was our least favourite as they charged $5 for chairs and there wasn't much shade or snorkeling from the beach.

I'll eventually get around to doing a blog post about our trip but if anyone has Q's about a "Local Island Experience" let me know.

[Zhariak]

Planning this trip sometime in the next 2-3 months.

Mix of $ and points. I'll be doing a blog post after detailing planned costs/unforeseen costs. Let's see how bad this hurts the wallet! hahah

[Manhattan]

I'll eventually get around to doing a blog post about our trip but if anyone has Q's about a "Local Island Experience" let me know.

How was the sunset fishing trip organized/planned? How did you hop between islands and how'd you find accommodations? Link to blog post if there's one would be appreciated.

And wow the beyond ballers sure don't skimp on vacations. Someone mentioned 3 to 5K for a 5 day trip...per person. :eek: I find there's affordable stays just about anywhere. Noticed there's a lone hostel on Thulusdhoo.

[davidI]

How was the sunset fishing trip organized/planned? How did you hop between islands and how'd you find accommodations? Link to blog post if there's one would be appreciated.

And wow the beyond ballers sure don't skimp on vacations. Someone mentioned 3 to 5K for a 5 day trip...per person. :eek: I find there's affordable stays just about anywhere. Noticed there's a lone hostel on Thulusdhoo.

Fishing trip was through a guesthouse on Gulhi (across the street from Hudhuveli Inn where we stayed).

Transport was local ferry.

We stayed at budget accommodation. 10x nicer than the backpacker stuff I used to stay in but not fancy compared to what the Maldive "Influencers" will post on Instagram. For us it was just a bed and a shower. Time was spent on the beach or exploring the (small) islands.

I'll try to get around to the blog post. Super busy lately and kind of sick and tired of tourists ruining places not to mention the environmental impact so I'm less enthusiastic about promoting anything travel anymore (though I'm still super supportive of responsible travellers who support local economies and respect local cultures).

[Manhattan]

^

People need to stop tagging the exact location on their insta at least. Ruins beautiful spots and I like doing research before trips since anticipation is one of the most fun parts of traveling but too often I'll see everything I wanted to see before actually being there. "A tourist sees what they came to see. A traveler sees what he sees" or something along those lines.

Even for responsible travelers the carbon footprint of flying is significant but what can you do. At least we're not hypocritical enough to fly to a climate change conference in a private jet.

[davidI]

^100%.

Not to mention supporting the local Maldivians with guesthouses and restaurants and supermarkets rather than just the multi-millionaires running private resorts.

[taemo]

How was the sunset fishing trip organized/planned? How did you hop between islands and how'd you find accommodations? Link to blog post if there's one would be appreciated.

And wow the beyond ballers sure don't skimp on vacations. Someone mentioned 3 to 5K for a 5 day trip...per person. :eek: I find there's affordable stays just about anywhere. Noticed there's a lone hostel on Thulusdhoo.

that was probably my post, the 3-5K budget per person includes flight from Calgary to Maldives (that alone will set you 2-3K for 2 persons depending on the deals that you find)