Here I will detail our experience in Maldives!

Welcome to Maldives

After clearing customs at Velana International Airport which is the main international airport of Malé (capital of Maldives), you will be greeted with many many hotel staff holding cards displaying their hotel name. I couldn’t find ours then but a kind Maldivian actually guided us to the correct counter!

See the many different counters above!

As shared with us earlier when we booked the hotel, we waited for around 20 minutes before boarding the ferry to Hard Rock Hotel Maldives! Depending on which island your hotel is, you might have to take a plane which will cost hundreds of US dollars.

Travel by buggy

The common mode of travel is by buggy, as the island is really pretty huge to cover by foot. So after alighting from the ferry, we were taken by buggy to the reception where we checked in, and thereafter took another buggy to our actual room.

A staff followed us into the room and guided us on the amenities and island facilities and took our questions. There is wifi but it is not very fast, the download is about 1 Megabyte per second and my kids often complained about the speed when they were watching Youtube.

Meal packages

I was more interested in understanding the meal packages. There are a few types, half board (breakfast and dinner), full board (+lunch), all inclusive (+drinks), and premium all inclusive (more complimentary stuff). We took the full board as the price difference compared to the half board was not too much (this is special rates that was offered when we purchased this package). From what was shared, unless the restaurant was having a buffet (e.g. Sessions had buffet on Tue night), meals for adults only included an appetiser, main dish and dessert. Although I said “only”, it was actually a lot of food, especially when we were only used to eating 1 main dish normally. For kids, the food is free but the portion is not too big especially if your kid is older, so you can share some of your food with them.

Overwater Villa

Anyway we took the Overwater Villa with Private Pool. Technically unless you need the private pool for convenience and more privacy, you can take the room without the private pool (i.e. the one with the hammock) and go for a swim in the sea or in the other pools across the islands.

Dinner - Sessions Steak

We asked for restaurant recommendations and Sessions was recommended for dinner as they were serving steaks that night. I thought the food was very good! The steak looked small but it was actually 300g and pretty filling!

Gym

The weather forecast said that it was raining the whole week so I went to the gym. It was quite well maintained!

There is water and towel there as well!

Rainy Day Program

Due to the rain, there is a rainy day program as well! Honestly I don’t know when it happened but this program might have popped up on the tv screen by itself!

Breakfast - Sessions

Breakfast was at Sessions, which offered pretty decent continental style breakfast!

Lunch - Kinkao

Due to heavy rain, we didn’t really do much and it was time for lunch! We chose an Asian restaurant this time round and went with Kinkao Thai restaurant. It was quite good!

Honestly no complaints here with any of the food during our stay, they were really up to mark!

Dinner - The Elephant and the Butterfly

Since I am already sharing about the food, might as well share the dinner we had, which was at The Elephant and the Butterfly.

By the way, do note that you need to make reservations at most of these places, except for the Hard Rock Cafe.

Snorkeling Experience

Our favourite pastime was snorkeling! We were able to collect free snorkeling equipment at the Dive Centre. The question was where were the best snorkeling spots?

Based on different staff’s experience, the answer can be different! If we look at the above marked spots, we have:

1. In front of the gym
2. Bridge area to Saii
3. Saii’s beach
4. Bridge connecting Hard Rock to The Marina

Most say that the rocky areas in front of the gym is a good spot! But they would usually also say it is good but not the best. We didn’t go there and see for ourselves. One of them said the best was #2, but when I went there, the floor suddenly went very deep so I did not venture near the waters. Spent the most time at #3, and we did see a bit of fishes.

I thought the best place to snorkel might be #4 even though nobody actually recommended that. Although you might need to go there are high tide. A couple told us they actually saw a lot of sharks there at midnight! Here’s what you might be able to see when you snorkel there! (If you don’t snorkel, you can still take the boardwalk and view from there!)

We also saw a humongous manta ray there too!

For people staying at Overwater villa, you can walk down your steps and dive straight into the waters. I recall that was the first time we tried snorkeling here, straight from the room! I was pleasantly surprised that due to the condition of the waters, I could float with ease! There were actually some life jackets in the room to use too in case you need it.

