On this page we have collected a number of common questions and answers.
You are so good at asking questions on social media and thank you so much for that.
We think that you, like us, can see the benefit of gathering many of these questions/answers here on this page.
We expect to open the entire hotel in summer 2025. Sign up for our newsletter at the bottom of the website and get notified when we open up for booking stays.
Unfortunately, we don't know the costs of the project yet and therefore can't yet provide reliable and itemised prices. But we will of course update as soon as we have news :-).
The price of the flight ticket depends on how many stopovers you want to accept. The more stopovers, the longer the journey time. We usually fly from Hamburg via Dubai. The Hamburg/Dubai journey typically takes 6-6.5 hours and then on to Malé, which takes about 4 hours. From Malé (airport scene) we take a speedboat to Maafushi and the trip takes about 35-45 minutes.
Initially, the plan was to have 6 floors with 7 rooms per floor. But they ended up building further, which resulted in an additional half a storey. So now we are on 6.5 floors. We will therefore have 2 large family rooms on half of the top floor. The other half will be the rooftop, which is accessible to everyone. In addition, there will be a fitness centre on top (on top of the large family rooms). The plan with the large family rooms is that you can be 2 adults and 4 children.
We will have connecting doors in some of the rooms so that 4-5 people can be together. So you can stay together as a family, which is something we've lacked and often needed during our own family travels. Otherwise, the rooms are for 2-3 people.
The Maldives is warm all year round, but generally December, January and February are the best months weather-wise (we're talking about 1 more hour of sunshine per day). However, we have been there several times a year in both high season and low season and it's beautiful regardless of the time of year. We have experienced rain both in and out of high season. It changes a lot depending on which island you are on.
We have been to the Maldives in the following months: February, March, June, July, August, September, October.
The best months weather-wise are: December, January, February. But of course also the months with the most tourists.
Rainfall is limited due to the size of the island. The rain can be very localised. The heat is still there even when it rains. When it rains you can stay in the warm sea or under a parasol/umbrella. Or maybe you're on an excursion to another island and it's not raining at all.
The average temperature is 26-32 degrees all year round and the water temperature is 28-30 degrees all year round. It's a very pleasant climate.
We certainly do. A mix of nationalities is always good. It helps to create a good balance and dynamics and fits with how we want to run the hotel. In addition, we are committed to having local employees as it is on a local island. However, we only see this as a positive thing. However, we are also looking for other nationalities 🤩
We would also love to have some Danes working at our hotel, both to make it safer and more homely for our guests and to ensure the high level of service we know from home. We also want to give young people a unique experience! And remember, you can be young at heart.
The Maldives is one of the best places we've been when it comes to mosquitoes. We've hardly ever been bitten by mosquitoes and if we have, they've disappeared in no time. However, it is clear that some areas attract mosquitoes more than others. Especially densely wooded areas in relation to. palm trees, plants etc. We haven't used anything special to protect ourselves against mosquitoes, but we always have a mosquito spray in our pocket/bag and in some cases a tiger balm to take the bigger mosquito bites. However, we have never experienced sand flies on the island/beach, which is so nice.
Out of respect for the locals and their culture, on local islands (like Maafushi, where our hotel is located) they prefer that you don't walk around in a bikini when you're not on the bikini beach or on excursions. If you're staying at a resort on a resort island, there are no such rules (maybe in the buffet, depending on the resort - which is understandable)
You don't have to be. On the tour boats they offer life jackets or you can bring your own bathing suit/arm wings for photography. The islands and boat tours are exciting to experience from the boat. In addition, there are some tours where you can go ashore on the islands.
Yes, they are. The boats are checked every day and are of high quality. The captains at Shadowpalm are highly skilled at assessing the weather, waves, etc. If there's rain on the way, Shadowpalm would rather stay on an island for an hour longer than start sailing in uncertain weather.
We actually met them on the beach a few years ago. We talked to them a lot and went on many different trips. Since then, we have built a good friendship with the owners and the team. There are also other tour companies in the Maldives, which we have also used. We have experienced the best quality at Shadowpalm, both in terms of the staff, their pictures, etc. In our eyes, they are clearly the best tour company on Maafushi and that is also one of the reasons why we have partnered with them.
In the Maldives, they speak English and Dhivehi (their local language).
They use both USD, but also their local currency, which is MVR (Maldivian Rupiah).
To get to Maafushi, you take a boat from Malé (depending on whether you're coming from another country or another island in the Maldives, of course). The journey is by speedboat and takes 35-45 minutes from the main island.
Maafushi is 1.2 km long and 300-400 metres wide. (This is without the artificial island). In addition, they have just made a connection to an island right next to it (which is actually an artificial island). Maafushi has about 2,000 inhabitants, so it's not very small and there is plenty of life on the island. However, they are split between the "artificial island" and the current one. On Maafushi, the locals live like this: grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle, mum and dad, siblings, cousins etc. live under the same roof. They live very small and primitive. It may look a bit poor (compared to other contries and resort islands), but most of them don't lack anything.
There are a lot of small restaurants all over the island, some of them close to our hotel. However, we will also have a restaurant and a small bakery in our hotel.
There are also small souvenir shops, supermarkets and a local painter on the island. So there's plenty of opportunities to buy a lot of things and some cool stuff to take home.
When it comes to living on Maafushi as a tourist, prices per person vary depending on where you eat and drink. But approximate prices are: Drinks cost around 2-3 dollars in the supermarkets. Mocktails/shakes cost around 5-8 dollars. Food around 10-20 dollars.
You certainly can! You can pay for a day trip to resorts where you can use their facilities (depending on which resort you go to). You can't get access to the rooms/houses, but you get a good impression of what life on a resort island is like compared to a local island. In addition, it is allowed to drink alcohol on a resort island. You can therefore drink a lot of drinks/beer and then go back to Maafushi (the local island) without any problems, as long as you don't bring alcohol with you.
It's there. Check out our blog post here. The Shadowpalm team are great with kids. The Maldives is for everyone and families with children, the elderly, young people etc. are all welcome.
YES... you can.
There are a lot of different dive centres on the island, including PADI (which most people know) or Maafushi Dive and many others.
Getting a diving licence while on Maafushi is a great idea. There is so much to see under the sea. 🐠 However, it's a good idea to have taken the theory from home (depending on how much time you have on the island).
You should probably set aside around 5 days in total to take both the theoretical and practical parts of the diving licence in the Maldives. In addition, you need to pay special attention to the day you dive in relation to when you have to fly, as there are special safety rules for that.
We recommend 10 nights regardless of the season. That way, you're pretty sure you'll be able to do a lot of excursions. This is typically where you get the cool experiences. You'll also have time for relaxation. Tours may be rescheduled to other days due to the weather, but we believe 10 nights gives you plenty of time for everything, especially when you consider the travel time.
We are working on getting an agreement with a private kindergarten that we visited ourselves at Maafushi. It was a great experience, so we hope to be able to offer this opportunity to you too.
We are regularly asked :
What do you do with your time on Maafushi?
Doesn't being there for more than 7 days give you island fun?
To that we would definitely answer NO 😀. Maafushi is the most beautiful local island with lots of things to do. You also get the chance to relax and slow down. We personally do these things when we are there:
