TIPS FOR TRAVELING TO MALDIVES (AND NOT SHIT)

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You have thought travel to Maldives And you don't know how to organize yourself? Are you worried that paradise is only available to a few? Don't you know which islands to visit? Do you need a visa? In this post we are going to give you a few tips for traveling to Maldives (and not screw it up).

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There are more and more cheap flights from Spain (or any other point) to the Maldives. It is not uncommon to find offers for some € 400/600 i / v, with a stopover in some Middle Eastern country, or Turkey (you will reach its capital: Male).

What company to fly with? Actually it does not matter, you can find offers with very good Arab Emirates airlines like Qatar Airways, Emirates, Etihad ..., or with other European ones such as Turkish Airlines, British, Alitalia ... If you want to have a more precise idea of how it is Each company and read a lot of opinions, check out the Skytrax website.

Although honestly, we always we compare flights in Skyscanner and we usually book the cheapest (and have a single scale between 1.5 hours and 3 or 4 hours). By the way: reserve seat in window, when you are flying over their atolls you will understand the reason.

→ Flights Spain - Maldives

A good option is to make a combined trip, visiting first India or Sri Lanka, and ending in Maldives. Flights to Male from cities in southern India (or Delhi), or from Colombo (the capital of Sri Lanka) are very cheap (easy for less than $ 100).

This plan is recommended for trips of at least 3 weeks, so dedicate the first 2 to tour the area of Rajasthan or southern India, or make a fairly complete trip in Sri Lanka, and then fly to Maldives and spend 1 week lying in the bartola (or not). In that case, the interesting thing is that you look multi-destination flights, arriving in India / Sri Lanka and leaving from Male.→ Flights India - Maldives

→ Flights India - Maldives

→ Flights Sri Lanka - Maldives

Regardless of your nationality, the visa to enter Maldives is done on arrival and it's free. Of course, you have to have a passport with a minimum validity of 6 months, have a departure ticket and (supposedly) be able to prove that you have enough money to stay on the island (although this was never asked for). The Maldives visa is from 30 days, which can be extended to another 60 days by paying 700Rf (€ 40) by applying in the immigration department.

The currency of Maldives is the Maldivian Rufiyaa (MVR). It will be difficult for you to buy this currency in Spain so it will be your turn change money that you carry in cash (euros or dollars) upon arrival in Maldives. In the hall of airport There are several exchange houses where to do it, however it is NOT the most recommended option.

The solution we found a while ago to withdraw money abroad and make payments in currency not € without being crossed to commissions, it was to take two cards: the Bnext card as the first option, and the N26 card for possible emergencies. Both are free cards with excellent conditions to save us good money in commissions, but with certain limitations, so they complement each other perfectly. In addition, in Bnext there is a € 5 welcome promo!

There are other travel card options that we talk about here.

If you choose not to request any of these cards, it is best to exchange money in banks or exchange houses in the city and avoid those at airports. The last option is usually to get money with your bank card, because it is normal to apply very high commissions.

Keep in mind that possibly on the island where you are staying there are NO ATMs (we only saw one in Maafushi, as an exceptional case). So you will have to calculate the budget you will need on your trip, and get the exact amount at an airport cashier upon arrival.

In any case, both accommodation and tourist restaurants usually accept card payments and sometimes they also take American dollars.

IMPORTANT: on our first trip (a few years ago), we took out too much money at an ATM and what we had left over we could not change to € in the exchange houses of the airport, because we did not have a shelter from having got the rufiyas there. This last time they told us that in the exchange house there are once passed the SI controls that accepted the rest, although we hurried to the last ticket and we had nothing left over.

In Maldives there are more than 1,000 islands and, obviously, you will not be able to visit them all, so you will have to narrow the search. For that, the first thing you have to be clear about is the type of trip: do you want to go to a private island and hit a vacation at a resort? Or do you prefer to choose one local island, and enjoy the Maldives lowcost?

If your plan is for resort, we do not see a better way to find the ideal than using some accommodation search engine, such as booking.com and choose the one that best suits your tastes / budget. On the contrary, if you decide to go to a local island, there are enough with good offer of accommodation, restaurants and options for excursions. These are for us the best islands of Maldives (for one reason or another).

An important factor to opt for one and the other is the transport. Obviously, if the island is located in or near Malé atoll, you will have more chances of arriving by local ferry or with a speed ferry company. However, if the island is farther away, the price of transport will skyrocket (either with private boats or by seaplane). Also if you stay at the resort, see if the price is included in the price (normally they do NOT include it) and in that case ask about the options and the price to arrive. Below we talk about transportation in Maldives.

It is very possible that for the schedules of your flights, you have to spend a night in Male (upon arrival or when leaving). It is a good opportunity to know the capital of Maldives, which has some interesting things (here we tell you). However, it seems to us a better option to stay in Hulhumalé: It has a pretty beach and the hotels are better and cheaper than those of its neighbor. In addition, they usually include transportation from / to the airport. If you have to call the hotel to come and pick you up at the airport, at the information desk they have a phone with free local calls 😉

The best time to travel to Maldives is the months that from november to april, December being the most expensive month (high season). We went twice: the first at the end of January and we didn't have a rainy day and it wasn't too hot. The second at the end of October and the truth is that we catch several regular days, with lots of clouds and some rain. That said: better to opt for the months of January, February and March.

