https://www.mydestinary.com/maldivesMaldives has become one of the most common and popular destinations for holidaying, especially honeymoons. There are going to be thousands of websites out there with Maldives as a blog. But the charm and beauty of this place is such, that nobody can escape writing about this paradise. Hence, I will as well.
According to me, all the islands of Maldives are more or less the same. If you want to have an exotic holiday, it is the resort that matters and not the island. We chose the Taj Exotica Resorts and Spa in Emboodhu Finolhu, South Male. Like most of the couples, my husband and I were also supposed to go here for our honeymoon, but my passport was stuck at the UK embassy for my UK visa and hence, we had to end up pushing our trip ahead by 6 months. Ours was a non-cancelable and non-refundable booking. But Taj management was very kind and they extended our stay by 6 months, given the circumstances.
Maldives is sunny all year round, but it's best weather being between November to April. Monsoons begin from May to October. Well, we went here in October, but didn't face any issues.
The only way to reach here is by a flight to Male. Male airport is quite well connected with flights from a lot of international destinations. From the airport, you are then taken either in a speed boat or a water plane depending on your hotel. We flew to Male from Dubai. (Ensure you book a window seat, as you definitely don't want to miss the views you get while flying over Maldives).
We arrived Male at around 12pm. From the airport, the Hotel representative transferred us in a speed boat which took around 15-20 minutes to get to our resort. The ride was a rather bumpy but an enjoyable one. When we got a glimpse of our hotel, we went crazy. It was like a picture postcard. Imagine a combination of wooden villas, turquoise water, palm trees, white sand and some harmless baby white sharks. (Yes you read it right! Harmless Baby White Sharks). We were then taken to our cottage in a golf cart and were introduced to our Butler Elite. The room was like a dream come true. We were welcomed with a delicious cake and a fruit champagne bottle in our room.
The rear side of our room had deck chairs and a staircase leading straight into the water. A little away in the midst of the water was a hammock. I coudnt resist the water and so I pulled my husband and we dived in. We swam till the hammock. The hotel has provided swimming tubes and life jackets as well, just in case you want to go deeper in the water. We were just lazing on the hammock. Clear blue skies, with the melodious sound of the waves and nobody around us for miles, its the ultimate relation you can ask for.
After our swim, we were starving and wanted to feast our tummies. So we ordered for some Thai food. Most of the Taj hotels across the globe have one of the best Thai food I have ever eaten. Definitely give it a try. As we were quite tired, we ordered for the food in our room. I will not say anything about the view we had while eating, the picture below will tell it all!!
For holidays similar to Maldives, where more or less you are in one island and one hotel through out, its more economical to go with a full board option (all meals included).
After the scrumptious meal and the swim, we definitely needed a nap!! Post that, we went for a hotel tour and walked around the beautiful stretch to get a glimpse of this luxurious hotel. We made a pit stop at one of the cafes to grab a hukkah. Under the blanket of stars, on the beach, cozy on couches, smoking the hukkah with the love of your life. Its the best feeling ever!!
Our resort had 3 restaurants, serving variety of cuisines. One by the pool side, one by the beach and one for breakfast and snacks. We had amazing Italian food at the beach side restaurant. Each meal we had in the resort was made romantic by the management.
The resort had left no stone unturned to spoil us. We were given a bucket of popcorn and free drinks to watch a movie of our choice in our room! What an end to a beautiful day!!
The next morning started on a healthy note with some yoga. And trust me with views like the one below, you really wouldn't mind doing those planks and stretches!! And as the routine goes, after some exercise you need to binge on food. So we headed for a huge layout of breakfast dishes.
After breakfast, we grabbed our books and relaxed on the deck chairs for a while. Another enticing location was a swing right in the middle of the sea. The swing sways along due to the waves. After our little moment of solitude, we dived into the waters again.
And then we dived from one water to the other. (What I mean to say is from the beach to the swimming pool). Luckily my husband is also a water baby, and hence we thoroughly enjoyed being at the beach and in the pool.
