“Wow, how much did your trip to the Maldives cost?!”
Although most people are shy to ask questions about money (especially in the travel business), most of my friends and family — and heck, even strangers — couldn’t resist asking me this when I came back from my trip. And I can’t blame them, it’s a juicy question!
The Maldives has a stereotype of being an ultra-luxurious and expensive destination, but I found the opposite to be true while I was there. If you know where to go and how to properly plan your trip, you can travel to the Maldives on a budget. In fact, this post might even be able to show you how to visit the Maldives on a budget, including an overwater bungalow, without breaking the bank.
Seeing as how I love reading budget breakdown posts, I decided to venture out and write my very own! I’ve broken down each of my expenses by category below and added a few tips, as well as the total cost that I paid. That’s right: this budget report tracks every single dollar (*cough* rufiyaa *cough*) that I spent.
Since it’s my first budget post, please be gentle — and let me know what you think in the comments after you’re done reading ;)
Ready to see how much I spent? Let’s check it out!
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FLIGHTS
Psst, do you know where the Maldives are?
When I told my mom where she was going for her birthday surprise, she looked at the boarding pass and said something like, Oh, Male! See, I knew it was Malaysia (She had been trying to guess what was her surprise destination for the last three months)
Me: No, we’re not going to Malaysia, it’s another place
Mom: …. Then where the heck is Male?
You might be wondering, Luda, where are you going with this story? Just tell me how much your flight cost so I can keep reading.
Don’t worry, I’m getting there. And speaking of getting there, let’s talk about flights to the Maldives! A lot of people have this misconception that it must be crazy expensive to travel to the Maldives because it’s a country in the Middle of Nowhere. However, there are plenty of routes between the capital city (Male) and major cities in Asia, the Middle East, and India/Sri Lanka – up to 20 flights per day!
If you’re lucky, you can end up finding cheap flights to the Maldives if you add it onto an existing trip, especially if it’s one of the regions listed above. Although the Maldives was my original destination, I added Sri Lanka because I would be in that area of the world anyway – and wouldn’t it be nice to get a 2 for 1 deal? The next time you’re flying through Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, India, or any other countries close by, why not add a long “layover” in the Maldives? ;)
I spent 7 days in Sri Lanka before my trip to the Maldives, which meant that I only had to take a short 2-hour flight from Colombo to Male. The price for my airline ticket was a little higher than usual because I booked it less than a month in advance (protip: don’t procrastinate!) and I ended up paying $280 round-trip on SriLanka Airlines.
Here’s where it gets fun: For my mom’s ticket, I only ended up paying $58 round-trip from San Francisco to the Maldives. Wtf?
If you’re into travel hacking, you’ve probably already guessed how I did this. Instead of buying her ticket the old fashioned way, I redeemed my Chase Ultimate Rewards points and covered the entire cost. Instead of paying the original price of $1,128, I only had to pay the taxes and fees – plus, it was on one of the world’s best airlines (Singapore Air!)
When I book my airline tickets, I usually look through SkyScanner, Momondo, and Expedia and go with the website that has the best price.
EXPECT TO PAY
As mentioned above, you can find cheap flights to the Maldives if you’re coming from local destinations like India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, etc. These flights will run you a few hundred dollars ($100~350) depending on the season and departure airport. For travelers coming from further away, like the United States or Europe, expect to pay anywhere from $500 to $1,500.
TOTAL SPENT ON FLIGHTS = $338 round-trip (with points) / $1408 (without points)
ACCOMMODATIONS
Aside from airline tickets, accommodations in the Maldives will be the biggest expense – especially if you’re planning on staying at a resort! The good news is, you can find some great bargains if you know a few secrets.
NOTE: Since I stayed at both an all-inclusive resort and a regular hotel/guesthouse, and therefore might skew the results, I have broken these down into two categories. The hotels and guesthouses are in this section (Accommodations) and the all-inclusive resort is the section below (All Inclusive Resort).
The first and most obvious tip is to look at the season: If you read my 17 Things to Know Before Traveling to the Maldives post, you know that the cheapest months to travel are May through August. Accommodations are usually 10 to 20% cheaper during this season, and you might even get a last-minute deal if you show up and negotiate!
Next, I recommend staying at locally-owned guesthouses – there are plenty of these on local islands, although you can find some on Male as well. Guesthouses in the Maldives are cheaper than the bigger hotel chains and usually offer some amazing (and money saving!) perks like free breakfast and a free shuttle from the airport/ferry.
I spent 2 nights in Male, followed by 2 nights in an all-inclusive resort (more info on that in the section below), then 2 nights in Maafushi, and finally 1 night in Male on our last day.
Here is a breakdown of each accommodation that I stayed at:
MALE
LVIS Boutique Hotel – $153 for 2 nights
LVIS Boutique was a lovely little hotel that we stayed during our first two nights in Male. It’s centrally located, with helpful staff (who helped arrange transportation to our resort) and free breakfast. The price ($75/night) is about the average of what you can expect to pay for a hotel in Male.