The above was what we saw right beneath those steps! There were thousands of tiny white fish just darting around in the waters surrounding the villa! The stingray also came to visit. My wife was lucky enough to see a baby shark! Just that it swam away before she could take a picture! Saw a humongous manta ray nearby too!

The hotel placed a coral area right in the middle of the villas and there were nice fishes there, including the famous nemo!

If you are adventurous, you can consider going for snorkeling experiences with the Dive Centre. They can take you to the area with sharks or the coral reefs. We took the one to the coraf reefs (Coral Garden 1 in map below) and had to take this Dhoni boat for about 15-20 minutes.

If you are going for the shark one (guessing its Shark Point in the above map), do plan early as these snorkeling experiences are on alternate days. If you missed the schedule, you will need to arrange for a private boat to see the sharks!

We were told there’s a 50 50 chance of seeing sea turtles which we didn’t see, but these are what we saw!

Lunch - Hard Rock Cafe

And its back to meals again! We went to Hard Rock Cafe and you don’t need to make reservations for this. It was nice and very filling! Kids meals came with a drink too!

Shop

Final thing to do is to get a bit of memorabilia before leaving! There is a shop at the reception or you can also purchase things at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Tipping

A bit on tipping is that I read online that some people say tip if you appreciate their services, and many say that its already part of the service charge included. I thought it was not necessary to tip but did still put in some cash for meals and for room cleaning. I guess this is up to the individual.

Overall

It has been quite an experience, definitely slightly dampened by the rain, but enjoyable overall. Important to make plans ahead of time on what to do each day (what meals to go for, which restaurants are closed on which dates or have special events like BBQ night or Seafood buffet) and maximise your stay. Do plan for rainy day programs as well!

It opens from 4 Oct 2024 – 2 Feb 2025. I bought my tickets from Klook and if it is a weekday, it is much cheaper, at least $10 cheaper! It was pretty crowded on a weekday so I would imagine it would be worse on a weekend or public holiday!

There are two floors to explore, one at the basement and one at level 3. The staff recommended us to go to the basement first so off we went!

Basement

So the first thing you see are all the different movie posters over the years, starting with Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

The format of the entire exhibition is that they will focus on a few popular titles, starting with Howl’s Moving Castle. In fact, the following display can actually move!

Here are some more exhibits from the same movie.

There is a chair where you can take a seat and have a nice photo next to Calcifer.

There are also some displays for Laputa, Castle in the Sky!

The last exhibit in the basement is none other than the world famous Totoro!

It is probably one of the largest exhibit areas, other than Spirited Away which is on the 3rd floor. You will first enter a forest path where you encounter some of the Makkuro kurosuke!

That is when you will start seeing a queue, which leads to a photo taking at the famous bus stop!

But before reaching the bus stop, you will stop by a nice exhibit where you can peek into to see the sleeping Totoro!

And yes, at the end of the queue that seems like forever (because people are doing many different poses), you will get your chance to have the staff help you take your photo!

3rd floor

And off we went to the 3rd floor after spending like 1 hour or so at the basement! First exhibit is Princess Mononoke!

We also saw Kiki’s Delivery!

We then reached the other large exhibit which was Spirited Away!

The No-Face was quite well done, it was portrayed using shadows!

There was also a last photo taking spot which is the famous scene where Chihiro took the train!

Lastly, you will exit and find quite a huge merchandise store!

Overall, it was a nice experience, and we took 1.5-2 hours or so!

So to day 2! We woke up early, ate the sandwiches and went to our car rental. I booked a taxi using Kakao T App, see how I did it here (wip post). Because we had 2 huge luggages, I did not want to get a taxi with a small boot so I booked a Venti, which was like a mini van, which cost about 1.4 times a regular cab (highest I saw during the whole trip was 2.2 times which was very expensive!).

We opted to go for Klook’s car rental and got a car at SJ Car Rental. I had wanted to get elsewhere that was nearer the hotel but the insurance was not comprehensive enough, i.e. it only covered up to 4m won and does not cover loss of vehicle. Of course Klook’s car rental was more expensive!