Water makes you terribly hungry, and so we were ready to hog our next meal which was at the pool side restaurant. I was craving for some fresh coconut water, and seeing so many coconut trees around, I guessed they would have it as well. But to my grief they didn't. And there came another gesture of their's to spoil us. One of the staff climbed up the tree and got me a coconut!! We then proceeded towards our room for a nap. Everyday when the room servicing would be done, there would be a new surprise awaiting us in the room. It would either be a cake and champagne or the room would be decorated with flowers and the like.
Our evening was reserved for a couple spa. It has undoubtedly been my best and the most romantic spa experience ever. I don't think any of my words would do justice for the experience we had!!
We then got dressed and headed towards our restaurant. And as mentioned in our earlier blogs, we always end up having at least one meal as Indian food in all our trips. And so it's turn had come. After a satisfying meal we continued our movie tradition and crashed for the night.
The next morning, we had another surprise planned for us. We were told to get ready post breakfast for a complimentary romantic photoshoot organised by the resort. We quickly had our breakfast and dawned our best clothes. Our photographer clicked our pictures across all the amazing locations on the resort. We were asked to review our photos in the afternoon once he was done with editing them.
Since we were flying out the next day in the morning, we chose to do a quick round of snorkelling. We wanted to do scuba, but you need a gap of at least 24 hours since your dive and the flight, as apparently the nitrox level in the body increases which is not good!
Our snorkelling instructor dropped us in the middle of the ocean and we were left to ourselves. We were informed about the areas where the best coral reefs were located. Experiencing the sea life in Maldives is heavenly and is a must when you visit this country. We sighted a lot of different species like the clown fish, sea cucumbers, baby sharks, mushroom coral, octopus, star fish and lots more.After the enchanting dive, we returned to our photographer, who had one of our best pictures till date in store for us. So, the deal was, 2 pictures would be given to us free of cost and the rest could be bought if needed. Trust me, it was the most difficult task to select them. We finally decided on 3. They also gave us a beautiful hand-made album for our memories, which complimented each other very well!!We had our lunch at the pool side restaurant and headed to our room for a much-needed nap!!
Our butler had dropped in to let us know that the Head Chef was eager to cook a special meal for us for the night, as a farewell dinner!!! Aweeeee!!! We were requested to tell him our meal preferences. As we had tried almost all types of cuisines but Mexican, we opted for that.
We got dressed and headed towards the beach side restaurant where we found a table decorated and a musician was playing the guitar and singing some of the best English classic romantic songs. My hubby got all romantic and asked me for a dance. We quickly ended our dreamy ball dance as we had some mouth-watering food on our table just for us!! They ended it with an array of chocolates and a very cute message saying, "We Will Miss You"". We were certainly going to miss them more!
Like how all good things must come to an end, our fairy tale vacation also did!! It's been just more than a year since our holiday, but given a chance, I would love to go back to Maldives. It has undoubtedly been the best till date.
Follow me on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mydestinary/
Book through Booking.com and use my referral code to get 15 pounds discount!! https://www.booking.com/s/35_6/sneha161
' fill='%23359391'%3e %3cpath d='M46.1538462%2c43.5714286 L41.5%2c50 L36.8461538%2c43.5714286 L36.8670256%2c43.5714286 C36.3173077%2c42.7142857 36%2c41.6851429 36%2c40.5714286 C36%2c37.4854286 38.4535641%2c35 41.5%2c35 C44.5464359%2c35 47%2c37.4854286 47%2c40.5714286 C47%2c41.6851429 46.6826923%2c42.7142857 46.1329744%2c43.5714286 L46.1538462%2c43.5714286 Z M41.4294872%2c39 C40.6150641%2c39 39.9487179%2c39.675 39.9487179%2c40.5 C39.9487179%2c41.325 40.6150641%2c42 41.4294872%2c42 C42.2439103%2c42 42.9102564%2c41.325 42.9102564%2c40.5 C42.9102564%2c39.675 42.2439103%2c39 41.4294872%2c39 L41.4294872%2c39 Z' id='Location-white'%3e%3c/path%3e %3c/g%3e %3c/svg%3e)
