Ihuru is an absolutely stunning, intimate island with what must be one of the best house reefs in the Maldives. We went to Meeru two years ago and stayed in a Water Villa but Angsana Ihuru completely eclipses that experience, it is in a different league.

All of the staff, from being met at the airport and on the island itself to the housekeepers and waiters, are excellent, friendly and seem to enjoy their work.

The villas are well appointed, contemporarily furnished, decorated and have granite tops in the bathroom, additionally having a garden area with Maldivian swing is a nice touch and ideal for escaping the sun in the afternoon.

Whilst the food is generally very good it is on a 'weekly rota' so if you are staying longer than 7 nights it will repeat itself. Dinner alternates between a la carte and buffet, lunch is always buffet as is breakfast, as we have very little will power we found ourselves eating 3 large meals a day, usually with a curry dish featuring every lunch and dinner. My only critisism would be a lack of choice at breakfast, so I ended up with toast and fruit every morning, I did however convince myself, and my wife, that this would of course offset the effects of curry at both lunch and dinner.
The wine list is very good but unfortunately only a handful are available by the glass.

As I've already said the house reef and it's marine wildlife are both oustanding, the reef completely encirles the island and at some points is only a few yards from the beach.

Overall our experience has been fantastic, we don't normally like to return to holiday destinations but Angsana would certainly merit another visit.

As a slight aside another reviewer has mentioned the timing of Emirates flights, 2.20AM, and having to hang around the airport for hours. We left Angsana at 3.00PM, but had booked a room at the airport hotel, Hulule, there are two alternatives, a day room which needs to be vacated by 10.00PM or if you book for the night you can check out whenever you like. We had checked in on for a flight on line at Angsana in the morning so didn't need to leave Hulule until after midnight. The cost is well worth it.

Flew Emirates via Dubai as my boyfriend has long legs and their 777's have adequate legroom even in economy (avoid Monarch if you're tall!). Angsana is more beautiful than the pictures in the brochures. Everyone we talked to said the reef, which completely encircles the island, is one of the best in the Maldives AND it's only 10 yards from your villa! We snorkelled everyday and saw lots of coral, fish, sharks and even a turtle.
We stayed in Villa 21 which was on the northern tip and probably had the biggest stretch of beach. Villas 1 - 20 have less beach and face east whilst 24 onwards have more sand and face west. We didn't opt for the jacuzzi pool and were very glad - in our opinion, it's a waste of money.
Staff were friendly and helpful - our dedicated waiter was really nice. The only slight downside was the food - it's tasty but we just got bored of it. Not a great choice at breakfast. All lunches were buffet. Every other dinner was buffet. We were there 10 days and the menu seemed to repeat after 7. Everything is priced in dollars - we got $2 to the pound so drinks etc were not too expensive. A trip to the nearby Banyan Tree, via the free ferry, is well worth it to watch the turtles and sting rays being fed.
One final tip when considering the Maldives if you fly Emirates - Transfers from nearby Atolls are by boat. These run at night so if you're catching the Emirates 2am departure you can stay in the hotel much longer. If you choose a hotel further away with seaplane transfers - they only fly during daylight hours so you'll spend a lot of time waiting at the airport.
In summary, we thoroughly enjoyed our holiday. The hotel's fine and the setting is unbeatable.

We flew with Qatar Airways , this was my first long haul flights the seat were comfy the entertainment good enough to last the whole flight and the staff very friendly,

As soon as we arrived in the Maldives it was amazing the warm air the open space felt so relaxing a million miles away from life in the UK.

It was a 20 min speed boat transfer to the resort and even though im not a fan of boats i even enjoyed it.

The resort was amazing the staff friendly and smiling waiting to great us as we arrived, the room was exactly like on the pictures, we stayed in a delux jacuzzi beach bungalow and it was well worth the money, Every day they left a gift on the bed for us, a small stuffed sea turtle some days a poem, the bed was neatly laid everyday and the sheets fanned. They had left a basket full of fruit and a half Bottle of champagne.

The outdoor bathroom with jacuzzi just added to the luxury of our room and looking up at the sky while i showered was a real experience.

The staff were friendly polite and helpful. The food was a buffet at brreakfast and lunch. Lovely fresh fruit and a chef cooking omelettes and pancakes in the morning plus ceareals and pastry. Fresly grilled steak fish and chicken at lunch along woth rice and loats of veg ect.

Dinner was a la carte and was nothing less than perfect every night we ate there and the food was differant everynight.

We treat oursealves to a couple of massages while we were there and was the ultimate relaxation, followed by some lovely fruit tea.

All in all i would go back here a 100 times over and i haven't got a bad word to say about the journey or the resort i would recomend this to anyone.

Don't think twice about this one, it's a no brainer. It's utterly MAGICAL!

Angsana, Ihuru is simply a piece of heaven, once you get there, you won't want to leave. We were considering sending for the children and staying put!

*SETTING - Spectacular, picture postcard
*ACCOMODATION - Luxurious and immaculate
*STAFF - Attentive and friendly yet unobtrusive
*MEALS - Delicious and so much to choose from. You'll never be hungry
*SNORKELLING AND SCUBA - Magnificent!

A few things to note:

- Do the night fishing, it was great. I caught a sleeping shark on a handline!

- Do the ray feeding at Banyan Tree, Angsana's sister resort just a few mins away.

- If you are trying to decide between Banyan Tree and Angsana, go Angsana. It just seems that little bit more intimate than BT.
Plus, at Angsana your restaurant is RIGHT on the water, the jetty is shorter than BT which trust me, will matter to you when you are there and the reef at Angsana is better too.

- If you want a table right on the waters edge at meal time either be there at the beginning when meals start or wait till about halfway through the sitting times when the first lots of people are leaving. We wanted that true 'we're in the Maldives' feeling so wanted to sit right at the waters edge for our meals. It really is magical.

- Don't worry about the ants, they look scary but apparently they don't bite and the place is fumigated about 3 times a week to keep them at bay.

- We went on a day trip to Male and it was an experience, we didn't really like it much. After being on our beautiful Angsana we couldn't wait to get back!
Make sure you take a few $$ for tipping if you do go into Male, and be prepared if you leave your guide for a moment, to be mobbed by retailers trying to get you into their shops to buy things. The guide will take you into 'the best souvenier shops' but also be prepared, you'll feel obliged to buy something from them.

- Ask for a villa on the dive centre side of the island, the beach isn't quite as eroded there and you'll get to see the sunsets.

- If trying to decide between a spa villa or regular, honestly, we had the spa villa and used the spa twice. While it was nice for the short periods that we used the spa, I'd save the $$ and just get a regular villa they are exactly the same, just without a spa.