Holiday or honeymoon on the Maldives

The Maldives is one of the most famous honeymoon destinations in the world and for a good reason. In this article I will tell you a bit about the country and give you my guess as to why people like to come here for a honeymoon.

The Maldives is a country (yes, not a city or a region in another country as some people tend to believe) consisting of about 1200 islands in 26 atolls. An atoll is a ring of coral reefs or coral islands, or both, surrounding a lagoon. Despite being a total size of 90.000m2 the Maldives is 99% water, and has just 298 km2 of land. It is located west of Sri Lanka and south of India, deep in the Indian Ocean.

The Maldives has a population of about 300.000 people. A third of the population live on the tiny capital island of Male which is just a couple of kilometres across. The rest of the population are spread out on the atolls and there are basically no other towns in the entire country.

100% of the Maldivian population are Sunni Muslims and since the 2008 constitution it is not possible to be a Maldivian citizen and a non-Muslim. The annual population growth is about 3%.

Polygamy is legal and a man can have up to four wives, but it is not common practice to have more than one wife.

The Maldives has three industries of which the country live: Fishing, ships and tourist. Tourism accounts for 20% of GDP and about 90% of government tax revenue. Every traveller pays 8$ ”bed tax” per night they spend in the Maldives.

The Maldives has a ”one island – one resort” policy. This means every resort always has an island to itself. The guest house business (for cheaper accommodation) is also developing slowly, but it lacks public transportation and the places in which you can currently find cheaper accommodation (say 50 – 100$ per night for a basic room with/without breakfast) are ”public islands”. This means it is the home of Maldivians and wearing a bikini or shorts is strictly forbidden. A modest/Muslim dress code is required.

The Maldives receives about 600.000 visitors every year (most spend minimum one week). Most of them come on a fairly expensive package tour which includes full board (breakfast, lunch and dinner included).

So what makes this place a popular honeymoon place?

Well it’s very beautiful. If you dream about a small bounty island with coconut palms, very white sand and warm, turquoise water…this is it! You will have plenty of time to look your sweetheart in the eyes for endless amounts of time (as much as you can pay for). The activities here are very limited: sleep, eat, read, swim, sunbath, snorkel and dive, trips to other islands or Male, fishing, spa treatment, surfing, and other water sports. Obviously cultural activities and sightseeing is severely limited on a small island and so is shopping.

I believe the Maldives is attractive to people who are looking for complete relaxation with no decisions needed to be made (usually there are only one or two restaurants in the resort). Hence you see a lot of old couples here and honeymooners and I am sure most of them have a fantastic holiday.

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A few recommendations for responsible travel in the Maldives:

1.Drink desalinated water at your resort rather than imported mineral water or bring your own bottles and boil the tap water (which is desalinated) and drink that.
2.Take your bottles, plastic and batteries home with you. The Maldives does not have facilities to dispose of them.
3.Minimise the use of air-conditioning in the room
4.Ask for your towels not to be rewashed every day.
5.Keep the use of running water in your room to a minimum – water is expensive to desalinate and uses fossil fuel to do so.
6.When diving and snorkelling, do not feed, touch or otherwise interfere with the corals and fish.
7.Don’t purchase turtle-shell products.

Bon voyage!!

Video: Varkala beach in Kerala, India

Varkala beach is my favourite beach in India. Having been to Goa before, I prefer the chilled out atmosphere of Varkala. The beach is beautiful (with a strong current), there are many small shops on the cliff (in season) and many reasonably cheap guesthouses.

I spent my days doing yoga in the morning on the empty beach, going for walks during the midday sun or drinking chai in a restaurant while reading my books and going to the beach in the late afternoon and enjoying the beautiful sunset.

In Varkala you find both travellers and families. It’s not a party place, but a place to really relax.

The video below shows you a bit of Varkala. Enjoy

Colonia del Sacremento, Uruguay

Colonia del Sacremento, Uruguay
Colonia del Sacremento, Uruguay

Colonia del Sacremento is a beautiful small colonial town only a two and a half hour ferry ride from Buenos Aires. It has everything a place needs to be a tourist Mecca – a beach, cobbled streets, intriguing history and a location overlooking the Rio de la Plata.

The city has some good guesthouses, restaurants, bars and expensive supermarkets.

The city was founded by the Portuguese in 1680 to smuggle goods across the Rio de la Plata into Buenos Aires. The Spanish captured it in 1762 and held it until 1777, when tax reforms finally permitted foreign goods to proceed directly to Buenos Aires.

Video: Hervideros organic mud-baths outside Tumbes, Peru (Spanish/English)

When crossing the border from Ecuador to Peru I lost my bus onwards to the Hare Krishna village north of Lima. This meant I had to spend the night and the whole next day in Tumbes. At first I was a bit annoyed because I really wanted to move downwards towards the Hare Krishna sanctuary.

However, I met a young guy named Mauro Alexander, who was my taxi driver when I arrived in Tumbes, and he changed my point of view. He suggested that he would come and pick me up at my hotel the next morning at 10 and take me to Zorritos beach and Hervideros mud baths.

Having left Thomas in Ecuador (he had to work) I was now a woman travelling alone. This made me feel a bit vulnerable. I considered several times whether to accept Mauro’s offer and decided to say yes eventually. Why? Because I remembered when I visited Nepal back in 2006. I met a guy called Shiva in a wool shop. We talked a few times and he invited he to come and stay with him and his brother two hours outside of Kathmandu in their small village for the night. My intuition told me that I could trust Shiva and I decided to say yes. That visit is one of the most memorable 24 hours in my life. Shiva and his brother took care of me like a beloved sister and at night he gave me his bed and cover and slept himself with his brother. Shiva is one of the kindest people I have ever met in my life – he has such a good heart and always thinks about other people. Still to this day, when the world is against me, I think about Shiva – to remind myself that there are many wonderful and loving people. That’s why I said yes to the invitation from Mauro – because sometimes we have to take chances in life to fully enjoy the beauty of it.

