Christmas in the Maldives

We decided to spend Christmas 2017 in the Maldives. It wasn’t my idea, it was my husbands and I have to say its probably one of his best yet. As it was a ‘once in a lifetime’ holiday, we decided to go the whole hog and book a jacuzzi water villa at the Meeru Island Resort in the North Male Atoll which was recommended by the lovely Sarah at Fit Travels. This trip was not cheap; it’s the Maldives and it was Christmas…but it was incredible.

We flew directly from Bangkok to Male with Air Asia for just £150 each return, the flight is around four hours. The Maldives is made up of 1200 islands in 26 atolls, which one of the 200 inhabited islands you choose can greatly affect the cost of your holiday. We did a lot of research and had lots of advice from friends who have visited. One of the reasons we chose Meeru was because it required a speedboat transfer rather than a seaplane transfer which saved us anywhere between $500-$1400 dollars. Our boat transfer was $150 each return and took about 45 minutes.

The white sand and turquoise seas of the Maldives make it one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. The tiny islands we passed on the way to our resort were totally mesmerising! Meeru Island Resort and Spa is one of the larger resorts in the Maldives and is the only resort on Meerufenfushi island in the North Male’ Atoll. It takes around 40 minutes to walk all the way around the 32-hectare island and has nearly 300 rooms, from garden villas to overwater villas. Despite having so many rooms, the island never felt busy.

The view from our terrace

The beautiful island

Staring at the incredible view

The beach

Our jacuzzi water villa was lovely, the view was amazing and was so peaceful. We had direct access into the lagoon from the steps of our terrace and we were fortunate enough to see such a huge range of sea life including sharks and huge stingrays. At night the water under us was illuminated by a huge light so we could see everything, it was amazing!

Our room

Direct access into the lagoon

A place to relax

Our dressing room

Our terrace

The open bathroom

Walking to our villa!

The spectacular villas

Our jacuzzi courtyard

The perfect place to unwind!

The Maldives is a Muslim country and is dry in terms of alcohol unless you are in a resort. On the recommendation of friends, we opted for an all-inclusive with alcohol package and despite the increase in price when booking, it was totally the right thing to do. It included extensive breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus snacks 24 hours and a number of bars where they served really good quality alcohol. As we were there for Christmas there was a gala dinner on Christmas Eve which was incredible and included turkey and all the trimmings, there was even champagne at breakfast.

Christmas day on the beach

Christmas Eve gala dinner

Christmas presents in the Maldives

An ice sculpture at the gala dinner…

The most wonderful thing about being on an island in the Maldives is that you have to relax! We spent time reading under the gently swaying palms, snorkelling in the crystal clear water and sunbathing on our terrace or hanging out in the jacuzzi. We treated ourselves to a Himalayan Salt Stone massage on Christmas day, the floor of the treatment room had a glass floor so you could watch the tropical fish swim by! Included in your room rate is a snorkel trip to the resort reef as well as a sunset dolphin spotting trip, where we did indeed have an up-close encounter with wild dolphins!

Wild dolphins!

Enjoying the sunset dolphin cruise

In the spa on Christmas Day

The spa!

The glass floor under the massage table!

Anyway, I could go on and on about what an insanely amazing time we had but I will just let the pictures speak for themselves and trust me when I say, these don’t even do it justice!