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Home > Features > Maldives > Need_To_Know
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Fred Mawer's report on the Maldives - Need To Know
Posted On
02.07.07 |
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Tiny tropical islands are far less seductive when it’s overcast or wet. Maximise your chances of fine days by going between December and April, the dry (and sunnier) season. During these months, the seas are also usually calmer, making boat rides more pleasant. Only charter airlines fly non-stop both ways from the UK (flying time is around 11 hours). However, many holidaymakers do opt to travel with a scheduled airline, which means flying via Dubai, Qatar or Sri Lanka, where you could stop off for a few days. If your hotel is near the airport at Malé, you’ll be transferred by dhoni (a local boat) or speedboat. If it’s in an outlying atoll, the journey will usually be by seaplane. The aerial views of the atolls are unforgettable – the colours of the ocean, lagoons, coral and islands are so vivid they look unreal.
But you may have to hang around for some time for your seaplane’s departure and, since they don’t fly at night, you may be transferred back to the airport well before your flight back home. Apart from fish and coconuts, most hotel food is imported – and therefore pricy. Half- or full-board packages keep costs down, but they usually only cover meals in the main (and least appealing) restaurant. Though you can rarely tell from the photos in the brochures, some hotels use unsightly concrete breakwaters to protect the island’s beaches from erosion – check before you commit.
Latest developments
Hotels are opening thick and fast in the Maldives. The latest five-star arrivals include the ultra-trendy W Retreat & Spa Maldives, which has an underground bar-cum-nightclub, and a second Maldivian Four Seasons, Landaa Giraavaru, whose resident marine biologist introduces guests to the underwater world with slide shows and snorkelling excursions. Over the next few years, three dozen hotels are due to open in the south of the archipelago, and the airport there at Gan (where the RAF had a Cold War outpost) is being developed to receive international flights. In a welcome change from the present situation, some of the new hotels will be ‘community integrated’ properties, built on islands inhabited by locals. |
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