Maldives for 7 days in October?

[splothersdog]

I am looking for some advice. I have a big birthday this year and am really keen on visiting the Maldives.
I am tied to school holidays and I am thinking about October half term.
Have anyone been at this time and for 7 days only?

Will your 7 days include travel ? If so you’re looking at more like 4.5 days there.

It’s not worth it with the journey being so long!!

Would recommend a bit longer if you can- 10 days? It's a long flight to get there and the first couple of days can be catching up on sleep somewhat. Beautiful place though. We went to Kuramathi with Kuoni which was gorgeous and more recently Cinnamon Dhonveli with Tui which was lovely but not the same league.

If you're tied to school holidays I would try to attach it to an inset day and maybe take a cheeky extra term time day, to reduce price where possible/lengthen your holiday.

The rainy season ends October/November. Would it be the best time to go?

We’ve been several times. You can do a week of course but it’s really not long enough.

As for time of the year, October isn’t the best time. We went for October half term a few years ago and the weather wasn’t brilliant so we’d never go back that time of year again.

We went very end of October / early November for 8 nights there and then the flights are on top and that was short but OK time wise. Flights might have been overnight but if you use both weekends you maybe able to make it longer. Its a very easy holiday, mainly snorkelling, kayaking, dolphin boat trip and walking along beach and nice meals, swimming etc. Weather was mainly fine but was some rain from time to time. Preferred Mauritius.

I went for a week and it was plenty, to be honest it was a bit boring. With kids I'd opt for Sri Lanka as there's stuff to do other than swimming (weather isn't always brilliant in October, which matters less if you can go sightseeing)

Attached to school holidays because I am a teacher so that isn't an option unfortunately

There’s a write up in todays Times travel magazine about Mauritius - it sounds amazing, and is so much closer to home than Maldives.

It’s not closer to home, it’s further away! And Mauritius is not particularly nice, we didn’t like it, it’s extremely grotty outside the resorts.

Maldives is much nicer. I’d say 7 days would be fine if you’re the type to get bored easily.

@Soontobe60 both Indian Ocean and flight times are pretty similar

It seems far too far to go for a week, and the wrong time of year.

The journey to Mauritius is easier as its one direct flight but the length is only slightly shorter to Mauritius overall - it was 12.5 hours to Mauritius whereas Maldives was 10.5 hours plus then a second seaplane flight of about an hour and then a speedboat so overall Maldives took longer but not a massive amount in it.

I much preferred Mauritius to Maldives and after 8 nights in Maldives was a bit bored and it was enough for me, great for snorkelling. Didn't find anywhere on Mauritius grotty and resort was amazing and people were so friendly. But its a bit personal preference, they both look stunning but Mauritius has more to do as you have the resort plus an island.

We did it for our honeymoon 15 years ago. We had 7 nights their so we must have had 9 days off including travel.
It was a lovely place. Very beautiful and very hot.

October is especially unsettled weather in the Maldives and it’s not a great place to be if it’s rainy as there isn’t a lot to do!

July/August has historically been the rainy season but has actually been less rainy in recent years and is a lot cheaper than the dry season (Dec to March/April). Might be worth a punt.

Feb half term is ideal weather wise but super expensive. You can squeeze in 8/9 days if you leave on the Friday pm. (obv would be 2025 though). Or maybe first week or two of Easter.

I would choose any time of year other than October tbh.

Except May! May is even worse…

I go to Maldives at least once a year. 7 days is fine.

The busy season doesn’t begin yet so I assume the direct flights aren’t available? It’s about 14 hours with stop over, Dubai or Qatar is easiest. You need to write off the day you begin, we usually get an evening flight (DH was a teacher so we’d leave Friday evening 635pm from LHR) and then we’d arrive about 11 and get the seaplane. The seaplanes stop after 3pm so make sure you time your flights to arrive early morning or risk being stuck in Male which is not nice. Or seaboard is fine!

What sort of resort do you want? Any kids? All inc?

When we went people in the Maldives were there for just a long weekend from Dubai or India. If you can fly in business class then the flight is part of the fun and a week is ok.

I am also a teacher and we went to the Maldives for our 30ths in the October half term- we did 8 nights so flew Friday night overnight. Had a short layover (2 hours) in Dubai and on we went, so we did have 7 days there and 6 nights.

Weather for us was great, was a bit rainy one day but still warm so we sat and ate/drank all day! We stayed at the Riu Palace and would recommend but it is another flight and then speedboat from Male. If you're shorter on time maybe you could look for an island that's only a speed boat away so it's quicker to get to?

Gorgeous part of the world, can't wait to go back!

Also my advice is, if you really want to go, ignore all the rubbish about weather. Peak season is Christmas and this one just gone was the worst, it didn’t stop raining and was awful. I have been plenty of times in the summer (school hols) and not a drop of rain. I think it’s ironically only rained for me in the dry season 😂

you just have to take a chance. But there is plenty to do if it rains, and it’s still beautiful.

My advice on night flights to Maldives or Asia generally - especially with kids - is to look for ones that layover in Europe (eg Lufthansa or Air Austria) rather than the Middle East.

That way you get one short flight and one longer flight to sleep on.

The ME ones have two medium length flights so very difficult to get much sleep.

We had direct flights with BA when we went last year this time of year (though there was a further flight from Male and a boat but those were good fun). Flight was fine. Only thing was on way back there were lots of waits between parts of it. In Mauritius we booked airport lounge which was well worth it.

Thank you for all your responses
To answer some questions - all
Inclusive ideal and no kids.
Could look at Feb and Easter

Did you go in October ?