We arrived in the maldives early in the morning and were very very tired. We had spent the past few days in dubai which was excellent.

The view from the plane is stunning thats the only word to describe it.

We arrived at the cute little airport, it is so small and there is about 40 people working there. The baggage arrived in seconds as there is only one plane at a time arriving.

As soon as we had our baggage a guy from the resort called Ahmed met us and took our baggage. He was such a nice guy, he was always around in the resort for all of our stay. We boarded our speedboat which was really cool (made us feel very special)

We arrived at the island after 20 minutes or so, and we were met by one of the managers a lady called Matildha i believe. She was lovely, we were given a glass of champaign and orange juice which was lovely.

Ahmed then showed us around the island which didnt take very long at all. He then led us up to the water villas and to our room. We arrived on the island at 9am, and they checked us in straight away which was a lovely touch as we were more than prepared to wait till 2pm.

Now before i start to tell you about just how fantastic the island is and how great the staff are i just want to moan a little about the misserable people who leave silly reviews on this site.

A couple of people have moaned about the cost of the food and other things. My wife and I are far from rich, we dont earn great wages and yet we didnt find the food or anything else for that matter expencive.£1.50 for a bottle of coke. £8 for burger and chips.£60 for a two hour massage.£25 for a day excursion to Male.£6 for a cocktail with 4 shots in it. Hmmm doesnt sound expencive to me.

Someone also complained about there being no local food to sample. They had two local days in the week we were there, and there was also local food avalaiable every single day from every resturant. So that just sounds like complaining for the sake of complaining to me.

10% service charge - now, if you can afford to fly half way accross the world and stay on a deserted island you can afford a 10% service charge, the guys who work on this island earn a franction of what you and I do so stop being so tight. Also you are made well aware of this charge when you book.

My last gripe (sorry but some of the reviews really irritate me) is that someone requested their steps into the water to be swept away. The stuff on the steps is Algae, the algae is eaten by the fish. It is a bit slimy and slippery, but the villas are in their environment. The algae is an integral part of the eco-system. You shouldnt get rid of it.

On our steps there was a beautiful parrot fish who came and ate the algae off the steps at the same time every day.

There isnt a great deal that i can tell you about the island to be honest. It is just so beautiful, The sand is a little sharp but that is fine, no problems walking bare footed on it. We went half board, and the food was great, it was varied, but if you went for two weeks it may become a bit repetitive.

Every member of staff is so polite and friendly. We had a cocktail in the bar every evening, and there was a wonderful guy called Jude who could make almost any drink you can think of. He was so polite, knowledgable, friendly and always talkative. If you go to this island and have a drink in the bar you will see what i mean. Make sure to give him a big tip as he really really deserves it.

The TV's in the rooms have 3 or 4 sports channels which was good for me as i love football. There was football on 24 hours a day which was great for me.

The weather was great, we had very bad storms for alot of the holiday but that was fine, it doesnt detract from the beauty of the region.

There are hardly any insects on the islands, but lots of beautiful catipilars and centipedes (sorry my spelling is awfull). The fruit bats were amazing, they are absolutely huge. Geccos are everywhere they are so cool as well. The only other wildlife on land that i saw were lizards they were bright orange and purple-fantastic.

We dont dive, but we went snorkelling every day. You dont have to go far to see the most amazing fishies. A good tip would be to get a life jacket, we did this so as you dont really have to swim you can just float and enjoy the view. By the way the snorkelling equiptment is free so no need to bring any.

The gift shop is well stocked and has some cool things in it, but to be honest we forgot to get any presents from it and we visited the store in the airoprt and everything was half the price it is on the island so maybe save that money and shop in the airport.

There is a pool table and table tennis so that will keep you occupied if it rains.

We only ate in the Cayenne grill once but it was really nice, but to be honest the Lime has more than enough to meet everyones tastes.

We visited the spa 5 times, i had a "man massage" for two hours and a sunburn soother (i have irish skin so i got quite pink) my wife had two fruit wrap thingies and a manicure and pedicure.

We went on the excursion to Male, you have to do this, it is so cool. The fish market is amazing, we saw 7ft marlons and every colour fish you could think of. The buildings like the mosks are amazing they are all made of coral which is beautiful. The cost of the trip was $50 each which is well worth it. Our guide was a lovely man, he was really knowledgable and friendly.

