Maldives Honeymoon
Mar 6th, 2010, 07:44 PM
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Maldives Honeymoon
Hello everyone!
Time for me to start planning our honeymoon. We both would love to start in the Maldives and end with a short trip to India. However, I do not know much about the Maldives and wanted to hear about your experiences.
We live in San Francisco. What are the best airlines to take to the Maldives? When is the best time to go? Are there any hotels or experiences you can recommend?
Thank you in advance for all of your advice!
Bridget
Time for me to start planning our honeymoon. We both would love to start in the Maldives and end with a short trip to India. However, I do not know much about the Maldives and wanted to hear about your experiences.
We live in San Francisco. What are the best airlines to take to the Maldives? When is the best time to go? Are there any hotels or experiences you can recommend?
Thank you in advance for all of your advice!
Bridget
Mar 6th, 2010, 11:26 PM
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I think the flying and transit time from SFO - MLE will be over 20 hours and it look like the quickest route will be through Europe(London, Munich or Paris).
What kind of budget have you set aside for the resorts in the Maldives? The best are very expensive but very nice and beautiful.
What kind of budget have you set aside for the resorts in the Maldives? The best are very expensive but very nice and beautiful.
Mar 7th, 2010, 05:36 AM
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If you want to combine the Maldives and India, first please look at the weather at the time of year for your honeymoon, as IMO you don’t want to go to India in the very hot weather (April until early October) or the monsoon (June to end September, except for the east coast which has rain in late October and November). The best months in the Maldives in terms of weather are about late November until April, so if your wedding is in say June, this may not work for either India or the Maldives. While the Maldives are sublimely beautiful, you may not enjoy them quite so much in the monsoon (although even their thunderstorms are magnificent with huge black thunderheads boiling up across the entire horizon.) If you want to dive or do significant snorkelling, both excellent in the Maldives, then going in low-rain/ low-winds months are better also. See weatherbase.com and other weather websites for information.
I will say that the beaches in the Maldives are the most beautiful anywhere I have been so far in the world. There is however, <i>nothing</i> to do beyond some excellent snorkeling and diving (tons of fish life) and just weeping at the beauty of the beaches, water colour, etc. Each resort is on its own island, and there is really nothing in terms of museums, shopping, etc on any of the islands. (Other than a bit in Gan, see below). Male, the capital is not much to write home about, and I am not sure I would recco any time there unless for catching a flight out. So if you are the kind of person that needs lots of sights and activities, this may not be the place for you. (It is about as different from Bali as you can get.) On the other hand, I also have to say that the Maldevians are bar none the most lovely people I have met anywhere in the world so far (and that includes the Thai and Balinese who are extremely hospitable people).
You might look into roundtrip flights to India, and then take a connecting flight to the Maldives, which are quite close. You may be able to connect right to a Maldives flight, or perhaps spend a few days in India first and go to the Maldives in the middle or toward the end, depending on how flights work. There is service to the Maldives from Delhi and Mumbai on Sri Lankan Air which is quite pleasant. There is a short layover in Colombo but all in the flight only takes 5-6 hours. (I would not really recco Mumbai for a first-time tourist, but it may work well for flights to or from the US. Mumbai is OK if you have a good bit of time in India to see other places, but my list of other places is pretty long.) You can do an “open jaw” flight into Delhi and out of Mumbai if that works best for your routing, you don’t have to fly into and out of the same city in India.
Routing via Hong Kong or Singapore may be possible (although there seem to be more non-stops to Hong Kong from SFO, but then there are no non-stop flights to the Maldives from there, but there are from Singapore). Also Kuala Lumpur as you can go non-stop to the Maldives from there. Routing via Dubai is also quite possible, so again if you can get a non-stop flight to Dubai, that might work too. This may require some longish layovers at Dubai airport. (I do not believe Dubai merits an overnight or more. There are other places in the Middle East which are far more interesting.) I think you may have to resign yourself to quite a long trip from SFO to or from the Maldives, even via India.
I would also mention in passing that India has some really lovely beaches itself (I write this from Goa) and you might want to consider just doing an all-India trip. While you won’t find over-the-water bungalows, you can find some very nice places and some lovely people as well. Goa and Kerala would be two places to look for beaches.
If you go to the Madlives, another thing which you may need to consider is the location of your hotel and whether a sea plane is necessary to reach it versus a boat, and how that works with your international flight. Sea planes <i>cannot</i> fly at night, so if you have to take a seaplane to or from your resort hotel to get to the airport at Male for your international flight, that can be a timing issue. International flights usually arrive or depart quite late in the evening, so you may have to overnight at the Male airport hotel, which is fine but quite expensive for what it is, and can make a long flight even longer. Moreover, if you have to do this overnight on both ends of your trip, this would only give you 5 days or perhaps a bit less at the resort. You might want to look into how flights work before you commit to a location which requires a sea plane flight. This is esp the case if you are only going to be in the Maldives for 4-5 days, as you may really only end up with 3 days at a resort. A resort which can be reached by boat may work better for you if you have only a short time, as the boats run at night. (Sea plane flights are however marvelous in terms of what you can see, the islands look like jewels.)
As for hotels in the Maldives,there are lots of options in many budget ranges. I would agree that this is a place to splurge if you can, but with some looking you may find a great resort at a good price. If you have any sort of budget in mind that would be helpful. As a guide, places like the Four Seasons (see their website, they have 2 lovely resorts there) will run you about US$700-900 a night and that does not include food (which is not cheap). Places like the Soneva Gilli will cost even more. But there are certainly lots of other options which are very nice, if not as luxe. See something like http://www.veliganduisland.com/ and J Resort Handhufushi http://www.jhotelsandresorts.com/handhufushi/ Rates for J Resort Handhufushi run from US$300 and at Veligandu Island Resort run from US$500. Both <i>include</i> full/half board and drinks(a nice plus). J Resort Handhufushi is in the far south in Gan, and would require a plane trip, but not a seaplane trip (as there is an airport in Gan), so you can do this at night, schedule permitting. Also look at the Conrad which is also in Gan and may be cheaper than say the Four Seasons for luxury becvuasse of its more southern location.
I will say that the beaches in the Maldives are the most beautiful anywhere I have been so far in the world. There is however, <i>nothing</i> to do beyond some excellent snorkeling and diving (tons of fish life) and just weeping at the beauty of the beaches, water colour, etc. Each resort is on its own island, and there is really nothing in terms of museums, shopping, etc on any of the islands. (Other than a bit in Gan, see below). Male, the capital is not much to write home about, and I am not sure I would recco any time there unless for catching a flight out. So if you are the kind of person that needs lots of sights and activities, this may not be the place for you. (It is about as different from Bali as you can get.) On the other hand, I also have to say that the Maldevians are bar none the most lovely people I have met anywhere in the world so far (and that includes the Thai and Balinese who are extremely hospitable people).
You might look into roundtrip flights to India, and then take a connecting flight to the Maldives, which are quite close. You may be able to connect right to a Maldives flight, or perhaps spend a few days in India first and go to the Maldives in the middle or toward the end, depending on how flights work. There is service to the Maldives from Delhi and Mumbai on Sri Lankan Air which is quite pleasant. There is a short layover in Colombo but all in the flight only takes 5-6 hours. (I would not really recco Mumbai for a first-time tourist, but it may work well for flights to or from the US. Mumbai is OK if you have a good bit of time in India to see other places, but my list of other places is pretty long.) You can do an “open jaw” flight into Delhi and out of Mumbai if that works best for your routing, you don’t have to fly into and out of the same city in India.
Routing via Hong Kong or Singapore may be possible (although there seem to be more non-stops to Hong Kong from SFO, but then there are no non-stop flights to the Maldives from there, but there are from Singapore). Also Kuala Lumpur as you can go non-stop to the Maldives from there. Routing via Dubai is also quite possible, so again if you can get a non-stop flight to Dubai, that might work too. This may require some longish layovers at Dubai airport. (I do not believe Dubai merits an overnight or more. There are other places in the Middle East which are far more interesting.) I think you may have to resign yourself to quite a long trip from SFO to or from the Maldives, even via India.
I would also mention in passing that India has some really lovely beaches itself (I write this from Goa) and you might want to consider just doing an all-India trip. While you won’t find over-the-water bungalows, you can find some very nice places and some lovely people as well. Goa and Kerala would be two places to look for beaches.
If you go to the Madlives, another thing which you may need to consider is the location of your hotel and whether a sea plane is necessary to reach it versus a boat, and how that works with your international flight. Sea planes <i>cannot</i> fly at night, so if you have to take a seaplane to or from your resort hotel to get to the airport at Male for your international flight, that can be a timing issue. International flights usually arrive or depart quite late in the evening, so you may have to overnight at the Male airport hotel, which is fine but quite expensive for what it is, and can make a long flight even longer. Moreover, if you have to do this overnight on both ends of your trip, this would only give you 5 days or perhaps a bit less at the resort. You might want to look into how flights work before you commit to a location which requires a sea plane flight. This is esp the case if you are only going to be in the Maldives for 4-5 days, as you may really only end up with 3 days at a resort. A resort which can be reached by boat may work better for you if you have only a short time, as the boats run at night. (Sea plane flights are however marvelous in terms of what you can see, the islands look like jewels.)
As for hotels in the Maldives,there are lots of options in many budget ranges. I would agree that this is a place to splurge if you can, but with some looking you may find a great resort at a good price. If you have any sort of budget in mind that would be helpful. As a guide, places like the Four Seasons (see their website, they have 2 lovely resorts there) will run you about US$700-900 a night and that does not include food (which is not cheap). Places like the Soneva Gilli will cost even more. But there are certainly lots of other options which are very nice, if not as luxe. See something like http://www.veliganduisland.com/ and J Resort Handhufushi http://www.jhotelsandresorts.com/handhufushi/ Rates for J Resort Handhufushi run from US$300 and at Veligandu Island Resort run from US$500. Both <i>include</i> full/half board and drinks(a nice plus). J Resort Handhufushi is in the far south in Gan, and would require a plane trip, but not a seaplane trip (as there is an airport in Gan), so you can do this at night, schedule permitting. Also look at the Conrad which is also in Gan and may be cheaper than say the Four Seasons for luxury becvuasse of its more southern location.
