Maldives advice/information desperatly needed!

I've been to Lily Beach Resort in the South Ari Atoll. They have semi-water bungalows - so the terrace is over the water, but they back onto the shore. You see stingrays going under the terrace sometimes and trigger fish etc.

Lily Beach is no good if you want night life and entertainment - it's about chilling, snorkeling and scuba, but it's AMAZING if you want that.

As I understand it, the Ari Atoll and North Male Atoll are the two nicest to go to with the best coral.

HTH

I think with the Maldives you definitely get what you pay for so go to one of the better Islands like Kuredu for example as i have heard so many people say that was amazing.

Yes you do get sharks in the shallow water but they are only reef sharks. They don't bite. You also get sting ray and other fish. It's normal so take your snorkeling stuff and enjoy it. Look out for stone fish though!!

I wasn't fussed about a water villa to be honest plus they were twice as much so we had a beach villa which was lovely.

We had a fantastic honeymoon in the Maldives - stayed at Hilton Maldives (Rangali island I think). We had Beach bungalow, and don't feel we missed out apart from the novelty factor, and had our own private pool to make up for it (and a few more £s for cocktails!), with the beack out of our graden gate. Heaven!!

Not good for entertainment, nightlife = dinner + drinks, but amazingly relaxing!

thanks for your help.

Would 2 weeks be too much there? or would a week in sri lanka and one in maldives be better?

How do you dress of an evening?

Any other help you can think of would be great please.

Kuredu was fab. Plenty to do.

Water villa, definitely worth it. Sharks, yes, but he was only about 3' long. 2 weeks would have been lovely. we only went for one. Dress for an evening is not at all posh - just stick on some lightweight garments. Anything more and you'll roast!

Go for it. I had an amazing time.

I went to Sun Island in 2004. It's one of the bigger islands and there is a lot to do there if that's what you want. Tennis, volleyball, various watersports for example. The reefs aren't as great as some others for snorkeling but you do see a fair few fish immediately offshore and there are trips to other snorkeling places, plus a diving school if you wanted to do something like that. The main bar and restaurant are quite large and there was something on every other evening (disco, cultural evening, karaoke). There is another much smaller beach bar to go to if you weren't interested in that though, or there were private karaoke rooms. They also have a rather lovely spa bit. I'm pretty sure it's not quite as luxurious as some of the other islands but it was still utterly beautiful and the opportunity to do things other than sit on the beach all day was a real plus for us.

The website I used to decide on where to go was www.dreammaldives.co.uk. It has information on a lot of the islands (what you can do on them, where they are). We ended up booking through them too as we liked being able to choose our flights rather than go on charter flights (better flight times and imo generally better service). We were also able to go for an odd number of nights rather than 7 or 14 days (we went for 12). Do check the distance between your chosen island and Male, if you need to travel a bit to get there, choose the sea plane as it's well worth the extra. You get fantastic views of the islands and from speaking to other guests, the speedboat wasn't the nicest experience (it's enclosed so you don't get to see much). You could also look into doing a 2 island trip, a busier one then a really tiny one so the best of both worlds.

We didn't bother with a water bungalow, the beach villa we had was lovely and the water ones didn't seem to have any shade to them. Plus we went at the beginning of the rainy season and wouldn't have liked to walk out to them when it was chucking it down for fear of falling in the water! The only other tip I would give you is that if you drink alcohol, go all inclusive. We were hardly restricted on what we could choose (I think the only things we couldn't have was really high end labels like expensive whisky or rum and champagne), the price of drinks is pretty high and it will generally work out cheaper by paying up front. Plus we drank a lot of water and other soft drinks during the day and it was nice not to have to think about whether we were spending too much. The only extra expenses would be US dollars for tips (you don't need lots but the service is so great they really deserve whatever extra you want to give) and any additional trips you want to go on. On Sun Island if you book AI you automatically get a couple of trips free (sunset fishing, island visit and some others to choose from).

Wherever you choose to go you'll have a great time though. I really hope to go back one day.

Is the help really desperately needed? That's a touch dramatic. ?

We went to Makunudu Island last year, it was lovely. It's a very small island, I think there are 36 beach bungalows along with the dive centre, restaurant and bar, that's about it. Oh, think I saw a table tennis table if you do want something else to do! We spent our time sunbathing, snorkelling, and my H went diving and waterskiing (I was pregnant so missed those bits ☹️) There wasn't much in the way of evening entertainment so it was just dinner and drinks, which was perfect. We had room 1 which we loved, you're on your own little stretch of beach away from the rest of the bungalows.

I've also been to Sri Lanka. I think my ideal holiday would be a week touring Sri Lanka followed by a week on Makunudu to relax so I would recommend that option personally. There's so much to see in Sri Lanka that you do need a week to get over it!

