For many (myself included) The Maldives is the ultimate dream destination. Located in the heart of the Indian Ocean, this archipelago is made up of over one thousand islands among the most stunning turquoise water you’ve ever seen!
Because of those remote atolls scattered across the ocean, you can’t just hop on a bus to get where you need to go. That brings you to the final step in your journey – your Maldives seaplane transfer.
In this ultimate guide, I’m sharing everything you need to know about your seaplane transfer including how and when to book tickets, what the pre-boarding and on board experiences are like, and tips for conquering your seaplane ride including my insight on motion sickness on these tiny planes.
Why do you need a seaplane transfer in The Maldives?
Because most resorts in The Maldives are located on one of over a thousand islands, you may need to get there via seaplane. Logistically, they’re all separated my miles of ocean, where the farthest from the capital, Malé, is over 100 miles away!
Naturally, it would take you forever to get there via speedboat, so a seaplane is really the only option. And I know you certainly don’t want to waste time on your vacation just getting to paradise in the first place.
Do you have to take a seaplane?
This truly depends on your final destination. Most resorts in my experience are beyond speedboat range, meaning you do need to take a seaplane.
If you book a hotel near Malé, you may be able to take a speedboat instead. The best course of action is to ask your lodging as they’ll know the best way to get there!
Finally, if you stay on Malé, you can take a taxi or other ground transportation to your lodging and avoid traversing water all together.
Seaplane transfer operators in The Maldives
There are only two operators to choose from – Trans Maldivian Airways (TMA) or Manta Air.
Trans Maldivian Airways provides private transfers to resort islands to and from Malé (Velana International Airport). Chances are, you’ll be booking with them as they’re the largest and most wide spread operator in The Maldives.
You can find a full list of resorts they fly to here.
Manta Air is relatively new and only services four airports – Dhaalu Airport (DDD), Dharavandhoo Airport (DRV), Kempegowda International Airport (BLR), and Velana International Airport (MLE).
When in doubt, your resort will know which operator you should fly with and arrange the transfer for you.
For the purposes of this seaplane guide, I’ll be focusing on Trans Maldivian Airways because they’re the main operator and you’re most likely going to be using them.
When to book tickets
It’s best to book your seaplane transfer a month or more in advance. Luckily, you likely don’t need to worry too much about the details as the only way Trans Maldivian Airways tickets can be arranged is by the partner resorts.
However, it’s good to stay on top of your resort to ensure that it’s being taken care of. I would inquire a month out if you still haven’t been contacted by your hotel.
How much does a seaplane transfer cost in The Maldives?
Ahhh, the heavy hitter question. I’ve detailed all the costs of The Maldives including seaplane transfers, but to be direct, expect to pay $650 per person round trip.
Unfortunately, there’s no way around this cost. You can’t redeem miles with Trans Maldivian Airways (or Manta Air). The only way to offset the cost using travel hacking would be to pay it off via a statement credit using points, which may or may not be available with whatever card you use.
How to book your Maldives seaplane transfer
Like I mentioned above, for a resort transfer, your resort will take care of it for you.
However, there are a couple other types of flights that you can arrange yourself if you’re interested.
First, you can hire a private charter. Still, you’ll do this through your resort and they’ll arrange it for you. It will obviously be more expensive, but if you’re going all out, this can be an extra special way to see The Maldives from the air.
Second, they have photo flights available that you book direct with their sales team.
Finally, they have Fares for Individual Travellers rates (FIT) for walk-in customers and are based on availability. As a self-proclaimed hyper-planner, I personally wouldn’t bank on walk-in availability. And honestly, I don’t know that your resort will allow it.
We stayed at the Conrad Maldives and they asked for our flights to and from MLE, then booked the seaplane transfer for us.
It’s important to note that the flights don’t operate 24 hours a day, so if you have an early morning flight, you’ll need to arrange your seaplane accordingly to be sure you’re in Malé with enough time to check in. Again, your resort will likely be on top of all of those details.
Pre-boarding experience
Once you touch down in The Maldives, you first need to go through passport control and health screenings, if necessary. You’ll need to get a no-cost visitor visa upon arrival (it’s super easy and you don’t need to worry about it ahead of time).
You’ll collect your bags and get swept away for your seaplane experience.
When you leave baggage claim, there will be lots of drivers and concierges representing each resort, so look for a sign with your name.
This person will help you drop off your bags with Trans Maldivian Airways and pick up your boarding passes.
