13 Useful Maldives Travel Tips
Hey everyone, we are back from the Maldives and have been making all our travel articles from it. In this article we will tell you about our Maldives travel tips from 6-day experience there.
We have 12 tips for you which are:
- Atoll and Island
- Private and public islands
- Weather
- Visa
- Drone and recording
- Currency (USD, MVR), ATM, money exchange
- Religion and Bikini beach, Cats
- Foot washing
- Transportation
- Cost
- Food (Vegetarian/vegan options) & Supermarkets
- The essentials (sun cream, mosquitoes’ repellant, snorkeling…)
- Drink and Fruits
In this article, we will tell your all the Maldives travel tips we leant, and all the Maldives travel tips we would have like to know
Here is our complete video from this trip :
Table of Contents
Mapping the day
Where to Stay in the Maldives
Where to stay in Maafushi: Triton Prestige Seaview
Where to stay in Dhigurah: Seaside Dhigurah
Maldives Travel Tips
Atoll and island
While traveling to the Maldives, it is good to know that it isn’t your regular country. The Maldives is an archipelago and is formed by 26 atolls, along with a few islands and isolated reefs.
The definition is that an atoll is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim.
When you look at an Atoll, it is more like a bunch of islands and lagoons forming altogether a massive shape in the ocean.
And in total the Maldives have 1 192 islands across those 26 atolls. And did you know that the Maldives is the smallest country is Asia!
Private and public island
In the Maldives, we often mentioned local island and private island.
Local islands are publics islands that are managed directly by the government and where you are free to go without any restrictions. For our trip to the Maldives, we opted for to visit those islands. 187
Private islands are islands where a private hotel is located and where you cannot go unless you are a guest of the hotel.
For example, we stayed on Dhigurah island which is a local and public island. At the tip of this island there is a sandbank that connect Dhigurah to another island where a private hotel name lux is located.
While we could walk on the sandbank, we were allowed to enter the Lux island.
Weather
The Maldives is a year-round destination, with hot and sunny conditions throughout the year. Temperatures remaining reasonably consistent, with highs ranging between 28°C and 32°C and lows rarely dropping beneath 24°C.
There are two seasons in the Maldives:
November to April, the Dry season: It is the peak season, and most resorts runs from January to April which is also the driest time of year. The conditions are optimum for a dreamy Maldives holiday.
May to October: the Wet season: During this time there is a higher risk of rain, however heavy rain tends to be short. With the peak rainfall being typically in June
Therefor it is mostly recommended to travel to the Maldives between January and April. We travelled to the Maldives end of March and we had mostly a great weather. We only got one cloudy day and some rainfall either in early morning or at night.
Visa
I am French and Tina is Serbian, so when we travel, we are not always facing the same visa requirements. To travel to the Maldives however it was convenient for both of us.
We started organizing our trip the Maldives 2 weeks before our departure date. Once our planed and our first hotel booked, we just when online on imuga.immigration.gouv.mv and did our travel declarations.
It is quite easy to do, take 5 to 10 min and is completely free.
Know that all travelers are required to submit the traveler declaration within 96 hours to the flight time, during arrival and departure.
Drone and recording
If like us you are travelling with a drone, you may be wondering if you can fly it freely or not in the Maldives. First of all, we travelled to the Maldives through Dubai, and we didn’t have any trouble in our transit nor in Male Airport.
One of the first thing we asked when we arrived there was: Can we fly a drone. We got a super straight YES. And that there weren’t any restrictions about flying a drone in the Maldives.
We then flew our Mini 3 Pro on the public islands of Maafushi and Dhigurah. In fact, we even saw local flying their drone while searching for whale sharks.
One thing though, we saw online that some private islands with luxury resorts are sometime limiting the drone flying area to certain area of the island. So, if you stay on such island be sure to check.
Currency, ATM, money exchange
The currency in the Maldives is the Maldivian Rufiyaa. At the time we were there, 1€ was about 16.5 Rufiyaa and 1USD about 15.45 Rufiyaa.
However, USD are widely accepted in hotels and tourist places. Surprisingly, we saw mostly prices in USD rather than Rufiyaa. And that’s apparently because all taxes from hotel and tourism organization are paid in USD to the Maldivian government.
During our stay there, we used everywhere credit card as it was the most convenient way of paying. We only exchanged a few euros in order to buy snacks in supermarkets where prices where in Rufiyaa but even there we could have used our credit card in the end.
