Honeymoon in Maldives! The ultimate 5D/4N guide to explore within budget

It is a dream of almost everyone to visit Maldives at least once in a lifetime! The pristine beaches, the turquoise water, beautiful sand banks, luxurious villas, the dreamy under water life are very few examples what one can dream of to experience in their honeymoon.

But when it comes to plan the itinerary, the super costly water villas and resort force us to change our plan for future!! 😟 Now it is not a problem anymore, as there are plenty of guest houses and hotels are built up in local island so that travelers can experience the true beauty of Maldives within budget.

As per my experience, staying in a local island is far superior than the water villas as each resort is built up in a private island which totally isolated from rest of the country where you never get to know the local lives. But if you wish to experience the absolute solitude, then please go for this.

Me and my partner visited Maafushi & Guraidhoo island on our honeymoon in the month of December, 2019 which is a perfect time to be in Maldives. The weather during this time is super pleasant, mainly if you go for scuba or snorkeling you will experience the great sea life!

Let's get started with detailed itinerary which I am definitely sure will force you to make a plan with your loved ones to Maldives!

DAY 1: Traveling to Male from Mumbai

Male is the capital city of Maldives which a very small though beautiful one. You can visit the main attractions of Male city within two hours of your time if you wish to! We arrived in Velena International Airport at 12:45PM, once the immigration part is done we took a ferry ride to Male city from where you can get the speed boats/local ferry to go to your local island.

There are couple of points you need to remember when it comes to take a transfer from Airport to your respective resort/guest house.

• If you are going to stay in resort/villa in a private island, you will be able to see counters for almost all resort/villas in the airport itself. They will take you directly in speed boat or sea plane which you need to do a prior booking via your online booking app. Though the sea plane cost is pretty much out of budget for a budget traveler (starts from min $200)

• If you are staying in local island like we did, you can take a ferry from airport (Ferry direction is given in the airport) which will charge you just $1 per person. The frequency of ferries is very high and will take 10 mins to reach Male

• Once you reach Male, you can have your lunch there. You will get a number of restaurants or local joints over there. Remember, the food price is higher than the local island.

• If your destination is Maafushi island like us (which is a very famous local island) then you will get two options to reach there; local ferry & speed boat

• Everyday at 15:00 local ferry to Maafushi leaves from Vilingili ferry terminal which takes only $3. But it is quite slow and takes close to two long hours reaching Maafushi. One can get to the ferry terminal by booking a local taxi (fare is near about $3, please do bargain!). Please be ready for a long queue as locals take this ferry for their everyday's commute( be there in time)

• If you want a not so expensive but a relax journey, please take a speed boat from Male ferry terminal. Speed boat charge is $20, the rate is fixed for Male and Maafushi both. It takes around 30 mins to be at Maafushi which is quite great. 

• Three tour operators - Maafushi Tours, iCom and Shadow Palm operate these ferry services. One can board the sppedboats from Male main ferry terminal, you can ask anyone for the direction, locals are very helpful. We used Maafushi Tour service on our journey.

• Here are their speedboat schedule: 1) Male-Maafushi: 9:00am, 12:00pm, 14:30,18:00              2)Maafushi- Male- Airport: 7:30am, 10:00am, 13:00, 17:00

Once reached at Maafushi, we are welcomed by our guest house manager who was waiting there to receive us and take our luggage. As soon as we stepped in, there was an instant love I felt for the place. It was a small island with beautiful beaches and more beautiful locals! They were super friendly and helpful. 

After placing our luggage in our room, we had a conversation with our hotel manager who helped us to plan our activities with a sip of fresh juice. Though we wanted to compare the rates of the activities with other hotel/guest house/tour operators so that we can get a better deal. Then we headed to take a stroll on the beach and in search for a great dinner!

We ended our first day with a super delicious Maldivian meal and some good local music.

Day2: Exploring the local islands & Night fishing

Next day, we started our day with a grand breakfast which helped us to gather all our energy for the rest of the day. We stayed at Ethereal Inn hotel which offered us a great affordable stay, tours, food. After the wholesome breakfast, we headed to the beaches which was very close to our hotel. There is two main beaches in Maafushi; one is local Maafushi beach where bikini is not allowed, another one is Bikini beach where you can jump into the sea wearing your beautiful bikinis.

Long stretched beaches, soft white sand, turquoise water, horizontal palm trees, windy weather, the super clear water where you can see fishes without wearing the swimming glasses. At night one can experience baby sharks at the sea shore, it was a lifetime experience. It is advisable to bring a snorkeling gear or take it from your hotel on rent so that you do not miss exploring the sea life even at the local beaches. There were plenty of colorful fishes, corals, plants in the bikini beach which will definitely take your breathe away!!

The very same day, we went for night fishing arranged by our hotel only. It costs $25 for each person including dinner (our hotel was super good, they provided us free dinner each night with a great variety in menu). Night fishing was definitely a memorable one as we tried fishing in SEA for the first time, WHOOOH!! After two hours of fishing experience which needs a great patience of course, we caught one fish which was cooked for our dinner that night. Isn't it interesting!! Don't miss to add this trip in your itinerary.

