I will explain my low cost 5-day trip to Maldives: excluding the flight we spent less than $300 each
How? Basically avoiding luxury resorts and private transports
Even if September is rainy season, we had two full sunny days, and 2 days with partial rains during a few hours
Places visited:
Hulhumale
Male-Villingili
Maafushi
Arrival into Maldives is very exciting... views from the plane are magnificent
Male airport is actually located in Hulhumale
There is an exchange facility in the airport but dollars are mostly accepted as long as the notes are in good condition
From the airport you can either:
Take a transport to Hulhumale city (there is public bus every half an hour, it takes 20 minutes and costs 20 ruppees or $1.4), or
Go to Male itself (there is public ferry every 15 minutes and it takes 10 minutes for a cost of 10 ruppeess or $0.7)
My couple was arriving a day later due to work so I spent the first day in Hulhumale and I spent the night with a couchsurfer from Sudan (thanks Omar!)
I spent the day by the baeutiful beach and had lunch with great views
I fell asleep and got burnt in just 2 hours (quite badly, do not forget sunscreen!)
First day I did not see even a cloud, amazing sun all day
I had a walk around Hulhumale but I did not see much apart from great beaches
One of the building´s facades was nice though
In the afternoon we enjoyed the sunset by the port side
Finally together, second day we aimed to go to Maafushi, where we spent most part of the holiday
There is 1 daily ferry at 15h every day but for Fridays, and some days there is a second service (check timings when you go but with us it was very reliable)
However, Male-Hulhumale and Male-Maafushi terminals are at the opposite side of Male (3km), so we took a taxi (fixed price at 25 rupeess or $1.7)
The public ferry to Maafushi costs only 30 rupees ($2) and it takes a bit less than 2 hours, very nice deal! Why? The island is inhabited so the government has to offer a public communication trasnport
Also, there are several speed boats per day connecting Male and Maafushi for $25 each way
Anyway, as it was several hours earlier than departure of the local ferry, we visited Villingili beach, taking a 10 minutes ferry from Male (3.25 ruppees or $0.2), and we experienced the first partial rains of the trip
After having lunch in Male we finally took the publi ferry to Maafushi, where we spent that evening plus 2 more days
Maldives opened the possibility of other accommodation options apart from luxury resorts in 2009
Maafushi counts with several guesthouses and we booked a hotel for $50 per night including breakfast
The east part of Maafush island has a prison, and the rest of the island is 1km long approx
Maafushi has two beaches, one where bikinis are allowed, and one local which is more conservative (muslim country), being both of them on the west part of the island
We had bicycles for free in our guesthouse so after arriving we went to see the sunset, and it was a pleasure to see a some water sports
We wanted to do some diving during our trip so we went to the 4 diving centers in Maafushi to get some info
Most places started at $40 per dive including equipment and we did not find it possible to negotiate much
Finally we booked 2 dives ($80 per person) for next day with Maafushi Dive and Water Sports center
Third day we met at 8am and experienced our best dive so far
In my case, I have tried diving in UAE, Philippines, Seychelles, Saudi Arabia and Maldives, and definitely Maldives was the best
Both dives were in Kandooma site, and we were lucky to see sharks, rays and turtles, apart from many other smaller but beautiful sealife
Maybe we were lucky but we were so pleased with the dives that I recommend this diving center for sure
During the boat ride to the diving sites we spotted several luxury resorts. We did not like the idea of paying around $100 per person to spend the day at any of them but all hotels in Maafushi offer that possibility
According to my couple who was in Maldives before, prices to spend a day in a luxury resort were lower from Male, maybe because of higher demand and competition
Rest of the day we enjoyed food, beach and relax in Maafushi
For the fourth day in Maldives we booked a tour including snorkeling with turtles, watching dolphins and stopping at one of the typical sandbanks. Some agencies in Maafushi offer that tour starting at $25 including lunch, which sounds very good.
Sadly for us, rain made the tour agency to cancel the tour next day. They gave back the money but as it was our last day in Maafushi we could not try again
Rain stopped soon and we could enjoy more beach and relax in Maafushi
That evening we had a great experience: as alcoholic drinks are not sold in Maafushi itself, we took a free speed boat offered by a hotel which takes people in 5 minutes to a boat-hotel in the sea
There you can enjoy alcoholic (and non-alcoholic drinks) which are a bit expensive but not too much (i.e. beer for $6 or spirits starting at $8)
I recommend going before sunset and enjoy a drink with the views
The boat-hotel has 7 rooms and offers food as well
Last day we took the public ferry from Maafushi to Male (7:30 am) and from Male we took ferry to the airport for our flight at 11am
We enjoyed Maldives a lot and we spent a reasonable amount of money, so our experience was very good
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