Accommodation

While it's hard to be on a holiday without any itinerary of activities to do, it will be even harder if you have not decided on what type of accommodation to get while in the Maldives. And boy - deciding where to stay may give you a headache due to almost all types are worth an experience in a lifetime!

Like other tourist destinations, the Maldives offer the most common accommodation types plus one which might only be experienced in the country. Uninhabited islands boast of their hotels and resorts, while inhabited ones have their guesthouses. A new getaway accommodation, the liveaboard, is a must-try.

The Maldives Tourism Act of 1999 defines a tourist hotel as "an establishment, other than a tourist resort or a tourist guest house that has been developed to provide board and lodging." A tourist resort is defined as "an island or a designated area of an island that has been developed to accommodate tourists and to provide board and lodging facilities for them."

"An establishment other than a tourist resort or a tourist hotel, that has been developed in compliance with the standards determined by the Ministry of Tourism to provide board and lodging or (only) lodging for tourists for a payment decided at a certain rate per day of stay," is how the more affordable category of guesthouses is defined. Location is a general setting used to differentiate between various types of accommodations: resorts are typically situated on enticing private islands, hotels are typically built in urban areas, and guesthouses are typically found on populated islands. Staying for a day or two in a liveaboard yacht, on the other hand, has already been considered to be a thrilling alternative to staying overwater.

Hotels offer regular accommodation amenities such as regular rooms and suites best for travellers who want to be near the city and the business centers of the Maldives. While resorts offer a wider variety of accommodation amenities such as standard and water bungalows/villas and pavillions with pool access. Guesthouses are more "local" in nature with the houses' rooms beautified and prepared with whatever tourists need during their stay. Liveaboard stay can be asked from the resort or hotel if it's offered. While onboard, guests can stay in standard and suite rooms.