The Conrad Maldives is a premium property and as such you’re going to expect premium prices for its exclusivity, remoteness, quality and service.
To demonstrate how much the resort expects you to pay at a minimum, upon arrival at the Conrad seaplane lounge, a $5,800 USD pre-authorization was made on one of my credit cards. With that being said, as far as luxury vacations go, the costs are completely manageable as long as you watch what you spend. I think we did a decent job!
Read more about the Maldives
- Ultimate Conrad Maldives Review
- Seaplane Experience To Conrad Maldives
- Conrad Maldives King Beach Villa Review
- Restaurants and Food at Conrad Maldives
- Our Best Maldives Content
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The cost breakdown
A question I get a lot is how much a trip to the Maldives actually cost me? Well let me help clear things up.
The invoice
The following is a direct scan of my final Conrad Maldives invoice.
So as you can see, the final bill to my credit card came out to $4904.08 which seems like a lot but we were actually super impressed to go under the $5,800 pre-authorization so high-fives all around.
The summary
- Accommodations [$2327.40]
- 9 nights stay in King Beach Villa= 337,500 in Hilton HHonors points
- 3 nights upgrade to Water Villa (Upsell + Service Charge and TGST) = $1247.40
- Flights [$1434.52]
- YYZ -> HKG = $116 x 2 = $232 (standby fare thanks to my girlfriend)
- HKG -> MLE = 40,000 Aeroplan points + $61.30 x 2= $122.52
- Seaplane transfer ($500 per person = TGST) = $1080
- Activities [$1864.18]
- Scuba diving = $629.64 + $778.14 = $1407.78
- Whaleshark excursion (Scuba + Whaleshark Research) = $456.40
- For a full diving cost breakdown, head over to my diving review post
- Food [$1682.26]
- Ithaa underwater restaurant = $130.68
- Rangali Bar Dinner #1 = $97.63
- Rangali Bar Dinner #2 = $91.69
- Mandhoo Dinner = $103.99
- Rangali Bar Dinner #3 = $77.81
- Vilu Dinner = $180.46
- Misc [$30.24]
- Souvenirs (Island Breeze Misc) = $30.24
That’s a true costs including flights come out to $5258.60 and per person that comes out to $2629.30 which for us didn’t seem all that bad when you consider an all-inclusive vacation to the Caribbean is on average $1200 for 7 days. 10 days extrapolates to $1714. So REALLY in addition you’re only paying ~$1000 on top of an all-inclusive vacation to the Caribbean for a property 100x better, water villas, best in class beaches and world class diving.
Cost saving tips
1. Turn breakfast into brunch
This is what is known as the mega breakfast. Why pay for lunch when you can sleep in AND have a late breakfast which basically becomes a brunch. Win-win right? Even on days we had to wake up early for morning dives, when we came back we just munched on snacks we brought and fruit that housekeeping kept leaving us. And that leads us to #2 and #3.
2. Take advantage of free food and drinks
At the Conrad Maldives, there’s a ton of ways to get free food and drinks. These are great ways to tide over any hunger you might have and these are great ways to break up your day. We were pretty religious about going to Vilu everyday and went to Mandhoo 7 out of the 10 days.
If you’re not a Gold or Diamond member:
- Afternoon tea at Mandhoo for tea, cakes and sandwiches between 4PM-5PM
- 1/2 price drinks happy hour between 6PM-7PM
- Every Tuesday there’s a manager’s reception which brings in hotel staff out to chat with guests between 6:45PM-7:30PM . Comes with free wine, cocktails and juices as well as a wide variety of hors d’oeuvres
If you’re Gold/Diamond or staying on the small island:
- Happy hour at Vilu for unlimited alcoholic beverages and one canapé between 5PM-6PM. The cocktails of the day change every day as do the canapés
3. Bring lots snacks
There is no “local supermarket” or anything like that so when you’re at the Conrad, what you bring in is the only outside food you’ll be able have so make sure you stock up your suitcase before coming (though of course be mindful of the luggage weight restrictions). Things like granola bars, chocolates, dried fruits, trailmix, cookies, biscuits and chips are all great ideas. We basically had a grab bag of snacks in our room to help tide us over in the afternoon.
4. Take advantage of free activities
We never got a chance to take advantage of too many of these but there are quite a few things that you could look into doing to. When we first landed we reviewed the entire holiday planner book that they provide and that helped us plan our 10 days.
