Hello friends, I was planned the Maldives trip around 2.5 months before. I went to Maldives for a trip with my wife and my 5 month old kid who is 7 months old now So I went there …. and actually enjoyed a lot over there And I have already published 4 Vlogs about it on my Channel If you wish you can check them out So, after posting these Vlogs I thought to make a … … separate video for Maldives In which I will be giving you all the information in 1 video Like the flights… Hotels… Restaurants in Maldives I will be giving the details about them too And Day Excursions, Resort Trip,… … so whatever you can think about related to Maldives I am going to give you all the information in this video
So friends, the booked our flights through Goibibo… … and it was an Indigo Airlines flight And the total price of this flight was Rs.40,000 So, in Rs.40,000 we 3 people went to Maldives… … I, my wife and my 5 month old kid So, a lot of people think that if you have an infant with you… … he will not be charged for the ticket So, that’s not true… even for an infant you need to buy a ticket Ours was not a direct flight, it was a connecting flight… … it was going via Kochi and we had a layover of 4 hours in Kochi After that it took us to Malé But one thing was good about it that out PNR No. was same So, if the PNR No. of your Boarding Pass is the same … … it means that You can check-in your checking Baggage at Origin Airport And you will be getting it directly at the Destination Airport Like we checked in our baggage at Delhi Airport We got it directly at the Malé Airport And if you get different PNR Numbers on your Boarding Pass It will mean that you need to check in separately at both the Airports … … like you Check in at Delhi Airport And you need to collect your Baggage at Kochi Airport (Domestic Terminal).. …and after that again you need to Check-in your Baggage at Kochi International Airport and you will need to collect it again at Malé Airport so you need to check-in 2 times this way And when you are booking your tickets you get this option … … there is an option called multi check in So, if you select that option you may get some discount… … but you will have to check-in 2 times in that case
And I want to give you one more tip Whenever you are planning to book your Flight Tickets Whether it is International or Domestic… … any type of flights you are booking Do check the rates of Flight Tickets in Incognito Mode of your Browser Only after that you should login to your Account and book your Tickets So, what happens is….you will actually see inflated rates … … if you check it normally But in Incognito Mode you will see the actual rates only After reading a lot of blogs and doing a lot of research I found out that …
The most popular and budget friendly island of Maldives is Maafushi And this is the reason we booked our Hotel at Maafushi Island And the Hotel in which we booked our stay was Kaani Beach Hotel But what happened is …. … luckily our booking was updgraded and we good another hotel Which means… …there is another hotel besides Kaani Beach Hotel named as Kaani Grand Hotel So, we were given a room in this hotel to stay after the upgradation As there was some construction work going on in Kaani Beach Hotel … … that is why they shifted us to Kaani Grand
So, this Hotel Bookings costed us Rs.4500/night Our breakfast and dinner was included with it So, if you want you can book your stay in Kaani Beach Hotel So, you may get a room in it at around Rs.4000-Rs.4500/night If your budget is little bit more, you can book in Kaani Grand Hotel And if it is even more better, you can book your stay at Arena Beach Hotel Please do not think that I am promoting these Hotels…. …. you can stay at any of the Hotels Maafushi Island is not a huge island… It almost ends after starting 😀 So, even if you walk for 10 minutes from any place… …. you can reach the Bikini Beach Maafushi Island is just this big So, you can stay at any Hotel here… just take care of one thing There is a thing called Green Tax here… … which is charged by every Hotel Do check how much is it for your Hotel
In our case, it was $3/per night per person… …which means it was costing us $6 per night Which was Green Tax… … and we were charged $24 for 4 nights So, I would say whenever you book a Hotel do check … … that Green Tax and Other Taxes are included in it or not So, please check it carefully and only after that do your bookings Because what happens is the charges of your Hotels might be quite less But… Some other Taxes as well as Green Tax might be included in that price … … which you don’t read carefully So, you will have to pay that later on
Maldives is a country made up of a number of small islands And if you want to go from one island to another… … you have only 2 options there 1. Use Public Ferry, which is quite inexpensive… …but takes a lot of time 2. Use Speed Boat, which is quite costly … … but can take you to any place quickly So, it saves a lot of time
