3 independent reviews for Maldives budget small group tour
Reviews for Maldives budget small group tour
Andre Esser review 28 Nov 2022
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
Closeup shark and stingray encounters while snorkelling, paragliding2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Don't spend any extra time in Male, but rather on one of the smaller islands3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
10/10Fahmida Choudhury review 20 Oct 2019
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
Everything! From the friendliness of the locals, to the food, beautiful scenery, snorkelling.... The list is endless. We had a fantastic tour guide too, Kokko!2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Be open-minded. If you prefer the party scene and alcohol, then the resorts might be more to your tastes. If, like me, you love history and culture and want a flavour of how the locals live then this is definitely for you.3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Definitely. The taxes we paid (included in bills) contributed directly to the local economy. The tour guide encouraged us to participate in reducing plastic waste and kept all our bottles to send on to Parley.4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
Excellent! Loved every moment of it and wish it was longer. The value for money was brilliant! This has been the only tour where most of the meals and airport pick-up and drop-off were included, and where we were not subjected to commission-based shopping. In fact tipping was entirely voluntary and the locals were not expecting it.Anne Hazzard review 10 Feb 2015
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
Hard to pin down any one specific part as it was all memorable. However, things that really stand out are visiting the deserted sandbank by speed boat just as the tide was starting to recede and then the speedboat taking off and leaving us on this small stretch (eventually!) of sand in the middle of the ocean with nothing but a table umbrella for shade and a cool box of drinks! Also, an evening in Guraidhoo when our lovely friendly hosts at the guest house led us to the beach in the dark where we discovered they had secretly cooked us a lovely meal, laid it out on a table by candlelight and lit a fire beside us to keep us warm. I was so touched I could have cried. Oh, and the night I stood in the shallow waters and stingrays washed over my feet and we saw a large school of dolphins going past, followed closely by a logger head turtle and then some sharks......... I said it was hard to pin it down to one thing!2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Just go for it. It was even better than we expected. The literature does state that alcohol is made available where possible during the tour on 'excursions' away from the local islands. We found this not to be the case at all so, if your vacation is not complete without a tipple or two, do bear this in mind.3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
There is a massive problem with rubbish on Hulhumale and to a lesser extent, Maafushi. The main culprit seems to be plastic water bottles which are all over the place. This is a serious matter which we believe is being addressed via educating local people that it is not acceptable to throw rubbish in the street or into the sea off local ferry boats. It is not safe to drink the local water so we had to buy bottles and considered crushing them and taking them home with us but this created a space issue. Even putting them in bins makes you wonder where they end up. The vacation benefitted local people in the sense that we stayed in local guest houses and shopped in local shops. We ate with a lovely local family on two occasions in Guraidhoo but not sure if it benefitted them half as much as it benefitted us! We didn't join in the hermit crab races so maybe we supported conservation by not doing so. We were told they all get put back on the beach. I hope so.4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
I would highly recommend it. There were only two of us on the tour when we went so we had our own personal guide. We were probably a bit spoilt by this but of course larger groups would have just as much fun as we did.Holiday Reviews
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