Heritance Aarah (Premium All Inclusive)

We had an incredible stay at Heritance Aarah, and we cannot thank the staff enough for making our honeymoon so special. First and foremost, a huge shoutout to Saurav, our butler, who was absolutely amazing. He went above and beyond to ensure our stay was seamless, helping us plan and make all the perfect reservations. His kindness and attention to detail truly made our experience unforgettable. We enjoyed a delightful dinner at Ralu restaurant, where Elina served us with such warmth and friendliness. She made our honeymoon dinner feel extra special! We later attended her coffee workshop, and the beautiful art she created with coffee was simply mesmerizing. At Ambula restaurant, Sapna served us with so much thoughtfulness and care. She ensured every detail was perfect, and her kind demeanor made our dining experience even more memorable. We also had the pleasure of meeting Ibrahim, the chef at Harrah restaurant, who was not only talented but the funniest person we met during our stay! He added such a cheerful vibe to the evening. The cocktails throughout our vacation were absolutely wonderful, with every drink crafted to perfection. Whether by the pool, at the beachside, or during dinner, they were a highlight of our days. The resort itself is stunning, with beautiful beaches that make every moment feel like a dream. One of the most unforgettable experiences was swimming with the rays and sharks – it was thrilling and magical to be so close to such incredible marine life. Thank you, Heritance Aarah, for the impeccable hospitality and the beautiful memories. Every experience has been wonderful, and we are loving every moment of our honeymoon. We can’t recommend this paradise enough!

Apparently there are over 170 island resorts in the Maldives but we have chosen to come to Heritance Arrah 3 years in a row! The reasons are many, wonderful villa's, superb premium all inclusive, clear turquoise water, excellent food, I could go on! But, what really draws us back are the people, there seems to be a magic ingredient that Heritance Arrah has, each person, front of house, gardeners, cleaners, maintenance, all greet you with a smile and offer service that is second to none. Our butler, Alessandra, really looked after us, nothing was too much trouble, she was so thoughtful and really helped make sure we had a holiday filled with magical times and memories. We can't recommend Heritance Arrah highly enough

Heritance was everything that we imagined. Luxurious, Welcoming & Beautiful. Loved everything about it. Our Guide Saurav did everything that we desired for, here. Be it booking activities and making our celebration even more special. Thankful to him and Heritance Group for making it worth it 🩵

Saurav was good…. and very helpful the stay was pleasant…… loved the rooms food was great ….good variety ….many fun activities …must visit ………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………….……………………………..