TO BOOK LVIS BOUTIQUE: Booking.com // Agoda // Hotels.com // Expedia
MAAFUSHI
Stingray Beach Inn – $94 for 2 nights
Stingray Inn is the perfect place to stay if you want to do the Maldives on a budget without sacrificing comfort. We paid less than $50 per night, which included free breakfast and a pickup from the ferry pier. Well, technically we had our luggage loaded onto a wheelbarrow and were escorted to the hotel, but still – that’s customer service! ;)
If you’re planning on doing day trips or water sports like snorkeling, scuba diving, kayaking, etc, they’ll also be happy to arrange activities. We ended up doing a half-day trip, which you can read more in the Activities section below. Likewise, we also ordered a speedboat transfer back to Male (the ferry doesn’t work on Friday!), which I’ve written about under Transport.
TO BOOK STINGRAY BEACH INN: Booking.com // Agoda // Hotels.com // Expedia
MALE
Somerset Inn – $24/night (Normally $75/night)
Wait, $24 for a hotel in Male? Is this some kind of trick?
Not exactly! Similar to the flight ticket above, I used one of my benefits to get this cheap rate. If you’re a Hotels.com member and stay for 10 nights, you’ll get one night for free. Seeing as my one free night would expire by the end of the year, I used it to book our last hotel in Male. Instead of the usual $75/night, I only had to pay taxes and fees.
TO BOOK SOMERSET INN: Booking.com // Agoda // Hotels.com // Expedia
EXPECT TO PAY
You can get the best pick of cheap hotels in the Maldives by booking in advance. Prices start around $25~35/night for a bed in a hostel; $40~50/night for a decent room in a hotel or guesthouse; and $75+/night for a room (usually with breakfast included) in a higher-end hotel. Male, the capital, is usually the most expensive, while local islands like Maafushi or Gan will have much more budget-friendly options.
TOTAL SPENT ON HOTELS = $271 for 5 nights
ALL-INCLUSIVE RESORT
The main reason why I picked the Maldives was to treat my mom for her birthday and surprise her with an overwater bungalow. Of course, those Maldives water villas don’t run cheap, and I ended up spending $2,040 for two nights at the Adaaran Prestige Vadoo.
If you’re interested in what the all-inclusive package looks like, I have a huge post where I review the hotel and everything that was included – click here!
A typical all-inclusive resort will include a round-trip transfer from Male to the island (every resort has their own private island!), food and drinks, your own personal butler, and, of course, the room.
When booking, you can usually choose only breakfast, breakfast + lunch, half board (breakfast + dinner), or all inclusive (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and drinks). Since you’re located on a private island, there’s usually no other cafe or restaurant that you can go to, unless you want to sneak in a bunch of snack bars for the duration of your stay.
Meals at the resort restaurants will usually end up running anywhere from $30~50/person per meal. If you’re planning to book a resort in the Maldives, I highly recommend going for the all-inclusive option so you don’t have to worry about any extra charges.
TO BOOK ADAARAN PRESTIGE VADOO: Booking.com // Agoda // Hotels.com // Expedia
TOTAL SPENT ON ALL-INCLUSIVE RESORT = $2040 for 2 nights
ACTIVITIES
If you’re avoiding the Maldives because it seems like all of your time will be spent rolling around on the beach – don’t worry!
I was surprised to see that there were so many water sports and activities in the Maldives like snorkeling, scuba diving, surfing, kayaking, fishing trips, and day trips around the atoll. In Male and some of the bigger islands, there were food tours, city tours, and dinners with locals.
Since we already had most of our itinerary planned before we got to the Maldives, we opted to do two activities, which I’ve broken down below:
FULL-DAY MALE WALKING TOUR
My mom and I love walking tours, so we opted to do a Full-Day Male Walking Tour on our first day in the capital. This cost us $150 total for 8 hours with a private guide. It was worth every dollar because it was only us on the tour and we got to see so much – it was the perfect start to our trip and an excellent overview of the city.
HALF-DAY BOAT TOUR FROM MAAFUSHI
Before we even stepped foot on Maafushi, we didn’t have any plans (we didn’t think there was much to do!). However, after meeting with the owner of our guesthouse and looking through the huge book of activities, we ended up booking a half-day boat tour from Maafushi. This costed $30 per person ($60 total) with free snorkeling equipment rental, lunch, and photos. $30 per person!! For 5 hours of cruising around in a catamaran, eating a delicious lunch on a sandbank, snorkeling, and even seeing some dolphins on the way back. Thirty!! Dollars!! If there was ever a great deal, this would be it. Even as I’m typing this up months later, I’m still surprised at how cheap and fun it was.
HOW MUCH DO ACTIVITIES COST IN THE MALDIVES?
