Have you ever wondered what it was like in the Maldives? Have you considered that it might be different to how you imagined and could be more accessible than you think!? Read on to see if you can do Maldives on a budget.

I’d never really been that interested in going to the Maldives. People that know me & us as a family know that as a family we are explorers and like a bit of adventure. I want to know about a country and its culture. 

However I spotted a good deal on flights to Male in the BA Sale and as the Maldives is for many, a bucket list destination, I wondered whether it could offer something for us as a family and whether I could tweak the experience to more suit our needs! 

The Maldives really is a destination of two halves. Most of the tourism is seen on ‘resort islands’, idyllic and pristine islands owned by one hotel usually with some restaurant options, kids club, a variety of paid for excursions and alcohol. The Maldives is a strict Muslim country, but resort islands are permitted to sell alcohol. If you are not bothered about having a drink, the Maldives with its rich hospitality has a lot more to offer with ‘local islands’ offering cheaper accommodation and wonderful excursions at a fraction of the cost you would pay on a resort island. 

Bandos Resort Maldives

After extensive research (mainly on Maldives specific Facebook groups) I decided Bandos resort would meet our families needs, so we booked for 3 nights of our 10 day trip. We booked through HalalBooking who offered the best rate at the time and I suggest shopping around for deals. November marks the beginning of the dry and high seasons and we flew at the end of October (coinciding with October half term). 

When you get off the plane, you’re met by a rep who takes you to a plush private speedboat for the 15 minute journey to Bandos island. The thing you notice most coming out of the airport is the unbelievable colour of the water! The quick journey is also welcome after a 10+ hour overnight flight! Welcome drinks are given and if room is ready you make your way via golf buggy to your room, steps away from white sand.  

Bandos is exactly as you would imagine, rooms are either cute semi-detached hut style (very roomy even for our family of four) and of course various levels of room up to exclusive private beach villas. For Full Board (which we were, or all inclusive) all meals are served in a waterside restaurant offering many delicious options. Me and the two children are exclusively gluten free and there were plenty of choices for us, including many desserts (which my son was overjoyed about).

One of the other reasons I chose Bandos, was they love a celebration and as my son was a bit disappointed he wouldn’t be trick or treating with his mates (!) I knew Bandos would make a fuss and I was proved right. From extensive decorations to Halloween themed kids club activities to Halloween themed food at dinner, it was what I was expecting and more and the kids loved it!

From the pristine beaches of Bandos you can snorkel and swim with baby reef sharks and an assortment of beautiful fish. They have an exceptional pool with a toddler splash pool and large swimming pool with swim up bar. For many, alcohol is part of holidaying and relaxation. As I get older it is less and less part of my life but my husband fancied a couple of beers while we were there but be warned, 2 x 500ml Carlsberg beers exceeded $40.

We had also said to the kids that soft drinks would be restricted to the second leg of our holiday due to excessive cost! You have free water & tea & coffee available all meal times plus 3 litres of water put in your room twice daily. When we are travelling we take Robinson’s mini squash which the kids are always happy with (and you can also take through with your liquids for the flight – you can get great bulk deals of these on Amazon). 

Bandos is perfect on many levels, in fact we met a number of families who keep coming back but for us it was rather too western. yYou don’t get any sense of Maldivian culture or the people and you could be in a beautiful resort anywhere. Would I go back? Yes and I would recommend for those looking for the resort island experience at an accessible cost but for us the next leg was more our style. 

Reader Tip – One thing that also helped us save money while being there was this app – ATM Fee Saver – the app shows ATMs around with no fees for withdrawing money. It’s super helpful for saving money while traveling. Can recommend it 

Dhiffushi Island

Fridays in the Muslim week is holy day so transport links are less regular but still very doable. We looked at various ‘local islands’, these are islands where locals live and alcohol is strictly prohibited. We initially looked at Maafushi but after some more deliberation chose Dhiffushi as the review’s described a more relaxed vibe and less busy.

Sky Beach Hotel on Dhiffushii

We chose Sky Beach hotel as it had a 2 bedroom suite with lounge area and a swimming pool available. A priority for us when travelling is a bit of space & things for the kids to do. We arranged local speedboat transfer through the hotel (via Altec boats) so the Bandos boat dropped us off back at the airport jetty and we met a rep who showed us where the Altec boat departed from. A 40 minute sunset speedboat ride later we were in Dhiffushi, met by Sky Beach staff on a golf buggy (the transport of choice on this local island).

Our room was on the top floor, with a balcony over the sea (with sunrise views), two ensuite bedrooms, an outside bath and a living room / kitchenette area. As it was a Friday the island was busy with local visitors alongside foreign visitors. We instantly felt relaxed, no noise except the lovely regular call to prayer from the mosque, no expectations on meal times (I’ve decided I don’t feel relaxed being subjected to other people’s timeframes everyday particularly for 3 meals a day). We were greeted with exceptional hospitality from Lakmal and Asif (hotel managers / front of house) and went about arranging some tours. At Bandos tours start at around $129 per person but from Sky Beach tours start at $30 per person with Cecilia (our youngest) complimentary. 

