How to Plan Maldives in 40k INR – Budget Trip (Inc. Flights) From India – Accommodation, Veg Food

This post is about How to Plan Maldives in 40k INR – Budget Trip (Inc. Flights) From India – Accommodation, Veg Food. People usually say that the Maldives is a luxurious honeymoon destination.

But not really!

You need this budget if you plan a budget trip to the Maldives for 4 nights and 5 days. Let me show you how!

I visited the Maldives on a budget trip to Fulidhoo island a few days back.

Yes, a budget trip to the Maldives is possible, but not many people know about it!

Usually, a luxurious resort island stay costs about a lakh to 2 lakhs to 4 lakhs. The sky is the limit.

But if you are going on a local island, you can plan a budget trip.

First of all, let me tell you about the Maldives.

One thousand one hundred ninety-two (1,192) islands make up the Maldives and are a part of the Indian Ocean.

There are 154 resorts, 13 hotels, and 614 guesthouses, and not many people talk about them.

So the Maldives is majorly divided into two types of islands. 

• One is the resort island, and 
• the other is the local island.

Everyone knows about resort islands, where you can get expensive water villas and resorts.

The costs of the resort islands go from 1 lakh to up to 4 lakhs.

But the other side of Maldives, which not many people explore, is the local island.

As the name suggests, they are the ones where the locals live, and you can enjoy them here at subsidized prices.

You can also explore the local living and culture here in the Maldives.

I have recently experienced a local island called Fulidhoo.

Here you can find guesthouses, accommodations, restaurants, and a few shops.

Planning a budget trip here is possible.

Amazing to see how small, calm, and peaceful this island is.

First, let’s talk about reaching Fulidhoo.

I am dividing this section into two parts-

The first reach the Maldives, and then the second section reaches the local island, which is Fulidhoo.

I booked my flight from Mumbai, and a round trip will cost you around 16,000 to 18,000 if you plan well in advance.

We landed in Malé, which is the capital of Maldives.

The cheapest flight will be from Kochi (INDIA) for 12 to 13,000 INR, but a lot depends on how well in advance you plan and how efficiently you plan.

We are now talking about visas.

It is free!

You need to go to the immigration counter in the Maldives and get your visa stamp.

But what all documents are required at immigration!

First of all, you need a 

1. return flight, 
2. RT-PCR report of the Latest 72 hours. Even if you are vaccinated, you must have an RT-PCR report.
3. Apart from that, you need hotel bookings 
4. Health declaration within 24 hours that you can get from Imuga.

It asks you for specific details like

1. the island you are visiting, 
2. travel history and 

They give you a bar code that you need to get scanned at the immigration counter.

A vaccination certificate is not a mandate, so it doesn’t matter which vaccine you took or how many doses you took.

Right now, it’s not necessary to have a vaccination certificate.

Coming to reaching the island or Fulidhoo.

There are two options to reach Fulidhoo,

1. One is by speed boat and 
2. the other is by government ferry.

We took the speed boat that cost 40$ for a one-way ticket. You will reach Fulidhoo in 1 hour and 10 mins. The speed boat runs from Male on all days except on Friday.

The speed boat is arranged with whom you book your package or the guesthouse where you are staying, so you don’t need to do anything. You have to reach out and contact your guesthouse, and they will tell you the timing to reach the speedboat center from where you board the speedboat to reach Fulidhoo.

The cheapest way of reaching Fulidhoo is the govt ferry which costs 4$ only.

Yes, actually, due to covid, it is shut right now. Still, you can check the official website- visit the Maldives that regular release circular. You can reach out to guesthouses, and they will tell you if the ferry has started or not.

4$ to reach the island is so cheap. One way, it costs 4$, and of course, it takes more time to reach, roughly 3.5 hours.

But if you have time and are low on budget, you can consider this option. But, if you are coming from other islands and want to stay up to date about govt ferries, you can check out this website: fulidhoodive.com.

If you come from Maafushi, they will tell you the timings and days the ferries and speed boats run.

But as additional information, if you are going to -other islands you can also take a seaplane that can be booked directly from Maldives airport.

Your resort island mostly sorts this, but you don’t need a seaplane to reach Fulidhoo.

They don’t run there as you can reach there in an hour by speedboat. So you don’t need a seaplane.

Coming to accommodation

I stayed at Thundi resort, one of the most beautiful resorts in Fulidhoo.

This costs around 10,000 INR, including breakfast. And yes, that is cheap for the Maldives, where you get a resort for 1 to 2 lakhs. The sky is the limit to staying for one single night 10,000 INR is a very subsidized price, considering this resort is the most beautiful in Fulidhoo.

But again, if you want to look out for more cheap options, then the cost in Fulidhoo goes as low as 4,000 INR.

You can check out booking.com, and most of the guesthouses include breakfast in the cost.

But I highly recommend you stay at Thundi as their breakfast is fantastic. They have an Indian chef, so you won’t have any problem if you are a vegetarian.

I am vegetarian & I didn’t face any trouble with food.

You can do snorkeling there as it has a sea view.

As the name suggests, it is the Thundi sea view so that you can go snorkeling, and if you have your birthday, you can have a fantastic celebration there.

