I would like to share some tips on planning your trip to the Maldives based on my experience with staying at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island. Let me start by saying that visiting the Maldives is not cheap. Apart from the cost of the airfare, you will face steep prices on literally everything, even if you only plan to spend money on food. There is just no way getting around the fact that literally everything has to be imported into the country and then delivered by air or boat to resorts based on tiny atolls scattered in the Indian Ocean. That adds up to the high cost of food or anything else you will buy. All prices in the Maldives are listed in U.S. dollars.

Tip one. The Maldives is located near the equator and enjoys a tropical climate with distinct wet and dry seasons. December through April has the lowest amounts of rainfall with the longest hours of sunshine. Tropical climate contributes to the consistently hot and often humid conditions all year round. So, bring a sun hat and lots of sunscreen lotions or sprays.

Tip two. If you re planning to stay at a resort that belongs to one of the major hotel chains and you don’t have status with the chain nor do you want to obtain it (see the next tip on how it can be done easily), you can book your stay through programs like the Hilton Impresario, Marriott STARS & Luminous, Hyatt Privé, Four Seasons Preferred Partner, Mandarin Oriental Fan Club, etc. These programs offer elite-like perks for stays at participating hotels. The only downside is that you can’t book your stay directly with any of these programs. You will have to work through an eligible travel advisor whom you can find easily by searching on the internet. Advisors rarely charge more than the lowest published rate you will see on the hotel website. If you are planning to stay at a luxury hotel you can also book your stay and get elite-like benefits through Virtuoso.com, a network of over 20,000 travel advisors worldwide. You can use any of these programs to book your stay at the hotels worldwide, not just in the Maldives.

As an example, if you book your stay at the luxury Hilton properties in the Maldives, like Conrad or Waldorf Astoria, the Hilton Impresario perks you get would include the following:

• Daily complimentary full breakfast for up to two people per room

• A complimentary room upgrade, subject to availability at check-in

• A $100 property credit once per stay

• Early check-in and late check-out, subject to availability

• Double Hilton Honors points (valid at select properties)

Booking your stay through these programs will save you hundreds of dollars on breakfast alone.

Tip three. Another way to save money and enhance your stay is to get yourself a status with a hotel chain, unless you already have it. Status will become handy not only for the trip to the Maldives but also for your future travels elsewhere. It will help you save money on food, score room upgrades, early check-ins, late check-outs, discounts, etc.

The easiest way to gain status is through a credit card. As an example, Conrad Maldives is part of the Hilton hotel group. American Express offers two Hilton Honors cards - the Ascend card and the Aspire card. Both come with similar perks such as free breakfast, room upgrades, etc. The Aspire card, however, provides you with elevated benefits. Both card provide initial bonus points which may vary. Currently, the Ascend card offers 130,000 HH points and the Aspire card offers 150,000 bonus points after minimal required spending.

The Ascend card ($95 annual fee) comes with the following benefits:

• Complimentary Hilton Honors Gold status.

• Complimentary breakfast.

• Room upgrades, subject to availability.

• Fifth night free when you book a stay of five or more nights using only points.

• 10 free visits to Priority Pass Select lounges (1,200+ airport lounges around the world) each calendar year (especially valuable if you travel in economy class. This memberships will save you money on buying food&drink at the airport).

• 12 Hilton Honors base points per dollar spent on eligible purchases with a hotel or resort within the Hilton portfolio.

• All benefits available to lower-tier elite members, such as free internet access at select properties, two complimentary bottles of water per stay at select properties and more.

The Aspire card ($450 annual fee) comes with the following benefits:

• Complimentary Hilton Honors Diamond status (the highest level in the Hilton Honors program).

• Resort credits of up to $250 annually (which I used toward paying my Conrad Maldives bill).

• $250 in airline fee credits.

• Priority Pass Select airport lounge membership, which gets you (and two guests) unlimited access (especially valuable if you travel in economy class and have family members/companions traveling with you. This memberships will save you money on buying food&drink at the airport).

