The Maldives

The Maldives are a collection of about 1200 islands grouped into 26 atolls in the Indian Ocean. They are on the Chagos-Laccadive ridge south west of India and Sri Lanka.

The Maldives is an independant republic and an Islamic state. On entry you are not allowed to import several things including alcohol, pork products, idols of worship or spearguns. If you do have any alcohol with you, then you can declare it at customs. They will give you a receipt and you can claim it back when you leave. They usually X-ray all incoming luggage, so any undeclared bottles are likely to be found.

However, drinks and pork are available on the tourist islands and on some liveaboards. The resort islands are separate from the other inhabitated islands and permission is required to visit the native islands. In practice most resorts do a shopping trip to a nearby island. Women are requested to dress conservatively when visiting these islands. Topless sunbathing is illegal even on the resort islands.

Each resort island usually has one hotel on it. The guest rooms are normally small huts which are located around the edge, so that everyone has a view of the beach. In the middle is normally the staff quarters, and the desalination plant and the generator. The theme is simplicity. You don't need to dress for dinner. In fact, you don't need to wear shoes for the entire duration of your holiday.

When I first went to the Maldives back in 1995, a lot of the rooms didn't have airconditioning and the bathrooms didn't have hot water. Since then, the hotels have been upgraded and they all seem to have both now. The food has also improved since those early days. On my first trip, every other meal featured fish, and whilst I like fish, and it was certainly very fresh, it did get a bit repetitive after a while.

I have always stayed in the Maldives on an all-inclusive basis. The prices of food and drink, if you have to pay, are expensive. This is partly because everything is imported and partly because they have a captive market. If you're on one of these small islands, there's nowhere else to go. If you're paying for drinks, expect to pay about US$3.50 for a beer, US$2.50 for a bottle of Coke and about US$3.00 for a large bottle of water. The tap water isn't drinkable, though drinking water is usually available.

Male is the capital of the Maldives and the airport is on a neighbouring island called Hulule. The whole island is taken up by the airport and it must have one of the only runways in the world with a fringing coral reef. Transfers from the airport are by boat or sea plane. Transfers can take a while. It's a really good idea to change into suitable clothing before you disembark the plane. The airport is airconditioned, but it's not turned up that high. Everywhere else, including the sea plane waiting room and where you wait for the boats, is open air. So expect it to be in the thirties Celsius and dress accordingly.

Originally all the resort islands where in North and South Male atolls and Ari Atoll. Now more of the atolls are open to tourists and hotels are appearing in some of the others. If you're staying at any island not in the North and South Male atoll, it's a good idea to go for a sea plane. Otherwise, it's quite a long trip, which you don't need after a lengthy plane journey to get there. I always enjoy the seaplane trip. You get a great view of the reefs and islands as you fly over.

The currency of the Maldives is called the Rufiyaa. You probably won't see any unless you do a day trip to an inhabited island or a trip to Male. Most resort hotels price everything in US dollars and won't accept Rufiyaa as payment. Credit cards are accepted by the hotels and of the six I've visited, only Summer Island Village charged a surcharge for using credit cards.

Tipping is customary in the Maldives. Budget to tip US$5-10 a week for your roomboy and your waiter. On your first night, you'll be assigned a table and will have the same waiter for the whole holiday. If you're diving it is customary to tip the Maldivian boat crew, but not the instructor/divemaster, who are usually Europeans or South Africans. If someone carries your luggage, a tip of US$1-2 per piece is customary.

There is now a 900Mhz GSM network covering most of the tourist areas, which usually cheaper than using the hotel's phones. My Orange phone didn't work in 2003, apparently because it was GPRS enabled which caused a problem when registering with the Maldivian network, but in 2004 it worked fine. You can also buy Pay As You Go sims at the airport. The electricity supply is 220-240V and the plugs are usually UK-style with 3 square pins. Some islands also have old-style UK plugs with round pins.

On departure from the Maldives, you have to pay a departure tax. This is US$12 a person and recently has been included with the price of most tickets. Male airport has a reasonable selection of Duty Free shops, though nothing very exciting. Prices are better than London, though not a good as the Gulf.