Then, you’ll be ushered to the seaplane terminal, which has its own gates and many, many lounges for each resort. It honestly looks like a hotel building with how many floors and individual rooms there are.
You’ll wait in your resort’s lounge, square away any payment that you owe, and once it’s time to board, you’ll be escorted to your gate.
Honestly, this whole process runs like a well-oiled machine. You don’t have to worry about much, if anything. And the fact that I’m saying that as a Type A planner who likes to know everything means a lot.
At your gate, you’ll wait with the others who will be on your seaplane until it’s time to board. At this point, there isn’t much signage or anything indicating that the seaplane you’ll board is going to your specific resort.
Listen to the gate agents who will call it out, just for your peace of mind. Again, everyone guiding where you need to go has it handled, but it’s nice to have the verbal confirmation.
When the seaplane and crew are ready, you’ll be guided to the seaplane, which sits on the water. It can be a bit bumpy to get on, but there are lots of hands to hold (literally).
On board experience
Once on board, they’ll usually tell you where to sit, since they know how many people and what size groups are aboard. If you want a window seat, it’s honestly luck of the draw in my experience.
We were sat along the left side one in front of the other in single seats along the windows. On the return flight, we were separated and filled the only two empty seats — I was in the front right aisle and he was in the back right aisle, and switched to the back left window for a mother who needed to change her baby’s diaper (yeah, I married a good one).
You’ll spend some time on board floating on the water until it’s time to fly. Then, you’ll be propelled along the water, like a boat, until take off, which strangely feels just like a regular take off if not a big more choppy depending on weather.
In the air, it’s a bare bones experience. No entertainment or AC or any luxuries, but the rides are usually 30 minutes or less, so look out your window at paradise, will ya?
They do have small fans at the front of the seating area that they may or may not turn on during the flight. They can’t turn them on until the plane’s engines are on, so if you’re floating on the water loading or unloading the plane and the engine is cut, there’s no air flow. Come prepared to be hot.
As far as the ride and arrival goes, you’ll likely be on a seaplane with people going to other resorts. That means the seaplane may land and take off a couple times before you get to your resort. As someone who gets sensitive to changing pressures due to altitude, I was a little worried about this, but I actually had no problems at all!
Soon enough, you’ll be at your resort. You’ll deplane and they’ll handle your bags. Make sure you have eyes on all of them before the plane departs. For us, they piled ours together and our resort’s concierge double checked that we had everything.
How long are seaplane transfers in The Maldives?
It only takes 10 – 30 minutes to fly between islands to the resorts depending on how far they are from each other. The farthest island from Malé is only 100 miles away, so it’s a relatively quick flight!
Like I mentioned in the On Board Experience section, you may be dropping off passengers at a number of resorts before yours, so expect to be on board for around an hour total.
How big are seaplanes in the Maldives?
They only seat 15 passengers plus 2-3 crew including 2 pilots and 1 crew member who sits in the back and assists with the passenger door and docking when landing.
Can you get sea sick or motion sick on seaplanes?
Yes, but maybe not during the part you think.
I am prone to motion sickness in vehicles and sometimes planes, but not sea sickness.
However, in the seaplane, I found that I was feeling more motion sick on the water rather than in the air. I expected the opposite. I ended up taking anti-nausea medication before we even took off.
If you are prone to seasickness, I recommend coming prepared as you don’t really know how long you’ll be on the water caught in that rocking and swaying motion.
Is turbulence worse on small seaplanes than on large aircrafts?
Theoretically, it is. However, in my experience it was comparable if not better. We flew in rainy/windy weather both times (there and back again…a Hobbit’s tale), and there was absolutely no turbulence and certainly nothing worse than what I’ve experienced on regular commercial flights.
However, smaller planes should feel the impact of wind and bad weather conditions more so than heavier, larger planes. Again, I recommend coming prepared for the worst just in case.
In my experience as well, if the weather really is too terrible to fly, they’ll land at the nearest resort and wait it out.
What to bring on your seaplane transfer
You don’t need to bring much with you on the seaplane, but there are a few essentials that can certainly make your plane ride more pleasant.
And, I found it’s best to have a little pouch that you can pull out of your backpack or suitcase to carry onto the plane with you to your seat. This is because larger bags will get put in the back of the plane in a Tetris-style pile. Meaning, you won’t have access to your bags for the duration of the flight.
