lmao Nakatcha ! i totally agree "houses" sounds awful .. makes me think of either home or else brings up images of some institutional dormitory (boarding school , insane asylum, etc)

but "rejuvenation" instead of just "wellness" - now that i can go for ! if i pay extra ..are they going to make me 21 again ?

loving it!

I have just returned from Naladhu and cannot praise the resort highly enough.

I too was skeptical about the use of the word house to discribe the accommodation but once I arrived I can see and fully understand the use of the word.

Its like staying at a friends very upmarket beach house. Totally comfortable with an eclectic mix of decor - just like you would expect a beach house to be.

Service is second to none and having seen ALL the five star resorts in the Maldives, I have to say this is six star stuff.

Naladhu is actually the best resort in the Maldives at present and should be acknowledged as such.

They do need to improve their website though as it truly does not show what an amazing place this is.

(said wistfully) I'd still much rather have a rondavel

Dear Nakatcha,

Read yr report and understood yr concern.

Rondavels are round, and are indiginous to Africa.

The Maldives, being located in the middle of the Indian Ocean, offered us "Ge" (pronounced gey) which means "house" in Dhivehi, the Maldivian language. Unfortunately Ge didnt get approval.

"House", while agreed, sounds unimaginative at first, was chosen to create something akin to your own dream beach home in the Maldives. Villa sounded too Ibiza, bugalows sounded too Imperial India, pavilions too Thai, Retreats too Spa... and so on.

Any other suggestions gadly recieved.

Julian Coombs

Coombs Associates

Interior Designer

Julian, I think from what I have seen that the name is perfect. We are going for a week in May and I am more excited than I have ever been for a holidy in my life (although, having said that, it is in direct proportion to the cost!!). Congratulations on what look like the most beautiful accommodation in the Maldives I have seen so far.

Incidentally, I have a question for you, if you visited the island during your design process. Would you recommend an Ocean over a Beach House?? I like the idea of unobstructed views of the Ocean, but at the same time we like chilling outside in the evening and I think it might be a bit windy in the Ocean villas...... not the worst dilemma in the world to have admittedly but it's killing me!! Both are the same price for the offer we're taking, so we can do either.

Advice??

Well at least if you get an Ocean House you wont have to worry about the "riffraff"

from those "budget" islands across the lagoon wandering up on your beach during low tide..(smiles)...

Of course if you get a Beach House you wont just be contending with the "riffraff" but also your neighbors from the Ocean Houses who have discovered that the water is too rough on their side of the island to actually get into the ocean so they come over and take up your beach ....

I doubt Julian will answer the question - he only ever posted once and that was 2 yrs ago LOL.

Thus the reason why I decided to offer some unsolicited advice to voyager Emu. I figured it was doubtful that Julian had been waiting around for two years monitoring the forum everyday waiting for someone to actually respond to his post (smiles).

At least we can't fault voyager for NOT using the search function....

Oh by the way voyager the problems with the ocean being rough and various transients invading your beach weren't just something I made up... those are actual complaints from people who have stayed there.

Skibum- we have naladhu as a back up option should velassaru all go belly up. It was between the 2 places. Vel. Won on price. What's this about transient people wandering along naladhu beach? I know it's connected to .... Anantara is it? And you can use their facilities via a bridge but they not allowed on naladhu as small and exclusive. So what's this about budget places-? Please elaborate? Could do with knowing in case Velassaru doesn't work out! Whole point is it's a small hideaway- don't want people wandering across the place??

Mooseyard

First of all let me say that after reading the recent reviews of naladhu I dont see any complaints about people wandering up on their beach front so perhaps the issue is no longer an issue.

I'm not exactly clear what you are saying. Is somebody offering to let you go to Naladhu for the same price as Velassaru??

If thats the case I would grab that deal in a heartbeat despite my reservations about the Anantara triangle of resorts.

Here is a photo showing Naladhu Anantara Dhigu (the long skinny resort) and Anantara Veli (the one that connects to Naladhu via a bridge).

malediven.at/resorts/boduhuraa-dhigufinolhu-…

As you can see from the photo the lagoon that is in the middle of these three resorts is very shallow during low tide and would allow people to wade between the islands.

If this is no longer a problem on Naladhu then I stand corrected. It would appear that the rooms (houses) on Naladhu are quite nice and I think its fair to say the whole place is a step up from what we have seen at Velassaru (of course the quoted prices for the two places are also quite different)

So if somebody is willing to send you to Naladhu I certainly wouldnt turn them down. My problem with the Anantara "complex" is that the islands are so close together that it doesnt really give you an isolated feeling (its basically about a thousand feet between the islands). Also if you are interested in snorkel activities its not the place to go but then Velassaru isn't the most magical house reef either. If you just are interested in a laid back experience without a lot of water activities than either would be just fine.