Now, let me tell you about Airport Transfers … which means if you want to go to Maafushi from Airport… …or you want to come from Maafushi to Airport Or you want to go to any of the islands In what way you can reach So, let me tell you in this case also you get same options Which means you can use Speed Boat or Ferry So, if you go to Maafushi from Airport by Speedboat you need to pay $20 It is a shared speedboat So, there are some other people as well in the speedboat
If you want to go by Public Ferry, you need to pay only $2 So, there is a huge difference in the price But you need to understand their Schedule and according to that you can plan your trip I would suggest you to get in touch with your Hotel once… You can check out the exact Schedule of Public Ferry and Speed Boats from them And this is the best option… … because only they can give you the correct information
There are a lot of websites So, I would suggest you that instead of referring those websites… … please get in touch with your Hotel directly … you will surely get the exact information from there So, once you have talked to your Hotel please understand the complete Schedule and book through them only Because if you reach directly at the Airport and book a Speedboat, you will need to pay $20 And even if you book through Hotel, then also you need to pay $20
If you reach directly at the Airport and you try book your Speedboat there are chances that you may not get a Speedboat because they run on a particular schedule In our case, we reached directly at the airport and we luckily got a speedboat If we would have been late by even an hour… … we could not get the speedboat And we don’t when we could have got another speedboat then So, we could have wasted a lot of time over there
If you are going to Maldives, you don’t need to take any Visa beforehand As soon as you reach there, you will be given Visa on Arrival… … which is totally free of cost So, as soon as you reach there you need to fill up an Arrival Card And you need to submit the filled up Arrival Card at the Immigration counter And they may ask you for some documents Like your flight bookings Your return flight bookings and they may also ask you for… … your Hotel Bookings for all the days you will be staying in Maldives In our case, they didn’t ask for any documents but … … I will still suggest you to keep all these documents handy Because they may ask for these documents from anyone
So, the local currency of Maldives is Maldivian Rufiyaa And let me tell you that …. … in Maldives US Dollars are accepted even more than their local currency So, wherever you go in Maldives you can give US Dollars there Whether you are going to a Restaurant or … … like for Day Excursions or any other place You can pay in US Dollars there So, we carried $700 with us from India So, you can go to any local exchanger and buy USD Dollars I will suggest you not to exchange your currency ever from Airports If you exchange it from an Airport, the Dollars will cost you quite high If you search on Google you will see a lot of options… So, if you search for “Currency Exchangers near Me” you will see a lot of options You can select the one who is giving you the best rates from them You can buy US Dollars from them
Let me tell you that there are 4 months here… … which are June, July, August and September In these 4 months its Monsoon in Maldives June receives the majority of the rainfall and around September the starts Monsoon getting over We also went in September end when the Monsoon was almost finished, but it still rained a bit when we were there If you have kids or elderly people with you Then you must avoid these months Because you get annoyed by the rains out here It can rain a lot and you may have to roam around under an umbrella whole time And in this season, one more problem is there…
Water Sports services are highly disrupted during these months And there is a lot of craze for Water Sports in Maldives And if you are not allowed to do Water Sports, your trip will not be as you wanted and may get spoiled So,
we did not plan our Maldives Trip through any Tour Operator or Website…. We planned it by our own We made our own itinerary We were accompanied by my friend, his wife and 2 year old son They joined us from Kochi… so as we all were together we got good discounts at many places Like for our Day Tours and Resort Tours…. … we got good discount there So, let me tell you my itinerary … like what all we did there
On Day 1, we did not do much as we were really tired As we had a layover of 4 hours in Kochi And in the night, we had to be there at the Airport as we had our flight for Malé in the morning So, we reached at Malé early morning at around 6-7 am After that we went to Hotel and took some time there We took rest for a few hours there We slept for 5-6 hours After that we roamed around a bit in the evening We saw the Bikini Beach and explored the nearby supermarkets So, this is what we did on the first day
