My husband and I stayed at Gili for 6 nights over New Years and what an amazing holiday it was.
Absolute 5 star food/dining, some of the best food we have ever had. Compliments to Chef John!
I miss having my mango and strawberry smoothies for breakfast.
My husband and I took a cooking class with Chef John which was just amazing. The chef cooked up a feast whilst the rest of us watched and drank wine.
The sunset Dolphin cruise was just amazing too, we were lucky enough to see a number of baby Dolphin pods put on a spectaculr show for us. Gasim sang and danced on the boat which entertained us as well. What a great guy.
Our Mr Friday (Gasim) was excellent, as well as Prasana who worked in the beach resturant. They were both always happy to help with anything and always did it with a smile.
The beds were sooo comfortable, I've never slept so well in a resort/hotel before. It was like sleeping on clouds. The room cleaners were fabulous too. They would literally wait at the end of the jetty on their bikes every morning, waiting for us to leave our room and they'd be in there straight away whilst we had breakfast, so by the time we finished breakfast our room was already clean when we got back to it. The service was incredible. 5 star.

A special thanks to Iian, Chef John, Gasim and Prasana for fulfilling our special requests and making our stay so wonderful.
We cannot wait to come back in the near future.

Only thing I would recommend is paying for meals/expenses on a daily basis (at the end of each day) so you don't forget what you ordered. A number of items popped up on our bill when we went to pay our final bill upon checking out. Items which we didn't order or had already been paid for in the package deal with the travel agent. I'm sure they were simple mistakes which were deducted off the bill when I questioned them.
Otherwise complete luxury, I can't wait to go back.

I can't begin to say enough wonderful things about this resort!

Upon arrival my husband and I were very ill (unrelated to the Gili Resort). The hotel could not be more accomodating, kind and worried about us the entire stay. Our "Mr.Friday" (his name was Shifaz- HIGHLY recommend requesting him if you plan to stay at this resort) was very attentive and constantly checked in on us, brought us medicine from the mainland in Male and ensured we were provided with the best level of service throughout our stay.

The "No Shoes No News" policy of the hotel made for a relaxing experience during our honeymoon. Our over the water villa was upgraded, at no fee, to include a private gym, steam room, jacuzzi and 2 sun deck- upstairs and downstairs. The sea life that we saw was out of this world! There was no need to even snorkle based on the sea life thatw as basically at our front "porch" every morning and night.

The over the water villa set-up...
The bathroom was detached from the bedroom which was a nice touch. The bedroom was very spacious, as well as the bathroom. This is indeed a honeymoon or family resort. However, i would highly recommed it for anyone considering vacationing in the Maldives try this very authentic bare foot resort.

Peace, quiet, luxury, excellent standards, excellent service, excellent accommodation, beautiful beaches. Everyone knows what to expect in the Maldives – and this resort offers all of the above and bit more too.

The best way to describe Gilli is “understated luxury”. Absolute perfection of service, food, facilities and accommodation without the stuffiness and dressiness of other top class resorts. They take your shoes when you arrive. There is no front desk – you have your own “Mr Friday” who is on call (ours was called Atheef and was superb). It doesn’t take long for the staff to know you by name but it’s also easy to keep your anonymity if you want. Shorts and t-shirts are acceptable attire at any time, anywhere on the island. Everyone is so friendly and genuinely wants to help and make sure you have a great experience, all under the watchful, attentive and superb eye of the Resort Manager - the wonderful Alec!

Gili has a reputation amongst locals as the ‘one to work for’ because staff are valued and cared for. This is probably the ‘secret sauce’ that makes for a very genuine and enjoyable environment. That, and the fact that the owners injected significant amounts to improve back-of-house facilities. Note that there are 300 staff for a maximum of 100 guests.

Things to try are: a massage (ask for Tree), morning yoga with Dave (although I’m sure he’s not really called Dave), wine tasting with Rohan (what a great guy), Dolphin spotting (hope you get lucky – we did and it was amazing), snorkelling (wow)!

When it comes to food, the breakfast is superb (from sushi to congee to bacon to curry to porridge to croissant to (lots of) fresh fruit...you get the picture). Everything is fresh and prepared on site from top quality ingredients. I recommend the wholemeal pan au chocolate. There are two evening buffets each week: the Mediterranean and the Asian. I never thought I’d actually enjoy kebabs as much as I did at the Mediterranean buffet – you have to try the schwarma. The Asian buffet, however, deserves a special mention. Chefs are invited to represent their home country’s cuisine or one they particularly love. The buffet is set up as a street market with food from The Maldives, India, Sri Lanka, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan etc. The chefs pour their hearts into the cooking and are delighted when guests want to learn more about their dishes – the origins, ingredients, how is it cooked, why it was chosen. In that brief moment, the chefs are at the centre of the magic of Gilli – it is their moment. Under candle light and to the sound of the gently lapping waves in the background, guests are merely bystanders in the wonder of this culinary expression of national pride and tradition.

I would have to say that this is the best resort that I have ever stayed at. That is a difficult title to bestow, as so many different things factor into your total experience, but at Gili, everything came out tops! From the initial welcome at the island to our last few minutes at the airport, service was seamless. One thing that made our stay so amazing was our villa - the standard overwater bungalow at Gili. It was huge and beautifully laid out, and the decor blended into the surroundings, making our stay relaxing and enjoyable. I believe the villas at Gili are some of the largest over water bungalows in the Maldives - with a bedroom, living room, patio, rooftop terrace and huge open air bathroom. Superb snorkeling just off our patio - huge amounts of beautiful fish, giant clams, turtles, eels, manta rays - even sharks! We never wanted to leave our villa and had dinner there many nights. The food was awesome - so many different cuisines are available and they are all great due to their team of international chefs. Indian, Italian, Japanese, Thai food were all fantastic - rarely is one place able to provide such a wide array of cuisines and execute them all well. My husband and I are vegetarian and we were well catered to with many options - they were pretty much able to make anything we wanted! :-) The food & wine was actually not as expensive as we had feared - about the same as you would pay in NYC. The breakfast buffet is fantastic with so many options we never got bored, which is pretty rare for us. Spa was fantastic, but obviously not cheap. There is glass flooring below the massage tables so you can watch all the beautiful fish while getting a massage - I thought that was pretty cool! Complimentary morning yoga sessions were awesome - how great is it to do yoga on the beach as the sun rises - instructor was top notch too. Husband and I loved the fact that everything was luxurious, yet relaxed, and you were encouraged to follow the "no shoes, no news" mantra. The only drawback to such a resort is that we stayed here at the beginning of our 2 week vacation - everywhere else was such a letdown. I will be begging my husband to take me back here very soon!