What are the top things to know before traveling to the Maldives for your first visit?
We have you covered as we’ll go into depth for our must know Maldives travel tips. From visa to transportation options to cash and credit card usage, we’ll share our knowledge so you don’t make the same mistakes as us.
We visited the Maldives for 8 days / 7 nights and had a smooth trip. There was a hiccup that we experienced with misreading the public ferry schedule, but otherwise, we resolved the situation quickly.
So, continue reading to help you prepare for your first Maldivian vacation!
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1. Check if you need a visa.
Visit the Maldives Tourist Visa website to determine if you need one to enter the country.
If you’re an American, you do not need a visa to enter the country. Just have a valid passport and you’ll receive your entrance stamp at Immigration.
2. Complete the IMUGA Declaration Before Entering and Exiting Maldives.
Everyone needs to complete this online declaration 96 hours before the flight for entering and leaving the Maldives.
It’s easy to complete and takes less than 5 minutes to complete for each person. The information needed includes passport information, home address, name of accommodation in the Maldives, and next destination after the Maldives.
Save a screenshot of the completed form with the QR code on the phone. It may need to be shown to the airline’s representative before the flight.
Forgot to save the screenshot? Search for the completed form by accessing the online IMUGA site and clicking “Check my QR Code.”
3. Determine how many days to stay in the Maldives and whether you’ll stay at a resort or local island.
The number of days will depend on your vacation schedule and budget.
Will you stay at the all-inclusive resorts? Or try something new and stay at the local, more budget-friendly islands? Each has different experiences.
As you know, we live in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and there was a long holiday weekend at the end of April. So we opted to stay on the local islands for 8 nights/7 days.
We wrote a 1 week Maldives itinerary focusing on the local islands here. The three islands we visited were Malé, Maafushi, and Fulidhoo. (If you’re short on time, here is a post to compare Fulidhoo and Maafushi.)
We’ve also written a post on the best local islands in Maldives to stay in so you can get ideas on other places to visit.
This is the main road of Maafushi Island, one of the local islands of Maldives
Many of our U.S. friends stayed at a resort for a week. Since it takes a long time to fly to the Maldives from the U.S., so it’s worth it to extend the number of days for the vacation.
4. Determine how to travel to your resort or local island and make arrangements in advance.
Will you need to take a seaplane, a domestic flight, speedboat, or local ferry?
Seaplanes are the most expensive option and cater to tourists who are staying at resorts. Either the resort or the tourists will need to schedule transportation.
For those visiting other atolls, take a domestic flight from Male’s Velana International Airport. The domestic flight will be faster to travel to further atolls rather than by boat. Here are other airports to fly into.
Speedboats are great for those who are limited on time and want to get to their next destination faster. It’ll reduce more than half the time compared to taking the local ferry (the cheapest option out of the four listed here.)
Public ferries are the cheaper and more local way to travel between islands. We took the airport ferry from Male Airport to Male for $1 per person. Also, we took the public ferry from Male – Maafushi and Fulidhoo – Maafushi – Male – Airport route.
Check out the ferry schedule here. It costs $3.50 per person each way.
For ferries in other atolls, check out the ferry schedule here.
We’re in the middle of the ocean and on our way to Maafushi via the public ferry
5. Check the weather and pack appropriately.
The weather is usually hot and humid all year round with average temperatures of 27-30℃ (81-86℉).
Bring reef-safe sunscreen, a hat, and sunglasses to protect the skin from the intense sun.
If traveling in the monsoon season (May to November), you will encounter rain and thunderstorms. We traveled at the end of April which is the transition time to rainy season and received rain on our first two 2 out of 8 days. We were lucky that the rain didn’t spoil the rest of the trip.
We recommend packing an umbrella and flip flops/sandals. The rainstorms are intense with the high winds. Plus, the islands flood so wearing flip flops would be better to walk through the “rivers” on the road.
We wrote a blog post on things to bring to the Maldives in a carry on luggage. If you forget something, you can buy it on the island for a premium price.
6. Buy a SIM card or eSIM card.
We suggest buying a SIM card before you leave Male International Airport.
Or, set up an eSIM card before your arrival.
You may need data access to contact your hotel and/or transportation company.
If you’re from the U.S. and want an international phone plan, consider Google Fi (formerly Project Fi). We’ve used this service since 2016 and love how you can get data for 200+ international countries. You don’t have to pay extra for the data, so you’ll save money!
I accessed data perfectly fine on the islands. The only time where I had difficulties was in the middle of the ocean on the way to Fulidhoo island.
Click here to learn more and try it for free!
7. Maldives accepts cash (Maldivian Rufiyaa and U.S. Dollars) and international credit cards.
You can use Maldivian Rufiyaa or U.S. dollars to pay for things in the Maldives.
We recommend using U.S. dollars instead of exchanging from U.S. dollars to Maldivian Rufiyaa (MVR).
