Holiday destination ideas to combine with Maldives in Oct

[R33FAL]

We are looking at booking my 40th (age, not actual holiday ) holiday next year. Timing will be two weeks during mid term Oct 2024. We are pretty set on going back to the Maldives again (went for Mrs bday this year for 1st time and we loved it) which will take care of the 1 out of the 2 weeks. Question is what to combine my trip with with the other week.

This year we did Dubai- we dont want to do that again as feel that we have done that to death. Started looking at Sri Lanka but there dont seem to be too many recognizable brand hotels there - found one- Shangri La which looks very nice.

Would the great PH have any suggestions for either Sri Lanka hotels (we like luxury beach, big resorts), or other places in S East Asia to combine our trip with- Singapore? .

I think given Avios redemption availability- we will be flying through Doha which has great connections.

[BoomerPride]

We did Sri Lanka with the Maldives a few years ago. We will do so again in a couple of years and my wife, who does a lot of research, this time fancies KK Beach from the KK Collection. Looks good to me!

[paulmakin]

long time ago i also did Sri Lanka with a side visit to the Maldives. Sri Lanks was mostly touring so no recommendations for accommodation as i stayed in various types at varying levels. i did enjoy the hilltop hotel in kandy, mainly as it overlooked a railway marshalling yard. i did not enjoy too much the huge lizard that we shared a pool with at sigiriya.

would definitely do it again if i got the time (think my trip was 6/52 all in) - would maybe spend a little more time in the maldives as i wasnt diving first time around and would want to do a bit if i returned.

Edited by paulmakin on Friday 1st December 23:17

[fourstardan]

I think I'd prefer just staying in Sri Lanka than the Maldives!

[ClaphamGT3]

I'd be inclined to bin the Maldives altogether and go somewhere actually interesting. As some others have said, Sri Lanka would be a good call

[BoomerPride]

Don't listen to them R33 Be active in Sri Lanka and then flop with cocktails and great food in the Maldives (e.g. Kuramathi). It worked for us. You get to fly in a De Havilland Twin Otter sea plane too.

[R33FAL]

Thanks for the suggestions team PH. I have gone with Singapore instead- a “city break” to combine with the “beach break” in the Maldives. Part of the reason was also the great deal on flights i got…. Business return to singapore on singapore airlines for £2.2k/head (albeit via Frankfurt). Dont recall seeing business class return flights to Asia starting with a 2, so i had to grab it.

As for Sri Lanka, briefly looked into some hotels eg the Shagri-La- hotel looks lovely but its a 3.5 hour drive from Columbo and the google street view looks erm, interesting, as soon as you leave the hotel. I could count around 5 stray dogs in the opening shot.

[redrabbit29]

I'm 40 this year and commenting so I can come back to this. Maldives was a possibility.

I'm torn between a few smaller trips, like

April a week somewhere
July somewhere
October somewhere etc

Or going for something bigger.

Got some ideas around Japan, maybe a cruise, south America.... And Maldives as stated.

[overheels]

Since you're considering some smaller trips as well as one bigger celebration for your 40th, I thought I'd suggest checking out South Korea as one of the potential week-long getaways. Maybe you'd like to check out their tourism stats https://gowithguide.com/blog/south-korea-tourism-s...

It's easy to combine with a trip to the Maldives - lots of direct flight options from Seoul. And there's such variety to explore beyond just the cities like Seoul and Busan. You've got stunning national parks, coastal scenery, amazing food culture and of course K-pop vibes galore.

It's also really convenient to get around by high-speed rail if you want to pack a few destinations into your week. Might be something a bit different than the usual suspects for Europe. Just a thought as you mull over your options!

[Carl_VivaEspana]

redrabbit29 said:

I'm 40 this year and commenting so I can come back to this. Maldives was a possibility.

If I had my time again and it was two weeks, I don't think anywhere else compares to the Rasa Ria - Kota Kinabalu.

One step down in price is the Ramada - Khao Lak, it has a lower number of slap you in the face, never seen that before nature experiences but it is a better balance between idealistic white-sand, beach beauty and nature excursions.

Japan is a dream ticket but you need 3 weeks imho.

Maldives is great if you are a CEO type who 'needs to reconnect with his wife' but its not for me, my missus and me would go nuts at the end of day 2.