So Mauro picked me up at 10 and we drove to Hervideros. Hervideros is placed in the south of Zorritos, in Monte Guacura (Guacura Mountain), in the department of Tumbes. Hervideros has several natural pools with medicinal high-temperature waters that contain iodised salts, minerals and special properties for skin and for health. The surrounding area is the most beautiful area I have seen in Peru. We spent a few hours at the mud-baths and afterwards we went to Zorritos beach before Mauro took me to my bus bound for Lima.

The mud baths were not in my guidebook (it had free entrance), but you can contact “Mauro Alexander” through facebook and pay him to drive you there. It is very beautiful and well worth a visit. The video above shows you me covered in mud and Mauro who also explains (in Spanish) about Hervideros.

Video: Ecuador beaches: Puerto Lopez, Ayampe and Montanita

After spending a while freezing in the centre of Ecuador, I decided to escape to the sea side to look for the sun and heat. It was right in the middle of the carnival. I read in my Lonely Planet guide and from the description of Puerto Lopez decided to go there: “chipped blue fishing boats bob on a beautiful fishhook bay and cheerful hotels…, happy cafes and a dirt road pace of life make it tough to leave”. Nothing could be further from the truth. The only truth to it was the fact that it was a dirt-road…in fact a muddy dirt road. All the hotels were obviously full and it was cramped with people – to to be honest – it was not charming.

I was rescued by a lovely young Chilean couple who took me to Ayampe beach which is located 17 km south of Puerto Lopez. It is a beautiful chilled beach (even during the carnival) with some lovely guesthouse options. I stayed in a guesthouse on the beach during the carnival for 10$ a night -really a bargain.

After a few lovely days at Ayampe beach I went to Montanita. Montanita according to the Lonely Planet means “bare feet, baggy shorts, surf and scene. Some dig it others despise it.” It was completely packed when I was there – but I could still see how at other times than the carnival this would be a fun place to visit. The video above gives you an idea about the three beaches. Enjoy.

Video: Madera beach surfing paradise in San Juan del Sur

San Juan del Sur is a coastal town on the Pacific Ocean, in south-west Nicaragua. The town is a popular tourist location because of its many nearby and spectacular beaches. San Juan del Sur is also popular among surfers and is a vacation spot for many Nicaraguan families and foreign tourists. It really is a good, unspoiled alternative to Costa Rica.

The population is approximately 18,500, comprised mostly of families engaged in fishing. There are plenty of Spanish schools in town making San Juan a perfect place to come and immerse yourself in the language and take home something more than a tan.

The surf is, however, not in San Juan del Sur itself "the waves are simply not big enough in town. We went to Madera beach about 10 km north of San Juan del Sur to surf. Madera beach is an incredibly beautiful and peaceful beach and when you don’t surf you can suntan and go for long walks. Amazing.

The video below gives you an idea about why Madera beach have become so popular – it simply is a stunning place!!

San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

San Juan del Sur is Nicaragua’s main beach resort. With a population of about 10,000, it is more reminiscent of a sea-side village than a resort. San Juan is located a few hours from Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, in the South West of the country about an hour or so from the Costa Rican border.

Although the main beach at San Juan del Sur is a pretty horseshoe shaped bay, flanked by tall cliffs, like all town beaches, it is not particularly clean. However, North and South of San Juan are a series of very unspoiled beaches with either very little, or no development whatsoever. These beaches can be reached only by private taxis from San Juan, or by one of the organized buses/trucks that run several times daily from the main guest houses in town (about $5 return).

The main draw to the area is undoubtedly the surfing. A steady stream of surfers arrive in San Juan with boards at the ready, hoping to catch whatever the Pacific throws at them. Generally people either stay in San Juan del Sur and make the daily beach shuttle trip, or stay at one of the ‘surf camps’ at Playa Maderas – an unspoiled beach about 10 KM north of San Juan famed for its beach break.

San Juan del Sur is now firmly on the backpacker circuit, and with plenty of other activities available in the area – from turtle-watching trips, to horse riding, ATV driving, Spanish classes, fishing, and of course partying – it is sure to develop massively in the next ten years.

Whether you’re a beginner or more advanced surfer, because of the many varying beaches in the area, there will usually be somewhere suitable for you around San Juan. You can hire a surf board for about $10 a day, and lessons vary from between $10/hour and $30/hour depending on who you choose.

I liked San Juan so much, I went back and spent Christmas there surfing. The first time I stayed at "Crazy Dave’s" Surf Hideout on Maderas beach, but he was so obnoxiously loud he drove us away (more about that later). The second time I stayed in San Juan itself, in Hospedaje Don Wilfredo (right next to Big Wave Dave’s), which was a small, friendly, locally-owned hostel about 50 metres from the beach with private rooms for $4 & $5 a night – about half the price of a dormitory room in Casa Oro which all the younger backpackers seems to flock to like headless chickens. Must be the improved mating potential?

San Juan del Sur is probably less than half the price of Costa Rica, and you pretty much get the same in terms of surfing and lifestyle. In fact, having now also been to several Costa Rican beaches, I’d say the beaches around San Juan del Sur win hands down.

Links

Photos of San Juan del Sur & Maderas beach.

Our podcast from San Juan del Sur