Visas, passports, entry

For the Maldives you don't need a visa. You need a valid passport that is at least a month valid upon arrival. Upon arrival you will get a tourist visa / stamp which is valid for 30 days. In addition you will receive a a so-called embarkation card in the the aircraft. On this card you must fill in the name of the boat "The Blue Dolphin" as your place of stay. If you are travelling to one of the tourist islands or a hotel then you must fill out the name of that island or hotel as your place of stay. Everyone is picked up by us personally, we will be waiting after the customs and sliding doors with a sign which says "Blue Dolphin safari boat".

Import

The Maldives is an Islamic country where alcohol and pork import are not allowed. The goods are seized and you will get them back when you leave the country. There are no penalties, but it will cause a lot of delay. Customs is explicitly looking for bottles (alcohol) in the suitcases (X-Ray). Chips, cashew nuts, chocolate and other sweets can be taken into the country without problems (in your suitcase). Vaccinations are not necessary, the country is free of malaria and very clean, also the crime rate is extremely low. You will notice that the Maldivians are very friendly and helpful.

Payment

In the Maldives, the Maldivian Rufia (MRF) is the currency which is linked to the dollar, fixed exchange rate is 12.75 MRF for 1 US$. You can pay anywhere in dollars (small banknotes!) but they do not always have dollars as change. It is not very useful to exchange Rufia's in advance because most exchange offices do not have them and dollars are accepted everywhere. In the Maldives, it is not possible to exchange dollars or get dollars out of the cash machine (only Rufias) and they only accept new notes!

Telephone

Mobile phones work almost everywhere in the Maldives but charges are approximately € 10,- per minute. It can be useful to purchase a prepaid SIM card at the airport (approximately U.S. $ 5,-) because then calls and text messages will be much cheaper.

Sun

The Maldives are located almost at the equator and the sun can be very strong, so strong that people get sunburned in the shade. At 5:45am the sun rises and at 6:15pm the sun sets.