So, let me tell you about Day 2 We booked Day Tour for a resort Which was a 5-Star Property named as Adaaran Prestige Vadoo So, we went there We paid $120 per person for that As we were 4 people, we got a bit of discount So, it costed us $120 per person In this, our to and fro transfers were included Unlimited Alcohol Beverages was also included from 9 am to 5 pm… from morning to evening and buffet lunch was also there and in the evening they also take you for fish feeding which is also included in the package So, all these things are usually included in Resort Day Tours
You can plan any resort tour You can get a Resort Tour from $80 to $200 It depends upon your Budget, which Resort’s Day Tour you want to opt for There are a lot of options available there So let me show you the Rate List I have the Rate List of a lot of resorts You can check this out and choose the resort you wish to go to But I would say please do not book in Advance You reach there and then do the booking Because you can bargain a bit after reaching there But if you pay/book in advance You almost lose that chance to bargain
On the 3rd Day we took a Package which included 3 Point Snorkeling and Sand Bank Tour Its price was $110 $110 is for 4 people Which means for a couple it would cost you $55 I would say that as we were in group so we got a bit of discount In the starting, they quoted us a price of $35/person So, if you will be in a group you will get a bit of discount So, in this package our to and fro transfers and Buffet Lunch was also included You will be getting both Veg and Non Veg options So, let me tell you that in 3 point snorkeling they will take you to 3 different points for snorkeling Out of these, there are 2 points where you can watch the fishes And on 1 point you will be able to see a lot of turtles together They are quite large-sized turtles So, you can watch them over there … which is a very different kind of experience And while you are on the way… you will see a lot of dolphins jumping around here and there So, all these things are included in it
So, I think it is ok This package of $110 is quite feasible for 4 people So, we kept out Day 4 for Water Sports… we enjoyed water sports on that day And before we did Water Sports we roamed around on a local beach Its a very beautiful local beach If you go to Maafushi, do visit that beach The photographs clicked there are really beautiful So, the water sports we did were Fun Tube Kayaking and Jet Ski So, we took a package for this which costed us $100 So, in $100 we 4 enjoyed these water sports Which means we spend $25 per person over here So, we did these 3 water sports activities over here but there are a lot of other water sports activities which are conducted over here
So, we asked for Parasailing and he told that it would cost us $80 per person If we would have included Parasailing in our Package Which I think was quite expensive because in Goa and Thailand I have done it and it is quite cheaper as compared to what they were charging here in Maldives So, we left Parasailing And apart from these also there are a lot of water sports activities which you can enjoy over here So, all we enjoyed all these things here Apart from these things, there are a lot of other day tours here … like day tour of different islands
You can go there and come back And there are candle light dinners which you can enjoy And there are other expensive packages for snorkeling which you can opt for So, it all depends upon you, you will see a lot of different packages there As soon as you reach the Hotel they will start showing you their brochure So, when you will reach there you will see a lot of tour operators there You can talk to them about these packages and fix the rates as per your convenience
You will find Maldives food quite different as compared to India Because the way they use the ingredients is very different from India Whether it is Veg or Non Veg, in everything you will find a different kind of taste I won’t say it is bad but I can’t say if you will it or not I didn’t like the taste of the food there Anyways, I am a non-vegetarian but my wife eats only veg food So, she had a lot of issues with the food there
The veg food you get there, it doesn’t take like what we get here in India But let me tell you that there is a restaurant in Maafushi named Stringray Cafe If you go there, the food you get there is quite similar to what you get in India And you get a lot of vegetables there You can check out this Menu as well You can refer this Menu, so you get all these things easily over there And if you go in some other restaurants over there… … you may get Indian food but it may not taste like what you get in India So, I felt this restaurant was the closest to Indian taste
If you are looking to eat Veg food you can go here Do remember one thing, when you book your Hotel kindly book it along with breakfast and dinner If you do not opt for it, you will have to eat outside and it will be very expensive for you Whether you eat in Maafushi Island or any other place in Maldives the charges of food is quite high and that is why I am telling you to take Breakfast and Dinner in your package and you can have your Lunch outside It’s a little expensive but at least you can have you Lunch outside and even try something new
