In 2020, my young man and I spent 9 days in the Maldives.
We booked tickets and accommodation on our own 3 months before the trip. We chose an inexpensive island for locals, which reminded me of Thailand and Sri Lanka.
The fabulous scenery of the Maldives brings to mind fabulously expensive vacations, which are beyond the means of an economical tourist. It turned out that in reality everything is not quite so. Maldives islands for locals and tourists differ greatly both in scenery and price.
In this article I will tell you whether there are budget Maldives, how to organize such a trip and how much money it will take.
Spending in the Maldives for 9 days for two people in 2020 – $2,932
Introductory data
When is the season: the most comfortable time for a vacation is from mid-December to the end of March. During the rainy season – from May to early December – the sky does not rain 24 hours a day, so hotels continue to receive tourists.
Average seasonal temperature: +30 °C.
Currency: Maldivian Rufiya, 1 Rf.
Language: Dhivehi, English is spoken in tourist areas.
Weather
In the Maldives the air temperature stays around +28…+30 °C all year round. The rainy season starts in mid-April and lasts until about the end of November. During this time the islands receive short tropical showers and strong winds.
The dry season starts in December and lasts until April. The weather can be unpredictable: we vacationed in February, but caught a few cloudy and rainy days.
How the Maldives works
Many people think that the Maldives is one paradise island with white sand and azure-colored ocean. In fact, Maldives is 1192 coral islands, or atolls, between which move by boat, ferry and airplane. Tourists fly to Male airport and from there they travel to their islands.
Local islands are those where locals live. Until 2008 it was forbidden to build hotels on local islands in the Maldives. Therefore, all expensive hotels were built on separate islands-resorts. But in 2008 the ban was lifted, and local islands began to be actively built up with budget hotels and guesthouses.
There are many localized islands in the Maldives that host tourists, for example:
- Ukulhas is the eco-friendly capital of the Maldives, recycling garbage and using renewable electricity;
- Tulusdu is an island with a house coral reef and a suitable surfing spot;
- Bandos is an island near Male’ airport where air crews usually stay.
The local islands have the main infrastructure: schools, kindergartens, mosques, police stations, prisons, fire stations, and hospitals. The islands are inhabited mainly by Muslims, to whom Islam prescribes to wear closed clothes even while swimming. Therefore, tourists who come here can swim only on special beaches: they are called Bikini Beach. There are separate beaches for Muslims, but they are rarely used for swimming.
Only on the beaches of Bikini Beach can tourists relax and swim in open swimsuits. In other places it is necessary to respect local customs and wear more closed clothes: pants, shorts, dresses and T-shirts.
Alcohol is prohibited on the local islands: it is not sold either in stores or in establishments. You can’t bring it with you either. But there is a loophole: an alkolodka, aka a bar on a yacht in the middle of the sea, where tourists are brought by boat. Vacationers are told that this way they do not violate the law: in fact, the yacht is in the sea on the territory of the Maldives, and therefore, the ban does not apply there. We have not been to the alkolodka, but we learned from acquaintances that the prices for alcohol there are 3-5 times higher than in duty-free.
Island resorts resemble solitary hotels in the middle of the ocean. The locals there work as service staff. Bars have unlimited alcohol, and you can wear anything and anywhere. On the territory of the island-resort the infrastructure is oriented to tourists: there are villas on the beach and on the water, restaurants, bars, swimming pools, gyms, spa centers.
These islands have a peaceful atmosphere. There are no crowds of tourists, and souvenir stores instead of food and sightseeing stores. Prices for everything are many times higher in comparison with the local islands. In well-known hotels prices in May 2023 start from $ 650 per night, as in Ayada Maldives. There are resorts where the prices for one night and breakfast, although shocking, are a bit less. For example, Malahini Kuda Bandos Resort costs from $225 per night.
When booking a hotel, it is better to choose full board or “All Inclusive”, as there are no budget cafes on the island resorts. You will have to eat only in the hotel restaurants.
There are no public ferries or speedboats to the island resorts. The only way to get there is by private boat or seaplane.
Maafushi Island
In the Maldives, we lived on Maafushi. It is the most developed of the local islands: they started to develop it before anyone else to accommodate tourists. In 2018, a friend of mine stayed at a hotel on Maafushi. She was very satisfied with her vacation, so we decided to follow her example.
Maafushi is just over 1 km long, which means you can walk around it in an hour. There are no sights on the island. From the port along the shore stretches the main street with cafes, excursion stores and stores. The assortment and prices are almost the same: postcards and magnets sell for $ 1, coconut plates – for $ 10, wicker bags – for $ 20. Sellers willingly make discounts if you buy several souvenirs in one store.
There is not much to do in the evenings. At 22:00 everything closes and life on the island stops. There are a few spas on Maafushi, but I didn’t go there. The atmosphere of the island reminded me of Thailand and Sri Lanka. People here are friendly, and there are many tourists walking the streets.
