After I shared my year in travel review, a received a few questions about planning a trip to the Maldives. I have not gotten round to puttin together my guide but this blog post will give you the information you needto start planning your Maldvies getaway. I had the very best time in the Maldives and I have been plotting my return to this wonderful Country since my return. While planning for my trip, it was difficult to find information that was useful and relevant to me (i.e information for a solo traveler with a travel limiting passport); Entry Visa ; budget friendly ways to travel the area; currency; transportation from the mainland to the Island and host of others. While I eventually settled for a local Island over a private Island, there was still a lot I did not know when I boarded my flight from Dubai to Male. Having now experienced, I am hoping to capture everything I know in one post so you can access it when you decide to visit this Island.

GETTING TO THE MALDIVES. This all depend on where you are coming from; there were only a handful of direct flights from the UK; none from the USA. If you are heading to the Maldives, you will likely need to connect someplace. I chose to fly emirates air because I also wanted to spend a few days in Dubai and take advantage of their layover program which lets you layover up to 96 hours without an added charges. Other flight options are British Airways, Air France, Qatar airline, Etihad, Turkish Airline. Sri Lanka airline does have direct flights so if you already have plans to visit Sri Lanka - it might be a good idea to combine those Countries into one visit.

ARRIVAL TO MALE. I booked my flight so I could arrive to Male in the morning; I have read a few articles that suggested if you arrive later in the day; then you have to spend the night in Male. Certain hotels I was considering also noted this on their website. My suggestion is this - before booking your flight, contact your hotel to understand the transfer from Male to the resort or local Island. The farther your hotel is from the mainland; the higher the likelihood that you will have to consider a night in Male as part of your itinerary. If you intend to spend weeks in the Maldives, that is not a big deal. However, if you only have a few days; then you may want to consider an overnight flight that gets you to Male in the morning so you have plenty of time to transfer to your resort or local Island.

ENTRY VISA. Everyone requires an entry visa to the Maldives irrespective of Nationality; the upside of their Visa process is that it is obtained on arrival and it is free. All you need a copy of your return itinerary and a hotel reservation. I obtained thirty day visa upon landing at Male’s Veelana international airport. If you intend to stay longer than thirty days then you should consult this website for how to extend your stay. One website I visited stated you need to have $100 per day you intend to stay in the Country or a confirmed hotel reservation. I prepaid my hotel and had funds on me to cover feeding etc - it was not $100 per day and they did not ask me to show the money.

BEST TIME TO VISIT. I visited in June and was told it was low season due to Monsoon; however, it rained only once during my visit and it was overnight so it did not impact my itinerary. December to March is peak season with many European heading to the Islands to escape the winter temperatures.

LANGUAGE. The national language of Maldives is Dhivehi (I did not know this until I arrived); however, just about everyone I interacted with spoke english and I did not experience any issues communicating at any point during my trip.

WHERE TO STAY. I may do an extensive post covering the pros/cons of staying on a local Island vs a resort Island. For the purpose this planning post; here are some points to consider - staying on a local Island gives you an opportunity to get to know the Country and people of Maldives - that is an important part of travel (for me) ; a property on a local Island will always be extensively cheaper than a resort Island. The downsides of the local Island are the limited beach access (i.e. not all beaches are available to visitors unless you adhere to the dress code) and the lack of alcohol. I am not a big drinker so not having a glass of wine for the ten days I was away (including four days in the Maldives) did not bother me. If that is important to you, be aware the local islands won’t serve alcohol. In Maafushi, there is a floating restaurant that operates in the Ocean that serves alcohol but I think it is only open in the evenings. They offer a free transfer to and from Maafushi to the boat. On a resort Island, you get all the alcohol you want.

GETTING TO THE ISLANDS. Most people flying to the Maldives will most likely land at the international airport in Male. From here you can connect to the resort or local Islands. Depending on what resort Island you are staying in - you may require a sea plane reservations to get from Male to your resort Island. The rates for seaplanes start at about $450 per person. Before making arrangement, contact your resort/hotel as it may be included in their rates. I stayed on a local Island and opted to use one of the speed boat companies to get to and from Male. I used ICOM - they have multiple speed boats transporting visitors from Male to local Islands. The commute with them to Maafushi was only 45 minutes and it cost me $20 each way at the time of my visit in the summer of 2019. The public transit costs significantly less ($3 one way) but it does not operate as often and it will take a minimum of 1.5 hours to get from Male to a local Island. It can take longer depending on what local Island you choose. If you don’t want to deal with the hassle to making this booking; your hotel should be able to support you - keep in mind they may charge you a bit more than $20 each way.

LISTEN UP IF YOU HAVE A PASSPORT FROM AN AFRICAN OR SOUTH AMERICAN COUNTRY - Certain African and South American countries are on the yellow fever list which means if you are coming from one of those Countries, you need to present your yellow fever certificate. I have a Nigerian passport but I have not lived in Nigeria for years so I did not have a yellow fever certificate. If you are from one of the listed Countries which include Nigeria, Peru and about two dozen others; you will be directed to a health officer who will ask for your certificate - I did not have one as I have not lived in Nigeria for a long time. I was asked to sign a certification and the name and phone number of the hotel I was staying was required.

CASH VS CREDIT CARD; FOREIGN CURRENCY VS LOCAL CURRENCY - If you are staying on a resort island, you have likely prepaid everything so this will not be applicable to you unless you intend to visit a local Island. If you are visiting a local Island then take this to consideration. My hotel accepted both cash and credit cards and they accepted foreign and local currency which was very helpful to me. I had a mix of dollars and local currency. AT the time of my visit it was $1 to 15MDV - I changed $50 at the airport for 750 MDV. When I arrived at Maafushi and during my visit to Gulhi - all of the vendors accepted USD. The only time I used MDV was when I stopped by the grocery store for snacks. There is a bank of Maldives on Maafushi but it was closed as I was visiting over a weekend/holiday so if I need cash I am not sure I would have been able to access it. If you are staying on a local Island, I recommend having cash on you - a mix of local currency and USD.

THE WEEKEND IS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. The Maldives is a Muslim country so the weekend is Friday / Saturday (not Saturday / Sunday); certain services are not available on’Friday afternoon during prayers - In my experience - restaurants; speed boat transport etc were closed from 11:45 to 2 p.m. on Friday. I don’t think this will impact you on a resort Island but it will on a local Island. For me personnally , I did not find this to be an issue. I was spending most of the day in Gulhi and besides having to wait half hour to get a bottle of water from the beachside grocery store - the closure did not impact me at all. The speedboat Company informed me their 12:30 boat from Gulhi to Maafushi wont be operating which meant I was in Gulhi for five hours instead of three. Personally, I was OK with that.