Makunudu Island Resort

This is a world class resort, albeit on a small scale (72 beds). A true desert island situated in the North Male Atoll. Its clients are mainly returning guests who seek rest, relaxation and good food in a delightful and unpretentious environment. The warm sea and coral reef are your entertainment - with an accomplished dive team to help you enjoy it. No pools, swim up bars or other distractions spoil your relaxation. The staff, led by the GM and Operations Manager (Soonil) are very much in evidence and provide leadership and advice to a well trained staff who would be a credit to any European five star hotel. The Kitchen Brigade, mainly from Sri Lanka, provide a buffet and a la carte service of a very high standard, which compliments the delightful, rustic and very Maldivian dinning room and bar. The House Staff are mainly Maldivian drawn from all Atolls; it was a pleasure to chat to a few from Addu, so far from their home Atoll in the south, (memories of Gan being close to our hearts) as well as the ladies from the Naga Hills in Assam (to whom the British Army owes so much, and so many Commonwealth sons lie forever in their care. We remember and are grateful) (Your postcard is on the way Imli.) The Spa is excellent and provides a variety of treatments to those in need of their skilled hands. The guest accommodation, mainly crushed coral and hard wood construction, is spacious and all villas open on to the beach with a private outdoor lounging area. The Resort was one of the first to open in the Maldives and the accommodation reflects this. The King beds are very comfortable, but the bathrooms could do with an upgrade (in hand I understand). However, they are perfectly serviceable and are of an indoor/outdoor nature. The villas are serviced twice a day, and nothing is too much trouble for your room attendant. In summary, this little tropical gem is one of a very few true desert islands that provide accommodation and service to the small but discerning clientele who seek true rest and relaxation from a highly trained team who understand hospitality. As so many guests say to the GM on leaving - " change nothing (apart from the bathrooms)" That says it all. Thank you to you all. C &J G-W 12 August 2024

We have a wonderful short stay in this small and amazing island resort. We were greeted by warm and friendly front desk staff. We booked 4 beach villas, and our villa is spacious and has a lovely traditional Maldivian design. The white sandy beach is beautiful, and we also spotted a few baby sharks along the jetty area. The trails to the room are covered with well maintained trees and plants; providing a lovely canopy. Needless to say, it makes you connect to the beauty of nature. We enjoyed the delicious food, barbecue night, and the good service from the F&B team. A special thanks to Ms. Tharanga, who arranged our stay, Amitha and Bashka, for their friendly and outstanding services. Thank you, Manukudu Island Resort, for making our stay extra memorable, particularly a farewell for our friend.

I visited Makunudu with my wife back in 2021 and had a great experience at the property and the snorkelling around it. The reason for my review and rating now is that I did my first ever Scuba dive at this resort and still remember it to this day. We had a Discover Scuba session as a part of our package and dive master Claudia took us out to the water while it was raining and stormy with high-speed winds blowing. I am now a certified diver and have done dives in a few countries to know how irresponsible that was of the dive centre to take out two first timers in those conditions simply because we were 'suited up' . The island has two shores and we were taken to the water on both and had to exit the water because of how bad the conditions were. After giving up on the day, we decided to do it the next day and ended up doing two more dives with them, but to my shock they charged us for even the session that should never have happened because of adverse weather. Request the management to kindly take note, and that while divers sign waivers to incidents, it does not waive the responsibility of the dive masters to use their good sense and experience. Diving is a serious sport with risk to life, and any incident on the property assumes responsibility towards the management as well.

We do not usually return to a resort as have been disappointed by others in the past. We are on our last full day of a thirteen day stay, and our second visit to Makunudu. It was great to see so many familiar faces in the resort, the staff are obviously well looked after. Our waiter in the restaurant this time was Lasantha, and he was excellent, very attentive and friendly. It was also good to see Anwar who looked after us on our previous stay. We should also mention the other restaurant and bar staff are all very friendly, we felt very welcome. The food and drink was excellent right through, with lots of choice. We particularly linked choosing from a menu for the 5 days out of 7 when this was available for our evening meal, We started our stay in bungalow No. 6 which unfortunately was not suitable for us, but after a request to the reception staff, they moved us the following day to bungalow No. 1 which was excellent, The room was serviced by Abu Talib, who also looked after us on our previous stay, and he was excellent for us. We had a total of five visits to the spa, unfortunately one of the ladies was on leave, so we could not have a ‘couples’ treatment together. However, the treatments we did have were excellent. The snorkelling around the island was just as good as our previous visit, so many corals, lots of different types of fish, sharks and turtles, it was heaven. We look forward to returning again.

we arrived to spend 5 days relaxing after a lovely 10 days in India. we arrived on the Island by speed boat which takes about 40 minutes from the main Island. Be warned it can get very bumpy , so if you have back problems, then best take the sea plane. On arrival we were warmly welcomed by the staff and shown to our bungalow. All of them face the sea. Room was clean and tidy. The shower room was open so you could gaze up to the sky whilst showering. The restaurant and bar area was very nice and the food was mostly a buffet affair, and catered for everyone. Staff were attentive and friendly. We had a complimentary 30 minute massage and also snorkelling. Every evening there was some sort of entertainment if you so wished. This is the perfect Island to come and relax and enjoy the wildlife and peace and quiet