Travel Expeditions

Experience the Maldives – Part 4:

Every person who is visiting the Maldives who have not been to Dubai and their flight is via Dubai, must do a stop-over in this City. This is what makes your Maldives experience complete – experiencing two destinations in one trip.

Dubai is one of the 7 Emirates of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The City is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula.

Today Dubai is a global cosmopolitan city rich in history, heritage and culture, and offers the best beach, city, and desert experiences. Tourism plays a major role and the majority of tourists visit the Dubai for shopping - also known as the "Shopping Capital of the Middle East". Dubai is also very popular to experience other ancient and modern attractions and is well known for its "Souks Districts".

As from 2007, Dubai was the 8th most visited city in the world.

It is a great idea to experience Dubai as a second destination when flying via Dubai to your main destination - i.e. the Maldives.
This is exactly what we have done.

Our flight from the Maldives to Dubai was only 4 hours. Upon our arrival we obtained our visas, went for the eye scan and through customs. We were then transferred to our hotel by a luxurious private car through a concrete jungle of the most modern and interesting skyscraper jungle. Each building looks different, but maintains a modern and sophisticated image. We have chosen to stay in the new part of Dubai in the Holiday Inn Al Barsha. This gave us easy access to the tourist attractions in the new part of Dubai like the Burj Al Arab, Atlantis - The Palm, The Mall of the Emirates, Burj al Arab etc.

Our hotel was great. This hotel is really a 4* hotel which has a 5* feel to it and we really liked the location. Check-in was quick and efficient. As we only stayed in Dubai for two nights, we had quite a lot to do in this little time span. We decided to rest out a bit and take the city by storm that later afternoon.

We stopped for sundowners at a beach pub-restaurant in the Dubai Marina area, after which we enjoyed a sumptuous meal at a great Lebanese Restaurant! The following day we had booked a city sightseeing tour. The tour was really great to see all the most popular tourist attractions close-up.

Later that afternoon, we had booked the excursion which was the highlight of our whole Dubai experience – a Dune Dinner Desert Safari. This experience totally exceeded our expectations. More on our experience hre in the next blog!

For more information on these spectacular islands in the Maldives, visit Travel Expeditions.

Experience the Maldives – Part 3:

Arriving at the airport, we had to catch our speedboat transfer to Club Med Kani resort. The reason for taking a speedboat to Kani, is that the resort is not located that far from the airport (25 minutes by speedboat) and therefore it is much more cost effective to travel by speedboat.

Tis is quite a different experience in comparison to the sea plane transfer to our previous resort. On the speedboat, you are able to view all the islands you pass by from the side, giving you a much different image of each island.

Approaching Kani was quite exciting as the water around this stunning island is indescribable beautiful – the brightest turquoise colour I have ever seen in water. This with the pretty water villas stretched into the ocean is a remarkable sight and got everyone instantly excited.

When we had disembarked onto the jetty, we had to stop to capture this view on camera.

We were then once again accompanied by the GO’s, as they are called here, towards reception where we once again received welcome drinks and a briefing on the island. We were then shown to our room, which was located on one of the prettiest and quieter parts of the island.

We had stayed in a Club Room, which is usually classified as a garden view room, but to our surprise, while the rooms are situated about 50meters from the beachfront and behind the palms, these rooms are mostly sea-facing and you can clearly see the ocean from your room beyond the beautiful palm fringed beach.

Kani is a much smaller island than Sun Island and we therefore could easily walk to any part of the island in a very short amount of time (no bicycles needed). We were again eager to explore and immediately took ourselves on a familiarization tour around the island.

While the Club Rooms are the entry level rooms and generally much more affordable than the Deluxe Rooms (beachfront) and more so, than the water villas, we really felt it was a great choice at the end of the day. The Deluxe Rooms really have a great location, but for the extra amount you pay, the club rooms are just fine. The Deluxe Rooms are located about 20 meters from the beachfront and has a bath extra, but we felt the beach on this side of the island is not as pretty as the other side where we stayed. There are however also some club rooms located on this side, therefore it is important to request the best part of the island upon booking. If you want an experience of a lifetime, you have to go for the water villas. They are truly luxurious and you are just a few steps away from the stairs leading into the crystal clear lagoon.

A rough estimate in size: The Island is about 400 meters in length and about 100 meters in width. The reception area, together with the swimming pool, beach bar, and two restaurants are all within meters from each other, making it very easy to move around between each.

What makes Kani great, is that it is an All Inclusive resort. This means that all meals and unlimited local drinks are free of charge during your stay. It also means that you can make use of all the sports and leisure facilities the resort has on offer, from free snorkelling trips to the reef, to wind-surfing, hobiecat and much more.

We went on a snorkelling trip one afternoon and were lucky enough to view some dolphins about 20 meters from our snorkelling boat. This was amazing to see. Marine life is also in abundance with a vast variety of interesting fish and sea life to see.

The beach is immaculate, powder white sand; palm fringed and offers a clear lagoon to swim in. Relax on a private beach, or just chill out at the beach bar, drinking sundowners’ cocktails while watching the most magnificent sunsets you have ever seen.

We have thoroughly enjoyed lazing around on the stunning beaches of this island all day long, but also tried out different spots for swimming and a few water sport activities. The Lagoon by the water villas is really stunning to have a swim. We enjoyed relaxing drinks at the beach bar and also had a few swims in the pool, which offers great views over the ocean.

While a totally different island than Sun Island and a much different experience, we still felt that for a really exciting time in the Maldives, especially on an all inclusive meal basis at a very affordable price, Kani might just be the best choice for an expensive destination like the Maldives, and won’t leave you disappointed.

On the morning of our departure, we were given an early breakfast just before returning to the airport by speedboat for our onward journey to Dubai! Our experience here will be looked at in detail in the next blog.

For more information on these spectacular islands in the Maldives, visit Travel Expeditions.