Wife wants one of these places for her bday in Feb. French Poly is much easier to get to from the West Coast, but supposedly the rainy season that time of year has her worried. I'd say we care most about an awesome place and food/drinks.

I have heard there is no alcohol in Maldives. It looks awesome but I ain't going there if I can't drink on vacation.

AggBock said:

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I have heard there is no alcohol in Maldives. It looks awesome but I ain't going there if I can't drink on vacation.

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The resort islands are allowed to serve alcohol. If you are looking at staying Male or something, then yeah, you are SOL.

We've been to FP twice and have really had a great time. Have looked at Maldives, but like others are saying, FP is much easier to get to. Would bet there are some travel deals out there too especially if you are flexible on dates.

Never been to FP, but we vacationed in Maldives a couple years ago and don't ever expect that trip to be topped. Getting there was an endeavor. We did a 3 night layover in Istanbul to break it up. That helped. I'd say a big thing about Maldives is where you stay. You are pretty much stuck on your resort island, so choose wisely. We did the Conrad and have no complaints. The restaurants truly were 4-5* experiences (and the prices reflect it).

For alcohol, correct, it's illegal in the Maldives but the resorts get a pass. Same for girls wearing bikinis, etc. One thing though, we are big wine drinkers so wanted to take a couple really nice bottles to celebrate our anniversary vs paying resort markups. I'm glad I researched before and we refrained from doing this. When you arrive in Male they randomly select people, x ray your bags, and discard any alcohol, including anything you may have purchased in duty free while en route.

Summer is the time to go to Bora Bora since you are in the southern hemisphere; cooler weather and dry. If you are going in February I would imagine that the Maldives would be the better option. We have been to Bora Bora in June; have not had a chance to make it to the Maldives yet but I hear that February is a great time to go.

I didn't think the flight to the Maldives was bad. We flew Qatar airways and had an 8 hour layover in Qatar. We just got a room in the airport hotel and were ready to go the next morning. The sea plane to the resort island was pretty cool as well. The overwater bungalow was neat, but if I go back I'd do one of the beach rooms. I'd prefer to sit on the beach than a deck and the beach is closer to all the other amenities on the island.

Flew to Maldives on Emirates from the East Coast. Long layover in Dubai. Yes, it's a haul, but it's also a crazy beautiful and unique place.

Resort: One and Only on Reethi Rah -- there's plenty of alcohol outside of Male, and there's zero reason to go into Male anyway. That said, know what is expected of you when traveling to Muslim countries, including the 'cosmopolitan' ones (this includes restrictions on prescriptions, certain religious materials, alcohol, etc.).