How to collect the car

The rental process was straightforward, we got the car keys at the counter and paid a 500k won deposit. This deposit will be refunded after 2-3 months to pay for any traffic fines. I saw a Singaporean queueing before me who tried to use a Youtrip card but got declined by the card payment machine so I used a bank card (with very poor exchange rates). There were 3 instances in our Korea trip where the Youtrip was declined, this, and when buying the limousine bus tickets at Incheon airport and at a specific Korean BBQ restaurant (Sukseongdo). Other than that, Youtrip worked at all restaurants, convenience stores and attractions that we had been to. We also had to pay a rental fee to use the dashboard camera.

So the first thing to do after getting the vehicle is to take pictures or video of the car exterior including the wheels in case there’s any need to dispute.

We also rented child seat and this is necessary in Korea for children below 6 years old. This was at a separate building within the SJ car rental compound and we had to stop the car right in front of the building for the lady to fix the car seat.

Good to know about driving in Jeju

So we have heard many good things about the in-car navigation system. Yes it is not bad, but it is not very easy to search for the location. Sometimes we can’t find the place we want to go, so we had to search for another address nearby. Of course you can also use Naver Map which is quite good as well, just that you would need a phone mount in the car.

One important thing to take note while driving is the speed limit in Jeju. The speed limit changes very often. When you reach a school zone it drops to 30 KM/H and you will notice every car slowing down dramatically. We failed to slow down in time for once and we noticed the camera going off. Luckily we checked that the fines were not astronomical. This was also the reason for the car deposit. The highest speed we saw was 80 KM/H. We do see vehicles moving higher than the speed limits, and on further research it is common for people to drive slightly above the limit up to about 10 KM/H.

In Jeju and Korea in general, people drive on the right side of the road. To note, you can right turn on red. Do note that the pedastrian crossing still needs to turn red before you can do so else I think it is also an offence. There’s also something called an unprotected left turn (which we heard the in-car navigation system prompt us), which means while the traffic light is green for you to do a left turn, you still need to look out for the incoming traffic so it is ‘unprotected’ in a sense.

Regarding parking fees, we have not visited any place that required us to pay any parking fees, including restaurants, attractions etc. Most places have spaces for you to park, and if there aren’t any parking lots drawn out, it is usually okay to park in some place where you obviously don’t block anybody. The only place I saw so far that required parking fees was a multi-storey parking near Dongmun Market.

How to return the car

Just prior to returning the car, you will need to fill up the petrol again. Just head to any gas station to do so, and the attendant will help you even if it is a self-service type because they recognise that your car is a rental one (because of some stickers that are prominent on the car).

After that, you will just need to drive back to the car rental shop and park in a designated spot. Leave the car keys in the car and a representative will soon come over to do a check. Once done, the representative will let you know and you can leave.

At this point, depending on your car rental shop, there should be a shuttle bus to the Jeju airport which you can take for free. For us and the timing we returned the car, the shuttle bus comes every 20 minutes, so do plan your schedule accordingly.

Hope this helps you! :)

First we arrived in Incheon and had to make a transit to Gimpo domestic airport for the domestic flight to Jeju.

So how much time is needed for transit between Incheon and Gimpo?

Reading online guides suggest that sometime between 3 to 4 hours is sufficient. We gave ourselves 3.5 hours and found that to be more than enough with sufficient time to get a quick snack at Gimpo airport!

It is important to know how to use the Naver App since it is more accurate compared to Google Maps. Perhaps due to certain regulations, Google Maps do not provide driving or walking navigation. However, you do need to input Korean characters in Naver App so I use Google Maps to provide the translated text. To find out how I use both interchangeably, see this post!

While we had wanted to take a taxi that will cost around 40k won, I noticed that there were terminals selling limousine bus tickets. The tickets cost us around 22k won for 2 adults and 1 child (note only 6 years and above need pay child fare, under 6 is free!) so it was much cheaper!

The time to reach was about the same as a taxi at about 30+ minutes! The limousine bus was actually quite good because you could store your luggages at the bottom of the bus while you sit comfortably in the bus itself! We had experienced with a taxi where the boot is not large enough for 2 large luggages, so getting the limousine bus guaranteed the storage space!

It is also important to note, Gimpo has an international and domestic terminal so it is important not to alight at the first stop as it is the international one and it is a long distance to the other terminal!

How was the check in process like?

