Lily Beach Resort & Spa

All members of our holiday group have sent detailed private feedback to Lily Beach and received no reply. However, I am sure Monsieur Driole will reply to this review as he has all other reviews on TripAdvisor. We visited the Maldives in July and stayed at 4 different resorts consecutively, all within the South Ari Atoll. We stayed at Lily Beach for 8 days in the newly renovated Beach Residence. The accommodation was fine and our housekeeper was fantastic. The outside bathroom was a strange design as it is all completely outside. I never used the bath because to be honest who wants a bath in 30C heat and the toilet always had a slightly unpleasant smell because it was also out in the heat. The AC was constantly dripping and there were water stains on the ceiling. The resort itself is quite old and as such is in need of renovation. The furniture at Aqua was falling apart. The pool tables, darts and table tennis bats and table all need maintenance. The swimming pools and beaches however were well maintained. The staff are on the whole incedibly friendly and attentive. The food is so so. Certainly not five star standard, no where near the standard of a Maldives resort like Finolhu and definitely not as good as Outrigger resort (5 minutes away by speedboat). I found cellophane in my salad at Aqua. We had a lovely meal at Tamarind and Vibes was good but the buffet was severely underwhelming. The house reef is great for snorkelling. We found the section of reef near the dive centre to be the best. The snorkelling excursion was a bit of a waste of time we found. We were with a large group of people who could barely swim and the guides spent most of the time shouting at them to stay off the top of the reef. The top of the reef could be easily cleared by a competent swimmer and was where the most interesting fish and coral were but we were all forced to swim near the open water. There was nothing more exciting to see here than can be seen on the house reef. The nurse shark tour was excellent and the resort staff very helpful and friendly. They couldn't do more to make the tour a success and they will take photos of you with the sharks. The day we went there were a lot of other people on the tour and it did feel a little overcrowded, especially as many of the guests can barely swim and their wayward fins were a constant menace to the sharks and guests that can swim. Our villa came with a 24hr butler. We found him to be quite intrusive at times when we didn't need assistance and unresponsive at others when we requested his services. He didn't elevate our stay. Kina, the trainee butler that we had for the first few days was fantastic and we all got on well with him. He would play games with our teenage son and nothing was too much trouble. He was always polite, friendly and efficient. We really wanted to have him remain our butler for our entire stay but he was moved to another villa. The dive centre was excellent and I can highly recommend Ludwig and his team. Overall we had a very pleasant stay but I'd say it would be unlikely that we would go back as we have stayed at resorts in the South Ari Atoll that we have preferred.

Unforgettable vacations with unforgettable people in a paradise that will always be in our hearts. We will return!!!

This is a very beautiful island with beautiful scenery. I like the food at Tamarind restaurant, it is very classic Thai food and Indian food. We did coral garden snorkeling, it was a great trip. We met some of reception staffs, they were very nice Kina, razzan, Abby. I think we will come back again. See you Lilybeach!

Beautiful place, delicious food, attentive service. It is an impressive experience. If I have chance, I will visit again.

we love lily beach. The food the snorkeling around the house reef and also the staffs are super cool. we can't wait to comeback again. we will surely encourage everyone to come and enjoy their vacation at lily beach. The guys at reception Nasheeth and Vaarish were very friendly and helpful. Thank you so much