DAY 3: PRIVATE RESORT DAY

It was the most exciting day of our trip.We booked a full day trip to Adaraan Ranhali Resort which includes full day stay, lunch buffet, full beach access with beach towel and welcome drinks. We were picked up from our hotel in the morning and transferred to the resort via speed boat for the whole day.
It was a warm welcome with iced tea which was quite refreshing! We were roaming here and there enjoying the serene beauty of Maldives. For all the Instagram lover, you can discover a frame wherever you aim your camera. After spending quality time in the beach,we headed towards the buffet. It was one of the tastiest buffet I have ever had, we were just waiting to jump in!
The day ended with exploring lots of colorful fishes, coral and many more!

THE WHOLE TOUR COST US $200 PER PERSON

DAY 4: HALF DAY TOUR

The second last day was another beautiful day with full of adventures.We booked snorkeling tour
which includes Dolphin watching, a new local island hoping, visit to a sand bank. Having lunch in a sand bank is a lifetime experience which one should not miss. And the wow part is these all things only cost us $25 for each!! Isn't that great? 😍

This was the last evening in this beautiful tiny island. We spent this time to collect some souvenirs for our loved ones! You will find many shops scattering over the whole island. After the shopping, we headed to the Maafushi tour booking centre to get the tickets for next day return to Male airport from Maafushi. They will charge you $20 for each ticket which is fixed for all operators in the island.

So we ended our last night with some candle light dinner arranged in the beach side by the hotel. You can easily surprise your loved one with a lavish beach side candle light dinner spending few bucks to any of the hotels of your choice (special recommendation: Arena Beach Hotel)

DAY 5: Time to say Good Bye!!

After having a delicious breakfast, we left our hotel and Maafushi with a heavy heart and a promise to come back again! The Hotel receptionist was very kind to accompany us towards the speed boat meeting point. It took us almost 30 mins to reach at the airport. Just make sure you did a pre-booking for the ride as last minute booking can lead you in a mess when it comes to catch a flight!!

FEW IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

• The best time to visit Maldives is between November to March, you can enjoy the perfect blue sunny weather in this period

• Always carry Dollars with you from your respective country itself, as there are very few ATMs and cards are accepted only in restaurants. In trips and shopping, cash are hugely accepted, I will suggest you to carry cash

• $1000 is enough for 5D/4N trip for two persons (Excluding flight & hotel charges). 

• Maldive has an On Arrival Visa process which does not require any pre process, you just need to carry passport, print out of return ticket and your accommodation confirmation

• Please carry a pen while travelling to fill the Custom Form 

•  If you want to save money (not time) then try to take the local ferry if it suits you according to your flight arrival time, otherwise please go for the speed boat which is more convenient

• For budget hotels, you can check booking.com or agoda.com , you can easily find decent hotels starting $45 per night

• Some hotel recommendation : Ethereal Inn, Rosemary Boutique, Sunrise Beach, Maafushi Village, Kani Grand, Arena Beach hotel (All the hotel charge almost 12% tax along with hotel price, check the pricing info before booking the hotel.)

• I will recommend you to carry at least one Snorkeling gear for experiencing the sea life in Maafushi beach or in your Resort trip (For other snorkeling tour, the gear will be given to you)

• Apart from Bikini beach, women are not allowed to wear bikinis, even on streets also considering Maldive is a Muslim country

• Alcohol is completely banned in Maldives, please do not carry any liquor with you. If you wish to drink, there is a Flotel bar in the middle of the sea where you can get drinks 

• Maldive has a lot of variety in food, specially sea food buffet and it is quite cheap too in Maafushi ($12-$15 per buffet meal and other options are starting from $2)

• Some other islands which you can add in your list apart from Maafushi are: Guraidhoo, Fihalhohi, Biyadhoo, Hulhumale, Male island

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I tried to make this blog informative so that you face no issues to plan a budget trip to Maldives.
Hope you will have a great trip! 😊

Heaven is in Krabi, Thailand

"The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see."

-G.K.Chesterton

To explore the beauty of nature, me along with my six friends visited Krabi, Thailand. A beautiful province in Southern Thailand with over almost 200 islands off its 150 km long coast line. Many of them featuring fantastic white-sand beaches and turquoise water,a jungle-covered interior, towering limestone cliffs, caves, a beautiful sunny weather which are breath taking. Krabi is a great selection of natural assets that offer its visitors a wide array of leisure activities for all the backpackers. Island-hopping, Snorkeling, Rock climbing, sea kayaking, jungle trekking, scuba diving are among the most popular adventures that can be enjoyed while on holiday in Krabi.

The journey started.....

