For the honeymoon we're trying to do a 2.5 week southeast asia trip and wanted to stop over in maldives for about 5 days. The goal is stay in an overwater bungalow/villa so we can jump from our living room into the water.

But between the potentially fatal aquatic life and inconvenient flights and transfers to get to the hotel, i'm looking for a good alternative to do the above.

Any suggestions?

"Potentially fatal aquatic life"? AFAIK there are no critters in the Maldives that you couldn't also encounter anywhere else in SE Asia or the Pacific. If you're afraid of being eaten by a shark or something, rest assured the lagoons of Maldivian atolls are too shallow for anything big enough to eat you to cruise around comfortably.

And at the end of the day, there are no substitutes for the Maldives in SE Asia. Sure, there are hotels in Malaysia and Thailand with awesome beaches and/or overwater bungalows, but they're not set on deserted little atolls so they're just not quite the same.

The idea of jumping off the overwater villa into the ocean sounds appealing, but in reality, it can't be completed at some resorts.

1. The distance between the villa deck and the water is too high (8-12 feet)
2. The depth of the water is too shallow
3. There are sometimes corals immediately underneath the villa which would be exceptionally painful and bad to break.

Having been to both the Sheraton Full Moon Maldives and the Park Hyatt Maldives, you could not safely jump off the deck at either of those places without hurting yourself or the corals.

I'd stick to keeping this dream alive by taking a boat trip and jumping off the boat, like they do on reality television dating shows.

As far as substitutions, Phuket has some overwater villas that are expensive, but not as expensive when you consider the additional airfare to get to MLE. I have not stayed there.

If you are on a budget, consider that adding Maldives to your trip will result in probably $3,000 USD by the time you add in airfare from SE Asia, transfers, food and accommodation. You could get some pretty rock star experiences for that price in Thailand (or elsewhere).

jpatokal - I read something about stonefish and some other fish in the area that are hard to see. Not trying to step on a venomous fish.

worldtraveller - that's my fear, that i'll get to one of these places and the water is up to my ankles

thanks for the help

Stonefish can be found anywhere in the Indo-Pacific. Don't walk on coral, and wear reef shoes when wading in the water.

While you can't/shouldn't literally jump from the deck into water from most overwater bungalows, many (most?) do have little ladders into the water that you can descend and swim/snorkel away from.

If you literally want the experience of jumping into water from your living room, a more accessible alternative in Asia might be certain hotels in Bali that have special ground floor pool access suites and rooms. For example, in the Starwood Luxury Collection Laguna Resort in Nua Dusa, your balcony has a ladder down into a swimming pool which is about four feet deep.

Bora Bora would be an amazing alternative. We stayed at the IC Thalasso and even though our OWB was only as far out as the middle of the way, the water was deep enough for us to jump in safely. If you go out further, should be even deeper.

Moorea is also an alternative. We stayed at the Hilton Moorea and were able to go into the water immediately from our deck.

However, given that the Maldives are only a part of your honeymoon, I suspect that French Polynesia might need to be left for a future trip.

You don't JUMP off the deck. Over water villas all have ladder access. Stayed in one at the PH and it was divine.