On the last day we had to check out at 12pm but we had to leave the island at 12am, so we had a whole day of waiting around, luckilly the weather was brilliant so we stayed on the beach for miost of the day. And in the evening the island manager - a dutch gentleman called Martijn sat with us the whole eveing and even gave us a glass of champaign each which was great.

Just to let you all know that the managers of the island do read all the reviews on this site, so if you have any questions about the island just post them on the forum and they are more than happy to help.

All the staff from the guys painting a hut all the way up to the manager of the whole island were fantastic, our waiter Atihf had a very dry sense of humour which suited us down to the ground. What else is there to say really it os one of the most fantastic places on earth you have to go. Perfect honeymoon location. You would have to be a really miserable person to not enjoy this place.

I dont know what else to say really, if you can go - go.

The overall cost of our whole week including an excursion and 5 spa treatments and all the food and drink was less than £500.

Thanks alot for reading my review and i hope that it helps you (please dont comment on my spelling-i know its terrible)

We have visited Baros for our honeymoon. It was unforgetable, excellent honeymoon. Baros was a superb place.
We went to Male in the morning. Baros representative take us to a luxury speedboat for transfer. Cold towels and cold water served during our 15-20 minute travel. A nice lady, head of guest relations team welcomes us on the arrival jetty. We moved to the reception and cold orange juice, champaigne and cold towels also served there. General manager also take care of us at the arrival. We were stayed at Baros Villa. It was fully comfortable. Large bed, plasma tv set with dvd player. Air condition system, also additional air ventilatin, wine chiller, mini-bar, espresso machine with complimentary coffe, espresso and milk. Again bottle of champaigne and friut basket which renewed everday. Direct telephone to call anywhere you want. Two showers, one inside of the villa one at the back garden among flowers. One large bath tube inside. Villa has a large sun deck in front very nice decorated with beds and group of chairs. And of course lovely beach was just a few meters away. Housekeeping was visiting every room twice a day. While we were at breakfast and diner. Towels were changed twice a day also and two bottle of water replaced complementary during every housekeeper visit. All of the staf were so polite and lovely. When you walk arround even every worker smiled, ask if we want anything or asked if everything is ok. Enviroment was exciting. Everywhere was such clean and tidy that we did not use our shoes during our stay just walk barefoot all the time over sands. There was a gym, little shop that you can find everything and also get free dvd on loan, games room eqquipped with a billiard, table tennis, playing cards and even with scrabble. There was 2 pc with internet access, 2 shelfs of book. Also complimentary copies of all major newspapers were available at the library section. We were stayed there on half board basis including breakfast and dinner.
There is 3 restaurants Lime Restaurant where the breakfast was and also open for all day dining, Cayenne Grill open for dinner and The Lighthouse Restaurant also open for dinner where also a lounge can be found for drinks. Breakfast was very nice, both quality and quantity of the choices were ok. For the all-day dining prices were not so bad such as for a nice pizza around 15$ or a nice penne with napolitana and olives arround 17$ and lots of multinational choices. For the dinner again a four course option for HB visitors one soup, one starter, one main course and dessert. Every night there were a live cooking experience. We also visited Cayenne Grill for 2 nights. Prices were a little bit up there but you exactly get the value back by the taste, quality and the service. At the center of these three restaurants there was a bar also called Sails Bar. Very lovely staff, wide choices of drinks and unbeleivable environment. Resort's diving capabilities and diving club was also well eqquipped with trained personell. Every monday management prepares a weekly memo for the upcoming events. During our stay we have one "Maldivian Night", three nights with live band, one day for Male excursion and several excursion options like "Sunset picnic", "Sunset fishing", "Sunset diving". Management was perfect. Even every night both general manager and guest relation team memebres were in contact with every guest. Also managment organised a "cocktail" for the guests.
It was an unforgetable honeymoon for us. Everything was so great and every little detail was handled by management so all you have to do is just seat back and relax. We strongly recomend this lovely place for every couple..