You get Pizza and all very easily over there And if you want to have veg food, you can have it at the Stringray Cafe And if you do not want to eat the local food in Maldives then you can take ready to cook items along with you from India like Maggi or packed vegetable or paratha etc You can take these packed food along with you… and there you can request your Hotel staff to cook it and give it to you So, this is also a good option if you do not want to eat local food of Maldives
And there are supermarkets there, from which you can purchase fruits and other small items which you get in supermarkets for eating Apart from all these things, let me give you a small tip Till the time you will be staying there, you will get a half litre water bottle/per person every day And if you want to purchase an extra bottle there They will be charging $1 for a half litre bottle And if you walk a bit you will find a lot of supermarkets, and if you go there you will get 1.5 litre water bottle in $1 there So, you can see there is huge difference So, that’s why I am telling you that if you consume your daily quota of water bottles You should purchase the rest of the water bottles from a supermarket, it will cost you a quite less
Alcohol is completely banned on all the public islands of Maldives You cannot consume alcohol over there Whether it is a restaurant or any hotel, you won’t get alcohol anywhere in Maldives So, there are 2 options if you to drink in Maldives So, the first option is Floating Bar You will get a lot of Floating Bars around Maafushi Island At least 4-5 floating bars are there All these floating bars usually start off in the evening And if you want to enjoy, you must go here at night at around 9-10 pm the atmosphere is great over here So, you can spend 1-2 hours here, take experience that much is sufficient You can go here by a speedboat which is free of cost It will hardly take 2-4 minutes to reach the floating bar And you can reach there for free If you want to buy a pint of beer, you need to spend $10 there And if you want to have 1 peg of whiskey(black label) It will also cost you $10 I felt that it was quite expensive if you compare it with India But you won’t get any options there
Let me tell you the 2nd option, which is a resort which I have already discussed So, you can go to a resort and take day tour Have a nice time there and from morning to evening You can consume as much liquor as you want Still I would do it in control, it’s not good to drink a lot you are going to a different country So, these 2 options are there with you So, you can choose any of the 2 options
If we talk about Maafushi Island, there is not much of a market area here Mainly you can find a few supermarkets here There are a lot of souvenir shops, you can find a souvenir shop in every 2 minutes distance If you want to buy some souvenirs for your friends and family, then you can buy from here Do remember that they are quite expensive over here So, you can bargain a lot over here So, were were told the rate of $100 of some souvenirs and we bought them at $40 So, there is so much of a difference So, do remember that you can bargain a lot over here
So, internet connectivity is quite nice in the Maldives So, whether you go to a restaurant, a resort or if you are going to a local shop Everywhere you will get a WiFi network, which is a Free WiFi And this is the reason I did not buy any Sim Card over there Sim Cards are very expensive over there You can check the rates and see how expensive these Sim Cards are So, as we want to go for 2-4 days we don’t really need a sim card there Everywhere you will be getting WiFi network which is totally free So, you can connect to them easily and do all your internet related work over there
I felt that people living Maldives are quite soft spoken, humble and simple Mostly people living there are Maldivian or from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka So, the people who come from other countries for working in Maldives are mostly and a few people from Sri Lanka as well I could see some people from India as well but there a very few people from India Mostly, you will find people from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh there
So, before I finish this Video let me give you a Break of my Expenses on this trip Which means where and how much I spent Although, I have been telling you from the starting about every expense Still I will write all the expenses at a single place Which will give you an idea about your expenditure Where all can you save or add some new things in your itinerary You can make your own itinerary and calculate how much you are going to spend there in Maldives So, I hope that you liked watching my video If you liked watching my video, do press the LIKE button And if you not Subscribed to my Channel yet Then do not forget to Subscribe it 🙂
Credit Watch this article in video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLvwOVG5LqU&list=PLLUYAHga5F4exdXNAdMivzJgbntOkJDbx&index=16&t=2s