The most beautiful place on earth. (Maldives)

Member Name: gayle04

Product:	Maldives
Date:	07/01/09 (203 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Scenery, relaxing, snorkelling, people, weather, everything!!

Disadvantages: None at all.

The Maldives - quite simply the most beautiful place on this earth, and I'm not sure where to start with this review as there are so many things I could talk about. We visited The Maldives in the summer of 2007 which is supposed to be the monsoon season (I'll come to that later) and it was the most fantastic holiday I have ever been on.

The Journey -

We flew out from Manchester airport with First Choice Airlines and I couldn't really fault them for anything. However, it takes around 11 hours to get to The Maldives from the UK and so if you ever get travel sick I would really advise taking some medication for it. I have never been on such a long flight and after around 6-7 hours I started to feel terrible. I felt too sick to read, or watch films, or do anything which required the slightest bit of concentration so as you can imagine, the last few hours of the flight were pretty boring! I would also advise people to pay a bit extra and get more legroom if this option is available. I didn't manage to get much sleep at all on the flight but I think I could have if I'd had a little more room.

The Airport -

Male Airport is very small as you would imagine for an airport on a tiny little Island, however I found all of the staff there to be really efficient and we got our luggage in record time. The fact that they don't have loads of flights coming in at the same time means that when you land, all the staff are focused solely on sorting the people out on your flight. We had no complaints at all about the airport, and on the way back although there wasn't too much to do, there was a little cafe where you could grab something to eat, have a drink, and reminisce about the amazing holiday you just had!

The Accomodation -

The majority of the accomodation in the Maldives takes the form of resorts, each on their own individual island, although there are a couple of normal hotels on the island of Male (the capital city). Within the Maldives, there are various areas which consist of groups of islands and these are called atolls. Depending on which atoll your resort is in, will depend on how long it takes to get there from the airport and will also affect how you get there. Resorts in North Male Atoll (closest to the airport) are generally a short speedboat ride away whereas those in South Ari Atoll which is very far away from the airport, require a transfer by Sea Plane!

We stayed in a resort called Bandos in North Male Atoll and were met at the airport by two people from the resort who escorted us onto the speed boat. A short ride later and we were in the reception area, sipping cocktails and being cooled down with cool towels. The island was absolutely beautiful, as I believe the vast majority of islands in the Maldives are. There were long stretches of perfect, soft, white sand, gorgeous tropical plants and flowers everywhere, bright blue, warm ocean surrounding us and some of the most stunning wildlife I have seen.

There are a variety of different types of rooms in most resorts which range from standard rooms (usually in small blocks of 4) to jacuzzi water villas or pool villas which are built on stilts above the ocean and have their own private jacuzzi's or pools. You can also usually get various other types of mid-range accomodation and we tried a jacuzzi villa on the beach for the second week of our holiday which was stunning. It was like our own private little beach hut with two floors, a huge bathroom with double sinks and two showers (one outdoor) and best of all a massive private jacuzzi under the stars. It was definately worth paying the extra to upgrade to this room for a while, although the standard room was also lovely, it is nice to experience such luxury when you're on a once in a lifetime holiday.

Most resorts have pools and a selection of bars/restaurants to wine and dine in. Almost all resorts offer different board basis' so you can go B&B through to all inclusive (although all inclusive in the Maldives is often quite limited and not ALL inclusive at all so make sure you read exactly what you get for your money before booking). There is also usually entertainment on at night in the bars, things like discos, live bands, crab racing (!!!) or cinema nights.

During the day there is plenty to do, if you get tired of snorkelling (which you won't as there are thousands of fish everywhere as well as sharks, turtles, and various other creatures), then nearly all of the resorts offer excursions and trips to other islands to go shopping or see some of the sights. You can also go on dolphin spotting trips or at certain times of the year, you can go and swim with whale sharks. We went on a trip to Male and on a dolphin spotting cruise and both were excellent.

The Weather -

As I mentioned at the start of my review, we went in the monsoon season which is supposed to be not as sunny, and to state the obvious - wet. We didn't find this to be true at all though, we had sun everyday and it only rained twice while we were there, each time lasting for about half an hour. From speaking to others who went in the "dry season", the weather can be equally as unpredictable then so although yes, you are more likely to experience a couple of wet days if you go in June - Aug/Sept, it is also not guaranteed that you won't see any if you pay more to go in the dry season (which starts around Oct/Nov). The prices do range massively depending on which month you go in too, so I would definately take the gamble and go in June or July again when it is cheapest.

I think that just about covers everything you need to know, but honestly, nothing I can say can explain to you how beautiful this part of the world is. I will never, ever forget my holiday to The Maldives. It really is heaven on earth.

Summary: Although it is an expensive holiday, it is worth saving up for - simply stunning.