Bibee maldives: Beautiful Island stay on a budget

by - 4/02/2023

 



We have always believed that travelling is incomplete unless lived like the locals. You need to walk on foot (and not just zoom in a cab), take the public transport, eat at a humble, local place and of course interact with the locals. So while whooshing off to a remote island in an all inclusive property may sound extremely enticing, it is ideal only during honeymoon. Or at least for adventurous explorers like us. So when we planned our vacation to Maldives (with our infant and a toddler), we wanted to ditch that luxury resort in a remote island experience and embrace the local tropical life of either Maafushi or Dhiffushi island.


Maldives has more than 7000 islands but mainly these three local islands offer the true live like local experience to the tourists: Maafushi, Dhiffushi and Thulusodoo. These are really tiny islands but have a bunch of cute hotel and restaurant options. After a lot of deliberation, we decided to go to Dhiffushi island and booked our stay in Bibee Maldives. We were really anxious what the trip had for us given were travelling for the first time with these two small people.

Dhiffushi is a very tiny island (I mean we used to walk along the entire perimeter twice a day). However on reaching there, we learnt that Bibee had all the rooms filled up (strange since we had paid in advance). So the owners of Bibee took us to the sister property which was just behind Bibee. It was a mammoth blessing in disguise because there was no one else there! We practically had the entire villa to ourselves!

The most interesting feature that we noticed upon entering our villa was that Maldivians don't build floors in the reception and surrounding areas. It's silver sand everywhere...How freaking amazing! Also there is a tap at the entrance to wash your feet with stone steps leading. That was a blessing for a neat freak like me.

The villa had about 6 rooms and we got the family room which had a bunk bed. The reception table was a big wooden boat ( Dhoni in their language) and since there was no one, not even the staff, it was all for our toddler's play and my photoshoot!

There was a kitchen too, where we could whip up knick knacks (I always leave the house with a full kitchen when I am travelling the littles) and it was a big help. The floor was of course, of sand!

Our room had wooden flooring and had an open shower. The coastal vibes of the villas were too calming. There was a hammock and those rattan like string chairs which were all over the island. On exploring a bit only we realised that these rattan chairs and string swings (not exactly hammock) were an integral part of the Maldivian culture. My husband jokingly justified saying that in a place where it rains almost all the time, how can you expect the people commit to upholstery?😀

As I wrote in my previous post our experience in the luxury resort; I somehow feel that staying in Bibee was the most authentic Maldivian experience we had.

This post is a part of #BlogchatterA2Z 2023 

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3 comments

  1. 7000 islands! That is indeed a huge number! I would definitely like to visit the place. Names are also quaint! The resort and the villa sound perfect. And no floors in the reception and just sand! Like the idea of that.

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  2. Said aptly, when you travel travel low key and mainly interact with locals. That is what I prefer being a travel blogger

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  3. That resort sounds totally worth staying at. I wish to visit Maldives soon and I'm sure this post will be helpful whenever I do

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