Trip report: Maldives via Mumbai redemption and Destination2

[BBbetter]

HertsCanuck wrote:

masaccio wrote:

Erico1875 wrote:

Destination2 seem to come up as cheapest option for lots of ME destinations too.

Do you need a visa if simply transit via Mumbai?

https://www.visa-india-online.org/complete-guide-to-indian-transit-visa

We are going to be transiting Mumbai on the way home on our Maldives / Sri Lanka trip. I have been looking for how to apply for a transit visa as we need to collect our bags in Mumbai and then check-in for our BA reward flight to LHR. Nothing conclusive on this, everything I see tells me I need to go to an Indian embassy/consolute/high-commission for a transit visa and I cant do the whole process online. The website above also appears to be dead.
thanks.

That’s not a transit. Transit implies not leaving airside. This requires clearing immigration as masaccio suggests above.

[HertsCanuck]

BBbetter wrote:

HertsCanuck wrote:

masaccio wrote:

Erico1875 wrote:

Destination2 seem to come up as cheapest option for lots of ME destinations too.

Do you need a visa if simply transit via Mumbai?

https://www.visa-india-online.org/complete-guide-to-indian-transit-visa

We are going to be transiting Mumbai on the way home on our Maldives / Sri Lanka trip. I have been looking for how to apply for a transit visa as we need to collect our bags in Mumbai and then check-in for our BA reward flight to LHR. Nothing conclusive on this, everything I see tells me I need to go to an Indian embassy/consolute/high-commission for a transit visa and I cant do the whole process online. The website above also appears to be dead.
thanks.

That’s not a transit. Transit implies not leaving airside. This requires clearing immigration as masaccio suggests above.

India offers a transit visa to leave airside, allows you to remain in India for 3 days maximum – you have to have a connecting flight booked out of the country.
If you stay airside (i.e. do not need to collect bags), you do not need a transit visa in India.

[BBbetter]

HertsCanuck wrote:

India offers a transit visa to leave airside, allows you to remain in India for 3 days maximum – you have to have a connecting flight booked out of the country.
If you stay airside (i.e. do not need to collect bags), you do not need a transit visa in India.

Thanks for the clarification. Interesting choice of naming there as its effectively a short stay visa. Am not surprised theres not much information out there as even regular visa application process is quite painful often.
Have you tried contacting visa agents?

[masaccio]

BBbetter wrote:

HertsCanuck wrote:

India offers a transit visa to leave airside, allows you to remain in India for 3 days maximum – you have to have a connecting flight booked out of the country.
If you stay airside (i.e. do not need to collect bags), you do not need a transit visa in India.

Thanks for the clarification. Interesting choice of naming there as its effectively a short stay visa. Am not surprised theres not much information out there as even regular visa application process is quite painful often.
Have you tried contacting visa agents?

The process is trivial and wholly online if you qualify for an e-visa. Paying a visa agent for an Indian visa is throwing money away for no reason. There are some odd questions, but just ask ChatGPT for the answers or look at what has been suggested in TripAdvisor.

I was unaware of the ‘transit’ visa @HertsCanuck but looking online, it seems to be very expensive compared to an e-visa at £63 versus $20.

[HertsCanuck]

One question from me, as I am now deep in the “which hotel to say in Maldives” question. I’ve read so much and looked through so many YouTube reviews, I feel like I’ve been to some of them. Lots of hotels regularly mentioned on HfP, and Dusit Thani comes up a lot. It’s the current number 1 contender for us (probably ocean with pool), but the only question is the beach itself – from videos and pictures, it doesn’t seem a very prominent selling point and not the most impressive. We’ve not yet been to Maldives and with the number of places we want to travel to, probably will be our one and only trip, so trying to get it just-right. How’s the beach at Dusit Thani?

Dhigali is also up there, but my wife and I have got it into our heads that we don’t want to golf-cart around, we’d rather have bicycles, and they don’t have any. It does seem to have a much better beach than Dusit Thani.

Travelling mid March 2026 for 8 nights.
Thanks!