• Annual free-weekend-night certificate valid at nearly any Hilton property.

• 14 Hilton Honors base points per dollar spent on eligible purchases with a hotel or resort within the Hilton portfolio.

• All benefits available to lower-tier elite members, such as free internet access at select properties, two complimentary bottles of water per stay at select properties and more.

The Aspire Card, due to its high annual fee, is not for everyone. It’s mostly designed for those who stay at Hilton properties regularly. However, the $250 annual resort credit, $250 airline fee credit, free annual night, and complimentary breakfast alone make the annual fee pay for itself.

If you are interested in learning more and applying for the Aspire card, you can click here.

Hilton Honors Diamond status gives you additional perks which are not officially listed. When I arrived at my villa at the Conrad, a resplendid spread was waiting for me on the coffee table as you can see from the photos below. This was a welcome gift to me as a Dimond member.

Tip four. Bring some snacks. Most likely, your atoll-based resort will not have a grocery store. Restaurants are the only place where you can get food. There are snacks available for purchase from the minibar in your room. However, as I mentioned earlier, literally everything is brought over to the resort by seaplane or boat, having been flown to the Maldives from overseas. That adds up to the high cost of everything available for purchase. The only free item in the minibar at Conrad was milk.

Tip five. The above tip goes for everything else you use regularly during your beach vacations, such as sunblock, microSD cards for you camera, etc. Buy and bring extras of everything. To give you an idea of how expensive things are, my camera microSD cards malfunctioned and I needed a replacement. There were none at the two gift shops, the only shops at the resort where, apart from souvenirs, you could also buy resort-appropriate clothes. Thankfully, I was able to buy the only one available at the Dive Center but at a cost of over $60 for a 32GB card, which retails for around $12 in the U.S.

Tip six. If you suffer from mosquito bites, bring mosquito sprays. The resort does a great job fogging the entire area every morning. As a result, I didn’t have any problem, however, other vacationers did.

Tip seven. The Maldives is known for its stunningly blue and clear waters which you are bound to swim in or at least wade into. After all, this is one of the main reasons why you are traveling thousands of miles. However - and it came as a complete surprise to me - these paradisiacal waters are rife with certain parasites that may cause a rash called swimmer’s itch. It’s nothing serious, more like an annoyance though you risk infection if you scratch. More importantly, very few people get it. I came across only one staff member who had experienced it.

It is a temporary condition but you need to seek medical attention. The resort has a resident doctor, so you should be able to get immediate assistance for that or any other issue. The resort staff will make an appointment for you, and will take you to see the doctor. In my case, the doctor prescribed calamine lotion to help minimize the itch which disappeared after I returned home. I was given the lotion gratis. I suspect that was because of my Dimond status. But generally you shouldn’t expect free medication as I learned later from a staff member. So, to be on the safe side, bring your own calamine lotion or a corticosteroid cream.

Tip eight. If you are planning to travel in the near future, the country of your residence may require a negative COVID test. Conrad has been offering COVID tests which are administered by the same doctor. The tests have to be flown to the capital, Male, to be processed. As you might’ve already guessed, that makes the test rather expensive: $150, to be specific. You may therefore want to bring your own at-home COVID test which includes a Telehealth service and which is approved for international travel. They now retail for about $25 in the U.S.

Tip nine. This tip is about tipping. All charges, be it at a restaurant or for leisure activities like scuba diving, catamaran sailing, glass-floored boat trips, etc., already include a tip in the form of a 10% service charge. All tips, aka service charges, are aggregated and distributed among all employees of the resort. That said, you are welcome to tip if the service goes above and beyond.

One other point. My villa attendant gave me a present of a cowrie seashell on my departure. I later learned that the cowrie was the shell most widely used worldwide as shell money. I don’t know how widespread that gesture is, however, to be on the safe side, you may want to bring a gift or two from your country, especially, if you are going to stay at a villa at a small resort.

If you have been to the Maldives and have tips of your own you would like to share, please do so in the Comments section. If you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask.