Maldives hotel recommendation – best non-points options

[oureas]

I know this is a points site, but I’m short on points and I know people in this forum are well travelled… what are your picks for a great hotel in the Maldives if not relying on points?

I guess preference would be for an over the water bungalow (though not essential). And price range probably £500-900 per night for accommodation, but can be flexible for the right place. Just my wife and I going (first trip without the kids). Going for 5 nights.

[Tracey]

Tripadvisor forum is good for this sort of question.

If you are paying I would look for places that aren’t part of the big chains, less of your money spent on marketing.

What do you want in terms of restaurants, reefs and activities?

[KevinC]

Secret Escapes is a good place to look for non-point Maldives hotels.

There is currently a deal on the US Travelzoo site for the Park Hyatt Maldives. It has an excellent reputation but is tricky to get to.

We have stayed at Anantara Dhigu and Angsana Ihuru in the past. Would recommend them both though I don’t think Ihuru has overwater villas.

We are just back from the Conrad Rangali but that was on points.

[masaccio]

Try the usual sites like hotels.com and booking.com. The hotels handle transfers even for the seaplane. You should get something AI in a water villa for that money, possibly 5* if not high season

We got Vakarufalhi AI in a water villa for £325 a night in 2018 and it was awesome. Seaplane is about $350 each and if you have never been it’s an awesome way to arrive. It will add a little to the transfer time though but international flights we have had have always meant we arrived at the resort late afternoon and departed first thing regardless.

[Tracey]

KevinC wrote:

Secret Escapes is a good place to look for non-point Maldives hotels.

There is currently a deal on the US Travelzoo site for the Park Hyatt Maldives. It has an excellent reputation but is tricky to get to.

We have stayed at Anantara Dhigu and Angsana Ihuru in the past. Would recommend them both though I don’t think Ihuru has overwater villas.

We are just back from the Conrad Rangali but that was on points.

Angsana Velavaru has water villas. Quiet resort. A few restaurants boat trip to the reef.

[oureas]

KevinC wrote:

Secret Escapes is a good place to look for non-point Maldives hotels.

There is currently a deal on the US Travelzoo site for the Park Hyatt Maldives. It has an excellent reputation but is tricky to get to.

We have stayed at Anantara Dhigu and Angsana Ihuru in the past. Would recommend them both though I don’t think Ihuru has overwater villas.

We are just back from the Conrad Rangali but that was on points.

@KevinC, out of Anantara Dhigu, Angsana Ihuru, and the Conrad, which was your favourite? One option would be for me to purchase some Hilton points to get enough for the 5 nights for 4 on points.

@Tracey, pretty relaxed about restaurants, don’t need anything fancy, just something not going to break the bank (if that’s possible in the Maldives). Activities… main aim is just relaxation; I would like to do a dive or two but not necessary. Any non-motorised water activities are also welcome: good local reef, paddle boarding, sailing, but again, not essential.

I started with Tripadvisor, Hotels.com, etc. but even if you filter for places with only 5 star reviews, you still get 30+ hotels in my price range. And it’s pretty hard to separate them from there. Reminds me of booking a place in Santorini, where everywhere seemed to be rated as amazing.

• This reply was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[BuildBackBetter]

Make a shortlist and read genuine detailed reviews. Hotel websites won’t tell you if the reef is worse than others. You are left with tripadvisor or flyertalk. The latter can be more trusted. Generally, the farther from Male, the better the islands and beaches are. The newer the resort, the worse the reef is.

[Benilyn]

In my experience (pre points days) when I booked Maldives, the specialist/normal travel agents (get a full list on TripAdvisor Maldives Forums for specialist ones, like Purely Maldives, Kenwood, TravelBag (Kuoni is high markup)) would actually have access to special rates / deals (eg upgrades in room type / F&B AI etc / free transfer etc) vs Expedia / Booking.com.

But to avoid wasting each other’s times, narrow down to 5 resorts maybe, then ask a few agents what they have on offer for these with dates etc.

In the end, I just got TravelBag to price match and beat a specialist and went with them. All the agents where down for a haggle. The resort I went to has now changed mgmt so under refurb I believe.

