It’s time to bust the fable that there’s nothing to do in the Maldives aside from sipping rainbow-hued cocktails, snapping beachfront selfies and sprawling on chaise longues.
Don’t get us improper – we love doing all of those things. However there’s extra to this archipelago than simply rest. The Indian Ocean’s hottest vacation vacation spot affords one thing for everybody.
In the present day, in addition to mendacity out in the solar, the hottest actions in the Maldives embody skydiving, artwork grasp courses and visits to islands the place locals stay. Learn on to uncover the best things to do in your subsequent Maldives getaway.
1. Get a scuba certification
That is an apparent one. The topography of the Maldives’ atolls means the water in which you’ll study is evident, calm and shallow. The closest seaside is at all times shut by, which means inexperienced persons can head proper into the ocean for introductory periods that will be achieved in a pool elsewhere. This additionally means you’ll shortly change into accustomed to sharing the sea with a variety of beautiful marine life. And since dive instructors in the Maldives are on longer contracts than freelance instructors elsewhere, you’ll acquire an perception into the area’s waters by way of the individuals who realize it best. The Maldives can be an amazing place to acquire extra {qualifications}, similar to these for technical or shipwreck diving.
What’s extra, resorts are going all-out to provide certified divers a wider vary of experiences. On the Noonu Atoll, for instance, Siyam World now affords blue-light diving: night time dives with blue illumination that reacts with the fluorescent pigments in sure varieties of marine life, inflicting them to glow.
2. Admire the Indian Ocean’s marine life
Not up to scuba diving? No drawback. The Maldives’ waters are teeming with marine life which might be simply as accessible by way of different means. Most resorts provide excursions for friends eager to see brightly coloured fish up shut. At Anantara Dhigu resort, only a quick speedboat trip away from Male, you may join marine-biologist-led excursions to see (and swim with, when you’re feeling courageous) nurse sharks. Equally, at the InterContinental Maldives Maamunagau Resort, shut to the UNESCO-listed Baa Atoll Biosphere Reserve, friends can be part of resident marine biologists from the Manta Belief on ray-spotting excursions.
Planning tip: Pack your individual fins and goggles when you’re planning on snorkeling – you’ll keep away from equipment-rental charges and cut back the threat of getting to use ill-fitting equipment.
3. Immerse your self in Maldivian historical past
A rising variety of resorts are paying homage to the area’s heritage by giving guests the probability to study the Maldives’ historical past. At the Raa Atoll’s Cora Cora Maldives, friends can go to the Dutch Onion Museum to admire artifacts discovered round and close to the island – together with two historical, onion-shaped bottles for which the museum is known as. Additionally on show are stone tanks as soon as used to acquire rainwater, and which date again to the 12th century.
Equally, the Heritance Aarah resort on the Raa Atoll has the Maldivian Village, an immersive museum the place friends can study the area’s earliest inhabitants and life in the Maldives some 4000 years in the past.
4. Dine, drink or detox underwater
There’s little you may’t do underwater in the Maldives. The Conrad Maldives Rangali Island has an underwater suite for friends who fancy sleeping with the fishes. A number of resorts provide swank underwater eating places, together with Hurawalhi Island Resort’s 5.8 Undersea Restaurant – a spot on most individuals’s Maldives must-do record. Niyama Personal Islands Maldives is house to Subsix restaurant, the place underwater highlights embody sea-urchin-like chairs, whereas Ozen Life Maadhoo welcomes diners to take the plunge at its M6m restaurant.
To sip wine that’s been aged underwater (as one does), head to the Emerald Maldives Resort and Spa. For a unique sort of indulgence, head to Huvafen Fushi, the place you may take pleasure in certainly one of the resort’s legendary detoxifying therapies in the underwater spa. The massive variety of choices for {couples} make this an exquisite possibility for lovebirds looking for memorable (if uncommon) romantic actions.
5. Go skydiving
Skydiving is new to the Maldives. In 2023, the enterprising homeowners of Ifuru Island Maldives resort, which has its personal small runway, realized their stretch of tarmac made it the good place to arrange the Maldives’ first everlasting skydiving facility. At present, the skydiving college is led by world-champion skydiver Will Penny, who has over 21,000 jumps below his belt.
You don’t have to be a resort visitor to take the leap. And when you go for the VIP bundle, you’ll land subsequent to a desk on which you’ll discover a chilled bottle of champagne and a choice of canapés.
Planning tip: When you plan on skydiving throughout your Maldives journey, intention to keep shut to Ifuru Island – there are many resorts in the identical atoll.
6. Go to a “native” Maldivian island
Imagine it or not, not each certainly one of the Maldives’ islands has been taken over by glitzy resorts. A whole bunch of them nonetheless have vibrant native communities, and lots of resorts provide friends the probability to go to these villages and to get a way of the Maldives life past the ’gram.
At the Fairmont Maldives – Sirru Fen Fushi, friends can go to a close-by island and clear litter from its seashores. The Cora Cora Maldives affords friends the alternative to go to an island deserted due to rising sea ranges – an tour that gives sobering insights into the heightened dangers confronted by these low-lying atolls.
Planning tip: Not all resorts formally promote a visit to a Maldivian island. Ask if yours can set up personal visits to native communities; most are joyful to assist facilitate such excursions for friends.
7. Grasp a brand new talent
As of late, many resorts go method past beachfront service, providing such self-improvement actions as artwork classes (Joali Maldives is certainly one of a number of resorts with an artwork studio and in-house artwork trainer), pictures grasp courses or workshops specializing in conventional Maldivian crafts. At Gili Lankanfushi, on the simply accessible North Male Atoll, friends can strive their hand at kajan thatch-roof making, follow talking Dhivehi bas (the native dialect) and be part of a Maldivian drum lesson.
8. Undertake your individual piece of coral
The Maldives wouldn’t be the Maldives with out its beautiful reefs, which encircle the islands on which you’ll discover the hottest resorts. Whereas these reefs haven’t at all times been properly taken care of, most resorts at the moment have in-house marine biologists tasked with caring for the corals and nurturing newly-planted coral fragments – a course of referred to as coral propagation.
Take a look at an unlimited vary of coral-related actions, starting from alternatives to plant and undertake your individual coral fragment (Vakkaru Maldives is certainly one of many resorts to provide this) to underwater grasp courses led by marine biologists the place you may assist log particulars about the home reef surrounding your resort. The best half? Since resorts know {that a} pristine reef will entice extra friends, coral-related actions are sometimes freed from cost – making them certainly one of our favourite free actions in the Maldives, too.