Maldives?

[natureexplorer]

Has anyone been to the Maldives and has some tips about where to stay for an active vacation (snorkeling, beach, boat trips, exploring the islands)?

[barnaclebob]

I went there 3 years ago for my honeymoon and it was awesome. We stayed in an over water hut at Meeru and would recommend it to anyone. It seemed to have the best value out of the resorts i researched and had great reviews on trip advisor. The food was solid 4 star in my opinion and service was top notch, we had the all inclusive option which was nice. The snorkeling was pretty good but im sure there is better somewhere, and they have a diving program.

I didnt see a real need to "explore" the islands, they are all pretty much the same except for the resort built on them. The reviews on an excursion to a town where locals lived didn't have good reviews so we didn't do that. Also wherever you stay take the float plane option over the boat just because its more fun. I'll also throw in a recommendation to fly Emirates if thats possible.

Of course if you can throw down a 1k+ per night then there would be better options. Or 10 day stay there and a 3 day stop in Dubai ran about 11k with the all inclusive option and international airfare included. We probably spent another $300-400 on extras on the island.

[natureexplorer]

I went there 3 years ago for my honeymoon and it was awesome. We stayed in an over water hut at Meeru and would recommend it to anyone. It seemed to have the best value out of the resorts i researched and had great reviews on trip advisor. The food was solid 4 star in my opinion and service was top notch, we had the all inclusive option which was nice. The snorkeling was pretty good but im sure there is better somewhere, and they have a diving program.

I didnt see a real need to "explore" the islands, they are all pretty much the same except for the resort built on them. The reviews on an excursion to a town where locals lived didn't have good reviews so we didn't do that. Also wherever you stay take the float plane option over the boat just because its more fun. I'll also throw in a recommendation to fly Emirates if thats possible.

Thanks! Unfortunately, the Meeru Island Resort doesn't show any availability for my dates in November.

[barnaclebob]

Have you been looking for results on trip advisor? I have had good luck by sorting the results by top rated and then going down the list until I find one or two in my price range. The user submitted pictures are very useful too.

[halfnine]

Has anyone been to the Maldives and has some tips about where to stay for an active vacation (snorkeling, beach, boat trips, exploring the islands)?

The islands of the Maldives come in essentially five categories.

1. The island which has the airport
2. The main island which is next to the airport. It is still a quite small place and is of limited interest to most tourists.
3. Islands where only locals are allowed. Tourists are not allowed unless they actually know someone who is living there.
4. A few select islands where locals live but you can also go and tour them for a few hours. IMHO these are just tourists traps. Nothing much happens on these islands other than the shops open up for a few hours while the tourists are there.
5. Resort islands where the whole island itself is one individual resort. Now these come in many varieties to cater to different tastes and budgets. Some cater to families, some to the wealthy, some to the more active, some geared to those who like to party, etc. My recommendation is that you pick up the Lonely Planet guide to the Maldives and simply match the experiences you are looking for with the island that most closely fits it. Then crosscheck that island/resort with a travel forum to make sure the reviews match your expectation.

[natureexplorer]

Has anyone been to the Maldives and has some tips about where to stay for an active vacation (snorkeling, beach, boat trips, exploring the islands)?

The islands of the Maldives come in essentially five categories.

1. The island which has the airport
2. The main island which is next to the airport. It is still a quite small place and is of limited interest to most tourists.
3. Islands where only locals are allowed. Tourists are not allowed unless they actually know someone who is living there.
4. A few select islands where locals live but you can also go and tour them for a few hours. IMHO these are just tourists traps. Nothing much happens on these islands other than the shops open up for a few hours while the tourists are there.
5. Resort islands where the whole island itself is one individual resort. Now these come in many varieties to cater to different tastes and budgets. Some cater to families, some to the wealthy, some to the more active, some geared to those who like to party, etc. My recommendation is that you pick up the Lonely Planet guide to the Maldives and simply match the experiences you are looking for with the island that most closely fits it. Then crosscheck that island/resort with a travel forum to make sure the reviews match your expectation.

Thanks! Which islands/resorts would be geared to the more active and/or for party?

[halfnine]

Has anyone been to the Maldives and has some tips about where to stay for an active vacation (snorkeling, beach, boat trips, exploring the islands)?

The islands of the Maldives come in essentially five categories.

1. The island which has the airport
2. The main island which is next to the airport. It is still a quite small place and is of limited interest to most tourists.
3. Islands where only locals are allowed. Tourists are not allowed unless they actually know someone who is living there.
4. A few select islands where locals live but you can also go and tour them for a few hours. IMHO these are just tourists traps. Nothing much happens on these islands other than the shops open up for a few hours while the tourists are there.
5. Resort islands where the whole island itself is one individual resort. Now these come in many varieties to cater to different tastes and budgets. Some cater to families, some to the wealthy, some to the more active, some geared to those who like to party, etc. My recommendation is that you pick up the Lonely Planet guide to the Maldives and simply match the experiences you are looking for with the island that most closely fits it. Then crosscheck that island/resort with a travel forum to make sure the reviews match your expectation.

Thanks! Which islands/resorts would be geared to the more active and/or for party?

The way the Maldives is setup an individual like myself (or really anyone else who has only actually visited one resort) just doesn't have the experience or knowledge to compare/contrast the various resorts against each other. We can only state whether the individual resort we went to lived up to our expectations. That is pretty much why I advised looking through the Lonely Planet guide first. They have a comprehensive list of the resorts and break them down by ones interests/expectations (at least they did back in the day when I was there) which should help you select a few to shortlist. Then I would get actual reviews from people who have been to those specific resorts.