[KevinC]

oureas wrote:

KevinC wrote:

Secret Escapes is a good place to look for non-point Maldives hotels.

There is currently a deal on the US Travelzoo site for the Park Hyatt Maldives. It has an excellent reputation but is tricky to get to.

We have stayed at Anantara Dhigu and Angsana Ihuru in the past. Would recommend them both though I don’t think Ihuru has overwater villas.

We are just back from the Conrad Rangali but that was on points.

@KevinC, out of Anantara Dhigu, Angsana Ihuru, and the Conrad, which was your favourite? One option would be for me to purchase some Hilton points to get enough for the 5 nights for 4 on points.

In reverse order that we visited them:
Conrad is a beautiful resort, having a villa host made it very easy to sort out any problems. Beach villa was very big, garden was quite small, beach was amazing. Food and beverage was VERY expensive. If you buy points to go here you must also take out the Amex Platinum to get Hilton Gold for free breakfast and daily cocktails. It’s a big resort so there’s lots to explore.

Angsana Ihuru is much more low key. Lovely gardens for the beach villas, easy speedboat access to Male. It’s a small island but you can get the boat to the Banyan tree for a change of scenery.

Anantara Dhigu was truly excellent. Spread over three islands so there’s a lot to do. Nice villa garden. Speedboat access to Male. It has an adult only island with water villas and a ‘picnic island’ you can visit.

We had a very good time in all three of the resorts.

[Mirp]

I found the TripAdvisor forum great for this type of question. If you state what is most important to you — diving; snokeling; beaches; food; all inclusive; reef; etc. the experts there are really good at helping to narrow the resorts down. I also concur on checking out the specialist Maldives travel agents they have good prices. However, I booked with expedia and it was fine. If you are only going for 5 nights I would look at a speedboat transfer as the seaplane transfers can take a good part of a day. It is such a long trip I would go for at least a week if not ten days.

[Rob]

To be honest, I’m not even sure where I’d start if paying cash. My only experience is the One&Only which is definitely in the top handful, but I’m really sure what you’re meant to compare against.

A lot of the things you would usually compare against don’t apply here. Location isn’t an issue (except if you need to pay for a sea plane) and architecturally there isn’t much in it. How do you judge food – do you really want to be paying $500 for 2 for a meal you’d pay £150 for in London? If you don’t have something to guide you (eg you are a keen diver and so are driven by the quality of reef) then I honestly don’t know where to start. It must be very easy to pay more than necessary for resorts with extra nick-nacks (eg super-fine dining) which you find you don’t need or want.

Even TripAdvisor isn’t a lot of use because, when it comes to high-end resorts, the quality of debate becomes confused and it’s hard to filter out all the ‘I was shocked, shocked I tell you, to book an expensive resort and find that everything there was expensive” commentary.

[LST]

Hi, I would recommend a Maldives Specialist such as Purely Maldives or Simply Maldives. Have used both before and, as well as great service, they have exclusive access to many islands and deals.

• This reply was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[LST]

They can help find an island that matches your needs, for example I wouldn’t stay at O&O as it is too large an island for my tastes and I prefer an island with a good house reef. Someone else might want a resort with multiple restaurants or close to whale shark or manta ray spots. The trip advisor Maldives Forum is a useful place too.

[Tracey]

Angsana Velavaru for water villas with private pools.

Always go all inclusive in the Maldives as there is no escape from hotel restaurant prices otherwise.

Personally I prefer the traditional Maldives vibes of “no shoes, no news” and it’s the only place I would go to with no shoes other than one pair of flip flops.

[KevinC]

People go a bit crazy in Maldives TripAdvisor reviews, complaining that they can see another island on the horizon or a plastic bottle washed up on the beach. I think they forget it is a country that ordinary people live in.

[masaccio]

oureas wrote:

I started with Tripadvisor, Hotels.com, etc. but even if you filter for places with only 5 star reviews, you still get 30+ hotels in my price range. And it’s pretty hard to separate them from there. Reminds me of booking a place in Santorini, where everywhere seemed to be rated as amazing.

The obvious filters you need to think star with reef quality and the (badly formatted!) list that lives at see here is a really good start.