The check in process was pretty straightforward and I think this works for all the local domestic air carriers. Unlike international flights, you do not need to reach like 2 hours earlier before flight time. Checking in 1 hour prior to the flight will do for domestic flights. We printed the boarding pass before going to the luggage check in counters. Note that you need to wait 5 minutes for them to check the luggage for any contraband. One interesting thing I noticed was that they do not care if you bring water on board the plane, probably that rule only applies for international flights.

We had decided whether to engage a private tour guide or rent a car ourselves but my wife decided to do the latter for more freedom. However, since we arrived late, she did not want to start driving in the dark so we had a book a hotel near the car rental shops that were mostly around the Jeju airport.

We decide on Hotel Ventimo that was quite nice and provided nice sandwiches for breakfast!

We went out for dinner and wanted to try black pork. Most restaurants close early so we went for one that was supposed to close at midnight, however it seemed to be closed. We end up heading into any black pork restaurant that was opened. Not sure whether the quality was not as good or we left most of the meat overcooked, it was not as tasty as we first tried black pork years ago. Nevertheless we had our fill and went back to the hotel!

So how to use Naver Map

After downloading and opening Naver Map app, you can search directly via the search bar on the place you want to go, and you can actually do so in English for all the popular places, e.g. Incheon Aiport.

Now the problem comes when the place you want to go is not popular enough to be searched in English, or you can’t find the exact English words to search, e.g. I can’t find “Jeju Angel Rental Cars”.

That’s when you might need the help of Google Maps. What you can do is to type the place you want to go in Google maps and then press and hold over the place name that contains the Korean text to copy it.

Finally, paste it into Naver Map and delete the English words, leaving only the Korean characters.

Of course, if you can get the Korean text elsewhere other than Google Maps that would be fine too, except that for most of the time, Google Maps did the trick for me. Hope this helps!

I asked Meta AI for a description of KidZania:

KidZania is an interactive indoor theme park designed for kids aged 1-16, where they can role-play various professions and activities in a miniature city. The concept is to educate and entertain children through hands-on experiences, allowing them to learn about different careers, develop skills, and build confidence in a fun and immersive environment. Kids can become mini-doctors, pilots, chefs, scientists, and more, while parents can relax and watch their little ones explore and learn. With over 30 locations worldwide, KidZania has become a popular destination for family outings and school field trips.

KidZania is pretty popular. The day was fully booked, partially owing to the day being the first school closure for some kids (due to PTCs) and also because there was a 50% off promotion. You can see this from the queue that already started forming at least 30 minutes before opening.

When you first enter, kids are given 50 KidZos, or what is known as the currency to be used by the kids. Kids can earn KidZos by taking part in certain activities, and I think you can earn up to 10 KidZos per activity, depending on how much time you needed to invest in it. Kids get to spend KidZos at certain activities that teach you something, e.g. robotics or learning how to use the camera. They can also use it to buy something at the Kids Department Store later.

The place felt like a mini amusement park, something like a mini USS or mini Disneyland. Here you can see a pretty long queue forming up, and this is for the SCDF activity, one of the more popular ones. I believe the other popular ones is the aviation one which we failed to get a ticket.

For the SCDF Firefighter activity, kids will start by getting dressed with the helmet and jacket with a quick phototaking, before watching a video brief and then boarding the firetruck. On the way to fight a fire, there will be a cheering led by the staff along the way. Thereafter they will use the firehose to fight the fire and then return.

The activity takes 20 minutes so the queue can be quite intense, especially they can take up to 10-ish (officially is 8) if the kids are smaller in build and can squeeze into the firetruck. While there are signs saying that parents cannot queue, most of the parents do queue anyways, because I think its quite hard to expect younger kids to stay in line.

One of the other popular activities is the Shopee one where kids are dressed as package delivery people and they run all over the place delivering packages. It has a very long queue so be sure to visit this early! I think it takes time because kids must be able to find the other places they are supposed to go to! Another activity that does something similar is the Bank Vault but I think its more interesting to be dressed as a delivery person hence the greater interest in the Shopee activity!

Here are the other sights and sounds of the place! There is always something happening! Be it Shopee delivery kids, singing and cheering (parades), vehicles (ambulance, firetruck) moving around! For those who are not interested in these activities, there is still a “ball pit” kind of area, well not exactly a ball pit but rather a place with balls and cannons where you can shoot those balls. There is also an infant/toddler room for younger kids to play.

