Facts and misunderstandings about Maldives
You are doing research about Maldives on the internet. Comments, booking sites, blogs. Your head is thoroughly confused. Below you will find some of the correct and incorrect information written about the Maldives. Do not travel without reading these details, which you must know before traveling.
It is worth mentioning from the beginning. The following information is the experience of a travel agency operations manager. He has been in the Maldives for many times, operated thousands of passengers’ travel to the Maldives in last 15 years, and visited many hotels personally. It is almost impossible for you to reach more accurate information than the following.
Hotels with seaplane transfers are more expensive.
False: The total amount of your reservation does not depend on the type of transfer. There are high budget hotels with speedboat transfers and low budget hotels with seaplane transfers.
Some hotels have better sea conditions.
False: The sea conditions of the hotels are very similar to each other geographically. Some regions may be sandier on the islands according to wind and wave conditions. Some areas may be coral. This is a natural result. You can request a change of your room location in the hotel. Hotels are always helpful in these situations according to their availabilities. Simple plastic sea shoes would be a very ideal solution for such situations. You also have the freedom to swim from all over the island.
Taxes should be paid to the hotel.
False: Most of the online reservation sites show the rates without taxes. The taxes in Maldives are quite high. Check the small fonted information at these sites. Ask tax included rates to your travel agent. Compare the rates that you got from travel agent and online sites. You will always see better rates from the travel agent.
Maldives only for romantic couples.
False: there many things to do in Maldives. With its unique coral reefs, Maldives is a great place for divers. Thousands of scuba divers and snorkelers visit Maldives every year. Wave surf is just another action you can do in Maldives. Especially some islands have great waves to surf. Feeding baby sharks and mantas, water sports and activities, escape to a place full of peace and amazing nature makes Maldives interesting not only for couples.
Hotel transfers in Maldives!
This is the most important thing in Maldives. The most important complaint about the Maldives is the transfer to the hotel as soon as arriving to the airport. As we mentioned before, you have only 3 ways to go to your resort. Speed boats, sea planes and combination of domestic flights and speedboats. Whatever type of transfers you use doesn’t important. Important part is the arranging the transfers must be done before your arrival.
Speed boat transfers
Speed boats departs just front of the arrival hall of the Male Airport. This transfer type is the easy one to arrange and also waiting time at the airport is the shortest one. But if you do not arrange your speed boat before your arrival you can wait 5- 6 hours for next available boat to your hotel. Work with a travel agent!
Sea planes
If you have to use a sea plane you have to find your travel agent or hotel assistance on your arrival. Your assistance will help you to check in for sea plane and transfer you to sea plane terminal which is located at the other side of the airport. Most of the resorts have a waiting lounge at the sea plane terminal. They will provide you comfortable lounge to wait while serving snacks, soft drinks and wifi. Resorts will do their best to transfer you in 3 hours total. Again, if you do not arrange it before your arrival you can wait at the airport 6 to 8 hours for next available sea plane to your resort.
Most important detail for the sea planes is they do not fly at nights. Sea planes can be operated only day times. If your international flight arrives to Maldives at night, you should spend the night at the island which is the airport located. Hotels do not provide this service and you should pay this accommodation by yourself. Same condition occurs for night time departures from Maldives Airport.
Let me explain with some examples:
If you arrive to Maldives at 10.00 pm (22.00) sea planes will not be operated. Sea plane terminal will be closed. Most probably first sea plane departs about 06.00 – 07.00 am. You should wait at the airport terminal which will not be comfortable. Or you can stay at a hotel close to airport.
If your flight departs at 05.00 am from Maldives Airport your resort will take you to the airport with last sea plane from the resort to the Maldives Airport a day before. This will be most probably afternoon of the previous date of your departure. In this case you should wait at the airport terminal or must arrange a stay at the airport island.
There are many other details about sea plane transfers. Work with a travel agent. Contact us for more and specific details for your own itinerary.
Combination of domestic flights and speedboats
Some resorts are really far from the Maldives Airport. In that case, you should get a domestic flight to the nearest domestic airport to your resort and then you should get a speed boat to reach your resort. As you can guess this arrangement must be done in order. If you do not arrange it before your arrival you can wait at domestic airport terminal for next available flight, who knows how long! Also there is a high possibility to wait long hours for a speed boat of your resort at a small island in the middle of Indian Ocean.
Guess what? Working with a travel agent will get you a best result of your transfers and shortest wait times.