It certainly looks like a "must do"- it must have been magical!

Makes me want to go.......NOW!
Kath HT Admin

Off to the Maldives, Biyadoo island in six weeks today!

Ill post som photos when i get back as long as i learn how.

the more photos the better!

Hi all,

My dad has asked me to bring back some tobacca from the maldives but i was wondering if they sell this in the duty free over there as its a muslim country. What sort of things can i expect to find in the duty free?

Having come back last night I can give you a current price update from Male airport.

the duty free area is currently being refurbished so the alcohol and tobacco shop is quite small at the moment. I got 400 superkings for my Mum and they were $34 (some other brands were $35). Sorry - I didn't see the price of rolling tobacco if that's what you wanted (maybe though because they didn't have it - i can't remember seeing it at all!).

The prices were very good on the plane as well - cheaper than Duty free at gatwick - again 400 cigerettes were £24.

Thanks for that cynical that brilliant.

Tobacco or fags is fine as my brother keeps asking my dad for money for cigarettes and its costing him a fortune.

Did you have a nice time?

had a great time thanks - weather was scorching. Temps between 35 and 42 degrees daily. Didn't drop below about 28 at night either.

You got any nice pictures then cynical? I would love to see them.

Didn't take any this time as this was our 3rd time back to the same resort no point in taking another picture of the same beautiful beach - my underwater ones will be back tomorrow so i'll see if any of those come out ok.

Is there a right and wrong way of doing it. Have clicked on the add photos bit in the drop down menu, but nothing happens. Can anyone help?

Allmen is so much better at explaining this! Have a look here for instructions from him.

hi there,
i am looking to book my honeymoon to the maldives for july 2007 but i am concerned about the weather, some people seem to have been in july and the weather was great but other people say its torrential rain every day in july!
has anyone ever been in july??

Until someone who has been then answered you- I would say you are taking a huge gamble. It is the rainy season- you may be lucky but on the other hand, it may rain every day. Have a look here for weather discussions.

Thanks for the info Fiona. Some photos now added.

Hi Everyone,

Am looking to book a holiday in the Maldives,once in a lifetime hol iday,it is for me my husband and 12yr old son but really don't have a clue where to start.
What time of year is it better to go? It will have to be in school hols as my son changes to secondary school this Sept so no chance of being able to take him out,also can anyone recommend a good AI hotel?

Any help appreciated

Thanks
Doreen

some stunning ones there! I love this one.

We flew out for two weeks last summer - July 24th onwards.

To be honest the weather the first week was worse than we had anticipated - had heard stories of short sharp showers, but actually got 2 days out of 7 with a CONSIDERABLE amount of rain (continuous for HOURS at a stretch, & virtually all day on the Thursday) - and, although it was still warm, no break in the cloud cover whatsoever. Most other days the first week we had rain in varying degrees - and the seas were fairly rough at times too - on the really bad two days, most if not all of the trips were cancelled, diving got shelved as well as it was too rough for the Dhonis.It was even too choppy for comfortable snorkelling as the wind picked up with the rain, which was almost horizontal at times, tennis courts were flooded for 3 days and the paths were very puddly.It was quite noisy overnight in the villa too as it had a metal roof and the rain was literally pinging off it - bit like being in a car in a hailstorm!!

The second week we were luckier and had rain like we had expected - heavy showers of no more than an hour followed by bright sunshine - but we have since spoke to folk who overlapped us and they enjoyed their first week (same weather as ours) but had a similar experience on their second week to our first (in fact they couldn't get back to Male by seaplane as the weather was too bad, so had a long boat transfer instead)

We have some longterm friends in the Maldives who say that there have been some changes to the weather and that in the last 2 years they have had much more prolonged bad weather in June/July than they previously experienced - global warming or just another weather blip ??????????

As for time - I'd try Easter as opposed to the Summer holidays . The "dry" monsoon is over our winter so April is a great time to go. We went in the summer hols last year with our children and had worse weather than we had hoped for - certainly preferred previous Maldivian hols in Nov and Feb (obviously the difficulty there is fitting in a long-haul holiday in a half-term break, it's a long way to go for a week!!)