Insurance for Maldives is just as essential as sunscreen and a swimsuit. In this article, you’ll learn about both standard and comprehensive travel insurance, who needs it, why, where to buy it, and how much it costs. This is a crucial topic, but unfortunately, many tourists often forget or think that it doesn’t apply to them and travel without insurance.
It will be difficult for you to plan your dream trip to Maldives without these websites
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A heartfelt plea!
This issue is close to my heart, as I often receive messages from travelers with such questions:
- “I cut my leg on coral on the beach. Where can I go to see a doctor without spending too much?”
- I got sunburned to blisters, and my temperature has risen to 40 degrees. Where can I get help without insurance?
- “I need to go to the hospital urgently, but it’s in Malé, the capital, and the boat ride costs $500. What should I do?”
I don’t understand why people travel without insurance. Saving $30 will not make any difference to your travel budget.
Important:
Insurance won’t make your trip safer, but it will definitely help you sleep more peacefully. In case of an emergency, one insurance claim will pay for the cost of travel insurance for all of your trips for the rest of your life.
In India, our friend fell off a scooter and broke his collarbone. The operation and hospital stay for three days cost him $2,500, all paid for by insurance. In Singapore, my wife and I got dengue fever. The disease is not fatal, and today it is easily diagnosed and treated. But the bill for each of us was over $4,000, all covered by insurance. And I have many more stories like this from Mauritius and Malaysia.
- I honestly don’t understand tourists who travel without insurance. Remember: fools learn from their mistakes, and the wise learn from the mistakes of others.
The Maldives is not a budget resort – prices here for some services and goods can be steep. And medicine is no exception. Additional expenses come with the peculiarities of the region, where hospitals are not on every island, and sometimes just getting to them can cost $500-1000 from remote atolls.
All about prices in the Maldives for tourists.
Insurance for Maldives: general points
Here’s a summary of the general points to know about insurance for Maldives:
- For entry into the Maldives, insurance is a mandatory document, just like a passport. While it’s often not checked, it may be requested. To enter the country, insurance must cover treatment for Covid-19.
- To be fair, almost all insurance policies today include such coverage, even the cheapest ones.
- There are two types of insurance policies available: standard tourist insurance and comprehensive insurance. Again, it’s up to you to decide which one to get when traveling to the Maldives. You can enter the country with either one
- Standard insurance is usually already included in any package tour.
- However, comprehensive insurance must be purchased separately.
- If you’re traveling to local islands and planning your trip entirely on your own, you’ll have to choose between standard or comprehensive insurance.
- If you haven’t purchased a tour yet, I recommend reading an article about tour packages to the Maldives and what tourists need to know. It contains many tips that can help you save both time and money..
Good to know:
There are no snakes or dangerous predators on the islands in the Maldives, and there are hardly any exotic diseases to worry about, except for a couple of malaria cases per year. However, the underwater world is quite dangerous, with sharks, corals, rays, and sea urchins. Being on the equator means there is intense sun and an extremely high UV index.
Here are two useful articles on the topic:
- Seasons and Weather in the Maldives: Why You Should Fear the Sun?
- Underwater world in the Maldives: Everything About Sharks, Mantas, Stingrays, Turtles, and More.
Also, the Maldives is in a different time zone, so while the time difference with Istanbul or UAE is only 2 hours, it can be 5 or 6 hours for tourists from Europe. This means that you and your child may experience jet lag, which for some can be quite difficult, sometimes requiring a doctor’s visit, and therefore, travel insurance for the Maldives can come in handy in the first 2 days.
Learn about jet lag and time in the Maldives, as well as how locals perceive it, in this article.
What is the difference between standard insurance and comprehensive insurance?
Below I will briefly outline the differences between a standard insurance policy and an comprehensive one. If these differences are not critical to you, then feel free to purchase the standard policy as it is always cheaper. Not by much, but still cheaper.