We had a wonderful 13 night stay at the Heritance in November of this year. We are fortunate enough to have visited the Maldives a couple of times before, staying at different Islands. What we have learned from this, is that each Island that we have visited all have their differences and their own unique selling points, and all have offered us wonderful holidays. Now back to Heritance. It felt very special being able to access the dedicated lounge at the sea plane terminal. My husband had a complimentary massage which he raved about. Snacks and soft drinks are also provided in the lounge with plenty of seating and day beds to relax on. The food options were limited to basic breakfast fare which I thought may have changed as we were there from mid morning until mid afternoon. We were slightly disappointed to have to wait approximately 4 hours for our sea plane transfer. We hoped to enjoy some of our first day on the island, but by the time we arrived, and taking into consideration that the Island is +1hr on Male, the day was largely done. On arrival we met our butler Preethan. Check in was smooth and we were soon in our room, a sunset beach villa as we had requested. We were very low maintenance guests in terms of the butler service, but having said that Preethan made attempts to seek us out everyday to check in. It was lovely getting to know him, we were very grateful for his assistance during our trip. All requests were responded to promptly, information was sent to us everyday, and we knew if we needed anything then Preethan would be sure to assist. We have not complaints about our villa (160), we loved it. Having stayed in overwater accommodation before the beach is definitely our favourite. Overwater villa’s often offer limited sun depending on their position, which would mean in order to lay in the sun you would need to go and lay by the main pool, or the infinity pool if you are in an ocean suite. Both pools are lovely, we just would not chose to lay by the pool when on an island. Our room was cleaned twice a day and looked after beautifully by Nasir, I hope I have remembered his name correctly. We chose Heritance for the excellent food and beverage offer available as part of the premium AI, and we were very satisfied with this during our stay. We enjoyed the buffet (Ranba), especially the Sri Lankan theme nights. Not only was the food amazing, it was really nice to be able to get recommendations from the Sri Lankan chefs who had made the dishes. Service could sometimes be a bit slow in terms of ordering drinks, but this is a minor gripe. We enjoyed all of the speciality restaurants. Ambula’s 8 tasting menu with wine was a very nice experience, we tried both the meat and vegetarian menus. We hoped to go back a third time and enjoy a combination of the two, but sadly we ran out of nights. The food we ate at Ralu was also delicious. One night we joined friends who had some fish prepared that had been caught when they went fishing. It was amazing, but the service of the fish was a bit confused. We all ordered starters, and my husband and I ordered a main, not knowing how much fish there was. Our friends did not order mains, and were not asked about any sides to go with their fish. The fish arrived with our starters, which we were not expecting, and there was lots of it, most of which remained untouched as we had main dishes ordered. We could have enquired more about how this would be served, how much there was etc. It was a communication issue not a food issue, because as I have said the food was always excellent. We enjoyed Ginifathi, but found the choices limited. It has two set fish menu’s that rotate. The fish was very enjoyable, but given the lack of other choices, I would say this was our least favourite, which was a shame because it was lovely to sit on the beach whist dining. We paid a supplement to eat at Baani and had a set 5 course menu, which again was fantastic. We had a lovely evening here, we enjoyed the ambiance created by the pianist who was willing to take requests. You need to enquire about the set menu, we nearly did not go as I would not have paid a supplement to eat from the main menu, as this is much like what is on offer at Ralu. The hospitality that we received in all of the restaurants was bang on. We spent our days on the beach, with the only downfall being the snorkelling. I can’t in all honestly say that the house reef doesn’t compare to where we have been before, because we really did not spend enough time on it. The weather was quite windy when we visited and the sea choppy, this made accessing the reef drop off from the beach a little too precarious as the water is shallow, and the waves made trying to clear the coral challenging. We heard people say that the reef needs time to recover as a result of the development of the resort. My husband is a diver, but didn’t dive. The dives are expensive, and they charge you twice for your equipment even when booking 2 consecutive dives. He also found the snorkelling masks let in water, and so this coupled with the cost deterred him from doing something he would always usually do. We were not expecting much in terms of evening entertainment looking at reviews before booking. We thought we were sacrificing this for the food and bevarages. How wrong were we. I don’t think we stayed up as late night after night on any other island. Whilst it was the case when we visited that lots of guests go to bed fairly early, we and a few others, sometimes just us as it got later enjoyed the band and the DJ. Over the course of the stay we became friendly with Angel and Jeff from Angel Strings the resident band. What can I say about these two other than they are phenomenal. The energy that Angel brings whenever she performs is contagious. The effort that they put in to learning songs that are requested whatever the language is mind blowing. What I will say is if you like your music, and if you want a bit of a party vibe then the band and the DJ will oblige. We are sociable on holiday and that includes our interactions with the staff, we really like to interact with the staff and get to know them. The guys at Bandhi Pool Bar were FABULOUS. Shehan, Chameera, Chandika and Tharaka you all made our holiday. Thanks for the constant flow of drinks and banter, and also for introducing me to Aarak!!! THANK YOU Chameera for inviting us as your guests to watch you and your F&B colleagues compete in a resort cocktail making competition to represent the hotel. How privileged we felt to be part of this. The talent that was showcased was so inspiring, this skills on show were incredible in terms of mixology, and belied the fact that many of the staff demonstrating these do not drink alcohol. It was super special to see Chameera get recognised for his cocktail creation. Keep mixing Chameera! We would like to praise all of the staff as we found all of them to be incredibly hard working and dedicated, we enjoyed meeting and chatting to those that we came into contact with. Their hospitality was second to none. This extends to the staff in the gym and recreation area as well, always friendly and helpful. We have so many fond memories of our stay. We’d love to return again soon. Thank you all at Heritance Aarah