[BBbetter]

HertsCanuck wrote:

One question from me, as I am now deep in the “which hotel to say in Maldives” question. I’ve read so much and looked through so many YouTube reviews, I feel like I’ve been to some of them. Lots of hotels regularly mentioned on HfP, and Dusit Thani comes up a lot. It’s the current number 1 contender for us (probably ocean with pool), but the only question is the beach itself – from videos and pictures, it doesn’t seem a very prominent selling point and not the most impressive. We’ve not yet been to Maldives and with the number of places we want to travel to, probably will be our one and only trip, so trying to get it just-right. How’s the beach at Dusit Thani?

Dhigali is also up there, but my wife and I have got it into our heads that we don’t want to golf-cart around, we’d rather have bicycles, and they don’t have any. It does seem to have a much better beach than Dusit Thani.

Travelling mid March 2026 for 8 nights.
Thanks!

Given the many variables, what might be helpful is to list your priorities so that others can add their recommendations. Is the house reef most important for you? All inclusive plans? Kids club? seaplane vs boat transfer? number of restaurants? more traditional / sustainable villas? or just ultra modern? party vibe? water sports?

[Tracey]

Tripadvisor Maldives forum is worth a look, they tend to recommend more on whether you want a house reef and the size of the reward. hfP tends to focus on which chain will give you a bigger discount/ more loyalty points or inclusive breakfast. IMHO Maldives is one of those places where the hotels that aren’t part of an international chain and have obscure names can offer great deals.

[BBbetter]

Tracey wrote:

Tripadvisor Maldives forum is worth a look, they tend to recommend more on whether you want a house reef and the size of the reward. hfP tends to focus on which chain will give you a bigger discount/ more loyalty points or inclusive breakfast. IMHO Maldives is one of those places where the hotels that aren’t part of an international chain and have obscure names can offer great deals.

Good point. Was about to suggest flyertalk forums but thats full of Americans with free credit card night certificates or massive sign up bonuses.

[HertsCanuck]

Yes, I should have been more descriptive in what I am looking for. My question from my post, though, is something I am really curious about – for those who have been to Dusit Thani, how good is the beach? The photos and videos don’t show it off, and the beach at Dhigali seems much much better.
Here’s the criteria:
All Inclusive
House Reef
We are keen snorkelers. We do not dive.
Travelling as a couple, no kids (we don’t need a no-kids resort, but we also don’t want kids running amok)
Prefer larger island to smaller.
Over water villa with pool (preferred) or beach villa with pool
Seaplane preferred to domestic flight and/or boat
Bicycles to get around are preferred versus golf carts and buses

I’ve been all over the TripAdvisor forums, YouTube reviews, and the posts from these forums on Maldives (which have been very helpful). Dhigali and Dusit Thani are mentioned a lot in these HfP forums, which is why I dug into them in the first place!

[JDB]

@HertsCanuck – I can’t help you directly on this as we are very much not Maldives people but it sounds as though you are suffering from information overload – it was probably easier when there was less conflicting info. Re the Dusit Thani beach, experience suggests that if it’s not being mentioned much it’s probably because it’s not that good. Google Earth can be a big help, although beaches can change a lot year to year.

I’m not a big fan of agents, but in your situation speaking to one who knows their stuff might be a big help and far more useful than random reviews that I find are usually very poor and incomplete plus you have no idea of the person’s expectations or sense of quality vs price. A good agent who has been there or talks properly to clients will just be so much more informative.

I find that some friends who report on their holidays are a bit inclined to over enthuse presumably to support their own decision, so if relying on that you need to ask a few searching questions beyond the standard English answer to “did you have a good holiday?” A few questions to a couple who had spent the best part of £20k going to the Maldives revealed that it was actually a bit cr*p!

Friends who do like the Maldives seem to have gravitated to the independents, often built and designed by the same people as the chains but offering a much smaller scale, more relaxed but top quality experience at a vastly lower cost. Rakeedhoo island is one that has been mentioned but there are plenty of others.