Avoid traveling during the Ramadan, especially if you plan to stay on a local island. During this month, Muslims "purify" and refrain, throughout the day, from eating, drinking, smoking and having sex. That, in logistics and travelers terms means that you may not find restaurants or supermarkets open until sunset. Practical and comfortable it is not, although on the other hand it has to be an interesting experience 😉

As for the time needed to travel to Maldives, in general we recommend spending at least 1 week and we would focus on Maafushi (the most tourist island where there are many offers of tours and cheap) and Gulhi, very close and with a spectacular beach. If you have 2 weeks You can add a few days in Diffushi (a beautiful island north of Male) or pull towards the area of Dhangethi and Dhigurah.

Do you think the Maldives are a paradise for a few rich people? Not so, in this post we reveal some tricks to travel cheap to the Maldives (on our first trip we spent about € 20 / daily all inclusive, except flights). And if you are worried about knowing the budget for such a trip, here we detail how much a trip to the Maldives costs. In short, these are the expenses for a trip of7 days on local island:

I / V flight: 500€
Visa: free upon arrival
hotel (price per person in double room): € 175
Food (price for 2 daily meals, breakfast is included in the hotel): € 100
Tours: € 45 (we did 2 tours, one of $ 25 and another of $ 20)
Speed boat i / v: € 40 ($ 4 if you decide to catch the local ferry!)
Various: € 50 (for your flight it is more expensive or you want to do more tours and / or eat in more “posh” places).
TOTAL: € 910 per person

If you want to live the experience of staying in a resort cabin on the water, be prepared to loosen the moneys ... Although you can find very good deals (about € 300 per night), normal prices do not fall below € 500. These are 4 options for make your stay at a resort cheaper:

Spend one night in a cabin on the water and the others in the garden cabins that are usually much cheaper (from € 150).
Stay most nights on a local island, and treat yourself to 1 or 2 nights at a nearby resort.
Search for all-inclusive packages at travel agencies in your city or online. Prices are usually better than booking the accommodation yourself.
Make a visit during the day: for about 100USD there are excursions from the local islands to a nearby resort. They usually include food and drinks too. The only bad thing will be to leave that luxury and return to your mousetrap (you can always hide among the palm trees and stay to sleep there hidden XD).

There are basically five options To get around in Maldives:

Local ferry: that belong to the government, it is the slowest mode but they are super cheap (1.5-3 €). You can see all the lines on this website.

Speed boat: Fast boats with fixed itineraries and schedules. Prices are higher (€ 15-30 per way) but not excessive and are faster.

Private boat: They are small boats that take you to the destination you want and at the time you indicate. The entire boat is rented, so the price goes off (from € 200 per boat).

Seaplane: For transfers to more remote islands, they are taken near the airport and do not have a fixed schedule. The company is Trans Maldivian and the price is € 250-400.

Internal flights: flights in small planes that connect some remote islands, on regular flights. The two companies that operate them are Maldivian and Flyme. Flights are around € 100-120.

If you have enough days we recommend using the local ferry whenever you have the possibility (keep an eye on the days that circulate, for example Fridays is the holy day for Muslims and they do not operate. The alternative speed boat We see it interesting if the local ferry schedules don't add up, or you don't want to waste much time on transfers.

Here are a few more rabbits to prepare your trip to Maldives:

- Never travel without insurance, most likely (we touch wood) is that you do not have to use it, but the peace of mind of having a team of professionals willing to help you in case you need it is priceless. Here you have a 5% discount on Iati travel insurance, which we have.

- As you know, the Maldives are a muslim country What translated comes to say that there is some rule to respect, especially if you travel to local islands. The most important is to bathe in the beach bikini, which are areas of the beach (usually the most beautiful) where it is allowed to go sn a shirt / bikini. In the rest, you will have to be dressed properly. In the majority of islands that are prepared for tourism there is a bikini beach. If you go to private resort islands you will NOT have problems.

- The alcohol It is also not allowed in the local islands, but in the resort islands. In Maafushi, yes, at night there were some bar-boats next to the beach where you could drink alcohol. Of course, they told us that beers cost about $ 6!

- In Maldives the type G plugs (3 pins), although all the accommodations where we stayed had adapted plugs. Anyway, if you have it, it doesn't hurt to wear a universal adapter like this.

- When we visited Maldives in 2013, we had to buy some snorkeling glasses (very good and very bad) in a little shop, so we always recommended wear a mask from home ... But after this last trip (2019) we would tell you that needless that you load with snorkel glasses in your backpack: all the accommodations where we stayed left us masks and fins completely free.

- If you use tampons Take them from home: I didn't see in any supermarket (although there are compresses). The rest of the products can be found in the shops of the local islands.

- If you want buy a local SIM Upon arrival, there is a shop Oreedoo in the airport. We prefer not to buy the SIM this time. In the islands where we were we had wifi in the accommodation, although not at stratospheric speeds.

- Maldives is one of the best places in the world to dive. Even snorkeling you can see amazing corals and many types of fish (from reef sharks, harmless, to turtles, parrot fish, unicorn fish, sea snakes ...).

- Lovers of surf They will also find their place in Maldives, specifically between April and September, in the atolls north and south of Male.

- But it's important that you be a responsible tourist: When snorkeling do not touch the coral, do not give food to the fish or alter the ecosystem in any way. And, of course, try to limit the use of plastic: garbage is a huge problem in the Maldives and we should all try to help reduce it. If you go to a local island, you will see that they have a reserved part to store the garbage and in the early mornings and / or at night, they burn it.

- I know comprehensive: The island does not have to be perfect for you to enjoy your vacation, before being a tourist destination it is a place where people live.

- If you are one of those who enjoy the local food, here we talk more about the cuisine of Maldives.

So far our tips for traveling to Maldives (and not screw it up). Hopefully they will be of help to you and above all, to encourage you to visit these incredible islands, lost in the middle of the Indian Ocean: they will not let you down.