Maldives, 10 Days

A place of outstanding beauty that everyone should see at least once in their lives. Too much money you think?! No, a trip to the Maldives doesn't have to be expensive find out how I did it...

For my trip to the Maldives, I decided to experience both sides of this beautiful paradise. For our first 4 nights in the Maldives, we overnighted on a typical local island at a Guesthouse, the Sabba Summer Suites on the island of Fodhdhoo, Noonu Atoll, to see how Maldivian people live and to get closer to their culture. After that, we indulged ourselves in a bit of luxury and spend the rest of our holiday at the Sun Syiam Vilu Reef Resort, Dhaalu Atoll.

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Day 1 - Arrival

Keep in mind that when travelling to the Maldives from Europe you will most likely spend an entire day travelling. In our case, we stopped over in Qatar and once in Male' (Maldivian Capital Island), we had another local plane ride and 30 min boat ride to reach the Sabba Summer Suites in Fodhdhoo.

Day 2 to 4 - Overnight at a Guesthouse on a local island

After a good day of relaxation at the beach, we spent the following days in Fodhdhoo visiting desert islands, snorkelling and practising water sports while also going around Fodhdhoo and becoming friends with the locals. Just a reminder for those who do not know, the Maldives are a Muslim country so if you find yourself on a local island make sure you dress appropriately (no bikinis unless you are on the beach). Each Atoll has a sort of capital island where locals go grocery shopping. For the Noonu Atoll, the ‘capital island’ is Velidhoo, which we also visited. In short, everything will be organised by the Guesthouse and all you have to do during your stay is just pick and choose what you like to do during your stay with them.*For those who like scuba most islands have a scuba centre for visitors, but make sure you organise your dive with the Guesthouse well in advance. I, unfortunately, had to skip mine as the Dive Master was not on the island during our time there.Prices in Guesthouse, as you can imagine, are 1/3 of those you see at Resorts, so get the most of it while there and use the time at the resort for relaxation.

Day 5 to 9 - Overnight at a Resort

The day of the magical plane ride! In order to arrive at our Resort, we had to travel back to Male' and from there, get a Seaplane ride. Seaplane rides are not cheap (I remember we did pay about £250 each for a 30 min ride), but believe me, it’s all worth it! By the way, all the transportation was arranged by both Guesthouse and Resort, even when swapping between the two locations, wherever you go you are treated like royalty in the Maldives, everyone is always super friendly and helpful. The activities you can do at Resorts do not really differ much from the Guesthouse's ones. However, I was finally able to dive as diving centres at Resort are always open and ready for you.

Do you need an All-Inclusive option? Well, it depends...

We did actually go for the All-Inclusive option, but the amount of food we were having for breakfast was probably enough for the whole day! In regards to drinks, of course, having an All-Inclusive might look like the better option, however, if you are not a big drinker and you intend to spend the afternoon doing your water activities then you might end up not using your All-Inclusive benefits a lot. Therefore, sometimes paying for the drink might be cheaper than going for the All-Inclusive (check and compare prices on the Resort's website before travelling). Also, complimentary water was provided every day by the Resort. Personally, next time I will probably save some money and choose a Half-Board instead.