Burrow Café at Antipolo Beehouse

While it is true that the Maldives is a popular destination for the “rich and famous”,  you don’t have to be one to be able to get there and enjoy it yourself.

In the Philippines, Maldives is a honeymoon destination for celebrities. My celebrity friend just spent her honeymoon at Cinnamon Dhonveli a week ago. But then again, you don’t need to be a celebrity to enjoy Maldivian food, Maldives’ private island resorts, Maldives’ pristine waters and its marine life!

Unrivalled seclusion and a price tag

People who can splurge at least Php 47000 (~USD 1000) per night will never go wrong with a respite to the Maldives as it offers utmost serenity with its unrivalled seclusion. The islands are made to pamper both the soul and the senses.

Paparazzi would probably be enchanted by all shades of the crystal clear waters before they could think of stalking Milla Jovovich AT Reethi Rah or anyone there. No wonder it is a go-to vacation place for celebrities.

But for normal people like me (who is willing to spend 21USD for a 3-day accommodation in Cambodia), is it possible to ENJOY Maldives without breaking the bank or overspending?

The answer is a big fat YES (with golden buzzer and confetti)!!!

How much pocket money do I need for a trip to the Maldives?

Coming from a developing country, I am quite sure Filipinos like me won’t mind preferring a 90-minute ferry ride for 2 USD to a 100 USD 20-minute inter-island private transfer. That is already a 98 dollar saving!

Basically, you can skip on the luxury (well you don’t need to rent the whole island for you and your hubby, do you?) and opt for the (more) practical and economical products/ services to stay on budget.

If you have a pre-booked hotel room with breakfast, you can enjoy the rest of the day for free or maybe rent snorkelling gear for about 5 USD from your hotel (in our case we got the gears for free). But yeah you need to eat of course – a good meal can be around 3 USD (cheaper than the snorkelling gear rental fee) and already tasty to satisfy you.

Booking plane tickets

Plane tickets can be really costly especially when you travel to a quite distant country.

From Manila to Male, it is approximately 8-9 hours. Personally, I would recommend to take a LCC like TigerAir from Singapore to Male or Kuala Lumpur to Male or even Manila to Male. You can save a lot by skipping on the flag carrier experience. Here are some screenshots of the plane tix cost. See what I’m talking about?

Finding the perfect accommodation

You can start snagging a good deal for your accommodation here:

Table of expenses

Additionally, you may refer to this table to budget your own trip to the Maldives. I listed down the cost of accommodation, food, fare, activities — the usual stuff we spend on when we travel — including the cheap or expensive counterpart (for comparison/reference).

I realized I mostly inputted the average cost but I promise to update this table every time. If you have pressing concerns you may leave a comment or message me directly so I can attend to you right away.

So here it is:

In our trip to Maldives, we experienced a spectrum of expenses. You can check this link to read on our day to day itinerary. 

Parting Words

Perhaps there’s some cheaper way to enjoy Maldives. If you’ve any idea on that, please feel free to share so we can reward our future travels with wiser budgeting! Or you can also share your travel hacks here and tell us how do you trim your trip costs? Do you spend a lot in your accommodation or do you tend to spend more on food or activities? 

Do let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. We’d love to hear from you! Thanks for dropping by! Have a nice day y’all!