Emerald Faarufushi Resort & Spa

This is an absolutely stunning island, with beautiful scenery and delicious food. What moved me the most was the privilege of meeting a very thoughtful housekeeper, Jasmine (Jiang). She is diligent and responsible in her work, helping us book activities and restaurants, and promptly answering all sorts of questions with great attentiveness and care.

We liked these hotel. Food is good, staff is good especially Faya. I will go again here. They give us free trip, fishing , it was a really good experience. We enjoy here every moment. Restaurant Mediterano need some improvement in taste of the food.

This was our first trip to the Maldives, and Emerald Faarufushi was the second resort we visited. I am going to be honest now and say that I was expecting it to be a bit of a downgrade from the first resort, and I was completely wrong. It ended up beating all expectations and I liked it better than the first resort overall! WELCOME: The lovely welcome, as well as the glass of bubbles and short chat with the manager (Rao? So sorry we forgot to write it down, but we appreciated him speaking with us when we got there and again at the cocktail hour) was perfect. We also got to meet Jenna, who was our host, and absolutely fantastic. ISLAND: This island had more than three times the number of villas that our first island had, but it never felt crowded at all. I was concerned about how the seawalls would look, but it turns out they look very natural. The previous island we were at had these huge sand bags and they were very ugly. I was pleasantly surprised with the island views. FOOD: The breakfast buffet was the perfect size IMO. And for me the pastries were the real standouts. They looked as good as they tasted and there was always a large selection to choose from! The pastry chef deserves a raise :D. Lunch was either at the buffet or the Beach Club. You could also get snacks at the pool. The lunch at the Beach Club was my favorite because the views were fantastic, with delicious food. We tried all of the restaurants for dinner except for the buffet. Our favorites were LeAsiatique and Mediterraneo. Yum! All the food we had we enjoyed. VILLA: Our sunrise OPV was huge! It felt so great to stretch out and have several spots to sit. The outdoor deck was really big, and the size of the pool was perfect. We would have sun until around 2ish. I spent hours daily in the pool (great temperature) reading and staring at the view. The steps lead you right into the sea, as well. Just watch the tides and don't step on any coral. BIKES: It was fun to ride the bikes. Riding on the sand at the beginning of the week wasn't the easiest, but by the end of the week it was no big deal at all. The person managing the bikes did a good job of getting us a different bike when one of ours was too small. CLASSES: We took a cocktail making class and a sushi class. It's nice that Emerald has these sorts of activities for other things to do. SPA: You can reserve the spa for free for an hour to use their steam room and their cold pool and regular pool and relaxation areas. I highly suggest it. It's very peaceful in there and it was fun going from the steam room to the cold plunge. We also had a couple's massage and it was fantastic! SNORKELING: The snorkeling at the end of the pier by Mediterraneo was much better than I expected. There's a big, curious unicorn fish that lives right by the ladder getting in, which is fun. I named him George. There are schools of fishes, and it was quite clear. It's nice they have the life rings spaced out for weaker swimmers, too. The fins they provided worked very well, as well. POOL: I'm glad we discovered the pool. The beds and service were great. The pool is nice and large and after breakfast and early afternoon it was a great place to chill out and enjoy the views. ECLIPSE BAR: We stayed at a sunrise villa, so we enjoyed going to the Eclipse bar to watch the sunset. It's truly beautiful and fun to watch the fish at night. The cocktails are really good, as well, so props to the head bartender that created them. The wine list is also quite good, which was a nice surprise. STAFF: The staff were excellent. They all really seemed to want to make sure you were enjoying yourself. I'm going to list a few particular standouts to us: As mentioned above, Jenna our hostess with the mostess was fantastic. She was extremely quick to answer any questions or make reservations, etc. She visited our table nightly to see how our day went and just to chat. She's very special and a great asset to EF. Our shining star was Irman, who cleaned our villa. Irman kept our villa spotless and was fantastic to chat. Irman is a gifted artist between the notes he left us and his floral art on the table/bed. He always had a smile on his face and was my favorite person at EF. I really think he and Jenna are the dream team. We felt so lucky to have them both. Ammy at LeAsiatique was so sweet and fun to talk with. We also loved running into Aniket at the bar or the pool. He always had a smile on his face and was lovely to chat with. Management wise, we went to the cocktail hour and talked to Rao (?) again, as well as the housing manager (not sure the proper title, but Irman's manager), and Patrick the GM. We also spoke to the restaurant manager (and raved about the pastry chef) there and ran into him again later in the week when he was checking how things were. I was impressed with how management checked to make sure everything was going well and to see if we needed anything. This was a huge difference for us that we really appreciated. SUGGESTIONS: No place is absolutely perfect (although EF is close!), so a few suggestions. The biggest one for me is to have signs/arrows for which side of the road people should ride their bike on. It was a free for all and a couple times there were almost crashes, which is scary especially when you're riding on the pier. Another suggestion is having some adults only classes. I know there are family classes/activities, but there weren't any adults only for the couples. I was quite surprised when a young person was at the cocktail class. Finally maybe have some water to rinse at the end of the pier where the snorkeling is because it gets extremely hot and there isn't a hose. A hose would be preferred, but not sure that is possible. These are very small things, but just thought I'd put them out there as possible improvements. OVERALL: We thoroughly enjoyed our time at EF and if we ever make that long, long trip to the Maldives again we 100% will return to EF. It was absolutely fantastic and I can't recommend it enough.

This resort was so much more than we expected. From the villas to the staff, everything was wonderful! Our villa host, Jenna, went above and beyond for us! She made our itinerary before we arrived! We’ve never had this level of customer service from any other resort we’ve been. The bartender Rana (not sure if his name is spelled correctly) was wonderful as well. All you had to do was tell him what kind of drinks you like and he would come up with the best cocktails! All of the staff at the resort remember you by name each and every time we interacted with them! This is a place that we would highly recommend!

“Emerald Fuaarfushin is an absolutely incredible experience! The attention to detail, the quality, and the passion behind it are truly outstanding. Everything about it is top-notch, from the atmosphere to the service. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for excellence and a unique experience. A true gem!”