- Fitness
- Power Walking
- Morning Stretch
- Beach Volleyball
- Intro to Boxercise
- Table Tennis
- Run Rangali
- Live music at Rangali Bar every night
- Maldivian bodu beru show at 10PM on Mondays at Rangali Bar
- Cinema under the stars at 8:15PM on Wednesdays at The Quiet Zone
- DJ nights on Thursday and Saturday at Rangali Bar
- Magic show at 8PM on Sunday at Rangali Bar
5. Get scuba certified before going
If you know you want to do scuba diving, I’d recommend getting yourself certified at home on an earlier trip to a cheaper tropical destination (i.e. Caribbean, Southeast Asia). It would be a big waste of time and money to get yourself Open Water Diver certified at the Conrad Maldives. By certifying somewhere else, you’ll be able to hit the water right away. The awesome part about SubAqua at Conrad Maldives is that the orientation dive, which gets you acquainted with their equipment and as a quick refresher, is free if you end up doing any diving with them. We took the safe route and did a pool refresher in Toronto before heading out but in reality I think we might’ve been fine with just the orientation dive with SubAqua.
6. Splurge on diving and not spas
I’m probably biased here but diving > spas. You can get spa treatment anywhere in the world and some places way cheaper than others but the diving here is one of a kind. The snorkelling at the house reef is incredible but you’ll see a lot more by going on a dhoni boat dive. You’ll be able to go to much lower depths and above all else, see, manta rays which was a magical experience in itself.
7. Cup noodles?
Last but not least, the most controversial of them all, but the question is do you become uber asian and ghetto and bring your own cup noodles? Well for us the answer was “yes” because it was our 2-3 nights of cup noodle dinners that allowed us to then splurge on more expensive dinners at Rangali Bar, Mandhoo and Vilu.
How about you?
If you’ve been to the Conrad Maldives, were your costs similar? What did you think was worth splurging on, vs. saving?
Book now
A once-in-a-lifetime experience in the Maldives thanks to Hilton Honors.
More on the Conrad Maldives
Insider’s Review of the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island
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What about alcohol in the room? Is there an option to buy full bottles of wine/liquor for the room and is it more economical than individual drinks at the bar?
It’s been awhile since we were there but I am pretty sure that you can buy full bottles of wine/liquor for the room. I think it depends on how much you are consuming *wink*. If it’s just a few drinks here and there, it might be better at the bar. Otherwise, you could stock up on bottles and drink throughout your stay which might be worthwhile, as long as you don’t leave anything behind. Of course, the best is at happy hour. Perhaps an idea is to buy as much as you can carry and bring them back to the room?
What about drinking water? Do they have it for free or do you have to buy every single water you gonna drink there?
Hi Laura! Yes, water is going to be charged if you’re eating at a restaurant. We’ve “snuck in” our own water from our rooms at meals or in the case we don’t, we just purchased a drink instead. Hope that helps!
This is a great article! Exactly the topic I was looking for, as we’ll be traveling to the Conrad later this year for our anniversary. It looks like these prices are now 7 (?) years old, but I’m curious how you got dinner down to only $100 total. Most of the other places I’m reading are saying to allow at least $250 for dinner for two. Did you all split one entree? Thanks :)
Tim
Hey Tim! Yes, it’s been a few years since we went and I’m sure the prices have changed since then. For dinner, we definitely got pretty thrifty with our choices. We had many of our meals at Rangali Bar and from what I remember we would splurge on something like lobster for one dish and for the other, we’d order something like a pizza. On top of that we’d split one drink and we’d sneak in our own water. So yes, not exactly the most glamorous dinner but made it work. At Mandhoo, I can’t recall exactly but we might’ve done something similar where we had a nicer entree but balanced it with something a bit more basic on the menu. I hope that helps!
We did a bit more digging into our photos and found a few good examples. For Rangali Bar, we would have something like Maldivian Lobster + Burger + 1 beer for under $100. At Mandhoo, we had seared tuna + risotto + 1 drink for under $100. Where we spent more money was at Vilu and that came out to almost $200.
It looks like they overcharged you by $100. Total Before Tax + T-GST + Bed Tax + Service Charge = 4804.08 not 4904.08. Am I missing a charge somewhere? Anyway, thanks for the review. I can’t wait for my stay at the end of the year!
Good eye!! I’m so jealous. You’re going to have such an amazing time :)
Hello and thanks for sharing all the info. We are heading there in a April 2017 for 6 night and I wonder if you can help to answer a couple of questions:
– My wife does not swim (sadly). I wonder if she can still make the most of the snorkelling at the hotel?
