Vilamendhoo Island Resort & Spa

The housereef is amazing and was better than many boat dives I participated in. The quality of the food in the Funama restaurant was excellent and the best I experienced in any ‘buffet’ restaurants in the past. Beach villa was great with just a few steps to the sea. All staff were extremely friendly. Only wish I could have stayed longer. Next time I hope the Whale sharks will make an appearance… just another good reason to return !

There isn't anything I could fault with this resort. We stayed in a jacuzzi beach villa so were on the adult only side of the island. Though we used all facilities on the island and enjoyed going to the main pool in the afternoon as there was more shade there. The staff were all friendly and helpful. Even if they weren't serving you and were just walking past there was always a friendly hello. Loved the extensive cocktail list and they all tasted delicious. At any of the bars and restaurants, it was always only a minute or two after you had sat down that a staff member would be there to greet you and take your order. The resort is extremely well maintained to the extent that most of it looks like it is new or just been put in. The rooms were large and comfortable with a well stocked mini bar. The best part for us was the snorkelling. We chose Vilamendhoo because they have one of the best house reefs and they really do. The reef is just a few meters off the beach and surrounds the island so it is a very short swim to the reef and then wow, it is like another whole world. Beautiful. It was great to be able to go out for a snorkel whenever you wanted and for however long (or short) you wanted without having to go out on a boat for a set amount of time. We travel extensively and usually like to try new places but would definitely be back to Vilamendhoo and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this resort. Thank you for an incredible stay.

I’m a music fan, and there’s no better way than Harry Belafonte’s “Island in the sun” to use describing how one can see and experience Vilamendhoo. Sure enough, people will find things to describe as negative, if you think the pathways around the restaurants are to hot , if you think the sand contains hard pieces…. But let’s be honest, that is picking on details you wouldn’t consider when you were at home on a sunny day, you would enjoy the sun. And Vilamendhoo adds a lot to the sun, to make your stay a party and a delight. Where can one start? Not our first visit to the Maldives, so a seaplane experience is not the biggest thing we had while arriving, but yet, going from the arrival hall to the seaplanes, with a splendid transfer to the island, we loved the smooth experience. Arriving on the island, with a delightful drink and friendly reception was welcome after the long journey, the room we got (water bungalow) was briljant, with a well used jacuzzi during our stay. Room cleaning and turn down service was great, minibar refills were always in time, more than sufficient water during our stay as well. Restaurants and bars, my goodness, where does one start? Always options, either enjoy the curry and rice, or enjoy the pasta/potato/vegie/meat during lunch and diner, while breakfast has a wide variety of options as well. Fresh juices, drinks served in time and always with a smile. Like we said, not the first visit to the Maldives, so we dare to compare. We have been at Veligandu and Fakarufalhi (Nova now), and we would rate Vilamendhoo as best price/quality option. The main reason for us to visit is marine life. And oh boy….. do you have some sea life circling the island. Seen sharks, turtles, 1.000 tropical fish, manta, eagle rays, muray eels. We enjoyed the island “ocean discovery” cruise, meaning we took a boat trip for a day, full service on board, ending with a dolphin guided sunset passage. Just very simple said, this island has given us what we bargained for. Absolute rest, piece, a splendid couples-time to refuel the engine and embrace beautiful memories. We will go back, which just shows what this review is worth, we just want to do it again… and again…..

This resort is brilliant. Wonderful staff, fantastic food and an amazing reef just off the beach - while snorkelling we saw an octopus for the first time in the wild. This was our second visit - we stayed at the same time last year... and we'll definitely be back for a third time. We have stayed in a water villa twice - they are so comfortable and have everything you need. We enjoyed the Ahima Restaurant for breakfast but chose to eat at either the Hot Rock or Asian Wok restaurants in the evenings (just because we prefer to be served rather than walking around the buffet). We fell in love with the Asian Wok this time - such flavourful food and brilliant staff. The only disappointment was the weather, but the resort can't do much about that. Hopefully we'll have cloudless blue skies next year. A big thank you to everyone who made our stay a wonderful experience.

This was our 10th visit to this beautiful paradise island that is our second home. From the moment we landed in Male we were treated to like VIP’s. A private shuttle to the seaplane followed by a wonderful reception by the Management team with a bouquet of red roses on arrival. We were escorted to our beach villa (special mention to Josef for granting the villa we requested). Inside we were greeted by a fabulous floral display on our bed which the wonderful room attendant Ilham had created. He was amazing. He was so attentive and pleasant. Nothing was too much trouble for him, and he always made time in the evening to talk to us. We ate in the Funama restaurant where another Ilham, our waiter for the fortnight was attentive and was always smiling. We always had interesting conversations with him, and he had a great sense of humour. It was great to see old friends (Robin and Sumesh). Loved the Maldivian Dream cocktail and the ”Ricky’s”. Our favourite though is the Asian Wok. “It’s always 5 o’clock on the Asian Wok”. We would have a drink on our favourite corner and see the sun going down. Jamshad was always there with a drink for us. He knew what we liked. We have to praise the other staff there too, Ameesha, Sinjita (sorry if I have spelt that wrong), Fauzan and the amazing chefs. The food is incredible, and we ate there many times. We also need to mention the General Manager (Zahir) who we had a fantastic Tepanyaki meal with on our penultimate night. Thank you so much for your hospitality that evening. We loved it and highly recommend it. We treated ourselves to a meal in the Hot Rocks Restaurant on the beach as we were celebrating 10 years since we became engaged on this island on Valentines Day. This was incredible and so delicious. Cannot believe that we hadn’t tried this before, but we will definitely be eating here again in future. It was wonderful to see the reef thriving and growing year on year. Vilamendhoo must have one of the best house reefs in the Maldives. We were treated to a “courtship” by 2 octopus, something that we have never seen before. There is so much sea life to see here, you can never get bored whether you snorkel or dive. The beaches are beautiful, and the sand keeps shifting up towards the spa and water villas. No shortage of sunbathing opportunities. I can understand why they get such large numbers of repeat guests at the cocktail party. Once you holiday here, you won’t want to go to another island but that is just our opinion. We didn’t go on any trips as we have done them before but if you have never snorkelled with whale sharks or manta rays, you are missing a real treat. The holiday just seemed to fly by. No need now to complete an IMUGA on your return journey. We were on the first sea plane back to Male where we were greeted again by private transfer to the airport. We cannot thank Zahir and his wonderful team enough for making our holiday extremely special this year. How do you top that, Zahir? We will see what you can do next year!!!