When you can’t change the direction of the wind — adjust your sails

– H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Hello everyone! I hadn’t really planned on writing this blog post this early on as I have a couple of pending trips and topics to write about, but then I realized this post is and will always be special, and I should write about what I believe is the small piece of paradise I found : Maldives while it’s all fresh in my mind since it’s only been a week since my trip. <3

Well, here’s to hoping you like this blog post AND you find all your questions asked on my Instagram Q&A post answered through this Part 1 of my Maldives blog!

Towards the end of 2020, Pratik and I started wondering what we’d like to do for our 1st wedding anniversary in February. We had given Maldives a thought while planning our honeymoon, which never worked out, so we started considering it for our anniversary. But here came the complication : the obvious elephant in the room – Traveling internationally during the COVID-19 pandemic. Upon a bit of research, we realized it’s definitely a risk, but there are safety measures and regulations the Maldives government and tourism industry were imposing and as Harriett Jackson Brown Jr. suggests, we chose to “adjust our sails” given the situation.

Those of you who know me, know how painstakingly “Monica” ish (FRIENDS reference) I am in terms of being a perfectionist around planning. Sometimes it works out very well for me, but sometimes it is just yet another stress I take upon myself. So, being the planner, I decided to plan this entire trip. Here are a few tips and guidelines around how you could plan your trip to the Maldives:

1. How many days are enough for a trip to the Maldives?

We went on a 5 day/4 night trip, took the earliest possible flight to Male from Mumbai and the last flight back to make the most of our time there. While booking your air tickets, please make sure you consider the schedule based on your hotel check-in/check-out and hotel transportation timings. We’ve seen a lot of vacationers staying in the Maldives for a minimum of 7 days to even 14 days. I would definitely recommend 7 days if you have enough vacation days, and of course your budget works around it. But as a bare minimum, consider a 5D/4N trip.

2. When is the best time to visit the Maldives?

November – March is considered the best time to visit the Maldives since the weather is pleasant and there is a low probability of it raining. April is probably the hottest month, and beyond that, it’s monsoon in the Maldives, so you wouldn’t be able to enjoy the beautiful sunshine on your vacation. The catch is, November – March is the tourist season, so the prices are all hiked up, but if you do plan your trip in advance, and keep looking out for deals on Agoda.com, or TripAdvisor.com you might land up on a great offer!

3. How do I decide where to stay?

Maldives has a LOT of options you could choose from in terms of stay – resorts, hotels, inns, guesthouses, Airbnbs, and other rentals. This in turn translates to you having ample of choices according to your budget and preferences. Before finalizing any stay for a vacation, I do a research around the options I have on travel booking website reviews (Agoda and TripAdvisor being my top two), Google reviews, blogs, and even social media presence. This helps me understand how others have experienced the place, and more than often, all the questions I have about the place are answered through those. We chose to stay in a resort, and let me tell you the place we finalized – Cinnamon Hakuraa Huraa, we booked it 4 days before our trip! YES, you heard that right. Let me tell you how and why we did that.

I had booked another resort prior to this booking on Agoda, on a refundable policy i.e. I had an option to cancel my booking up until 4 days before my trip * which is the usual policy of resorts in the Maldives *. Up until the refundable policy date, I kept checking if any other resort price kept dropping which I had shortlisted but was initially expensive for me, and I got lucky with Hakuraa Huraa. 🙂 I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND booking a refundable room, so you have a way to cancel your booking in unforeseen circumstances, or even a case like mine where you get a better option!

If you choose to stay in a resort, you’ll have at least 2 choices of rooms : One might be a standard room without beach access, one with a beach access, and then some resorts have an over-water villa which was the one I stayed in. All these rooms might or might not have add-ons like a jacuzzi, private pool etc. The prices increase according to the order of rooms I mentioned above. Choosing the room type would be according to your budget and preference, but I would recommend not prioritizing having a jacuzzi or a private pool since you have an entire sea to swim in! If you are a non-swimmer and/or are scared of the water, I would recommend looking for hotels/resorts with a shallow lagoon, and please read in the reviews about experiences on the currents around the resorts and the reef drops. (FYI: Hakuraa Huraa has one of the largest shallow lagoons amongst resorts, which is why I chose it). Also, always remember, once you get to the resort, regardless of however confident you are as a swimmer, please ask all your questions about swimming around the resort to the staff as they know the area the best, and you’d be worry-free through your vacation!

