Thailand vs Maldives

Cost

Thailand, checked 19 September 2026: an inexpensive restaurant meal ฿100, range ฿50-200; a three-course dinner for two at a mid-range restaurant ฿900, range ฿600-2,500; a pint of domestic draught ฿70.

For the Maldives we have no usable figure. Resort-island pricing is a closed market and diverges sharply from national averages, so a Malé restaurant price does not describe a resort meal and this page will not pretend otherwise.

Thailand's are among the lowest sourced figures in this directory. The contrast is not subtle.

Getting there

Bangkok is the international gateway, with Phuket taking some direct international flights. Domestic connections reach both coasts in about an hour, then ferries to the islands; overnight trains run south more slowly. Thailand's rules changed on 15 September 2026: the 60-day exemption was revoked, the 30-day tourism exemption was revised and expanded to 60 countries and territories, and a new 15-day scheme was introduced for two. Anyone already in the country under the old rules keeps their permitted stay. Older guidance is now wrong, so check your own nationality. All arrivals must submit a Thailand Digital Arrival Card, free on the official site.

Everything international routes through Velana at Malé. Speedboat is the norm for resorts near the airport; anything further out is a seaplane or one of the several daily domestic flights to twelve regional airports, then a speedboat. The Maldives gives a free 30-day visa on arrival to every nationality except Israeli passport holders, but the conditions are enforced: a machine-readable passport valid at least a month, a confirmed onward ticket, a prepaid booking at a registered resort or hotel, and either proof of funds — US$100 plus $50 per day — or that reservation. A Traveller Declaration must be submitted online within 96 hours before arrival.

The beaches

The Maldives has the better water and Thailand has the better range.

On a good Maldivian island the house reef starts at the sand and conditions are consistent across the stay. Thailand's beaches are excellent on whichever coast is in season and poor on the other, and the famous bays are busy enough that several carry visitor caps.

No sourced beach-level data for either yet.

In this directory: Thailand has 2 beaches listed, 2 rated calm for swimming. Maldives has 10, 10 calm.

In the water

The Maldives sits around 28.3°C to 30°C across the year, warmest in April, and never drops below a comfortable swimming temperature.

Thailand is warm on both coasts with a twelve-month swimming season, though we have no sourced monthly figures for it.

When to go

Thailand's Andaman coast takes heavy south-west monsoon storms April to October and is in high season from November. The Gulf coast's heaviest rain is September to December. There is no month when some Thai coast is out of season, but there are months when the coast you booked is.

The Maldives runs on the north-east monsoon, November to April, which is the generally sunny dry season; the meteorological service dates the true dry season more narrowly, January to March. The south-west monsoon, mid-May to November, is wetter and windier — but most days in it are still sunny, prices fall, and it is when Hanifaru Bay in Baa Atoll draws manta rays.

November to April suits both — the Maldivian dry season and Thailand's Andaman high season. That is a wide, convenient overlap.

Beyond the beach

Thailand wins this outright and it is the main reason to choose it: cities, a cuisine, a rail network, a north.

A Maldives resort island has what the resort has. For a week that may be exactly right; for three it rarely is.