Nowadays, you can travel Maldvies on a budget. Not a shoestring budget like in Southeast Asia or Latin America. There are numerous blog post on how to travel Maldvies for cheap. My favorite is one written by OneikaTheTraveller on Huffington Post, you can check it out here. Also simply google ‘Maldives on a budget blog’ and you will be presented with several blog posts on how to travel Maldives on the cheap.

Initially, I was going to follow the tips on traveling there on a budget but I came across blog posts from female travelers talking about harassment from local men on local islands. Two posts stayed with me – one by Simply Nomadic and the other on street harassment. To be honest, these posts made me reconsider. I do understand that many women visit Maldives without any incidences, however, most women that visit are with their spouse. Maldives is not yet a solo woman destination.

View from the airport

Also, I thought about treating myself. Maldives was my last destination in the region, I’ll only be in Maldvies for 3 nights/4days before heading back to the Americas. I have been traveling for the past 8 weeks. Why not pamper myself and cross out a bucket list item? With that in mind, I decided to skip staying at a local island on a budget and instead stay at a resort.

Over Water Villa at Ellaidhoo

I used Booking.com, TripAdvisor.com and Google to find the right resort for me. I was able to narrow down based on price and interest to Holiday Inn Resort, Bando Resort and three of the Cinnamon Resorts (Hakuraa Huraa, Dhonveli and Ellaidhoo-Maldives). For what I wanted – Over-Water Villa; Bando, Hakuraa Huraa and Dhonveli were way more expensive than Ellaidhoo. Actually, Holiday Inn, Bando and Hakuraa Huraa were double the price of Ellaidhoo while Dhonveli was USD$200 more. So, I went with Ellaidhoo Cinnamon. Note, all of these resorts requires either a sea plane or speedboat transfer from the airport.

View from my room at Ellaidhoo

Because my flight arrived late – 9.45pm, I had to spend the night in Hulhumale – the reclaimed island where the airport is located. I stayed at UI hotel in Hulhumale for the night. It cost USD$45/night and included breakfast. It wasn’t luxury rather a basic accommodation option. They have excursion/tour options. Due to miscommunication between UI Hotel and Ellaidhoo, I wasn’t able to get on the 8am speedboat transfer the next day. I had to wait for the 2.30pm transfer. It was a rough 90 minutes boat ride to the resort. All worth it on arrival. The resort is small – 112 rooms, gym and spa.

I opted for full board so all my meals and water was included in the room rate. With this option, you only have to pay for alcoholic beverages. For the rest of my 2 nights/2.5 days at the resort, I didn’t do anything but write this blog and chill. I needed this vacation from traveling heavily for the past two months. I pretty much took care of me.

Click my YouTube page to see the video of the resort.

                                                 4 Tips for Travelling in the Maldvies

1. Maldvies can be done on a budget. Google “Maldives on a Budget’ for posts on how to do it.
2. If you decide to stay at a local island instead of a resort, please research local island options thoroughly especially if you are a solo female traveler.
3. Maldives is a strict Islamic country. You can only wear bikini at a resort or selected beaches at local islands. Alcohol is only available at the resorts.
4. Leave your pornographic materials, sex toys and dogs at home. They are prohibited in the Maldvies. See below list of items prohibited by the Maldives government.