– You upgraded to the water villa for a few nights. Was it worth the upgrade or staying at the beach villa is better.
Thanks in advance!
Hi!
OOh that is very exciting :) April seems like a long time away but it’ll come way faster than you think. I can definitely help answer some of your questions.
1) I think so! What you’ll need to do is get a life jacket at the water sports center and with the the snorkel you get from the dive shop you’ll be able to snorkel the house reef no problem. No need to go to far out because there is a drop off at the back end of the reef but if she’s comfortable floating in water I think she’ll be ok!
2) Both experiences were unique I thought and I am totally glad I did both. The water villa had a bit more of that wow factor being on the water and you had that small infinity jacuzzi/tub + direct walk out into the water. That being said, I can’t say anything bad about the beach villa and actually preferred it in certain situations because it was located closer to the facilities and didn’t require the calling of a golf cart each time we wanted to cross to the main island. For me, it felt like a shame to NOT experience the over water villa if we made it all the way to the Maldives.
Hope that helps!!
Hi! Thanks for all the helpful information. I notice under your room charge you had 9 nights and used only 337,500 Hilton Honor points. That’s only 37,400 points/night. The current redemption is 95,000 points/night and prior to the Hilton point devaluation in 2013, I believe it was 50,000 points/night. Just curious if you can breakdown your point calculation. Thank you!
Hey Trinh,
Yup you’re seeing that right! Pre-deval if you booked multiple days, the cost per night in terms of HHonors points is discounted. 10 nights only cost 375,000. That’s why everyone went gang-busters before devalulation knowing that the good times were about to end. I believe I have a chart in this old and obsolete post: https://goingawesomeplaces.com/maximizing-on-your-hard-earned-hilton-honors-points/. Hope that explains things!
Thanks for all the info! We are headed to the Conrad Maldives for a week in September 2015. This was VERY HELPFUL!
Hey Whitney, I’m glad I was able to help! If you have any more questions do let me know :)
I just booked a 5 night stay at the Conrad Maldives and your trip reports are so thorough, helpful, and awesome. Thank you so much for posting your actual bills so I know exactly how much I’m looking at for dinner at the Rangali bar vs dinner at Vilu, and how much it costs for a one take dive vs a two tank dive vs a night dive.
So many of the reviews I have read before yours simply say it’s “expensive” or it’s “a price you would expect from a resort of this caliber” which are not helpful at all.
We booked 3 of the nights with reward certs from the Citi Hilton Reserve card, the other two at 95k HH points a night, and the flights on miles – otherwise we could have never afforded to book. The cash rates for the Beach Villas while we’re staying are about $2,500 a night so we were worried the prices for food/activities would be similarly outrageous and we might have had to cancel the trip.
But seeing that we could have a nice dinner for less than $100 a night at the Rangali Bar, and that I can get in a 1 tank dive and another 2 tank dive for about $300 means that we don’t really have to worry about it.
Thanks
Also in your rundown above you wrote that your bill for Mandhoo was $1103, did you mean $103, or was it really that expensive? Your bill above that looks like it says $103
Hey Matt, you’re totally welcome! I’m glad I was able to help you! I haven’t had too many comments on my Conrad posts so I wasn’t sure if they were helpful to anyone.
And good eye on the $1103, that was totally supposed to be $103.
If you have any other questions don’t hesitate to give me a shout!
Hi Will,
Then would it be safe to assume your total meal cost for your entire trip was $682.26 and not $1,682.26 as noted above? Thanks!
So we are budget traveller – the less we spend, the longer we get to travel for.
But Maldives is our 10 days splurge end of November and we’re extremely excited for. We’ve booked to stay on Thodoo island paying $59 for the room (ie accomm incl breakfast for two). Since 2009, guesthouses have been allowed to set up shop there making it more affordable!
Noted your tips though – thanks :)
That’s awesome! Next time I head out to the Maldives, I might have to check out one of these guest houses.
Will- I don’t have any. I have SPG and Marriot points. But next week, we are staying in Hilton for 3 days.
Make sure you sign up for this quarter’s promo (https://www.hiltonhhonors.com/hh3_2013?cid=OM,DT,HNGCIII,Offer). These are the type of promotions that helped me amass a lot of points. Enjoy the Hilton!
How did you earn the +300K HHonors points ?
I used to be a consultant and so I traveled a lot for business back then. That and I was very strategic in terms of hotels I stayed at and leveraging the quarterly bonuses that HHonors had. How many do you have right now?