There are also options on the food packages offered during booking- Breakfast only, Half board (Breakfast and One Meal), Full board (All meals), All inclusive (All Meals and drinks – domestic and selected international spirits, selection of wine and beer, selected cocktails and mocktails) and Premium All Inclusive (All Meals and All types of drinks). We chose the All Inclusive option which was probably the best decision we took since we never had to worry about paying for food or our drinks. Also, remember Maldives is expensive for dining, especially in resorts so All inclusive would be the option I’d recommend you unless you don’t drink, then Full board would be perfect for you! Honestly, I never felt the need to order outside the All Inclusive menu, and the hotel staff being extremely nice made an exception for me on 2-3 occasions by giving me a cocktail of my choice (Brownie points for Hakuraa from me!). Our all-inclusive also included snorkeling equipment, and 2 trips everyday by boat to their house reef, which was a great deal. Do read about what all is included in the money you’d be spending and then make your decision.

Other things you might want to consider while booking your hotel would be activities. Remember these hotels/resorts are usually on a single island for themselves so give make sure you understand what all you could do there. Some islands are known for having the most beautiful house reef, some are great for surfing (yes, you read that right!), some are known for diving spots, and in addition you’d have to consider if you want a vacation in solitude or an activity filled, bustling vacation – every resort has its own personality.

3. How do I travel to the Maldives?

You could travel to the Maldives by air or via a cruise. Considering the pandemic, unfortunately cruises are not an option, but flights are operating between India and Male. We flew into Male (Velana International Airport) from Mumbai, which is approximately a 3-hour direct flight. You definitely have options to fly into Male from other major Indian cities as well. Maldives also has other airports which could be closer to your resorts, but there isn’t any other airport to which you’ll have a direct flight to from India, so you might have to book a domestic flight from Male depending on your resort. I would recommend looking for a resort which has an option of traveling from Male via a speedboat or by a seaplane. Speedboat travel costs are definitely less expensive than a seaplane, so the closer your resort island is to Male, the cheaper your travel expense might be. We had to take a seaplane which was $410 return journey for a single person as our resort was 110 km away from Male equivalent to a 40-minute seaplane ride. Remember to consider your travel expense as well when you finalize your resort.

4. Is it safe to travel to the Maldives during these times?

Traveling by itself is a risk these days, but traveling to the Maldives seemed like a calculated risk because the Maldives needs a negative RT PCR test taken within 96 hours of departure to the Maldives, and the Mumbai airport requires you to take a test within 72 hours of arrival. We personally recommend getting tested at the Maldives at your resort before you travel. This was way more expensive than the option you have at the Mumbai airport (our hotel charged us $180 for an RT-PCR test per person), but a lot easier to navigate when you arrive. The Mumbai airport does have testing options, and promises a half an hour test result if you pay more, but we saw a lot of confusion at the airport and the test results not arriving on time due to which people were getting uneasy as they had to wait at the airport until the results were produced.

In the Maldives, in the resort we stayed in, the entire resort staff wore masks and gloves throughout our stay. The guests were required to wear a mask and gloves only in the restaurant during our buffet meals, but the rest of the time as the island had only 18% occupancy, there was social distancing throughout and no one was within visible distance from us hence it was definitely comfortable for us. I am imagining this to be the situation on every island in the Maldives.

5. How much did I spend on my trip to the Maldives?

We stayed at Cinnamon Hakuraa Huraa in an Over Water Bungalow, All-Inclusive plan for 5 days/4 nights, and traveled from Mumbai to Male by a GoAir flight, and then transferred to the resort via a Trans-Maldivian seaplane as the resort is around 148km from Male.

The resort stay and meal plan cost us $1,636 (Rs.119,215) total (i.e. for 2 of us), seaplane transfers cost $820 ($410 per person) (Rs.59,524) ,the Go-Air refundable return flight tickets cost us $550 (Rs. 39,950) and we chose to take the COVID test at the resort which was a whooping $360 total for the both of us (Rs.26,132) making our total trip $3,366 (Rs. 2,44,821). We paid $80 (Rs.5,807) for a fishing trip which was one paid activity during the trip. We didn’t have to pay any snorkeling trip as it was included in our All-inclusive plan, but most of the resorts do not include this cost so please ensure you consider this cost before you make your decision.