For slightly older kids, there is the soccer activity. The queue can be rather long though. Each session takes up to 10 kids, and takes about 40 mins, 10-15 minutes of briefing/prep, 15 minutes of warmup, 10 minutes of actual match.

Food wise, there are 2 choices (that were opened), 1 was Kith with their spaghetti and finger food (oh the chocolate cake was good!), and the other was a pizza shop (which doubles up as an activity too!). Do note that Kith has a second storey for sitting! Noting here because I saw some kids waiting for our ground floor seats and we told them to go upstairs to check as well!

The queue for the pizza shop is very long because you need to wait for the kids to make the pizza before heating it up! Drinks-wise, if Kith is a bit pricey, you can go for Kopifellas!

That leaves us to the question whether it is possible to exit KidZania, and head to a nearby restaurant at Beach Station. While the website has no information on this, the staff at the exit told me it was possible to re-enter before 5pm (note closure time was 6pm). I think there is probably no need to stamp since entry/exit was done via facial recognition (yes so high tech!) which we had to register online before first entry.

If of course you are tired and your kids are older, you can take a rest at the Parents Lounge, which is situated at the second floor near the School of Robotics / The Lab activities. It is decently sized and there is a sign that says “Strictly no kids allowed” so that parents can have the rest they deserved!

Remember the KidZo currency? Once you are done, you can head to the Kids Department Store to exchange the KidZos for items. If you are here for the first time, your kid will only probably have time to earn up to at most 100+ KidZo, which isn’t a lot to exchange for items. Probably a country eraser or so? You probably might need to have multiple re-visits to actually exchange for the 2500 KidZo items!

At the end, once you are done with the visit, head to the shop that sells souvenirs (yes the one that sells stuff at real SGD) to find the exit.

Overall I thought it was a good experience for kids. I think the best age to come is probably around 5-7 ish, because it might be a bit less exciting for older kids (although they can appreciate advanced activities better too!). Till next post! :)

There is a new sandpit at the entrance, and the difference is that the sand here seems to be not just cubic in shape but also rectangular!

There is a new basketball area that is really quite fun, like those you find at carnivals (which you don’t have to pay for every game)! The floor is inclined so the balls will roll towards you!

And definitely, there is the usual ball pit that is connected with slides. You can see the structures within, not as big as the previous one but still quite large! There is also the very steep slide inside which is similar to the one previously!

There are trampolines and also this very interesting slope where kids aim to run up to touch the lights above, something like ninja warrior! This was quite fun, and even I tried to play it!

Of course there is the Tayo course where kids get to ride around on mini rides!

And not forgetting, the Tayo Bus Mascot that comes out to meet and greet everyone! It is an interesting short session where kids (and adults) follow the bus around the area!

Overall, the experience was nice and fun! We spent 2 hours here at $30+ per adult and child. I think you can get a 3hr package on Klook at slightly more! Definitely one of the better indoor playgrounds in Singapore!

On the last day of 2023, I brought my family to Vivocity. We comtemplated between having sushi at Genki Sushi or Sushi-Go but decided to give the latter a go since we have not been there before. (Also, because we thought Genki Sushi would have a very long queue based on our previous experience, and when Vivocity was super crowded since it was a Sunday and New Year’s eve!)

Sushi-Go reminds me of Sushiro, which I had previously did a top 10 most popular Sushiro post of.

Sushi-Go is by this company called RE&S that manages quite a lot of brands, including Ichiban Sushi, Kuriya, Yakiniku-Go, Gokoku Bakery and Mister Donut. Price wise I would think Sushi-Go is somewhat similar to Sushiro.

Unlike Sushiro, there is no conveyor belt, but a little robot train (similar to Genki Sushi) that brings you your food whenever you order. There is also a mobile robot that moves around on land, somewhat similar to what you can find in Haidilao.

The choices feel quite similar to Sushiro too, and I can find some of my favourite sushi here! There is the Aka Ebi (Red Shrimp) and a second version with butter (add 20 cents).

We can also find the Hamachi (Yellowtail) and Mekajiki (Swordfish) sushi!

Taste wise overall, the ones at Sushi-Go felt less dry than the ones in Sushiro, so in my opinion Sushi-Go tasted slightly better!