The reason is that Maldivian Rufiyaa cannot be exchanged outside of the country, so you’ll need to use it all before leaving. We exchanged $100 USD for 1500 MVR had a goal to spend our MVR and only had 1 MVR leftover. Hooray!
If you decide to exchange back from MVR to USD, then you’ll need to have your original transaction slip if exchanged at the airport’s Bank of Maldives exchange office. I’m not sure if you can exchange from MVR to USD if you originally pulled money out with an ATM.
So, it’s less of a hassle using USD. We brought all denominations of U.S. dollars with us.
Using international credit cards is also acceptable. They will charge in MVR or USD for the credit card transaction.
Note: If a restaurant or store lists MVR and USD costs, calculate which exchange rate is more favorable to you and pay the lower cost.
For U.S. travelers, if you’re looking for an international credit card, consider getting the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve card.
I’ve used both cards, but currently have the Preferred. Both cards do not have additional international transaction fees, so you save money when you spend.
Learn more about these cards here.
8. Maldives adds extra costs to the final price for hotels and food.
The Maldives government requires an Environmental Green tax for hotel rooms which is $3/person/day. The cost will be added to the final cost of the hotel or you’ll need to pay for it on arrival.
All purchases have a service charge of 10% and a tourist goods & service charge of 16%. Normally the charges are not included in the price so the receipts will include these two line items for the charges.
Sometimes the cheap eats restaurants only charge 10% and not the additional 16%.
9. Tipping isn’t required.
We didn’t encounter any mandatory tipping after finishing our water excursions or a tipping line item when dining at restaurants.
10. Cover up when visiting the No Bikini Beaches (local beaches).
Maldives is a Muslim country, so please respect the country’s rules and do not expose skin and wear bikinis or swimsuits on the “No Bikini Beaches.” These are known as the local beaches. Signs may be present around the No Bikini Beaches.
Here is a local beach on Maafushi Island, so bikinis are not allowed
Wearing a T-shirt and shorts over the swimsuit is acceptable coverage. We recommend wearing a technical T-shirt (made of polyester) and board shorts so these can dry quickly.
The rules on the Bikini Beaches are more lax so walking around in a bikini and swimsuit is fine.
The private resorts don’t have any local beaches, so you can wear swimsuits.
11. If staying on local islands, you will hear a PA (public announcement) from the mosque playing music and chanting several times a day.
We’ve heard it on all the islands we were on in the early morning, lunchtime, and late afternoon. It didn’t bother us and we enjoyed it as a part of the Maldivian culture.
Wear ear plugs if you don’t want the early morning wake-up call.
12. Alcohol isn’t served on the local islands.
This is something to know if you’re staying on the local island as all drinks served will be non-alcoholic.
The only option to get alcohol on a local island is to visit a floating party island. You’ll need to take a speedboat ride to a small island away from the main local island. I saw one on Google Maps near Maafushi Island.
If you’re on a resort, alcohol will be available for purchase. So, if you’re on a local island, such as Maafushi, and visit a nearby resort for the day, you can get your alcoholic beverages then!
13. Book snorkeling excursions when you’re on the island.
We like to plan and pay in advance for tours and attractions. Yet, it’s better to wait to book water activities when you arrive.
The reason is that the weather changes every day and tours can get canceled for the following day due to choppy weather and low visibility.
When were on Maafushi Island, we walked to several agencies between 5:00-7:00pm and inquired about tours for the next two days.
All the agencies offer the same tours such as seeing whale sharks, swimming with nurse sharks, visiting a shipwreck, swimming with a bunch of fish, lunch on a sandbank, and visiting resorts as a day trip. The costs are the same for everyone so there isn’t any need to haggle.
We experienced this cluster of nurse sharks and fish on the Shipwreck tour
14. Bring a reusable water bottle.
Maldives doesn’t have a good infrastructure for disposing of garbage. All islands burn the garbage.
So, bring a reusable water bottle to reduce the single-use plastic bottles. Our favorite is the Takeya double-walled water bottle.
You can ask your accommodations if they have refillable water or a water dispenser. We had both of these options in our Maafushi and Fulidhoo hotels.
Stay hydrated!
15. The Maldives is a safe country to visit.
We walked around Male (the most congested island in the Maldives) and had no wariness with walking at night. While many people are located on the island, the locals didn’t bother us or approach us.
The only thing to be concerned about is the ocean currents. During our snorkeling excursion, the water was calm. Yet something could happen at any time, such as a large wave. The tour companies provided life jackets to those who did not know how to swim.
16. Have travel insurance (Optional)
If you’re doing outdoor activities such as jetskiing, snorkeling, or diving, it’s recommended to get travel insurance. Again, it’s optional, but you could have an accident during the outing and may need immediate medical attention or evacuation.
Read the terms and conditions for the travel insurance to ensure that you’ll have coverage for water activities. Otherwise, you will be shocked by the high medical bill cost when paying out of pocket.
Final Thoughts
We hope you feel more comfortable with traveling to the Maldives after reading these travel tips.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us over email or ask a question in the comment section below.
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