I can thoroughly recommend Kuredu - www.kuredu.com - we have been four times and going back again next May. We always stay in a water villa as they are gorgeous, have decks looking out to sea and steps down to the sea and closed bathrooms. It is all down to personal taste however as other people we have met say they prefer to beach villas as they like to step straight out onto the sand.

I went to Meeru Island a few years ago and it was lovely, reef sharks and stig ray in the surf as you walked along the beach, it's own house reef, lovely food, friendly staff.

I can honestly say we weren't bored once, we spent our time Kyaking (sp?) snorkling, sunbathing, reading and generally relaxing. We were there for a week but could easily have stayed for two.

We had a slightly difference experience to the others in that we really didn't enjoy our time there. We stayed on Paradise Island and were very disappointed by the standard of accomodation and the state of the beach. There was so much broken coral all over the place that you couldn't walk on the sand or go in the sea without wearing shoes.

I'd make sure that you go fully inclusive. We were only half board so had to pay for our drinks. It was US$10 for a bottle of water ! Fortunately neither of us are big alcohol drinkers because the cost of wine and spirits was extortionate. We were ther for 7 nights, and after about 4 were ready to go home.

We spent 4 days in Sri Lanka beforehand and really enjoyed the train journey up to the tea plantation and also visiting the elephant orphanage. They were by far the best bits of our holiday.

I think we went about it the wrong way. It was our second holiday of the year so we tried to do it on the cheap - we certainly wouldn't make that mistake a second time.

? this is not urgent is it?

anyway, no idea what your budget is, but i went to a resort classed as delux by Kuoni, Laguna Beach.

It is a small island with just the one hotel, i though the water bungalow was worth it, nothing better than lying on your own veranda with steps straight into the sea, and you can hear the water at night, i love that.

Yes there are sharks, small ones, not biters, and sting rays, we had no bother.

If you like a drink i would reccomend going AI as the islands are dry, they import all the alcohol so it is expensive.

Clothing was casual.

Entertainment was snail racing and a singer one night, and a karaoke bar that just had my husband and i and one other couple in for my birthday.

It is pure relaxation, bliss, i loved it, we only went for a week, and had 12 nights in Sri Lanka previous to this, which was superb, however, i wished we had longer inthe maldives.

The pain about going to Sri Lanka first was that when you fly home, you have to go via Sril Lanka again, we had a 12 hour wait at Sril Lanka airport, which was a downer.

Thanks to you all for such informative info!. Im overwelmed by your help.

I feel ive learned much by asking you last night. We have been looking at Kerudu. Is it all one resort or a mix of hotels?

We were thinking of going Jan/feb, is this a good time?

Yes we will deffo go AI, as we do like a few beers in the evening.

Do the sharks not bother you? Do they come up close to you, ie brush against you etc? Im just getting over a life long phobia of sea life, tiddler fish usued to give me panic attacks! - this is going to be one big challenge in the ocean with sharks!!

Im so excited to be planning this holiday. Any other stories, tips etc please tell, im loving hearing all of it from you guys.

Anyway, thanks again for now.

whenever i swam or snorkeled, the sharks buggered off, i got more freaked by other fish to be honest, there are some really beautiful ones, and some bloody ugly looking ones ?

My photos were from Kuredu!

Sharks didn't come anywere near me. Stingrays basked in the sun in the shallow water well away from bits of beach. It is like swimming with all of the tiny tiddler fish from Finding Nemo in the water - but you have to be near a coral lump. We had villa 517 and had a mini coral reef 3 metres off our verandah/sun deck. I went and saw the fish each day. They keep away from you - so don't worry about them brushing against you. I was swimming there a whole week and didn't get brushed by a single fish. I did touch one of the stingrays basking in the sun though.

the sand there is soft and lovely, and the locals keep the beach scrupulously clean - there are gangs of workers who go round raking up leaves to keep the beach sandy and pristine with no driftwood etc.

Kuredu is all one resort - it is divided up into 2 areas though - Sangu end (posh end) with deluxe jacuzzi beach villas, and water villas, and everyone else. Having gone for a Sangu water Villa I can say we are glad we did! Sangu guests can eat anywhere (though looking at the other restaurants I have no idea why you'd want to!) and other residents can pay to eat there. We did eat out one night in a seafood restaurant. It was fab. You get a discount if you are AI and eat in one of the a la carte restaurants.

If you have any more specific questions, feel free to ask.

We stayed at the Taj Exotica http://photowebusa.com/taj/taj-exotica-maldives/_fullscreen-qtvr/index.htm for our honeymoon back in 2004

Would highly recommend it if you're looking for peace and tranquility. No banana boats at this island!

We opted for a beach villa with a private plunge pool which was fantastic. It was great being able to step out of our villa right into the pool, and the beach was just on the other side. Perfect.

As for sharks - we saw loads, but tiny ones. No bigger than a foot long, so not harmful at all.