In the table below, I will only list the cases that are not covered by the standard insurance policy in the Maldives, but for which you will receive full compensation if you have an comprehensive insurance policy.
| Insurance case | Standard insurance | Comprehensive insurance |
| Sunburn | insured event only for children under 14 years old | + (for all ages) |
| Water activities | – | + |
| Complications of ongoing pregnancy | – | + |
| Flight delay/cancellation and lost luggage | – | + |
| Active and extreme recreation | – | + |
| Injuries while intoxicated | – | +* |
| Exotic diseases (malaria) | – | + |
Insurance for Maldives: where to buy, how much it costs
It’s simple: you can buy insurance for the Maldives anywhere:
- at your favorite travel agency
- in any insurance company, you can definitely buy a standard insurance policy
- you can search on Google/Yandex, which will give you a hundred companies that sell travel insurance
As a tech-savvy person, I prefer the internet because it’s convenient. You don’t need to go anywhere, and you can buy insurance for Maldives right at the airport, and the insurance policy will be sent to your email.
The most important thing is to do it before you depart because all insurance policies purchased abroad only start working on the 6th day after purchase. But if you buy it when you are still at home in your country, it will start working as soon as you board the plane.
How much does insurance for Maldives cost:
The prices I’m providing are approximate so that you can understand the order of magnitude, as there is a big difference in this field. Much depends on the assistance company, what is included in the insurance policy, and so on. A standard insurance policy for two weeks will cost about $10-20 per person. An comprehensive policy will cost $30-40 and higher.
Additionally, I would like to recommend a highly reputable player in the travel insurance market. They have a unique and excellent feature, so choose what suits you best. I have personally tested and verified them.
Most importantly, this insurance company specializes exclusively in travel insurance, without any other forms of insurance such as real estate or auto insurance.
- EKTA – the world leader in travel insurance and offer three packages: START, GOLD, and MAX+ (I recommend the latter two). They also have another unique feature. In the GOLD and MAX+ packages, in the event of any injury or occurrence of a covered event, they will not test for alcohol :).
It is important to know:
Note that worldwide insurance (even the comprehensive coverage) will not work if the insured event occurred while under the influence of alcohol.
If you’re interested in reading about this unique phenomenon – bioluminescent plankton, you can follow the link.
Now, with EKTA, if you purchase the appropriate package, they don’t test for alcohol. Although there are some difficulties with alcohol in the Maldives, tourists bring it here, and if you want to stay sober, you won’t be left without options. You can find information about alcohol in the Maldives, including prices, how to bring it in, and where to buy it, at the following link.
Travel tips
And now, here are some important tips about insurance for Maldives:
- Every tourist must have insurance. It is a mandatory requirement to enter the country.
- Which insurance to buy, standard for $20 or extended for $40, is entirely up to you.
- If you are traveling with a child, you should choose the most comprehensive insurance available, as you never know what might happen.
- If you are planning to drink alcohol and enjoy active leisure activities such as diving, snorkeling, feeding sharks, or swimming with stingrays, it is recommended to purchase the MAX+ package from EKTA.
In conclusion, insurance for Maldives is mandatory for every tourist. Do not even think about forgetting it or waving it off with the words “I’ll be fine.” You might step on a stonefish, which is found on almost any beach in the Maldives, and end up more bedridden than standing. While insurance cannot prevent this from happening, it can at least cover the cost of medical treatment, which is about $500.
If you enjoyed the article and the content in this guide, you can buy me a coffee ^_^
Resources to help you plan your dream trip to the Maldives
- Flight tickets and the best deals
- Tour packages (from budget to luxury): Expedia
- Hotels and guesthouses on any island:
- 12go is the largest Asian transfer service. It gathers all Maldivian carriers, even the small ones that operate between local islands.
- Tours and excursions: Viator – a limited selection of excursions, but convenient and reliable.
- Comprehensive insurance: EKTA
- eSIM at the same price as in telecom office in Male.