Then you should consider whether you want to pay for meals. Personally I think not going full board or AI in the Maldives is very poor value. Sure you will get a great choice of restaurants at the big resorts, but 5* Maldives buffet is not what you have likely had anywhere else.

Distance from Male is another key filter as that decides whether you need to fly from MLE or take a speedboat.

Not all water villas are the same and you need to compare photos on TripAdvisor and the resort website. The resort website is probably better as they are as good as they look! Access to the reef and good shade are essentials for me and these are not always a given.

Finally, resort size makes a difference to how intimate it feels as a couple. Those are often the ‘no shoes’ places that @Tracey mentions. We went to Nika Island once and dinner was always on the beach and I didn’t wear flip flops or shoes in the resort at all, which was lovely.

• This reply was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[Tracey]

oureas wrote:

KevinC wrote:

Secret Escapes is a good place to look for non-point Maldives hotels.

There is currently a deal on the US Travelzoo site for the Park Hyatt Maldives. It has an excellent reputation but is tricky to get to.

We have stayed at Anantara Dhigu and Angsana Ihuru in the past. Would recommend them both though I don’t think Ihuru has overwater villas.

We are just back from the Conrad Rangali but that was on points.

@KevinC, out of Anantara Dhigu, Angsana Ihuru, and the Conrad, which was your favourite? One option would be for me to purchase some Hilton points to get enough for the 5 nights for 4 on points.


@Tracey, pretty relaxed about restaurants, don’t need anything fancy, just something not going to break the bank (if that’s possible in the Maldives). Activities… main aim is just relaxation; I would like to do a dive or two but not necessary. Any non-motorised water activities are also welcome: good local reef, paddle boarding, sailing, but again, not essential.

I started with Tripadvisor, Hotels.com, etc. but even if you filter for places with only 5 star reviews, you still get 30+ hotels in my price range. And it’s pretty hard to separate them from there. Reminds me of booking a place in Santorini, where everywhere seemed to be rated as amazing.

Angsana Velavaru would probably work for you. The water villas are enormous and include a private pool. Seaplane ride from Malé.

Two pieces of advice- go all inclusive, as F&B is expensive otherwise as you are a captive audience. Also only pack one pair of flip flops. Most of the Maldives is “no news, no shoes” other than some of the top pretentious resorts.

[chillcoat]

Only been once (Feb 2020) so I don’t pretend to have expertise. We stayed at Meeru for a week and loved it. Full board (exc drinks) was a good deal, because drinks are very reasonable ($5 a beer, $10 a cocktail) and the food is all delicious buffet anyway. We stayed in what is confusingly called a Water Villa but actually on the beach – but right by the sea on a beautiful part of the island.

I got Kuoni to pricematch Destination2 and we managed Avios seats in PE.

[Sandj]

We’ve been to mirihi, reethi beach and the W.

Had excellent holidays at all. All have decent house reefs, but far more fish at the W and Mirihi.

Mirihi would be my first choice, fab buffet, pretty island, pricey.
Reethi beach would be my choice if on a budget, go b&b, the buffet isn’t that good. W was lovely but not for value for what we spent, food better at mirihi.

[Erico1875]

chillcoat wrote:

Only been once (Feb 2020) so I don’t pretend to have expertise. We stayed at Meeru for a week and loved it. Full board (exc drinks) was a good deal, because drinks are very reasonable ($5 a beer, $10 a cocktail) and the food is all delicious buffet anyway. We stayed in what is confusingly called a Water Villa but actually on the beach – but right by the sea on a beautiful part of the island.

I got Kuoni to pricematch Destination2 and we managed Avios seats in PE.

We loved Meeru too, although we upgraded to All Inclusive.
We stayed in a beach villa. This had the hot tub etc, and your own exclusive spot on the beach.
Only a speedboat ride from Male too so the transfers were reasonable

[trader363]

I stayed at the Adaaran Prestige Water Villas and would give it a 10/10. It’s all inclusive of course, but even breakfast is served in your villa on your own balcony next to your jacuzzi and sunbeds. There’s only 20 over water villas so it’s very exclusive and between these 20 villas you have your own restaurant, pool, tennis court etc.

The rest of the island is classed as a separate hotel where it’s pretty crowded, but they can’t access your section of the island.