While I can’t speak for every island, I did manage to get some prices from seeing the various advertisements around Male and Maafushi. Here are some that I saw:
Scuba Diving
Single Dive (Certified Divers) $40
Discover Scuba Diving (Non-divers) $75
2-Day Scuba Course $315
Boat Trips in Maafushi
Half-day boat trip $30/person (what we did)
Full day island tour 50/person (IncludesCoral garden, Anantara reef, Gulhi island, Guraidhoo island)
Snorkeling
1 point snorkeling $15
2 point snorkeling $20
3 point snorkeling $25
TOTAL SPENT ON ACTIVITIES = $210 for two people
FOOD
My favorite section! Just like the activities, I was pleasantly surprised at the cost of food in the Maldives. :)
Before I did any research, I had this image in my mind that all of the restaurants in the Maldives were fancy sit-down places with waiters in tuxedos, candles, and dishes that were worth more than my monthly rent.
When we went to get dinner on the first night in Male, everyone kept recommending this place called Symphony. We sat down. There were candles (check). A waiter in a nice suit came over (check). I was waiting to be horrified when I opened the menu… Would I need to sell my kidney (or my mom’s) to pay for my trip?
Nope! I was surprised to see that most of the main dishes were around $10-15, and you could easily have a nice meal for two while staying on budget.
The next day, we went on a Male city tour with our local guide (see above), where we stopped to have lunch at Salt Café & Restaurant, one of the most popular restaurants on the island. Here are some of the prices from that cafe, which is considered to be an “upscale” restaurant:
Salad – 116 MVR ($7.50 USD)
Burger – 130 MVR ($8.40 USD)
Catch of the Day – 140 MVR ($9 USD)
Whole Fish – 180 MVR ($11.65)
Fruit drinks 45 – 60 MVR ($2 to 3 USD)
When we arrived at Maafushi in the evening, we were hungry after one and a half hours of floating around on a ferry. Lo and behold, right there on the beach was a huge buffet-style table that was only $10 per person.
$10 for an all-you-can-eat buffet on the beach!
A quick food lifehack: While traveling in the Maldives, we didn’t pay for breakfast at all. That’s right: During our week-long trip, not one rufiyaa was spent on breakfast. To save money, I booked accommodations that had free breakfast included, which was about half of the hotels and guesthouses that I saw on Booking.com.
TOTAL SPENT ON FOOD = $225 for two people ($113 per person)
TRANSPORTATION
Thanks to a wide network of cheap ferries and speedboats, transportation in the Maldives is very cheap. If you book a hotel with a free airport transfer, it’s even cheaper!
In total, we only spent $4 on the ferry from Male to Maafushi ($2/person) and $25/person ($50 total) for a one-way speedboat transfer from Maafushi to Male. The rest of our transportation (airport to hotels in Male and vice versa) was complimentary because the guesthouses and hotels had it included in their fees.
TOTAL SPENT ON TRANSPORTATION = $54 for two people
SOUVENIRS
The souvenirs in the Maldives are fairly standard, both in items and pricing. Here’s a quick list of what you can find:
- Magnets: The plastic magnets will run you around $2 per piece, while the nicer handpainted or 3D ones are around $3~5 per piece.
- T-Shirts & Shorts: You can get a nice linen shirt with a fish (manta ray, shark, etc) and the words Maldives for around $10~15 and shorts for around $10. We bought a shirt at the first souvenir shop that we went to, thinking that it was a rare item, and ended up paying $20. Do your research beforehand :(
- Hats, scarves, sarongs, etc.
- Coconut Bowls: There are plenty of coconuts around the islands, so why not make them useful? They’re cleaned, lined with abalone shells, and sealed with lacquer – they make perfect gifts to hold things or as a cute decoration. Around $10.
- Fruit-Shaped Soap: Similar to the ones sold in Thailand, these are really popular in the souvenir stores. Around $3~5/piece.
If you plan to buy a lot of souvenirs, I recommend haggling with the shopkeeper – sometimes you can get a nice discount. We saved around $10 by buying our magnets in bulk!
TOTAL SPENT ON SOUVENIRS = $85
TOTAL SPENT IN THE MALDIVES
Whether you’re looking for an ultra-glamorous honeymoon or a cheap holiday in the Maldives, hopefully my budget breakdown was useful in planning your trip (and breaking down some stereotypes!). Here’s a tally of the total amount of money that I spent in the Maldives:
TOTAL SPENT ON FLIGHTS = $338 round-trip (with points) / $1408 (without points)
TOTAL SPENT ON HOTELS = $271 for 5 nights
TOTAL SPENT ON ALL-INCLUSIVE RESORT = $2040 for 2 nights
TOTAL SPENT ON ACTIVITIES = $210 for two people
TOTAL SPENT ON FOOD = $225 for two people ($113 per person)
TOTAL SPENT ON TRANSPORTATION = $54 for two people
TOTAL SPENT ON SOUVENIRS = $85
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If we don’t count the airline tickets (since flight prices vary depending on where you’re flying from!), the total comes out to $2,885 for a week ($1,443 per person).
It’s definitely possible to do the Maldives on a budget as long as you plan in advance, know what to expect, and book the proper accommodations… So in the end, you can use all of the money that you saved and splurge on an overwater bungalow ;)
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Was this guide helpful? Let me know in the comments below! If you’ve been to the Maldives, I’d love to hear some of your budgeting tips as well.
