Maldives Are Best When You Go All Inclusive
In most holiday locations, all inclusive is generally only for the lazy and cullinarily unadventurous. However two geographical factors conspire to make this the best value option when traveling to most of the Maldive islands.
Basically, unless your island is within 15 minutes boat ride of Male, the capital of the Maldives, then the restaurants on your resort island are going to be the only places where you can eat.
So, if you are going to have to be eating every night at the same old restaurant anyway, why not pay in advance and get a discount as a result? This is effectively what all inclusive is all about. Since they know exactly how many people will be eating they can cater more accurately and avoid waste. This is particularly important for the Maldives where everything aside from fish and coconuts has to be imported and usually flown to the remote islands.
In Cancun, Mexico or Sharm el Sheik, Egypt, there are bustling downtowns to visit with lots of different restaurants. On Meedhupparu, Maldives there are only three restaurants within 100 miles of the island. However, this does not mean the food in the Maldives suffers. In fact it is quite the reverse. We have only experienced excellent food (with the exception of some fancy pastries that looked tempting but tasted of dust) in the different restaurants across the islands. Our friends on other islands in the Maldives all agree that the food is excellent.
However, man cannot live on the extensive buffet menu alone and in such a hot climate, westerners need to drink a heck of a lot of water. Since the natural water on the island is somewhat brackish, all drinking water is provided in bottles. As an all inclusive guest you may take as many as you want (and we were getting through at least six a day) but non-all inclusive guests had to pay $2.50 a bottle. Therefore we calculate that you could end up spending $200 on water during your holiday or else risk the miseries of dehydration.
In addition you get as much booze as you want at no extra charge, which really allows you to enjoy the evenings without worrying about your wallet. We drank wines, beer, spirits and even cocktails in abundance throughout our lovely holiday.
Use of the gym is also included, but sadly scuba diving and windsurfing cost extra. However even the excellent dive school’s rates were far cheaper than anything we had previously experienced back at home.
For these reasons we have to conclude that all inclusive holidays to the Maldives are definitely the best option for most people planning to visit these beautiful sun kissed isles.
By: Chris D Brown
About the Author:
Chris Brown is the editor of The Maldive Review
