Maldives on a Budget: 5 Money-Saving Tips

A vacation to the island nation of Maldives is a bucket-list destination for many. If you’re looking to get the true Maldivian experience relaxing at private island resort, it’s not cheap, but there are many ways you can save. Here are our top 5 money saving tips for the Maldives that can help you get the most out of your trip! For a deeper dive into choosing your perfect Maldives resort, check out our post here.

#1 – Choose A Resort With Speedboat Transfer From Malé

The islands of the Maldives are spread out over 500 miles from north to south and 80 miles from east to west. Once you arrive in Malé you will be required to take various transfer options to get to your final location. Taking a speedboat instead of a seaplane to your resort will save hundreds of dollars per person. Most resorts close enough to access by speedboat include the transfer to the resort for free but will require you to pay for the return transfer (pay close attention to details here). Resorts do a great job with the coordination of their speedboat transfers to minimize wait time at the airpot.

In comparison, seaplane transfers are rarely included with your stay and can be an extra few hundred dollars per person each way. Additionally, transportation times are not as flexible so you could run into the following issues:

• They only fly when it’s light outside. If you have a flight arriving later in the evening or if you have an early departure you may need to book a night in Malé to accommodate this. (Resulting in another hotel cost)
• Luggage weight restrictions that differ from your regular flight can cause a headache and additional costs.
• Planes are small, hot, and crowded. Additionally, you may stop at several resorts before getting to your own. You also may not have a window seat to take in the views.
• More distant resorts require you to take a domestic flight from Malé to another location first then an additional speedboat or seaplane transfer.

Because transfer is not something that people factor in to their travel costs, this one jumped to the top of our list of our 5 money saving tips for the Maldives.

#2 – Take Advantage Of Included Resort Activities

Look for resorts that offer a complimentary excursion as well as complimentary water activity rentals.

Many resorts offer great excursions but these can be pricey! Our resort offered 2 basic options and we could pick one for free. We chose a snorkeling excursion that we loved. From there, we also had additional cheaper options we could add on. We did a dolphin sunset cruise that was a huge highlight of our trip! Excursions after this ran several hundred of dollars per person and some were 8+ hours. Overall, we were happy with the basic options.

Double check water activity rental costs as some resorts charge to use anything (stand up paddle boards, kayaks, snorkeling gear, etc.) Our resort allowed a 1 hour rental per person per day for stand up paddle boards and kayaks. You did have to book your time slot ahead of time which was easy to do each day. Additionally, we picked up free snorkel gear when we arrived that we could keep the duration of our stay!

If your resort has a house reef, this is another great free activity. A house reef is a coral reef right on the resort property that you can snorkel in on your own. For resorts without a house reef, you’ll have to take a tour/excursion to snorkel where you can see coral, tropical fish and more. This easily became our favorite daily activity! Because we already had our rented snorkel gear we could eat breakfast and go straight to snorkeling in the house reef on our own time.

#3 – Stick To Buffets And Included Drinks

When it comes to money saving tips while at your Maldives resort, making good food and drink choices is key. Most resorts offer standard buffets that are included in your packages along with fancier restaurants available at additional cost. One great way to save money is to stick to the buffets that are already available to you.

I know, the word buffet usually makes you think of limited options repeated daily with many unhealthy and greasy foods. This was definitely not our experience! While we have only been to 1 Maldives resort, we can confidently say our resort we had amazing food at every single meal with new options daily. There was something for everyone, including vegetarians. Different fresh fruit everyday from dragon fruit, papaya, mangos and more was always a favorite.

For drinks, resorts will have a set list of cocktails, beer, and wine that are included in their packages. As with food, you can pay additional for premium options. Sticking with the base options is another spot to save money while trying out some fun new drinks.

#4 – Bring Your Own Sunscreen & Supplies

Bring your own high SPF sunscreen and lots of it!

You may think this is a no brainer, but a small bottle of sunscreen (3 oz.) costed $52 at our resort! That being said, we reapplied sunscreen every hour and every time we got out of the water, and we were still burnt! Don’t forget you are near the equator. We used SPF 50 and it was never enough. Thankfully, we had several bottles so we weren’t stuck paying the resort prices.

Besides sunscreen, other supplies that you may need on the island were limited and expensive. Plan ahead and bring everything that you’ll need. There were tons of sun hats and long-sleeve shirts for sale since people often forget items like this to help protect them while enjoying the beach all day.

Pro-Tip: Don’t buy any souvenirs at your resort unless there’s something resort specific that you have your heart set on. The same Maldives souvenirs are available at the airport for a fraction of the price!

#5 – Consider Accommodations Needs

When considering what’s important to you in your Maldives vacation, consider how luxurious your accommodations need to be. This is a spot where you can really save some money.

While over the water villas span the postcard images of the Maldives, ask yourself how often you will actually be in your room. Going on excursions or other activities will obviously take you away from your room but most resorts also have great pools, bars and lounge areas where we ended up spending most of our time. Depending on the layout of your resort, these villas are sometimes very far away from the main bars and restaurants. Because of this, often it can take more time and effort to go all the way back to your room. We packed a beach bag with sunscreen, spare chargers and whatever else we’d need then move around from activities, bars and other lounge/beach side areas during the day. We’d only return to our room in the evening to shower before dinner. So, you can definitely still get an amazing experience without an over the water villa.

If you still choose an over the water villa (which we did), there will be many price levels for the resort you’re looking at. For example, we choose a base villa whereas others included private pools and more luxurious accommodations.

We hope these 5 money saving tips for the Maldives can help you get the most out of your travel! For more travel inspiration, check out our additional blog posts on international travel.