6. What is the process for acquiring a tourist visa for the Maldives?

A free Maldives Tourist Visa which is valid for approximately ninety days is issued to Indian nationals on arriving at the Male airport, so you do not need a pre-arrival visa. You’ll also need to fill up the Travel Health Declaration form within 24 hours of your arrival to the Maldives, and within 24 hours of departing Maldives and have the QR codes ready to show on your phone to the authorities at the airport. Before you come back to India, you are required to fill the Air Suvidha form as well. Ensure you fill these forms up when you have cellular network or Wi-fi service and take a screenshot of these QR codes/save PDFs so you aren’t struggling at the airport seeking for network to fill up these forms.

7. What did I pack for our trip?

I get this question a lot since I am NOT a light packer at all, and not at all proud of that! One important advice I’d give while packing for the Maldives is please make sure you don’t just pack according to the baggage weight limit for your international flight to Male, but even beyond, allowed by your resort shuttle or seaplane as that’s usually lesser than your international flight. Also, each additional kg is charged on these shuttles.

Coming back to what should you pack when you visit the Maldives, in my experience:

1. Footwear: Comfortable Flip Flops/Beach sandals- You are never going to be wearing anything apart from these so don’t bother to carry any of your fancy footwear. At the most, you could carry a pair of dressy flat wear for evenings. I would also advise carrying water shoes if you want to walk in the water, since there are broken corals in the shallow ends of every beach, and it is painful if you get hurt by walking over one.
2. SUNSCREEN: Please do not compromise on your sunscreen! Make sure you carry a facial sunscreen, and a body sunscreen and generously use it before you step out of your room on the island. Remember, you are not more powerful than the sun!
3. Swimwear and cover-ups: Carry a couple of pieces of swimwear as you’ll be in the water almost through the day, and they don’t usually dry overnight till the next day due to the weather there, so definitely carry more than 1 pair of swimwear. You might need cover-ups since you probably wouldn’t be walking around in your swimwear around the island once you are done swimming.
4. Day-wear: Do carry a couple of shorts and skirts you can mix and match with tops, day dresses which are breezy, basically whatever you are going to be comfortable wearing since it is going to be sunny and hot, and you do not want to rely on the breeze. Remember, restaurants DO NOT allow you to come in your swimwear or any wet clothes, so you are going to have to dress up in your day wear during meals, or even just lounging around the island. I carried a pair of shorts, a day dress, a half jumpsuit, a linen pant, and 2 tops for wearing during day-time, basically one outfit for each day, but that’s just me again.
5. Evening-wear: Absolutely not necessary, but I liked to dress up during the evenings as our resort organized events every evening (cocktail hours, musical nights, movie night on the beach, jazz nights). This is the time when you could dress up a bit and enjoy those island vibes. Evenings are very pleasant, so you don’t have to worry about wearing something that’ll keep you warm. I carried one special dress for our anniversary, a pair of skirt and a top that matched it, and a white dress for the 3 evenings during our stay.
6. Medicines: Carry your basic medicines and if you have any other medical issues you know about which might arise (E.g. allergies), please carry those medicines as well.
7. Please do not carry a lot of valuables like jewelry on you, as most of the time you wouldn’t be wearing it, and you wouldn’t want to worry about it when you aren’t around it.
8. Sunglasses and a beach hat – This is of course up to your own liking
9. Good hair serum or even oil – Pratik and I both suffered as our hair had become very dry throughout the trip due to the salt water we were swimming in, and the shampoo and the conditioner didn’t really moisturize our hair well, so we ended up having brittle, frizzy hair and an itchy scalp throughout the trip and wished we carried oil.
10. Camera: We carried way too many cameras – a go-pro, a point and shoot digicam, an old film camera, my Polaroid camera and our phones and this was definitely a wrong idea since we didn’t know what to use when and ultimately captured photos on whatever was next to us. Ensure you carry a good quality camera, you are comfortable with, if you have a waterproof sports camera: that’s going to be your best friend, and if your phone has a good quality camera, you should be all set!

That’s all folks, I tried my best to answer all your questions about planning a trip to the Maldives but as I always say, if you have any more questions, feel free to shoot out those in the comments below.

If you like my post, please hit the like button below! <3 I would also love to hear your experiences or any suggestions on my blog through your comments!