Maldives island selection has always bothered many friends, as a person who has come over, I have some experience to analyze to everyone. The article as a whole is relatively long, and everyone can collect it and read it slowly. In fact, in order to avoid my opinion affecting everyone's thinking, I will mention any islands as little as possible in the text, and if it is inevitable, I want to emphasize that I am only an example, and do not mean that I recommend these islands.
Write on the front
Before choosing an island, I need to emphasize that the gap between the island and the natural landscape of the island will not be particularly large, and the two adjacent islands may be a five-star island and the other is a six-star island, and the gap between star rating and price is mainly reflected in the hotel services and facilities. A clear example is the Island of Dhigu (five stars), Veli Island (five stars) and Naladu Island (six stars) where the Anantara family is located.
Three principles of island selection
First point: With whom?
With parents suggested choice: closer to Malé + with Chinese services + meals suitable for Chinese + islands with medical services;
Suggested choices with children: children allowed on the island + Children's club + Children's preferential policies + Child-conscious services + Family Suite (or extra bed available)
Anniversary/Honeymoon Advice: The whole Maldives is a honeymoon paradise, a holiday destination tailored for honeymoons, so this type of crowd is selective and you just need to go to whoever you like
Second point: What are the requirements?
Clarify what specific requirements for the service of the hotel when choosing a hotel, you can quickly reduce the number of islands and find the most suitable island.
Special services - all-inclusive, Chinese services, butler services, medical services
Island features - fewer Chinese, low room density, good privacy, perfect beach, perfect snorkeling, mini island
Mode of transportation - domestic flights (inland planes), seaplanes, speedboats to the island
Accommodation Features - Sand House, Water House, Sand House Pool, Water House Pool, Private Pool, Infinity Pool, Family Suite, Jacuzzi, Water House Direct to the Sea, Private Liveboat, Water Swing, Net Red Net Bed, Water Slide
Hotel services - free wifi, free drinking water, laundry service, free mini bar, clothes pressing
Dining Specialties - Buffet Restaurant, Bar, Floating Breakfast, Villa Dining, Sandbank Dinner, Underwater Restaurant, Private Order
Activities - free snorkeling tripo, water activities, diving center, spa, aerial camera on the island, theme activities
Third point: What is the price?
According to their own ability to accept, the budget is delineated, and a large number of islands are screened out. At present, the average price of four stars in Madai is 8000-13000, the average price of five stars is 10000-18000, the average price of six stars is 15000-25000, and the ultra-luxury like White Horse and Jani is the lowest per capita is also about 3.5, and it is not capped. (The above prices are for reference, and there is a big difference in consumption on the island.) ）
First of all, I have a tried-and-true island selection cheat, that is, to choose the island through the map. *********
When learning about an island, it is necessary to first know the location of all the facilities on the island, and a map is very necessary. Being abroad, if your foreign language is not very good, there are countless tourists who have practical experience, that is, to have a stop on the map!!! And a good map, you can easily see the size of the island, the shape, the size of the beach, where the coral is good, where the snorkeling is good.
Take the map of the central island of Grande as an example:
Image from Wee Micro Travel Time
The black area referred to by A indicates the trench
B refers to the snorkeling channel, which is dug by hand, which is convenient for swimming to the trench and will not be scratched by coral.
The light blue area referred to in C represents the lagoon
The black-green area referred to in D represents coral and is suitable for snorkeling for people with general water characteristics.
As you can see
The central grande is oval in shape as a whole, and there is a large sandy beach on the north side of the island, which is of very high quality.
The trench on the north side is very close to the island and allows easy access to snorkeling, while beginners with lagoons and corals surrounding the island can also find suitable snorkeling spots. The corals are very large and grow well overall.
We could easily see where all the buildings on the island were located, and Mom never had to worry about me finding my way anymore.
If you have friends who like to watch sunrise and sunset as much as I do, you can see on the map which places are suitable for sunrise and which places are suitable for sunset.
It feels like a picture is really in hand, and I have it in the world. Of course, this little cheat was not used at the beginning, and if you look at a map of more than 100 islands one by one, you will collapse on the spot.
Five categories of island selection
At the beginning of the selection of the island, the island can be preliminarily screened through the following five categories (transportation, accommodation, food, facilities, and characteristics).
The first category is transportation
Step 1 Select the airline
Flights to the Maldives are generally direct flights from major cities in the country, and if you need a longer vacation time, you can choose a connecting flight. The first to promote Singapore Airlines, a variety of services and facilities are good, of course, the cost is relatively expensive.
tips：
The price of direct flight is relatively higher than the chance of transfer, but because the transfer needs to be suspended in the middle of the time will be more, more energy-consuming, if there is an elderly or child at home is recommended to choose direct flight, more worry-free.
【Common direct flights】
Departure city: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi'an and other cities.
Airlines: Mega Airways, Capital Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Maldives National Airlines Q2, etc.
