Maldives is a must visit country for every avid traveler as it is known for its pristine islands, turquoise-colored clear waters & beautiful resorts and water villas. Trust me, it feels surreal once you step on to the beautiful country and the experience was rejuvenating.
However many drop the idea of going to Maldives due to financial constraints, people assume that you need a big budget to go there as travel pages often display exorbitant resorts in Maldives. I am going to write up on how to make a trip to Maldives possible with a limited budget. This article is based on my individual 5 days 4 nights experience from Malaysia.
1. Booking a flight.
Look for Air Asia flights from Kuala Lumpur to Male (Velana International Airport) during promo period. I booked for 450 MYR to & fro around July for travelling in September. Weather is generally stable in Maldives throughout the year.
* MYR = Malaysian Ringgit
2. Accommodation.
If you are on a budget trip, avoid booking expensive resorts or unless you are on a honeymoon. Upon arrival we took the night ferry from Male airport to Maafushi Island. There are almost 1200 islands in Maldives and some of them are private islands. Maafushi is a big island with a population of 2000 over people, proper accommodations, and many travel services to other nearby islands. Most importantly, night is reasonably active, unlike many other islands. I didn't like the idea of staying in an isolated place with no night life. I prefer to walk around the island and spend the night with my friends. So, if you are on the same boat as me, then Maafushi is an ideal choice. We stayed in Kaani Grand Sea View for 4 nights, roughly costing about 380 MYR per night for a Deluxe room. We had a great sea view with lots of activities to do on the island itself. It was so convenient to top up vitamin sea on a regular basis as there is Bikini Beach opposite the hotel. The hotel staffs are warm and will assist you with transportation and tour bookings.
View from Kaani Seaview Resort
3. Activities to do.
i. Private island excursion
This is like a must-to-do as the private islands are very pretty and at least you get to visit on day tour (if not staying). If you wish to stay, one can consider Sheraton Maldives as the rooms are still affordable. We chose full day private island excursion to Adaaran Prestige Vadoo for about RM400 per day per person. Private island tour rates depend on the island you are booking the tour from. I had to negotiate for this one as I saw amazing pictures from Adaaran Prestigoo on Instagram and initially the tour was fully booked for my intended day to visit. So, always do your homework before a trip. This tour includes free and easy around the island, lunch buffet, alcohol, swimming pool. Once we were at the resort, we were over excited with the water villas and decided to book a day visit. We negotiated with the front desk staff to speak to the manager and we were offered a full day use of the water villa for MYR 1600, pretty expensive nah but it was all so worth it. The room was extremely cozy with a huge king sized bed, Marshall speaker, complimentary snacks, huge Jacuzzi, small infinity pool and the best part of all is the ocean view. Skip this additional booking if you are not willing to spend more.
Adaaran Prestige Vadoo
ii. Island hopping.
You will have a few options to select from. Just do island hopping on another day based on individual preferences and budget. Mostly will cost around 300 MYR per pax. We did island hopping for 2 consecutive days. It was tiring but we didn't want to waste a single bit of our time we had in this beautiful country.
Things you can visit or do via island hopping: snorkeling, ship wreck visit, dolphin watching (we were gifted to watch so many dolphins in the evening), kayaking, sandbank visit (please do this, I was lucky to shoot a quick video with the sea birds) and sea turtle watching . Diving will be definitely amazing here, but unfortunately i don't dive.
Sanbank in Maldives
4. Things to bring:
- Swimming attire & shoes, suitable beach themed clothes if you are an Instagrammer.
- Sunblock- invest in a good sunscreen with SPF 50++, medicines like Paracetamol and anti-emetics as you might get motion sickness with the constant traveling by boats.
- Water proof cameras- a good mobile phone would do. You don't need to edit your Maldive photos much as everything is beautiful there.
- Carry drinking water everywhere you go, keep yourself hydrated as the weather can be quite hot on a mid-day.
- Cash in US Dollars. They prefer to use US dollars for transactions with tourists. Not many places have credit card services except hotels. You can use their local currency, Madivian Rufiyaa as well.
5. Transportation.
Speed boats are the main mode of transportation. From Male Airport to other islands, you may charter a private boat or take the general ferry which is much cheaper, only about (3 USD per person) but check the timings as it only runs in the evening and on certain nights only. We took the speed boat as we arrived late night and the cost was 20 USD per pax. Definitely a faster journey. If you are doing Male city tour then you might need to consider bus. We skipped Male city itself as we wanted to see the islands and spend more time by the beach. Some private islands may need you to take the sea-plane, it will surely cost more but I guess that would be a fun ride as you will be able to watch the blue waters and hundreds of islands on the way (will consider in my future visits).
Based on my short trip, Maldivian people are humble and polite. I have to thank the hotel staffs for their hospitality. They transported our bags both to and from the jetty-hotel, without any request and for free of charge.
I guess the information provided above is enough for you to draft out a trip to Maldives soon. You don't need to read on detailed itineraries because all you need to do is some homework so that you will be able to do a customized trip and personally you will know what to expect from your holiday. Like in college, we do the theory first, then followed by practical. Some prefer to do a free and easy or impromptu trip and don't really prefer pre-planned itineraries. So, take this as a guide only.
Do drop your comments or questions here or via Instagram and I will keep in touch with you. Adios.
"BEFORE YOU RUN OUT OF TIME"
Powell Roy Louis @ theroytravels🌏
