Only a year+ after our trip and I am finally sharing the beauty of this place.

The Maldives was one of two destinations that Andy and I went on our honeymoon. This post has been in draft form for soo long and it’s time to share some thoughts and pictures

The Maldives is located smack in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It’s such a dreamy place, yet there is an aspect that is so vulnerable. This natural wonder reminded me how interconnected we are with nature, and how it is our job to protect her. Being so far removed from “my normal” is what makes travel so special to me.

The Maldives was magic and I feel blessed to have visited.

WHERE WE STAYED.

The Centara Grand Island Resort & Spa.

While choosing accommodation, the two main choices were either beach villas or ocean villas. After seeing the price of the ocean villas, we opted for the beach villa. No matter what we chose, the beach was still steps away and we were still in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

Options like Airbnb and yacht charters exist, too. Stepping away from resorts will most likely eliminate all-inclusive packages but options like yacht charters would increase your accessibility to excursions.

TRAVEL TO & FROM.

Most of the islands and resorts of the Maldives are only accessible by plane. The islands that are close to Male, the capital, can be reached by boat. Our resort was not accessible via boat and required another flight. We opted to take a (more costly) seaplane, but the flight itself felt like an excursion.

I was a little claustrophobic, but the views were 100% worth it.

It’s important to note that Male is a Muslim and therefore, dry, capital. All of the resort islands are privately owned, allowing for the differences in laws and policies. Also, planes only depart to the resorts during the daylight, so plan to arrive to Male early in order to avoid getting spending the night.

DURATION OF STAY.

We stayed for 6 days in the Maldives. I obviously could have stayed longer, but I wouldn’t have wanted to stay any less.

When deciding how long to stay, it’s important to recognize what kind of traveler you are. You are pretty much in paradise, and I did not want to leave, but since you are on such a small island, unless you are hopping around then you can basically see everything in a few days. I thought our 6 days was the perfect amount of time.

OPT FOR AFFORDABILITY.

I know “affordability” might be a laughable word when talking about the Maldives, because airfare and lodging combined… this was not a budget-friendly destination. But, it was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of trip. With all of that in mind, if you want to go to the Maldives, there are definitely ways to cut costs and to maximize the dollars you have to spend.

– Do a stop over

We originally planned on going to the Maldives for 10 days, but couldn’t rationalize flying all that way to just see one bit of an island. If we were going to be making the trip, I wanted to see more. Our best option was to do a stop over in an affordable location to lower the total price and increase our overall time spent abroad.

This was the best thing we could have done. I will be sharing more about our experience in Sri Lanka, and while it may not be for everyone, we made so many incredible memories and friends in Sri Lanka and dream about going back to that country someday soon.

– Opt for the beach hut instead of an overwater villa.

You are already in the middle of the ocean. You do not need to spend $1k+ a night to be a little bit more in the ocean.

We opted for a beach hut instead of a water villa. Sure, the water villas are all you see in Instagram- but I was easily convinced by my husband that we were already *in the middle of the ocean*, we didn’t need an over water villa. This also saved us thousands of dollars. We made good friends with an Aussie couple who let us hang out at their villa, and vice versa.

– Travel on the brink of dry season

Dry season starts in December and we traveled mid-October. It didn’t rain once, but this was also a chance we took. The weather looked iffy when we checked it on our iPhones, but it was gorgeous while we were there and didn’t rain once. The weather was hotttt with few clouds in sight.

Overall, this allowed us to save money on airfare and resort prices.

– Use a credit card

We put our entire honeymoon on a credit card (Chase Reserve) and immediately paid the balances in full. Since Andy and I both opened a new account, we got two sign-up bonuses.

Normally you get much more value in redeeming your points for travel, but with some short-term goals in mind, we redeemed all of our points for cash to help us become debt-free. We redeemed over $2,500 just from putting our purchases on cards. That made our trip a whole lot more affordable. Just make sure to pay the balance in full if you go this route!!’