Hurawalhi Island Resort

We had a wonderful stay at Hurawalhi Island in a wonderful and extraordinary location. All the staff made any efforts to let us feel like kings and queens! A special thank you goes to Matheen, who served us in our pool villa at my surprise birthday dinner and he was a few days later our private snorkle guide. With his sparkling energy he's such a lovely guy. Also Ravi from the Gym teached a very good Yoga course! Thank you of course also from my side to Sam and Yum, which made our stay unforgettable. We will come again - promised! Suzanne Wirz with René Sidler

We went to this resort for our honeymoon and it was perfect! To begin with the island itself: it is one of the most beautiful islands you can imagine! Great mostly intact housereef basically all around the island. Due to the fact that the resort keeps the natural seagrass you have lots of turtles and other special marinelife which you can see from your overwatervilla. Also the facilities on the island itself are great and well maintained. Next up is the food which is superb! Whether you go to the buffet restaurant (canelli) or the other a la carte restaurants (kashibo/JFK) the quality and taste is amazing! The villas itself are very spacious and extremely clean - there is room service 2 times a day!!! But the island would be nothing without its wonderful staff! They make your stay even more special! Special mentions go to Faruk at Canelli who is the most heartwarming and friendly person you can imagine. Also Jessica, Suresh and Shurey made our meals very special. We could go on mentioning more staff but basically they where all great. In general if you like a resort that doesn’t feel overcrowded and where you can relax and enjoy your holiday you’re at the right adress! The only unfortunate thing are some of the guests themselves who seem not to be educated or don’t care about NOT STEPPING ON CORALS!!!! It would be nice to see more steps taken to ensure that the guests value the mostly intact reef and it would be nice if it stay’s that way.

My husband and I visited the Maldives for the 8th time recently and did a 3 split stay over 3 weeks. Hurawahli was our 3rd resort and our 19th resort overall . We arrived in Hura and were met with the drums and a warm welcome from the friendly GM and assistant GM Mr Bahau who could not have been any kinder to us during our stay, he really made our stay special! . We spent quite a bit of time chatting with the friendly GM also who is Japanese….. Akira Shiota. We talked mostly about the seafood business and Japan as we were in Japan a few weeks ago our 3rd trip and a favorite country. Our butler Afrah gave us the island tour and took us to our villa of choice 259 the last one on the jetty. So happy to be assigned this room as it feels like the best one on the jetty! Hura is an intimate little island which feels similar to PHH in size and vibes…… It typically takes us a couple days to settle in and get a proper feel for the resort , The room at Hura is smaller than Dusit and less upscale than # 51 at PHH with its floor to ceiling glass but it is really lovely, with an understated elegance and the deck is quite large with a comfortable sofa with colorful pillows to hang out in. The 2 person large open air shower in the bathroom is a nice touch! The views are stunning , a rainbow of aqua colors to the horizon broken up only by the blindingly beautiful white sand bank shimmering in the distance. There are other islands within the view so it is not as remote as PHH but like Como Cocoa which we loved it is not a deal breaker and everything else makes up for it. The deck however does not feel quite as private as the other 2 resorts we visited this trip. The food at Canneli the buffet restaurant is absolutely amazing , top tier for the Maldives and of Michelin star quality with artistic flair and presentation . There are a handful of this quality that we have found in our 19 resorts…..to our surprise we even had fresh oysters flown in from France every evenings we were there! . We have been very impressed with the food at every meal as well as the dining atmosphere in the buffet which is very romantic and lovely in the evenings with tables lined up along the waters edge and the mood lighting in the palms. . I think we will be taking all our meals in the buffet although I’m certain the other restaurants including the 5.8 undersea are a delicious gourmet experience as well! Coco bar is in a gorgeous setting near the pool but we were a bit surprised there was no happy hour …. We had the pleasure and privilege of meeting the executive head chef at breakfast Harshal Antil this morning and chatting with him and the assistant GM for some time. He is from India and is also in charge of the upscale sister resort kudadoo Maldives private island. We are foodies and especially enjoyed talking with him about all things seafood including the smoked fish which we do for subsistence purposes in Alaska . He is on top of his game and was voted Maldivian chef of the year which is quite an honor in the Maldives. The dreamy, “take your breath away” beauty of Hurawahli island and the multicolored turquoise waters surrounding it are exquisite ! From the champagne pavilion at the end of the jetty the lagoon stretching out behind it towards the sunset is reminiscent of room 245 in Vakkaru with endless shades of blues and greens reflecting in the sunlight. Did I say how much we enjoyed this island? I need to mention the reef! We swam clockwise from our room the first day and made it to the end of the island and headed back the same way . I think the length of the jetty is the same length as the island itself.. we saw large schools of the tropical fish all sizes and colors as well as a huge stingray resting on the sandy bottom , numerous black tips and turtles…..we had fair current for awhile then fought the current coming back up the reef. It’s not a circular island you swim around rather you lose the drop off for awhile near the jetty’s and boating areas then pick it up again. Today we swam around the island but we went out from our room and turned left which worked out much better ! The end of the island out from the overwater villas is very fishy and we saw 4 eagle rays , many turtles and black tips….. it was fair current all down the other side of the jetty where the even numbered rooms are and we didn’t get the current against us until we were around the undersea restaurant area on the other side then it was a little push to swim back to our villa 259 …the reef is quite good and we feel fortunate all three islands have had amazing reefs ! There is a well located gym with views out over the water and a game room which we have used often to play ping pong. It is an unpretentious adults only low key island which suits us well and we enjoyed it immensely ! We loved lazing on the deck after our swims, our infinity pool was a good size the biggest of the 3 resorts by far…. The staff was all lovely and full of smiles! , I can’t name them all but Afrah our butler was helpful, our house cleaner Asset did a great job . Waiters Anees, Jessica, Shurrey, Salaam and the others were wonderful ! We highly recommend little Hurawahli a traditional barefoot island for a dreamy and romantic stay in the mesmerizing Maldives !

This was our sixteenth visit. Do we really need to say more as we clearly love it? It is so well run and so beautiful with great food and a great house reef. It is adults only which is a fundamental requirement of ours. It is peaceful with plenty of space.