How to Plan Maldives Trip from India l Maldives Tour Plan & Budget - YouTube

Hello friends. How are you?

As you might know that Maldives has opened its doors again for India from 15th July.

So, if you are planning a trip to Maldives, whether budget or luxury, this video is going to be very useful to you because

I'm going to share with you in this video when can you go to Maldives, how can you go, where can you stay,

what is food like, how the internet works, how to get visa...

I am going to share a lot of information about Maldives with you and also, at the end of the video I will also tell you

the minimum expenses required to plan a trip to Maldives.

And watch the video till the end, don't skip because there are many money saving tips that I will keep sharing with you in between

which can save you a lot of money in the Maldives trip.

Maldives can be visited anytime, but the peak season to visit Maldives is from November to Mid- April.

Accomodation prices are at a peak at that time. If you are planning a trip in this time then you will have to spend a little more compared to rest of the year.

The lean phase is in the monsoon starting from May till September, accomodation prices are relatively lower at that time.

If you want to save some money then monsoon can be a time to plan your Maldives trip.

There is a small window between 2nd half of April and 1st Half of May when the possibility of rain is low and accomodation prices are also low.

So if you are planning your Maldives travel then, in my opinion, this time period is the most suitable.

After "When you can visit Maldives?", now you must have the question "For how many days should we plan the Maldives trip?"

According to me, 4 days are sufficient for a genuine islandic feel.

After 'when' let's talk about 'how to go'.

Currently the available options are only by flight. From all the Metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kochi you can get direct flights to Male.

There are 2 international airports but all the flights from India go to Male International Airport. So the information I share in this video

is considering Male International Airport as the arrival point.

In the future when the COVID situation gets better you can probably catch a ferry from Kochi to Male.

And also there were also some cruise lines which used to do trips from West Coast of India to Maldives.

After the covid situation gets better you will probably get that option too visit Maldives by ferry or cruise.

After 'when' and 'how' now let's talk about how to get the visa. When you get down from the flight

and reach the arrival hall, there are many immigration counters. It is a simple process, you show your passport,

your return ticket, your accomodation booking and you will get a free Visa-on-arrival.

The currency of Maldives is Maldivian Rupiyah, but US Dollars are widely accepted. If you are carrying US Dollars

then you can pay via US Dollars in all the resorts and for transportation, but if you are traveling to a local island,

there people use Maldivian Rupiyah so they will accept payment in US Dollars but in exchange they will give you Maldivian Rupiyah.

So if you are going to spend your time on a local island then I will suggest that at the airport after you collect your bags from the belt

you will find a lot of ATMs and using your International Debit Card like Niyo which I use and I'll put the link in the description,

you can try it too, its currency exchange is quite genuine, there are not many withdrawal charges from ATM. So that could be an option where

using the International Debit Card you can withdraw local currency from there. Otherwise, you can use your Debit card, Credit card

and the US Dolars that you are carrying.

Now if we talk about internet, all the accomodations in Maldives whether they are hotels, guest houses or resorts, you will get Wifi everywhere.

Speed is also decent, but if you want independence to go Live while on the beach and post photographs from there then you will need a SIM card.

So at the airport when you get out, where there are ATMs, you will get counters of two Telecom operators of Maldives called Ooredoo and Dhiraagu.

You can get a SIM card from there, although I will not suggest that for a short trip because it is pricey.

Details are in the description. You can check it out.

The next segment is very important because the expenses you did till now were mandatory expenses like flight expenses is fixed.

But accomodation and transportation in Maldives are the two expenses which you can increase or reduce to adjust your budget.

Whether you are planning a luxury trip or a budget trip will depend on where you are going to stay and

what mode of transportation are you going to use to reach there.

To understand that you need to have a little idea about the Geography of Maldives. I'll tell you in brief, Male International Airport

is approximately in the center. The total distance between the Northern island and the Southern island is about 800kms.

And in width Maldives is about 100-125kms.

After understanding the Geography of Maldives I would like to tell you that you can plan a trip in 2 ways.

First option is budget, of course and the second is luxury or leisure trip. To plan a budget trip in Maldives,

it is necessary that you stay at a public island where there are guest houses and hotels because they cost much less than resort islands.

Second advantage is that to reach there you can use shared transportation whether they are shared speedboats or ferries.

