Seen from the air, the island country Maldives with small islands formed from coral reefs which look like the string of pearls under cobalt-blue water of in warm coastal areas of the Indian Ocean.
Thulhagiri resort
The archipelagos of Maldives also are known as an ideal honeymoon destination of famous Hollywood couples. In successive years, Maldives is always rated as one of the most expensive destination in the world. It took me a lot of time to learn on Internet and exchange emails about Maldives. Finally, I chose a vacation to Maldives with a reasonable expense for the backpacker.
The time from June to September is off- season of tourism in Maldives. In that time, the airlines which have flights to Male- Maldives of Capital will launch promotion programs.
To travel from Vietnam to Maldives, you have many choices from airlines of some countries such as: Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia… I chose Bangkok Airway because the flight doesn’t need to transit too much and price is cheaper than the other. Round-trip ticket costs 264 USD. I chose cheap airline AirAsia for the hop of Hanoi- Bangkok to save money.
The next step is to find the accommodation in Maldives. Don’t waste time to find cheap hotel in Maldives on Internet. It doesn’t encourage travel at low price because tourism is the main source of its income. Moreover Maldives government puts a high tax on services relating to tourism.
In the off-season, each resort in island has its own promotion program. To tourist staying for several days, room rate will decline in the days after. However, the rate of medium hotels is usually not less than 300USD per night, and rate of five-star hotels is more than 1000USD per night. In addition, the cost of moving from Male to islands which have resort can give you a start. Most of far islands have shipping package service by speedboat, luxury flying boat and the most common is by seaplane. Only the cost of travel by seaplane from Male to the islands is higher than that from VN to Maldives!
I also have some experience when backpacking abroad such as: you should use services of the local people because the price is usually reasonable and it’s also a good chance to integrate and understand the local culture.
In Male, I found the resort Thulhagiri- a quite high-class resort, not too far from the Capital. I found the means by self to go to the island by renting a small boat of a local people. Its price is just half as expensive as that of speedboat of resort.
Travel by the small boat, we can fish while having a funny talk with the owner ship. The new and friendly friends also took us on a tour visiting the small islands before landing.
Go fishing with residents
In resorts , you can chose a package service including accommodation, travel, three meals and some free service; or accommodation and three meals (full board) or half board including: accommodation and breakfast. I chose full board because of its reasonableness.
Therefore with 185USD/ day we enjoyed a convenient and luxurious room, close to the sea with five-star service. It took me 2000USD to have four days for 2 people living in the Heaven on Earth, being treated like the God. I have never dreamed about such a luxurious and romantic backpacking like that.
Maldives has about 1.192 coral islands in which there are about 200 inhabited islands. It is the flattest country in the world with the average height 2.3 meters above sea level, temperate climate and warm sea year-round.
Coming to Maldives you don’t need to ask visa in advance, it will be issued in Mala airport. However you have to present room booking ticket, round-trip ticket and credit card. Off-season starts from June but you should book airplane ticket and room 1-2 months before leave.
“Specialties” of Maldives tourism is snorkeling. Visitors should bring snorkeling equipment because the resort offers facilities for high prices. This is the Muslim country so narcotics, stimulants are banned completely.