In the north of the island there is a beach for tourists: Bikini Beach. You can swim very far, but you should remember that this is the ocean, so theoretically anyone can swim to the shore. Sun lounger rental costs 5 $ per day, but you can come with your own mats or towels and lie on the sand.
Muslim culture and laws impose prohibitions on the population and on tourists: no alcohol is allowed on the island and a dress code must be observed. Sometimes I wanted to have a glass of wine at dinner or walk from the beach to the hotel in a swimsuit, but I had to drink water and put on a dress.
Maafushi is not the paradisiacal Maldives that your imagination draws from Google images. The main attractions of the island are the ocean, white soft sand and tall green palm trees. Otherwise, I was not impressed by Maafushi: there are no other beauties there, and the streets are even monolithic.
Maafushi lodging
On the island there are both inexpensive gesthouses with prices from $ 45 per night, and 4-star hotels, a vacation in which costs from $ 80 per night.
We lived in the hotel Kaani Grand Seaview 4*. For 8 nights with breakfast included we paid 1146 $ in 2020. This amount includes tax 12%, service charge 10%, and city tax – 3 $ per person per night.
We were completely satisfied with the hotel. Firstly, it is located on the first beach line, and from the balcony of the room there is a beautiful view of the ocean. Secondly, in the hotel itself you can order excursions and transfers. The rooms are clean, all the furniture is in good condition, there is air conditioning, shampoo and shower gel.
Many hotels on the local islands offer full board which includes breakfast, lunch and dinner. I do not recommend taking it, as the Maldives cooking is peculiar and if you do not like the cuisine in the hotel, you will have to re-pay for food elsewhere.
On Maafushi, it’s nice to go to the buffet at different hotels: in 2023 it costs $15-20$ per person. The buffet always had rice, pasta, fish in different variations, salads, soups. Fresh juices are usually not included in the price, you can buy them separately.
We only went to the buffet at the Arena Hotel. We immediately liked the food there, and in the evenings there was live music. On February 14, on the beach they arranged tables and chairs, put candles, decorated everything beautifully – it turned out very romantic. On this festive evening we paid more for dinner: 25$ per person.
How to get to Maafushi
Maafushi is 27km from the airport in Male, so transfers to it are cheaper than to other local islands.
By public ferry for $2 per person one way. In this case, you must first get from the airport to Male’ town by another ferry or boat, as the capital and the airport are on different islands. Travel time from Male to Maafushi is 90 minutes. There are no ferries in the Maldives on Friday due to the general holiday.
By shuttle for $25 per person one way. The boats run on a schedule, which can be requested from the hotel where you plan to stay. Travel time on the shuttle is from 30 minutes. You can also book a transfer at a tour agency.
We booked the transfer through the hotel. After booking the room, we informed the hotel ourselves about the date and time of the plane arrival, flight number and number of people. The hotel sent a schedule of transfers, after which we chose the time that suited us and in response we received a confirmation of the reservation. The transfer was paid in cash in the boat.
Transfers do not run at night, so before buying plane tickets it is better to familiarize yourself with the schedule of boats, so as not to be stuck overnight at the airport. I advise you to book a transfer in advance, because the flow of tourists is large and there may simply be no free seats at the right time.
By private transfer for $150 per boat one way. You will be met at the airport at any time and driven to Maafushi in 30 minutes.
Excursions
Types and prices of excursions on all islands of Maldives are the same. Tourists are offered snorkeling, diving, fishing and visiting islands-resorts. On excursions they give instructions in English and tell how much time there is for this or that activity.
Fishing in the Maldivian way looks like this: you will be provided with a fishing rod and grilled fish caught. This pleasure costs from 25$.
Snorkeling is an opportunity to snorkel with flippers and mask to swim close to corals, fish or other ocean fauna. Before the excursion, you are warned that if you do not see the fish and corals stated in the program, you will not get your money back.
Prices for snorkeling at Maafushi in 2023:
- with whale shark and mantas – $100;
- with nurse sharks and feeding stingrays – $50;
- with turtles, $35.
The cost of the tour includes the rental of masks and fins, photo and video underwater, which will send you to the mail or recorded on a flash drive.
We went snorkeling with turtles. The program included a stop at a reef for snorkeling and a dolphin cove with the opportunity to watch dolphins from the boat. At the third stop on a sandbar in the middle of the ocean, we were invited to swim, take pictures and have a sandwich and juice.
We were not very impressed with the excursion: the promised dolphins were barely visible, and it took a long time to find the turtles, because they were in no hurry to swim out of their shelters. In the end we were lucky enough to see two turtles.
A trip to a resort is an opportunity to see a piece of the real Maldives for relatively little money. Travel agencies organize such trips to different islands, usually they include a standard set of services: transfer, entrance to the resort, unlimited alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, lunch – buffet, – towel, sun lounger.