【Common connecting flights】
Departure city: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Hong Kong, etc.
Airlines: Singapore Airlines, SriLankan Airlines, Emirates, Qatar Airways, etc.
Transit points: Singapore, Hong Kong, Colombo, Dubai, Bangkok, etc.
If you have direct flights in your city, you can depart directly from your own city, which can save a lot of time.
Step 2 Choose to get on the island for transportation
First of all, there are three kinds of science popularization time, and there are three kinds of transportation on the island:
Seaplane: It should be noted that seaplanes are not flown at night, and guests arriving after 4 o'clock must stay one night in Malé and be able to get on the island the next morning, with an average price of 300-800 USD/person.
Speedboat: There are transfers available 24 hours a day, all can be on the island on the same day, the price is 50-200 US dollars / person.
Inland aircraft + speedboat: inland aircraft can fly at night, that is to say, the islands of inland aircraft can usually connect to all international flights, and can be on the island on the same day, the price is 200-400 US dollars / person (except for a few islands that are very far away, it is recommended to transition in Malé on the same day).
The water fly is noisy, no air conditioning will be hotter, but the view is good, you can overlook the beauty of the Indian Ocean;
Inner flying needs to change to a speedboat, inner flying is comfortable and faster, but it is more tossed, because the flight height is high, you can't see enough beauty like water flying
The second type of meal
1. Food style
Most resorts in the Maldives offer two meal types, buffet and a la carte. In general, the main restaurant provides buffets, the cost is included in the room rate, the resort may provide one or more special restaurants for tourists to order, each specialty restaurant provides different flavors of food, there are Japanese delicacies, Italian style, Spanish meals, some resorts also provide a variety of our Chinese cuisine, hot pot, barbecue, noodles, rice and so on.
2. Meal type
Most of the types of meals offered at the resort can be included in the following four (some resorts offer an upgraded all-inclusive version):
BB—Bed Breakfast with breakfast
HB—Half Board with breakfast and dinner
FB—Full Board includes breakfast, lunch and dinner
AI-All Inclusive all-inclusive, three meals a day + partial snacks and drinks + island part activities
Restaurants in the Maldives spend mostly in U.S. dollars, which is on the high side, and the higher the star rating, the higher the consumption on the island. You can choose all-inclusive before booking, if you can have the Chinese price list on the island you go to, make your own meal budget, it does not have to be all-inclusive, you can also change restaurants every day instead of just eating one-price all-inclusive designated restaurants. I have the Chinese price list for most of the islands in Madai, so you can ask me for it.
BB, HB, FB generally do not include dining drinks, it is possible to provide free drinking water and some soft drinks, additional need to be purchased separately. Many hotels are included in breakfast BB by default, but they also provide packages with upgrades to HB/FB/AI, which can be booked from the merchant before traveling, and the corresponding fee can be upgraded, or you can upgrade the hotel after going to the island. (The price of one-price all-inclusive and BB, generally per capita is several thousand, you can compare how to compare how to deal with it, not necessarily a price all-inclusive is cheaper than eating yourself.) ）
Category III Accommodation
1. Hotel style (fashionable and lively type, quiet luxury type, natural and simple type, leisure and sports type)
Many hotels in the Maldives have a variety of different styles, mainly divided into original and modern two, the specific subdivision includes fashionable and lively, quiet luxury, natural and simple, leisure and sports, understand the style you really need, choose the most suitable.
2. House types (liveaboards, sand houses, water houses, sand houses with pools, water houses with pools, tree houses, and "water slides", "beach bubble houses" that have been very popular in recent times... ）
3. Whether the water house can be directly launched into the water
There are some hotels in the Maldives that have a very good water house environment, you can snorkel directly, even if you don't get into the water, you can stand on the deck of the villa to watch the fish, sharks that pass by from time to time...
4. What is the size of the room, the accommodation conditions, and the privacy?
Most of the islands have water houses and sand houses, and 2 sand and 2 water are basically the standard for Chinese people to travel. A further requirement is whether there is a private pool, whether there is a private beach, whether there is a net bed, whether you can enjoy a floating breakfast... How is the density of the room, whether the privacy is good or not, the sunset over there, whether there is any obstruction in front of the house... These requirements can also help you to choose an island more clearly.
Many people will ask for hotel star ratings, hotel brands, I do not recommend the hotel brand and hotel star ratings as a filter, although the hotel stars can be referenced, but the star ratings here are not absolutely authoritative. The star of the island of Madai is the agent of many Maldives, judging from the experience of the tourism industry, dividing more than 100 resorts in the Maldives into 369 and so on.
Well, choosing an island is really a very painful thing, as the saying goes, "If you love ta, you will take him to Madai, and if you hate him, you will let you choose an island!" ”
My code words are also very hard, I wrote here in the last issue, like friends pay attention to me, the next issue is more exciting Oh ~ ~ ~ ~