Booking that dream holiday to the Maldives

The world might be an uncertain place at the moment but one thing that always keeps me feeling positive, is the prospect of travelling again and continuing to tick off some destinations that are on our bucket list. It makes me feel very fortunate that we were able to go on our dream holiday to the Maldives in March 2019 after wanting to visit for many years.

We didn’t actually take that long to book up our trip, due to the fact that we were booking around the season that it’s best to visit the islands.

What should you consider?

We ended up going during March, which is towards the end of the season and is generally the driest time (January to April). Although it’s still very warm from May onwards, you’re more likely to experience rain and we wanted to minimise the chance of that if we could.

As this is often the holiday of a lifetime, you definitely want to be researching not only when to go but where you’d like to visit amongst the islands.  We actually found an amazing deal that ticked all of our boxes on the Voyage Privé website and we were literally about to book up, when someone beat us to it and took the last villa! We were really deflated at the time as it seemed perfect for us, so it really pays to be vigilant and ready to book as soon as you see an incredible offer that’s too good to miss. We eventually found what we were looking for but it’s worth noting that these types of holidays go fast.

It also takes a fairly long time to get there, so be prepared for hopping on several modes of transport before you finally arrive at your resort. After travelling by car, two planes, a sea plane and a boat, we eventually got to the island over 24 hours later. It was a tiring trip and it made us even more grateful that it was one that we had made without the kids – much as we missed them.

What are you looking to do?

Take a look at what you want to get from your stay on the islands and what experiences you really want. For us it was more about just enjoying being in the sea and exploring the underwater world. We went with the view that it was very much a holiday that we wanted to relax on and not feel any pressure to fill our time with too many activities.

We did a little bit of research about what to expect and we particularly liked the island we chose because it had a reef surrounding the island which wasn’t too far to swim to. It meant that we could walk out of our beach villa and dive straight into the sea, with the reef just being a matter of feet away.

You can of course book excursions that that you view turtles and whale sharks, but we felt that the cost outweighed the likelihood of spotting them, plus the fact that it can get very overcrowded with people snorkelling alongside you. We were more than happy being armed with our snorkel equipment and GoPro’s to get some footage when we felt like it. I actually felt much more comfortable wading through the sea in water shoes rather than flippers, not only are they easier to move in, but they also meant that I was less likely to lose my footing and graze myself on coral.  Even though we stayed quite close to the shore, we saw plenty of baby black tipped sharks and sting rays amongst all of the other colourful fish to be seen.

We kept the holiday simple and we wouldn’t have had it any other way. There are activities that you can do on the island that you can book while you are there, meaning that you can choose your adventures as you please.  I was worried about missing out on trips that needed to be booked in advance, but we realised that we didn’t need to do any of those but if you do want to book those experiences, then definitely find out about them before you go.

The most important aspect of our holiday was being able to enjoy the incredible surroundings, while taking it easy for once!

Nb. Collaborative post.