From Maafushi, you can go to such island resorts in 2023:
- Centara Ras Fushi Resort;
- Adaaran Prestige Vadoo;
- Rihiveli the Dream Resort;
- Adaaran Club Rannalhi;
- Fihalhohi Island Resort.
We went to Adaaran Club Rannalhi with beautiful grounds and the Maldives’ trademark: water houses. In 2020 we paid the travel agency 30$ per person for the transfer, and on arrival – another 75$ each to the hotel employee.
The buffet at the hotel is very different from what we saw on the local island. The food here was very tasty and varied. But there were some disadvantages: for example, there was not a single pool on the territory, and the coral reef is located close to the shore. Because of this, stingrays swim close – it is better not to go into the ocean or do it very carefully. We tried several times to get into the water, but only managed to get up to the ankle.
Money
The official currency in the Maldives is Maldivian Rufiya. It is accepted everywhere, but most of all locals like to be paid in cash in dollars. At the same time they give change only in rufiya. At the end of the trip we spent the collected rufiya on souvenirs.
Cards are accepted in many cafes, hotels and some supermarkets. Other places will require cash dollars or rufiji. There is no bank branch in Maafushi, but there is a cash withdrawal terminal.
Products
There are few supermarkets in Maafushi. We liked Arena Fresh Mart. It has the largest selection of products: fruits, vegetables, instant noodles, frozen convenience foods, sweets, tea, coffee. The premises look like a modern supermarket, not an underground shop, and the inside is clean.
In the Maldives we saw and tasted pandan fruit for the first time. It looks like a pineapple and tastes like panna cotta with watermelon. There was a cafe near our hotel where you could try freshly squeezed pandanus juice.
Cafes and restaurants
The local cuisine in the Maldives is reminiscent of Indian cuisine. Many dishes are based on rice and spicy spices. For breakfast at the hotel we always served curry, roti flatbread, chickpeas. On the local islands you should not expect culinary delights. The peak of skill there is grilled fish or rice with seafood.
Tuna is the most popular fish in the Maldives. It is grilled or fried with rice and vegetables. I tried both dishes in different cafes and I thought that tuna always turned out a bit dried out. At the same time, I realized that I was eating fresh fish without chemical additives, and that made up for the flavor deficiencies.
The second most popular dish in the Maldives is fried rice with vegetables, scrambled eggs and a choice of additives: chicken, tuna, shrimp. The portion is always large and costs up to $9, depending on the toppings chosen. I love the way rice is prepared in Asian countries, and the food in the Maldives was also to my liking.
Another national dish of the islands is garudia soup, or simply broth with tuna. We didn’t try it, as we didn’t want soup in the heat.
There is a huge choice of cafes in Maafushi – you can go to a different place every day. In all establishments in the Maldives, a 10% service charge is included in the bill. It is always indicated on the receipt, so we never left a tip. Prices in the menu are usually in dollars, but occasionally there were also in rufiya.
I remember the following cafes on Maafushi:
- Arena Beach Restaurant is the restaurant at the Arena Beach Hotel. We found it to have the most delicious food on the island. In 2020 you could come for a buffet for 12-15$ or order individual dishes from the menu.
- Symphony Lagoon – here for 15$ we were grilled freshly caught fish, it was served with fries and salad.
- Juice Vibe is a humble cafe that makes the most delicious smoothies and juices.
- Raha Restaurant & Lounge is a rooftop restaurant at Liyela Retreat with a beautiful view of the island. The menu is more oriented to Europeans, so the dishes cost more: in 2020 we paid $50 for dinner for two.
- Octopus – here you can get a dish of small octopus or octopus on the balance. We paid $12 for one dish.
On the island resorts, the food is different: the cuisine there is oriented towards Europeans. In this regard, prices are several times higher: on average, one meal costs from $50 per person.
Transportation
There are no cars in Maafushi and therefore no cabs. Locals get around on scooters. Surprisingly, I did not see any scooter rentals for tourists anywhere.
The island is very small, so it is easy to get around on your own. From the pier all tourists go to their hotels on foot. If you order a transfer to your hotel, you will be met with a luggage cart.
People travel between the islands by speedboat. The most popular routes from Maafushi are to the airport, Guli Island – it costs $5 – and the resorts islands: the cost of traveling there in 2023 starts at $35.
What to bring back from the Maldives
The most popular and inexpensive souvenir is sweet sticks made from coconut pulp. They are called bondi.
In the Maldives, coconut is used to make all sorts of useful and useless things: bags, dishes, cutlery. Tourist shops sell jewelry made of shells and coral, and supermarkets sell vacuum-packed canned tuna and dried tuna.
Souvenir stores sell mostly care cosmetics from Thailand. At the airport duty-free shop, I saw masks, creams and soaps made in the Maldives.