Regarding ATM, there was an ATM on both Dhigurah and Maafushi island. But the one on Dhigurah didn’t work or at least didn’t accept our credit card.
And if you want to exchange money, you can do it mostly in supermarkets or banks, if they have one on the island you are.
Religion and Bikini beach, Cats
An important thing to know while traveling to the Maldives and espeacilly the public and local island. It is that the official religion is Muslim. Due to that it is not allowed to walk topless or in bikini in public places.
For exemple, if you are on a tour, you are allowed to be topless or in bikini on the boat but when you set food on land, the harbor will be on a non-bikini located, so you must have your clothes on.
You will therefor find 2 type of beach bikini and non-bikini beaches. The mane is straight forward, and you are only allowed to be in bikini on bikini beaches. Thankfully, you will find boards to let you know the type of beach.
Because the country is Muslim, you will also ear the call to prayer. But honestly it isn’t bothering at all.
And for the same reason, you will see cats around. In Islam, cat is admired for its cleanliness, and was a beloved animal to Muhammad. Unlike many other animals, such as dogs, Islamic Law considers cats ritually pure and possess baraka (blissful energy) and allows cats to freely enter homes and even mosques.
Foot washing
One thing that we found really cool while traveling in the Maldives is that you can wash your foot before entering your hotel or your room.
That way you do not bring sand everywhere! Because boy, sand do go everywhere.
On Dhigurah, we got a more traditional way of cleaning our foot. It was so fun! And first we didn’t know about it and though it was just a decoration.
On Maafushi, as it was more like a regular hotel, it was a more modern way. With a water hose.
Transportation
The Maldives is a ton of islands and atolls. To move between them, there are mostly 3 options. To give some context, we will take the transport from Male to Dhigurah as an example.
It takes 2 to 3h to reach Dhigurah by speed boat, there are daily departure at 11am and 4:30pm, return boat are at 6:30am and 1:30pm but be aware that the time changes on Friday, so always ask you accommodation. It cost 60 US dollars per person per way.
The other options are either to take a domestic flight from Make Airport to Maamigili Airport with Flyme for 20 minutes and then take a boat to Dhigurah for 15 minutes. That option costing 175 USD per way per person.
Or to take a sea plane from Male to South Ari Atoll platform for 30 min and then a boat to Dhigurah for 10min. One way, one person costing 250 USD.
Cost
When we talk about the Maldives, we often see overwater villas in private islands. But the Maldives are not all about that as you also have public islands.
Depending on the type of island you go to, your budget will be completely different. Our travel itinerary in the Maldives goes through 2 public islands, Maafushi and Dhigurah and for 6-day the total budget is about 1 320 USD including excursion, food hotels. So about 264 USD per night.
If we would have stay on a private island, we were looking per night at 850 USD for half board, 950USD for full board or 1100USD for all inclusive.
And of course, there are ways of reducing the cost of our 6-day Maldives itinerary but then you will be much more limited in what you are doing, and we wouldn’t recommend it.
Food & Supermarkets
We are mostly following a plant-based diet but are open to new experiences and would be more vegetarian when we travel.
While traveling through the Maldives on local islands, we never had any issue with the food. We always found some options.
It is true that the Maldives is a great location to eat fish and seafood. But there are other possibilities.
For example, vegetable noodles, vegetable curry or vegetable Kotu.
However, we would still recommend try the Mas Huni (Shredded Smoked Tuna) or its vegan version made with pumpkin, both are so delicious.
The essentials
There are 3 essentials that you will need in The Maldives, SPF for the body and face, SPF for your lips and Mosquitoes reppelant.
Drink & Fruits
Another thing that you must try while traveling the Maldives is the fruit, there are so yummy! Either raw or in juices!
Regarding alcohol, it is prohibited to drink alcohol and alcohol is banned from the country except for resort island and safari cruise boat.
However, you can find alcohol free beer in some restaurants and supermarkets.
Finally, if you fancy a snack, you can always find some in a supermarket on the local island.
Accommodation in The Maldives
Where to stay in Maafushi: Triton Prestige Seaview
Where to stay in Dhigurah: Seaside Dhigurah
ضرب الحديد ماحدو سخون Strike the iron while it’s still hot. (Take advantage of the opportunity before it passes you by)