- Earplugs (or I like these reusable Loop earplugs)
- Sea Bands for motion sickness
- Personal fan
- Cool towel
- Water bottle
- Camera or phone
Tips for your Maldives seaplane ride
1. It’s loud
You’re that much closer to the engine and propellers, and your pilots may even fly with windows open, so it’s best to come with earplugs as it can get extremely loud!
2. Know your limits
If you’re prone to seasickness or motion sickness, pack accordingly.
3. Have the essentials on hand
I mean literally, make sure the essentials you want to bring are in your hand, not your bag. There’s no room on the plane for bags at your seat, so use your pockets or hold a small pouch of your necessities.
4. Prepare for heat
It can get super hot in the seaplane because there’s not great airflow and there’s only two small fans at the front of the plane.
I like cool towels and fans to help combat the heat because it can be tough. Luckily, the flight is short, so you won’t have to endure it for long!
5. Don’t forget to look out the window
You’ll get some of the most incredible views of The Maldives from the plane windows. Even if you aren’t sitting at a window, be sure to peer across the other passengers to get a glimpse. It’s truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience to see the crystal clear turquoise waters from up here!
My not-so-fun seaplane experience in The Maldives
Before I sign off, I wanted to quickly share the not-so-fun experience I had on a seaplane in The Maldives, just to share a “worse case scenario.” And before I dive in, this really wasn’t that bad at all. Were we uncomfortable? Yes. But, were we safe? Also, yes! And safety is, of course, the priority!
On our return flight, my husband and I were the last ones on the full plane so we got sat apart from each other on opposite ends of the plane. And yes, it only seats 15 people, but you still can’t get to people four rows back.
We took off for Malé but hit some nasty weather. Turns out the Malé airport was closed to all incoming flights while they waited for the weather to clear up as it was unsafe to approach or land.
We stayed in the air for about 15 minutes extra, but the pilots decided to conserve their fuel, it was best to land. We did so at the closest resort with a few other nearby planes who were also unable to go to Malé.
They cut the engines while we bobbed on the water at the dock. That’s when things got unpleasant. Like I mentioned in this post previously, when the engines are cut, so is anything powered by the engines…aka the two measly fans we were clinging onto for dear life.
It got hot. And I mean sweating in every crevice, inching your way away from everyone to get one millimeter of breathing room, and the most stagnant air. We were stuck like this for 20 minutes. Again, not a tragedy. We were safe, but dang were we uncomfortable.
It was at this point that the baby in the back needed their diaper changed. Yepp, add in the smell of poop. A bundle of joy…so they say.
The other concern at this point was that we were running out of time to check into our flight. We were still in the hands of our resort’s concierge and they were godsends once we arrived in Malé. And yes, we did arrive after a 45 minute delay, but it was a shlep…a very hot, sweaty shlep.
(Nothing like sweating to your underwear right before a 9 hour flight back to Istanbul International Airport without time to shower in a lounge).
Luckily, our concierge got us to the front of the lines to make our flight on time and the rest is now a funny story to tell.
All this to say, seaplanes can be glamorous with gorgeous views, but they can also be little boxes of trapped exhaled hot air. So, come prepared for both experiences! No matter what you end up with, you’ll be in paradise either way, so it’s worth it!
Check out these other Maldives resources:
- How much it costs to visit The Maldives
- The best 5 star luxury resort in The Maldives
- Ultimate guide to swimming with manta rays
- Travel guide to The Maldives
My Travel Essentials
- Travel Insurance – Going on an international trip? Don’t forget travel and medical insurance with SafetyWing.
- Travel Card – If you’re new to travel hacking, fear not! My favorite card for beginners gives you $750 in rewards when you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months, plus lounge access, 10x points on hotel bookings, and free TSA pre-check!
- Get Your Guide – Check out Get Your Guide for a one-stop-shop for booking travel activities.
- Booking.com – This is my favorite hotel search aggregator, specifically for reading reviews. On Booking.com, the reviews can be searched for keywords like WiFi, breakfast, pool, amenities, etc.! So helpful!
- Anti-pickpocket bag – Worried about having your valuables swiped? PacSafe makes the best travel bags with zippers and straps that lock and with mesh steel enforced fabric.
- Give the Gift of Travel – This is the perfect gift for travelers in your life! Tinggly allows you to gift experiences around the world, perfect for birthdays, weddings, or anniversaries.
- Staycation Idea – Check out Resort Pass, which gives you day passes to resorts so you can use their pool, spa, and fitness center, a great staycation idea!
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