Coming to the food. 

Since breakfast is already included in most guesthouses, you need to sort out lunch & dinner only.

One meal on the island costs 500 INR, which you can get shakes, nonveg food, pizza, etc.  

There are a couple of restaurants on Fulidhoo. 

So for a day, the cost will be INR 1000.

Next is transportation.

The cost is zero as the entire island can be covered on foot as the width is 2 min walking distance. The length is 5 min walking. It’s a tiny island.

Coming to RT-PCR for going back to India. 

Yes, you need an RT-PCR report to come back to India.

It is a mandate. It’s a little expensive, but the Maldives as a country is costly, so you have to pay 80 USD for your RT-PCR.

I highly recommend that you get tested once you have 72 hrs left, as the sample goes from Fulidhoo to Male.

It takes time for the report to come back also, so I recommend you get yourself tested way in advance so that you can board your flight on time.

Yes, this is the minimum cost to experience the Maldives, especially if traveling on a budget. You need this amount, and you can experience this island.

But suppose you have more days and are an adventure junkie. In that case, you can add so many activities to this, like adding so many excursions and diving experiences, which I will tell you now. 

You can experience a lot on this island like Dolphin cruise, Shipwreck, Island hoping & fishing.

Mostly all of them are organized by Thundi.

This is the entire list with the pricing, so you can screenshot this page if you want. I will highly recommend you to experience Shipwreck, although I didn’t do it as I was short on time.

But this is one of the must things to do in Fulidhoo as you can do snorkeling and jump from the wreck.

It is amazing, according to the photos and videos I saw. 

Coming to Diving

If you are new to diving and don’t know if you will like the experience, then you can try to discover scuba or try scuba, which will take you to a maximum of 12 meters.

We tried the discover scuba, and it cost 95$. 

It takes around 2 to 3 hours, and you will get to know if you like diving or not.

Discover scuba is not a certification but is just a try scuba. You will get to know about the underwater world through that. You get to see if you wish to do diving or not.

And this is an experience that you should have.

But I recommend that you do your discover scuba from a certified dive site.

Ensure you have a safe experience and a good one. 

It would be best if you knew about the next steps in the diving industry. 

But to experience the underwater world of Maldives, I will highly recommend you to get a certification, especially advanced scuba certification. 

This has two ways – either you do it from India. 

I did my open and advanced certificate from Pondicherry. Still, you can choose so many places in India to dive into Lakshwadeep, Andaman, Mumbai, Goa, Netrani, and so many more places for your certification.

Choose a Padi center, and then you can go to the Maldives and experience everything that I experienced.

I dived with sharks; I saw dolphins, octopuses, manta rays, and stingrays. 

This was only possible because I am a certified diver, so either you take your certifications and then go to the Maldives or do it with Fuldihoo.

You can check the cost on their website.

Open water certification gets done in 4 days. But if you want to be an advanced diver, you can take 7 days to stay in Fulidhoo island for 7 nights and experience all of this & you will love the experience, trust me.

I will highly recommend it!

Many people have this question if they don’t know about swimming, will they be able to get the certification or not.

Then the answer is no.

So I will suggest you join the swimming class even though I joined it last year and learned it for 2 – 3 weeks so that I clear a basic swimming test.

You need to float for 10 mins and swim for 200 meters.

All you have to learn is this, and then you will qualify for certification. Another thing is if you already are a certified diver, then there are a lot of packages on Fulidhoo dive you can choose from.

There are a lot of dives included in 4 nights and 6 nights. 

So you can choose this package & experience everything.

This includes accommodation and meal packages to get this along with your dives in the package. This reduces the cost even more & you can experience the underwater world so beautifully. 

Now coming to local laws or Bikini beach.

I will show you the bikini beach, and as I told you, it is a conservative area, so you can’t wear bikinis in public places. 

So, according to Maldives law, you can’t wear swimwear or bikinis in the open public area on local islands.

But you can always wear them in this designated area called Bikini beach. 

Here you can snorkel, which is a lovely way to balance their culture with tourists.

Here is the Price Summary (Excluding RT-PCR Test and Diving or other fun activities)

Coming to tips!

Number 1 is insurance or dive insurance. 

I will highly recommend you have travel insurance. However, this is not mandatory but have it for times. If your luggage gets stolen or you get into an accident, it will help you, and if you are going diving, then have dive insurance; I took mine from Fulidhoo.

So if you reach the island, you can contact the Fulidhoo dive center, and they will sort your insurance.

Coming to the second tip, have sunscreen with you; a hat and sunglasses are essential as you might get tan. Also, have a waterproof bag as when you go on the ocean side, you need one for your phone or camera.

For drones, I didn’t face any issues carrying them.

No one asked about it; I kept my propellers in my check-in bag, and the drone was in it.

The batteries and remote were in the travel bag, and I took my drone as no one asked about it, and there weren’t any restrictions. 

So you can take your drone and carry it very quickly. 

So yes, this was all the information that I wanted to give you about the Maldives. I hope it was helpful & I hope it breaks the myth that the Maldives is an expensive country & one can’t travel with a budget.

Indeed budget travel is possible.

If you are going to the Maldives or your friend is going, then like, share, comment.