5 nights in Maldives

Really gonna depend on what island you stay on and are you doing overwater bungalows? We went twice, but we had an advantage as my wife worked at Anantara at the time so we got overwaters for $250/night. I think those were about $1,250 on average. This was 2011 and 2012. Transfers are pretty damn expensive too. Do you play the points/miles game? There's ways to really reduce some of your out of pocket. Food will also get you of course.

My guess without looking up 2026 prices you should expect to spend $1k-$1.5k/night for overwater and higher if you go for half or full board, which may be a good idea depending on the price they offer you. Otherwise food will cost you at least $200-$300 day before drinks. Transport can easily hit $1k round trip.

I do play the points game, but with the additional food and transfer costs, it seems like booking a package through a travel company might be the best option? I usually do not do that, but I have seen some five night packages for around 5k that include food and transfers. If I use my Hilton or Marriott points, I’m on the hook for the transfer and the food and it seems like that could add up a lot.

Kind of why I was asking. Wanted to see how much I should expect in food/drinks/activities for the 5 nights and if it makes sense to use points or not. I guess I am looking around mid-level. There are so many to choose from. I don’t need the Ritz Carlton/four seasons, but I do want a nice property with a nice overwater villa.

Check with Costco Travel. When we went to St Regis Bora Bora the deal was pretty damn good. My friend that went with us is a points nerd and he said it wasn't worth burning points.

Normally I would agree, but we are combining it with a week in Turkey, and we were able to get Qatar business class Q-suite for 65k points each - so it made the long travel time worth it.