Natasha Whitley has saved a huge amount compared to the costs people expect to pay
Natasha Whitley on her budget holiday to the Maldives(Image: Natasha Whitley/SWNS)
A budget traveller who has been to the Maldives four times has revealed how she spent less than £350 on one trip.
Natasha Whitley, 30, first travelled to the country in April 2024 with friend Kara, 26, for five days and tried out two islands – Thulusdhoo and Dhiffushi. Staying in cheap accommodation costing just £60 per night and a local ferry costing them just £1 to get from the airport, Natasha “loved it”.
Since then Natasha started her own business for solo travellers, Say Yes Adventures, and returned to the Maldives a further three times as part of group trips. Her most recent visit in February 2026 saw her travel solo on a new island – Fulidhoo – for three nights.
She flew from Gatwick Airport with her flights costing £800 – but it cost just £2.50 for the three-and-a-half-hour ferry trip from Malé to Fulidhoo. She stayed at a hotel costing £260 for three nights, she explored the local island and tried out local food like Maldivian fish curry while there. After paying £29 for a speedboat back from Malé, she continued on to stay at an all-inclusive resort called Niva Kuramathi Maldives – which she says was “not affordable at all but interesting to see the contrast”.
Love of travel
Natasha, a content creator from Bournemouth, Dorset, said: “I’ve always loved travel and I was lucky my parents were interested in travel. They met while travelling in the 80s, so it’s always been a part of my life and story.
“I’m a pharmacist and I worked for four years and took a career break, which was meant to be eight months – it was a big round-the-world trip to Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and Central America all on a budget.
“I quit my pharmacy job for a content creation summer job. I met my friend Kara the following year and put the feels out there to see if she wanted to come to the Maldives with me.
“There’s not much online about the Maldives on a budget – people know it as somewhere super expensive and a honeymoon destination. In terms of budget I think we said we’d spend around £100 per day on accommodation and activities.
“We spent less than that and spent £420 over the five or six days. You see all the resorts across from you on the local islands, which is crazy because people are paying thousands and you’re spending a fraction of the price in the same waters. Staying on local islands has saved me a lot of money.”
2026 trip
In February 2026, Natasha headed out on her fourth trip to Fulidhoo.
She said: “In the Maldives my favourite food is the Maldivian fish curry, which is usually five dollars. From that island you can do snorkelling trips and watch wild stringrays and nurse sharks from the jetty at night.
“You can snorkel off the beach as well. If you’re nervous about solo travelling just start small, don’t think big because a big six-month trip can be quite overwhelming. The best way to start is to join a group trip because you travel solo, but as soon as you arrive you’re in a group of people, so you get a bit of both”.
In total, Natasha has spent more than 100 nights in the Maldives over the last two years, which would have cost her more than £45,000. You can follow Natasha’s adventures on @travelsbytash and find out more about her group travel company Say Yes Adventures at sayyesadventures.com.
Costs for Natasha’s trip to Fulidhoo
Accommodation: £261 for 3 nights, including breakfast
Transport: £2.50 for local ferry, £30 for speedboat
Food: £7 to £10 per meal
Total cost: £344.50
Example costs for a trip to a resort
Accommodation: £2,482 for 3 nights in an overwater bungalow with private pool and full-board
Transport: £127 return speedboat from Malé
Food: £47, including shrimp pad-Thai at à-la-carte restaurant
Activities: £91, snorkelling with manta rays
Total cost: £2,747