aamert

I am planning our honeymoon for end of June - first week of July.
My aim is to go somewhere with privacy and activities to do. That being said, islands in the Pacific are out of the question.

I am leaning towards Maldives, after comparing climate with Seychelles and Mauritius, and also because it is closer to where we will get married (Bahrain), has Muslim culture and other water activities.

My question is how much of our honeymoon will be spoiled by rain and what activities will it affect. We are planning to dive/snorkel, sightsee, island hop, may be hike and relax of course.

Any and all suggestions are welcome.

aamert

If you can suggest other activities for Maldives or the other 2 islands, please share. horse riding etc?

Cicerone

I can only speak with regard to the Maldives, as I have not been to the Seychelles or Mauritius. I think the Maldives is very, very beautiful and they have some of the most friendly people I have ever had the privilege to meet. If you want privacy, this is a good place to find it. However, if you are a person who prefers to have lots of activities available like museums, restaurants, shopping, etc. then a honeymoon there is probably not going to work for you. Each resort is on its own self-contained island. You will eat all meals at the resort, and any shopping to be done would be at the one or two gift shops at the resort. Sometimes you may have another island nearby, and sometimes you will be on your own. If you have an island nearby, it may be another resort island, which makes “island hopping” sort of redundant (why go see another hotel? Although you can go have a meal); however there are usually some uninhabited islands which you can visit to snorkel and picnic for a day trip. There are also some inhabited islands with small villages and some light industry, fishing or farming (mostly poultry farms). Your hotel can usually arrange for you to visit one of these if they are near your hotel, and these can often include a visit to a local school. However, this would at most be an afternoon excursion, so this would not be a major activity of the trip. There would be no shopping or restaurants available in these villages.

Male, the capital offers very little beyond a quite small OK museum and a few mosques, and is not really worth any time. In any event you may pick a resort which several hours by boat or plane from Male and so including “sightseeing” in Male would not be possible. Gan, the other major “city” is in the very far south, and is rather charming; it’s a series of islands linked together by causeways and you can bike most of it. The small old town has a number of original coral buildings. Again, however, I would not pick this area just to see Gan, but if you happen to choose a resort in the south near Gan this would be a pleasant half-day trip.

There is no hiking on the Maldives, as the islands are all extremely flat and really too small to afford even a moderate-length walk. To the best of my knowledge, there is no place to horseback-ride. The islands are simply too small. I could be wrong, so do check, but I am not aware that this activity is offered. Most activities are centered around the water, like snorkeling, scuba, jet ski, kayaking.

In terms of your trip, as you seem to be aware, June and July are part of the monsoon season in the Maldives. IMO, even the rainstorms in the Maldives are magnificent, as the huge coal-black thunderheads boil up along the horizon and change the colour of the water. They are lovely to watch. The down sides are: (i) it is cloudier overall, which really affects the colour of the coral when snorkeling or diving, (ii) the winds can be quite strong, making the water choppier and currents stronger, which is more of an issue for divers but it can make boat trips either impossible or uncomfortable, and (iii) you might get entire days, or more likely afternoons, of rain every day for your entire stay. As each resort is on its own island, there is really nothing to do if it is raining. (There are however spas and gyms in most every resort.) If you are the type of people who would not be happy reading and listening to the rain, but would prefer shopping and sightseeing activities, then the Maldives in the rainy season, may not be the place for you. If you plan on taking a seaplane for any transfers, and don’t like flying in small aircraft at low elevations in thunderstorms, then again this may not be the season for you. (There are resorts which would not require seaplane transfers but then you may have a choppy boat ride.)

You might consider Malaysia for June and July, as it would offer some very nice beaches, the hiking, horseback riding and other activities you seem to be seeking, most places are in good weather, and it also has a Muslim culture. Brunei may also work.

Hanuman

I mostly agree with Cicerone about the Maldives and that it's the most beautiful out of the 3 if you want just beautiful resorts, sand and sea. However the point about island hoping in the Maldives does make sense if the islands or resorts are naturally and architecturally different. One example is the Soneva Gili and Soneva Fushi. The S. Gili has all over the water villas on a small island or atoll while the S. Fushi has all on land villas with private pools and the island is heavily, IMO, forested. So different and both very unique and exquisite. The Soneva group can arrange all the transport from one resort to the other and everything will be smooth and relaxing.

Mauritius will offer a lot more activities, like horseback riding, sight seeing, trekking, golf, mountain climbing, big game deep sea fishing plus many more. There are some very nice resorts in Mauritius but I've only stayed in 1 place there over 4 visit so I think you should look at tripadvisor for reviews.

aamert

Is Mauritius better in terms of climate for those months?

I am trying to avoid the countries in East Asia or Pacific because of the amount of time it will take us to get there and on to Dallas, USA

aamert

To add to the last reply - I CAN consider Malaysia or Brunei. let me look at those two places