Ferries are quite low cost, starting price is only USD $2 and for the speedboats, I'll give the example of Maafushi

in which I travelled, the charge is about USD $20 per person per way so it is not a very high charge and

time taken by speedboat is 35 minutes whereas ferry takes 1.5 hours. So the biggest advantage of staying on a public island is

you can use shared transport. So further I will tell you some pros and cons and also suggest some islands, guest houses

and hotels that I liked. The islands which I like that are not very far from Male are Maafushi, Gulhi, Ukulhas, Thoddoo.

These are all good islands. Talking about advantages there are many advantages of staying on a public island.

your food costs is reduced because there are a lot of eateries and you don't depend on your resort or hotel,

cost of food is quite less in hotels and eateries with respect to private island resorts. Other than that another advantage is that

there are many excursions which also cost quite less compared to those in private islands. Most excursions start from US $20.

You can do those excursions and also if you want to have fun like on a private island while staying on public island,

there are many tour agents on public islands who can plan a day trip to some resort. Traveling to and from the resort island,

having lunch there, some drinks, use of the facilities there, snorkeling gear, etc. are included. Link is in the description.

The biggest con of staying on a public island is that the beaches are more crowded compared to island resort and

probably only one beach is dedicated to tourists where there are no restrictions of the local laws.

Now, if your budget is little higher, if you feel you can visit a private island then there are some resorts below the

luxury and ultra luxury resorts which provide budget accomodation on private resort islands. I will share 2-3 links,

but when you do your due diligence and select a resort yourself then remember that, whatever accomodation you are planning,

if you want to select an accomodation then I will suggest that open Google Maps, I will show you here so that

you get an idea how far is the acoomodation you have selected from Male. It will depend on that whether to reach the island,

you have to take a ferry, speedboat or if it is very far, you will have to take a seaplane or aeroplane. The cost of seaplane and

aeroplane is very high although the experience of a seaplane is unique and is included in many luxury packages.

If you are visiting a private island even than you can save some of your money, I have a money saving tip for that.

Check by email or phone whether the island you are planning to visit permits you arange for your own transportation,

if they do then you can contact a tour operator on a nearby public island and ask them whether they can arrange your transportation,

take a costing from them and compare it with the resort, I'm sure there will be a difference in them and you can arrange

your own transportation and visit the resort island and enjoy you trip.

After budget and semi-luxury let's talk about luxury trip.

If you are planning a luxury trip I will suggest you to get all-inclusive packages because it includes everything,

your travel to and fro, breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks. I found a website Luxury Escapes which has many good packages.

I will put that link in the description, you can check it.

There are no hassles, you can easily visit the private resort, enjoy your life leisurely and return to your home.

Now if we talk about food, the food is quite costly with respect to India. So if you want to save on food and

spend very sparingly then carry food packets with you or if you are staying on public islands, you can save some money

because the cost is less there because there are many eateries.

This was the total information, if you feel that some information is missing, if you want some additional information

then of course you can ask in the comments. I try and answer every question.

Now the last and most important section in this video is the budget. I am going to tell you the minimum budget

required to plan a trip to Maldives. The most important expense is of course the flight.

If you plan about 1-2 months prior then from all cities in India like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kochi from where

direct flights are available, on an average for 2 people, I'm telling the expense for a couple, the average flight cost

for 2 people will be about Rs.40,000

After that the next option for minimum expense is to stay on a public island, I'm taking an example of Maafushi as a public island

you will get a room for about Rs.5,000 a night including breakfast so if you stay for 4 nights,

your hotel accomodation cost will be about Rs.20,000. Next is food, if you take about 8 meals in 4 days if you don't take food packets

and I'm considering you have food there itself then my guess is that in 4 days you will comfortably eat food for 15,000- 20,000 rupees.

Apart from this, the excursions start from $20. Most important expense is reaching the public island from the airport.

That costs about $20 per person per way which is about $80 expense.

So consider that in about 1 lakh rupees you can easily plan a 4 day trip to Maldives from India.

So this was the total account of Maldives. I hope you people liked the video.

Please don't forget to like and share with your friends and family members.

If you want more information then here is a playlist of Maldives do check it out, I had done a trip 2 years ago,

in that you will get a lot of additional information about Maldives.

I will see you guys soon in a new video. Till then take care of yourself, stay happy, keep smiling, stay healthy. Bye bye.