DAY 1:

We stayed for 4 days in Krabi and lay off time during flight schedule was spent in the heart of Bangkok. As soon as we got down from the flight, all the way from India, felt like there are so many backpackers are eagerly waiting to explore southern Asia like us. As we were already done with our Visa procedure from India itself, therefore it was a big sigh of relief for us!☺

Soon after we rented a van for the all day hopping the best places in Bangkok. But as soon as we got into the van and the mediator asked for the half money of the tour, a note of 1000 baht has been given to him. But a scam was waiting for us! He changed the note with a note of 100 baht with proper excellence placing all of us in a dilemma. Nonetheless the trip began and first the places we visited

were following by

• Wat Arun
• Wat Pho
• Floating  market
• Weekend Chatuchak Market

 

Among these places, the must-go-places are for sure Floating and Chatuchak Market. One should not miss the mouth watering dishes on the boat in Floating Market. There are plenty of options and the prices are less too!

We came to Chatuchak Market boarding an auto at the price of 250 baht from Wat Arun. Chatuchak Market is where you need to spend almost the entire day just to explore the full market. There were ample of shops starting from garments, handmade accessories, mouth watering food, electronic goods and what not! The variety of food present in the market was surely made you confused what to grab and what to leave. Duck meat, pork dumplings, fish balls, fruit shakes, coconut ice creams are some of the items on which we jumped into to fill our stomach. After spending almost three hours, it's time to catch the flight of our next destination, KRABI!!! 

DAY 2:

As soon as we reached in Krabi, we headed towards our hotel, Moment Hostel. I would recommend everyone to visit there which is one of the best ones for your valuable stay! The Hosts are super awesome. 

We spent our evening on the beach of Ao Nang which was a pure bliss. The sound of waves healed our soul and were excited for the rest of the trip. There are so many food outlets spreading here and there, so you can opt out any of these to complete your sea-food special dinner. :)

DAY 3 :

The very next day we started for Phi-Phi island trip on speed boat in the early morning. The trip has been scheduled at the Krabi Airport itself as there you will be getting so many shops who offer a good deal for all the tourist places you long for! It cost around 1100 baht including food(buffet),fruits, speed boat ride.

The Koh Phi-Phi consists of two islands. One is Koh Phi-Phi Don and another is Koh Phi-Phi Leh. We visited the Koh Phi-Phi Leh. The Phi-Phi Leh has magnificent beaches which will give your eyes experiencing the heaven! The beaches were so clean and gorgeous; the water was turquoise in color. You will get to see the Monkey island too where so many monkeys are waiting for you.Phi-Phi is famous for it's Maya bay where "The Beach" was filmed. Though in the peak season, the beach is therefore extremely overrun by tourists and despite the beautiful scenery not a paradise anymore :( 

The main attraction of the tour is Snorkeling. The boat stopped near a place where you are allowed to do Snorkeling with the beautiful fishes around you. The experience was truly magical.

In the evening we hopped Krabi Town market which was a completely MUST visit. There you will get a huge number handmade accessories, clothing, some exciting souvenir shops. Coming to the food outlet, that is a pure bliss for non-vegetarian and sea-food lovers. And all the things you will get in very less price! Enjoy :)

DAY 4 :

This is a popular day trip from Ao Nang by Long tail boat to the group of  islands closest to the coast. For this day, we booked our tour package from our hostel itself which included limited lunch, fruits and water, cost is around 700 baht per person. 

The Four islands are Koh Poda, Koh Gai (Chicken), Koh Tub & Koh Mor; and the tour also stops for the beautiful Phra nang Cave at Railay beach. This beach is considered to be one of the most beautiful strips of sand in the world. There you can make yourself busy in Rock climbing also which is immensely popular among the tourists over there. 

Koh Poda is very famous for its white sand and crystal clear water. There is a huge rock in front of the beach which you might have already seen in many poster cards, screensaver and on the tourist sites.

All the islands are so very unique by its own. From the boat only you will get to see the Chicken island; and but the boat will take you to Koh Tub and Koh Mor where you can experience the Snorkeling too.

Long tail boats :)

In the evening, you can just sit back and relax on the Ao Nang beach enjoying some good food and music at the pubs near by or just simply roaming around the local shops at Ao Nang market.

DAY 5 :

Here we have come to the last day of our beautiful trip. The weather condition was not at all good in the beginning of the day which let our mood a bit gloomy but very soon it got normal and we started with our destination. The last day ended with a kayaking trip to the Ao Thalane. We had a great experience over there with the proper pick up and drop facility which cost around 800 baht. Coffee, fruits were given to everyone; there was a huge group having almost 15 canoes with 2 people in each. the guide was very informative and two guides were always there while kayaking to make sure that everyone is safe. The stop was at Hong Kong island to roam and capture some beautiful moments with crabs, star fish! The trip ended with the beach side BBQ dinner for which we paid extra bucks. All over it was a very nice and memorable experience.

The very next morning we left the hostel and headed towards the Airport as soon as we were done with our last minute shopping and tasted some sumptuous food which promised you to come back to this magical place AGAIN!!

P.S-  I just want to mention here to all my Indian food lovers, there are plenty of Indian restaurants in Krabi where you can let your taste buds enjoy the Indian food. It costs around 31000 INR for this 5days trip including Air fare and stay and of course little bit shopping! 😊

BYE BYE KRABI UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN !!! 😇😉😊