Beaches on local islands are either ‘Bikini beach’ so bikinis / western swim wear allowed or ‘local beach’, no bikinis allowed however on Dhiffushi all the beaches are bikini beaches. You must dress modestly around the island but mainly this means covering shoulders and knees for women – think long floaty dresses and a shawl or light shirt although in my view knees seem more important than shoulders.

There are a number of restaurants on the island (some we didn’t try), our favourites (in order) were: Heron Beach (Amazing tuna steak – slow service – they feed the mantas and sharks every evening from the outside restaurant area), The Kettle (right on North Beach where you can hand feed Mantas between 7-8pm!) and Sky Beach restaurant – more on this later. All restaurants catered fully for gluten free and Sky Beach made GF pancakes everyday for breakfast which were great alongside their offering of full breakfast (gf sausage, cooked tomatoes, beans, omelettes to order). 

We chose 3 excursions, Sunset dolphin cruise (Total $90) which was out of this world incredible. For one we had a private boat (owned by Sky Beach) all to ourselves and after about 15 mins of looking we spotted a large pod of spinner dolphins who swam, jumped and span with us for around 2 hours while the sun set – it was truly a magical experience and one we as a family will not forget. 

The next day we decided on turtle snorkelling (Total $90) – we went out on the same boat, with a mother and daughter from India who were so lovely, the boat went out at 9ish getting back at 11.30. After not much time, we all jumped into the water (after passing some dolphins) and had our first then second turtle encounter – Dylan was very happy and we were impressed with the kids being in fully open water. After about an hour in the water the kids had had enough (snorkelling equipment and life jackets were provided for both children & us) so we swam them back to the boat and I went out again, snorkelling around a magnificent reef for about 10 minutes, until I spotted a turtle eating – I just watched him for about 10 minutes and then he chose to swim and I swam alongside him for another 10 minutes, it was magnificent. I am lucky enough to have swam with turtles previously in Malaysia but that was a large group tour and while spectacular we had to swim though quite a number of jelly fish & there was a lot of other people. After my wonderful solo encounter with the turtle, I swam back to the boat so Mark could do the same and he had just as wonderful an experience. Another incredible excursion at a fraction of the cost of a resort island. The captain and his mate were so knowledgeable and this was even more central to the final excursion planned. 

The boys chose a night fishing trip (Total $60) and weren’t exactly sure what to expect – the initial planned evening was cancelled due to storms around which gave me more confidence that safety is taken seriously. The next evening the boys went out with another mother and son (9) from Russia, the head chef of sky beach Chef Abishek, Asif and a friend and the captain and mate. To fish in deep water, you have to go out of the atoll which takes about 30 minutes and after initially what seemed like a dry run, the fish kept coming and coming…. With Dylan (7) catching 3 large red snappers and a barracuda and my husband Mark catching 3 large Trevally. The boat went out at 5.30pm (Sunset is at approx 5.50pm) & returned at 8.30 and Dylan says this was his best excursion. The boys had buffet dinner at Sky Beach that evening which was described as ‘yummy’.  The next night we had a large fish dinner (one of each type of fish caught) all beautifully marinated and prepared by Chef Abishek. This meal is included in the cost of the fishing trip! We did have to ask for rice and salad and felt more of a spectacle could be made of this (particularly with the roof setting). 

The other days we spent the days at South or North beach – South beach is ideal for small people due to how shallow it is and it also gives the feeling of being on a private spit and looks classically Maldivian (lots of different blue waters into nothingness). We had concerns about swimming in North beach initially as this is where the boats come in/out of the harbour but actually as long as you are aware the waves of the boats coming in are actually quite fun (think leisure centre wave machine back in the 90’s) & there are lots of fish around. There is also a little section that Sky Beach have Sun loungers on which was great for crabbing and a little dip. 

It was wonderful respite having such a nice pool available, as the Maldivian sun is intense so we were in the pool daily too. We also hired kayaks – the boys in a double and Cecilia and I in a single (Total $35 for an hour) and we had lots of fun!! 

Top tips for the Maldives on a Budget

• Bring enough sun cream: we got through 2 bottles of Asda Factor 50+ (highly recommend)
• Bring deet mozzie roll on (mozzies aren’t excessive but are around)
• If your travelling with kids (or adults) with allergies (or not), bring snacks – we pack lots of rice cakes (various flavours), schar crispbreads, corn wraps and an assortment of snack bars, dried fruit & nuts etc. Snacks are expensive, this is an island nation.
• Do your research.
• Travel in shoulder season.

What did the Maldives cost?

Our flights totalled just over £2000 for 4 of us (From the BA Sale), Bandos $1000 for 3 nights, full board including speedboat transfers, Sky Beach £900 for 2 bed suite b&b for 7 nights + $150 speedboat transfers + $275 for all excursions including kayaks!

So this is not exactly  ‘cheap’ travel BUT this is ‘cheap’ for The Maldives.

Yes I would recommend the Maldives and yes it is worth the hype? 100% yes. There are other local islands and different accommodation available on which may be cheaper dependant on your needs as a family but I fully recommend Sky Beach for the exceptional service and having a pool available.

The Maldives are a unique, beautiful experience and we generally never travel to the same place twice so, definitely once in a lifetime for us! I’d also add that for us, Dhiffushi (and Bandos) felt amazingly safe compared to other places we have travelled so I would recommend them for families especially.