What to do in Maldives & My travel diary
What to do in Maldives. If there is a paradise, I imagine it like this. A coral atoll with only one small island, a few people and lots of colorful fish, a dreamy beach lined with palm trees and very hot water to bathe in. This kind of paradise exists: it is called Maldives and this is the story of the trip to get there and the many activities that can be done. In the Maldives I have never been bored and, by continuing to read, you will discover why!
What to do in Maldives in five days
Reaching the Maldives is quite easy if you can book your trip in advance. Instead, if you are like me, a kind of last minute traveler, you will hardly be able to find direct flights or super low cost ones. The Maldives, in fact, are far from Italy: they are located in the middle of the Indian Ocean, almost one thousand kilometers south of Sri Lanka. The best offer we found, booking three days before departure, was this: we took the Saudi Arabia flight from Milan Malpensa to Male with stopovers to Jeddah and Colombo, and we came back flying with Qatar Airlines with a only stopover in Doha. When you arrive in the capital, Malé, you have one last, but short, journey to reach the resort or hotel where you will be staying. We had a seaplane flight to the island of the resort, a flight that I loved so much, and finally a boat trip to reach our villa. Doesn’t it all worth, just to get to a place like this one below?
Angsana Velavaru
We spent the first 2 nights at Angsana Velavaru. This was the first resort in the Maldives to build overwater villas, which are called here in the ocean villa. The floral welcome so beautifully positioned on the bed, made me feel so spoiled! If the villa looked beautiful from the outside, it was even more in the inside: all the rooms boasted an incomparable view of the ocean. On the ground floor there was the master bedroom with a bathroom and a second bedroom with two single beds. From each room you could access the terrace, where there was a private pool at the edge of the ocean, deckchairs and sofas with soft cushions. There was also a long pier that led directly into the water, perfect for jumping in. But that was not all: you could climb the roof of the villa, where there was another wonderful terrace with a panoramic view of the island!
As soon as we arrived in our room we ordered lunch and had it on our terrace.
Then we jumped in the ocean, and it was almost sunset.
The next day we ordered room service also for breakfast, which was served on a floating tray.
After breakfast we planned the activities and excursions: snorkeling first. I would have liked to take pictures and videos under water to share with you, but unfortunately my GoPro decided to stop working as soon as it arrived in the Maldives. This is one of the photos taken by our guide!
Second activity that you can do at the Angsana Velavaru: “planting” corals to save the reef. We talk about planting in quotation marks because in reality the corals are animals and not plants. The reason for this is that in 2016 there was a catastrophic climate episode: two weeks of hot currents brought the temperature of the water to rise a lot, above 40° C. This resulted in a coral death of 90% in the North of the Maldives and 60% in the South. The Angasana Velavaru is located in the South and they had been luckier than others, but still made some important decisions to protect the coral reef. The process of planting corals consists of this: coral tips are cut and placed on a particular structure, which is then placed at a depth of 5 meters. The corals grow and when they reach the right size they are planted in the coral reef, to make it more luxuriant. We took part in this last stage of the process: a small gesture to save our environment!
An activity that you can easily do lying on the beach: see the rays and reef sharks when they decide to get to the shore.
Take a boat trip at sunset, hoping to spot the dolphins: we succeeded and it was really exciting!
Another activity that you can do at the Angsana Velavaru is to feed one of the many colorful parrots directly from your hand! They are located in the other part of the resort, in the real island. Here there are the water villas, the villas that are located directly on the beach, the spa and some restaurants and cocktail bars. In the part where I was, however, there are only in the ocean villa. The two parts are not connected from the mainland and you move from one to the other with the boat, which leaves at the stroke of every hour. The distance is about 1 km but it is not recommended to cover it by swimming because of the currents!
It’s time to say goodbye to the Angsana Velavaru crew and move North!
Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru.
We took a fast boat, then an airplane to reach Malé and another speed boat to reach our second resort, up in the North. It was the Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru, where we spent the last 3 nights. Here we stayed in an oceanview pool villa: a beach villa with private garden, pool, jacuzzi. From the garden you entered inside, first rinsing the sand from your feet in a small dedicated pool.
The villa had a beautiful room with a four-poster bed, an outdoor bathroom (without windows) with a shower and sofas overlooking another garden, which had access to the private beach with hammock and deck chairs.
On our arrival we found on the bed a little turtle cloth and a brochure that explained the possibility of choosing between different types of pillows. We have chosen the medium soft foam. I particularly liked this feature, because there’s nothing worse than sleeping with an uncomfortable pillow!
Here too, first we rushed to snorkel and saw gray reef sharks, black-fin sharks and a turtle without a leg, which we were told it had probably been eaten by a shark. For more than 10 years, they have seen it at this resort and it seems to be fine, thankfully!
The sunset from the beach in front of our room literally left us speechless.
At Vabbinfaru there is sand everywhere, even in the area of restaurants and bars, and it is not necessary to put slippers or shoes. Welcome barefoot life!
We have dedicated a whole morning to one of the activities that we like to do together: fly a drone!
On the beach in front of our room we could see again the rays, this time a lot and all together. They are very intelligent animals and come every day at the same time because they know that at Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru they give them something to eat. Only a small amount of food, to avoid them to loose the desire to fish and to teach their puppies to get it!
An excursion that I recommend you to do is the boat trip to spot the whale shark. It lasts about three hours, where you will leave the island so much to get lost in the ocean and, if you are lucky enough, you can swim with the whale shark and the stingray!
They explained to me that the whale shark is not dangerous: there is no risk of attacking people, because it only eats plankton. Even stingrays are not dangerous for humans, except for the poison in the sting, so it is recommended not to swim too close or over them.
Finally, some answers to your most frequently asked questions on Instagram.
Do you get bored in the Maldives? I have never been bored: there is the possibility to do a lot of activities, sportly oriented or not, and also many excursions to see fish and marine animals such as snorkeling and katamaran cruise. But I can assure you that lying on the beach is really wonderful here!
How expensive is the Maldives? Speaking about the flights, as I anticipated we booked them only three days in advance and as a result we paid them quite a lot, as well as couldn’t find direct flights (there are not all days of the week). If you can, book early and find flights between 400 and 600 euros. The resorts, however, are at various price ranges. The room usually includes the three main meals, but not the extra activities such as excursions and the spa.
Best time to visit Maldives. When we went, between April 25th and May Day, the weather was beautiful: the sky was blue, the clouds were sporadic and the wind was cool, which allows you to sunbathe without effort. We were at the limit of the best season and the monsoon was about to start, in May. But the weather in the Maldives is unpredictable and the weather forecast is always unreliable: the rains are quite intense but also short. Generally, January, February and March are the best months. But even November, December and April are good ones.
Here end my five days in the Maldives and my list of things to do! I hope they can be useful in case you are considering a trip!
Happy Tuesday and see you soon!