My family loved the ramen. The taste of the soup reminded me of those instant ramen you can find at duty free shops or in those Japanese type cup noodles.

For myself, I got the soba because its New Year’s Eve, or Toshikoshi Soba (New Year’s Eve Noodles) 年越し蕎麦! It was decent but nothing to shout about.

Last sushi that I wanted to highlight was the Mala Clam sushi. It was nice, tasted similar to those Mala Clam snacks you can find in some of the Chinese grocery stores in Singapore.

Overall, I thought the experience was nice. Sushi came quite fast upon order. Dishes were decent, and price comparable to Sushiro. On top of that, we didn’t need to wait long on New Year’s Eve even at around 6pm. Would definitely come here again to try other sushi!

While it is newly opened, we went on a weekday afternoon and thankfully not very crowded. The place is new, but slightly smaller than some of the other indoor playground that we have been to.

Kiztopia Club at Jewel is found at basement 1, together with Toys”R”Us.

There is a sand pit (small wooden blocks instead of real sand) which I forgot to take a photo of but it is rectangular size with not so many sand tools. I recall just a couple of shovels and the sand trucks plus a bunch of other tools. You might have to wait for others to finish using and share with them.

There is also a small play area next to the sand pit. It is actually quite small and likely to be crowded on a weekend of public holiday.

There is also a mini airplane where kids can watch TV inside. There are only 4 seats though. I would think the kids sitting behind will not be able to see the screen!

There are some ninja zones inside. Beside the one in the picture, there is also a glider to swing from one side to the other.

Of course, an indoor playground is not complete without the ball pit. The ball pit comes equipped with a single slide (see cover image), an air blower system and a few launchers to fire balls into a scoring board.

Sadly the launchers doesn’t seem to be working well, unable to launch the balls properly. End up people just throw the balls using their hands.

There are no bouncy castles here unlike in Jumptopia, but there are some trampolines and a mini game where you bounce to hit some enemy targets.

There are a bunch of other areas like a small grocery shopping cart area, kids medical area where you can find a medical kit, toothbrush and gum set and a block area where you can manually deliver blocks to a second level.

Overall, I felt that Kiztopia Jewel is slighty smaller than other indoor playgrounds and might be crowded on weekends and public holidays. This place will be suitable for younger kids as I think older ones might prefer Jumptopia or other places with more bouncy castles etc. Other than that if you are at Jewel, this is a recommended place to spend some time (probably 1-hr is good) with your kids.

I have been to the previous year’s carnival and I recall it was at basement 2, so we went there first. It is definitely not cheap, costing about a dollar per coin, and you will usually need 4 coins per carnival game. You will get additional coins the more you pay, e.g. we paid S$50 and we got 55 coins instead of 50 coins, and also they provided us with a complimentary train ride ticket on top of that.

Some stalls also allow you to play additional games if you play more, e.g. for the ring throwing game below, you get to play one more game if you already paid for 3.

The more you throw, the more likely you can get one that goes in, isn’t it? One way of seeing which stalls are easier is by the score sheet that the game masters use. After each game, they will record down the result of the player. If the player won 3 tickets, they will write down 3, if they won none, they will write down 0. For the ring throwing game, clearly, there is a lot of zeros!

There is also the roll a ball game, and you will need to land the ball at one of the holes near the end. This is of course easier than the previous game as the chance is way higher! However, the rewards are also lower.

Some games you are better off avoiding! For example the next shooting game. The ball is tiny and does not fly in a steady direction, and you need to hit those thin stripes below the soft toy. It is very tough! And it cost 5 coins per game!!

Now level 1 was way larger than basement!

There are also food stalls here within and outside as well!

While there is a train ride (literally the train moves off track) in basement 2, there is also another train ride that runs for about a minute and a half in level 1. Each ticket costs 4 coins. Do note that your kid needs to be below 1.4m to take this ride!

We didn’t had time to play all the games and will definitely come back (and finish all the coins) but this game that we played was definitely one of those that can earn points more easily. You gain points (and then coupons) based on the colour of the duck you fish up using the magnet on your fishing rod! This had the longest queue when we were there so it must be one of the easiest games!

Oh, did I forget to mention how many coupons to redeem prizes? Its 3 coupons for a stationery, 12-20 (or 30) coupons for soft toys! Good luck!