For years, I had dreams of being in the midst of small huts overlooking the ocean. The idea of being in the middle of nowhere, surrounded in all directions by the Indian Ocean was so enticing that the goosebumps of wanderlust formed all over my body. My 30th birthday was approaching and I began to think: what better time to explore the island of my dreams? Here’s how my wanderlust birthday dreams all came true:
Flight
I stalked the flight from almost a year prior to going. I used my usual flight-booking strategy and studied, studied, studied. For such a lengthy flight, there were required layovers in either Australia or Dubai. As much as I am dying to visit Australia, I thought my boyfriend, who was accompanying me, might enjoy Dubai and opted for a 12-hour layover so that we could explore. There were a number of flights that I could have gotten for about $1000 per person (which is a great price for the Maldives!), however, I wanted to fly with emirates and also had to book the trip last minute because I did not know if my boyfriend’s vacation time had been approved. I booked our flights in July for an August departure with our round-trip tickets on Emirates costing about $1300 per person.
Accommodations
Now, here’s the part to pay attention to. If you’re thinking about traveling to the Maldives, the most expensive part of your trip will be the accommodations. Each resort makes up its own island. Once you land at the airport in Male, you have to take either a speedboat transfer or another short flight to arrive at your resort if you do not wish to stay in Male. While I knew that I wanted to stay in the beautiful ocean-view lagoons, I also knew that I did not want to pay the extreme “beautiful ocean-view lagoon” prices that I saw all over the web. Additionally, while I wanted to be more frugal, I also knew that I did not want to travel for over 20 hours to get to this island and not stay in one of those ocean-view lagoons! That’s where one of my favorite sites for booking accommodations, Gilt, came in handy. Just like the flights, I stalked Gilt for months and months and saw a number of different hotel options pop up and disappear before my eyes. Once I finally knew that my boyfriend’s vacation time had been approved, I waited again for something to pop up. The Travel Gods came through, as they usually do, when a deal popped up for Taj Exotica Resort and Spa. Around that time, there were a few other hotel options available and it was honestly overwhelming deciding which one to go with. I opted to go with Taj Exotica because of one crucial detail. The speedboat transfer needed to get there was included in the package, whereas, other hotels still had additional fees ranging from $200-$500 extra per person for the speedboats or flights to get to resorts that were only 30 minutes away from Male! So, it was solidified. I zealously booked a Deluxe Lagoon Villa for about $600 a night and booked with Ebates to make sure I got cash back on the stay. It included the following:
- Breakfast buffet
- Dinner
- One hour aromatherapy couple’s massage
- Photo shoot
- Wine
- A sunset cruise
The same room we booked without all these extras goes for $1700 a night on Expedia. The resort was breathtaking with the most kind and welcoming staff. They surprised us with an upgrade to our room and for the price of $600 a night, we ended up with a suite worth a whopping $3000 a night! Can you say “winning”?
Activities & Excursions
While some people believe the Maldives is boring, I didn’t feel that way at all. I felt as though I had more than enough things to do and just taking in the ambiance is an activity in itself. As I already mentioned, a few activities were available that were already included in our package. In addition to those, other activities:
- Ocean-front yoga
- Water sports
- Fishing
- Snorkeling
- Scuba diving
- Arcade/game room
- Spa and sauna
- Cooking classes
- Boat and helicopter tours to other islands/resorts
- Kayaking
- Sailing
We were there for four nights and I felt like we didn’t have enough time to do all that we would have liked. While the cooking class was moderately-priced at about $75 a person to include the full lesson and meal, the water sports were very pricey. A 30-minute jet ski ride was priced at about $150! There is an option to tour other islands, however in the interest of time (and money) we did not opt to do so. I brought my drone and spent a lot of time using that to take pictures but the photo shoot came in handy because everything was so secluded, there were rarely people around to take photos for us.
Food
Another important thing to note about the Maldives is that the price of food there is astronomical! That is another reason why I booked with the resort I did that included breakfast and dinner. The breakfast was cooked to order and all-you-can-eat. So that is exactly what we did because the food was so pricey and our package did not include lunch. We also brought snacks with us from home to avoid paying for lunch daily. The one day we did have lunch by the pool, for only two alcoholic drinks, an order of fries and one order of pasta, we paid more than $100. A bottle of water was priced at $18 so outside of dinner hours, we made sure to drink only the water that was included in our room. The dinner was phenomenal and had an array of options. Everything I ordered was exquisite. Our waiter learned our preferences and when we would arrive, we would have things being served to us before we even ordered simply because he thought we would enjoy them. It was a week and a half before my birthday and they created an intricate design with sand to host a special birthday dinner for me.
What I Learned
- The Maldives CAN be affordable with very detailed planning and strategic moves.
- Bring snacks to avoid unnecessary eating but don’t go overboard. I had way more snacks than we needed.
- You can cut costs by choosing to stay some days in the main city of Male, which is substantially cheaper than the resorts.
- There are a number of activities and it’s really who you go with that determines whether or not you end up bored.
- Picture-taking is an activity that is endless here.
- Resorts accessible by speedboat are cheaper to get to than those accessible by flight.
- Resorts that are closer to Male tend to have cheaper fees for the speedboat transfers.
- It’s best to wait to book hotels that include the transfer fee, whether it be speedboat or flight.
- Plan way in advance if you would like to visit other resorts and islands
- Definitely bring a drone but be prepared for there to be a number of “no drone zones” where you’re not allowed to use them.
Does this all seem like too much to you? Understandable! We’ll gladly book your trip for you with a fee of $50 for domestic travel and $100 for international travel. Contact us with your travel inquiries here.
