Diamonds Athuruga Beach & Water Villas

We visited Athuruga in November 2023. It was our 17th stay on our favourite Maldivian island, and it did not disappoint. We were delighted to be given our preferred water villa, no. 18 on the reef side, with the resident octopus in a rock below the front door. We arrived to a ‘Welcome back’ message in flowers on our bed and Husnee kept our villa spotless throughout our stay. Thank you, Husnee. The water villas had started to show their age, so we were pleased to see the gradual replacement of worn plastic blinds with smart white wind breaks. We ate most meals in the over water restaurant, with its interesting menu and tasty, attractively presented food. Our waiter, Abdul (Ameen), had only been there three weeks but he did a great job, quickly getting to know our food and drink preferences, and entertaining us with his poems and chat, ranging from the meaning of life to Taylor Swift. As always, we found the Athuruga staff warm and welcoming, and were touched to be greeted by name as we walked around on the island. The weekly Maldivian dinners were as good as ever, and it was nice to bump into our waiter from the year before, Ali. Finally, of course, there was the house reef, with its wonderful variety of colourful marine life. We are counting the days till we return in October this year – beautiful wildlife, comfortable and relaxing surroundings, delicious food - well worth the five and a half thousand mile journey. We can’t wait. Jonathan and Margaret

Everything about this place is special, we couldn't wish for anything better for our honeymoon trip! Food was delicious, water willa was always clean and cosy with breathtaking views each morning, afternoon and evening. People was kind and helpful. It is not as big of a place as the others islands are, but it wasn't a problem for us - it was a treat. Because of it there were no kids, no loud people- it was just perfect. I really hope for getting back to this magical place some day.

We had a great time staying at this resort. Service and food were lways excellent (thanks to our waiter Mohamed and the whole kitchen and bar team) Diving with Davide, Jessica and Bas was always great fun. A very engaged crew and great dive spots. They were really open to my wishes and made sure that dives lasted as long as possible for everyone, by having small groups only. Equipment is also state of the art. Would book again:)

25 years after our honeymoon we decided to return to Athuruga. This is just an amazing experience to visit this beautiful island, you get a transfer from Male Airport via seaplane where you get views from above of islands dotted about in the Indian Ocean on your way to the South Ari Attol where Athuruga is located. From the minute you step onto this island you’ll realise you are in paradise!! You are treated exceptionally by all the friendly staff from the moment you step off your seaplane where you are met by your welcome team ( we were met by Gabrielle who was fantastic with us throughout our whole stay) right through to management, chefs, waiters, bar staff, water sports team and entertainment staff ( Jadda has the most amazing singing voice). The accommodation we had was a beach bungalow with private outside shower, personal sunloungers to use on beach or at the waters edge if you wish? The room is immaculate and maintained twice daily, mini bar is replenished daily also with water, soft drinks and beer. We stayed in a water bungalow on our last 2 days where we had our own steps into the blue crystal water only a couple of metres away from the beautiful Coral Reef where you can snorkel with clown fish (Nemo) needle fish, angel fish among many others, black tipped sharks, eagle rays and turtles. The quality of the water bungalow experience is very high and you can enjoy breakfast delivered and set up at your own table on your private decking. The water sports range from paddle boarding, canoeing, catamaran sailing, wind surfing, guided snorkelling round the island reef and scuba diving centre, all run by knowledgable/friendly instructors. The food is very varied with a different theme every night ranging from Italian, Chinese, BBQ, Mexican to Local Maldivian nights. The quality of food whether it be breakfast, lunch or dinner is to a very high standard and is delicious and cooked by extremely talented/friendly chefs. Our waiter (now friend!) Mohammed served us for the duration of our stay and was extremely professional and friendly and it was a pleasure to get to know him and chat about our respective families/lifes with each other. Make sure to get up early at least 1 morning to see the sunrise and watch the eagle rays and sharks play at the waters edge feet away from you… it’s breathtaking! Sunsets are just as good! You can make your holiday as relaxing or busy as you want with excursions available to fisherman’s island (free of charge) which is a local Maldivian island you travel to by Dhoni boat where you can purchase some hand crafted gifts to take home! You can also take trips to spot dolphins, manta rays and sharks and even snorkel with them if you wish and you will find these are at a reasonable cost. We must give a special mention to the following people who all made our return experience one we will treasure…. Personal waiter: Mohammed Entertainment/Welcoming: Gabrielle and Jadda Bar: Sabba Scuba Diving Centre: Philip and Jessica Water sports : Rashid We were fortunate enough to visit during World Ocean Week where The island Marine biologist ( unfortunately we have forgotten her name!!) informed us through daily activities to help highlight the importance of taking care of our beautiful marine life and trying to help re-establish Coral reef throughout the world. We cannot recommend this island enough and we look forward to returning! Andy and Sharon

This is unusual for me, as I'm writing this review whilst still at Arthuruga. The reason being that the weather is unfortunately so bad and I have time on my hands. This is our seventh visit to the Maldives and our 9th resort. Arthuruga is a beautiful island, small intimate,with a real remote feel. No groynes etc to spoil the view. It has many strengths and a couple of weaknesses. The reef here is stunning, the coral is beautiful a real joy to see it so healthy and colourful. A plethora of fish plus Sharks, Rays and Turtles. The food has been outstanding, from the buffet to the over water restaurant, absolutely delicious and so many options. The chef's really go above and beyond and we truly feel that it is incredibly important to them to achieve perfection and they certainly have, Thank you !. The staff !! Well I don't know if it's just luck, but we have always had lovely staff in The Maldives and Arthuruga has been no exception. Everyone has been so polite, so friendly and it's really made our holiday special and although we never like to return to an island, Arthuruga has definitely touched our hearts. I cannot think of the names of all the staff , I have a thing with names !! But from the chef's, wait staff Raushan and Nasoch, I hope I have spelt them correctly , forgive me if not,The bar staff, our wonderful room attendant Nazeer who rescued us on a stormy night and the lovely young man who has driven us in the buggy in the unruly weather, we thank you all, and all the staff who work so hard just maintaining everything, well done you really are a credit to the resort and you definitely make it the special place it is. We are in a water suite, it's very large and has a wonderful panoramic deck, you can see for miles on a good day. The bed is large and comfortable, plenty of closet space. We were hot overnight when we first arrived and mentioned this at the cocktail party to Jaco and his wife and as if by magic a lovely big fan was in our room when we returned, Thank you so much. Arthuruga is not a ultra modern swish resort, there are no TV'S, no super duper technology. The rooms are a bit jaded and yes you can see that it is an older resort and I hope that in time this is brought up to the standard of the overall quality of everything else. Now as I said at the beginning of this review, the reason for me writing it now is unfortunately the weather. We have had literally the worst weather we have ever had and we always visit in June July or August. Obviously the weather is not the resorts fault, it's just a real shame and rather disappointing as we are unable to sit on our beautiful deck of fear of being swept away! I hope tomorrow,our last day is kind and we see the sun and no gale force winds 🤞but I think alas we will be disappointed. But as our time at Arthuruga comes to an end, we have had a truly beautiful time, brilliant sunshine for the first 2 days, a wonderful romantic meal on the beach, which we really appreciated, it was so amazing and certainly added a few pounds!. Thank you pretty little Arthuruga, I hope we will return ( better weather next time 🤞)