We arrived early in the morning via a very nice fast boat that was waiting for us at the airport. The island is quite small and the weather was rainy when we arrived but the hotel hospitality staff was very welcoming including a personal greeting from the manager which was a nice touch. I will say though, that we never saw the hotel and hospitality manager again after that day!

We arrived and were escorted to our water villa and shown around the room by a very friendly attendant. The room was nice and well appointed with a sizeable deck for sunbathing. the DVD /TV hidden in the bench at the end of the bed was a nice touch but otherwise a quite plain room considering the price we paid for it! Also the water villas are quite close together so sitting on your deck is not as private as you may want it to be, in fact the decks are clearly visible from the walkways which connect all the villas.

The food was very over priced we paid almost $20 US for a small burger and fries, and $10 for a bowl of rice with yoghurt! The quality of food in the Lime restautant was disappointing although the exception was that the breakfast was good quality and an all you can eat buffet. the Lighthouse restaurant was quite nice BUT it was very expensive we spent on average $175 for two people with a bottle of wine and a 3 course meal. The Cayenne Grill restaurant had a very nice Saturday night buffet which is the ONLY chance to sample the local food. Overall we were disappointed with the quality of the food and found it really quite over priced for what we got. Also if you go half board you can only use the Lime restaurant which is in my opinion the worst one of the three.

A nice touch was a wine cooler in each room so you can have champagne or wine whenever you want without calling room service. Also the bath products used was Molton Brown which was a nice touch.

A really annoying point was that a 10% service charge was added to everything on your bill, from boat hire, to spa treatments to room service, shop purchases to diving costs! Absolutely everything had this additional service charge so dont bother adding generous tips to every bill as we did to start with.

The spa was OK nothing really special compared to similar resorts in the far east and the expertise was variable depending on the masseuse. We opted for the 5 day ritual which was nice but booking the privacy suites was extra and those were the real luxurious touch so make sure you book them (extra $30 US).

The service was a bit iff-y at some stages we were very annoyed; a restaurant booking gone missing, requests to clean our steps into the water ignored for 4 days, the hot water in the room was tempermental, delayed collection of meal trays after room service. In general for a place that charges $600 US per night or around that price we were quite disappointed in the level of service as we had expected something really quite special. Small points could have been made with little touches like candles in the rooms, DVD library to chose from readily available, room cleaning at regular times, staff knowing your name when you call the front desk, suggestions on excursions made more available, complimentary sea sports like wind surfing or water beds, sunset drinks with manager or hospitality staff. The service was OK but nothing special. Some of the staff seemed not the most friendly although there were some notable exceptions who were very nice and helpful.

When a hotel charges this much you expect a little bit more than the standard service that you can get in any type of 4 or 5 star chain hotel. You got the feeling that everything was about making you spend as much money as possible and this was a turn off. Even the diving we had to do a mandatory house reef dive even though we were PADI certified although the dive was lovely I felt like it was their way of making more money from you.

The sea was fantastic, the number and variety of fish you can see even just snorkelling is really wonderful. You dont need to be a diver to appreciate the house reef and seeing sharks became common place although they were only 2 or 3 feet long. The water visibility and clarity was very good even on the rainy days we went diving and it was exceptional in terms of the number of fish seen. The water was wonderful nice and clear and warm and very easy to spot sting rays and other fish just sitting on the deck or in the restaurants.

Overall it was a lovely holiday more due to the natural beauty than the hotel or service, they are in some ways still trying to get in right in some places like the food but overall it was really lovely.
And a perfect place for a romatic getaway or somewhere to get your PADI certification.

Sea lovers make sure you go!

I am currently honeymooning with my hubby at Baros... We have been here 3 days already, staying at a Baros villa - it is honeymoon, as we have imagined it! First, when we arrived at the airport, we were quickly brought to our speedboat and in no time transferred to the resort (approximately 20-25 min). While on the boat, we were offered cold water and refreshing towels. On the jetty, we were awaited by the guest manager - a nice lady, British I think and at the reception, we were met by the general manager, who we had a nice chat with, while we were waiting to be brought to our villa. In no time, a nice Maldivian guy took us to our "home" away from home and spent the next 30 min explaining to us what is what in the villa. The villa itself has one of the most tasteful interiors I have seen - huge canopy bed, plasma screen TV, DVD player (you can borrow DVDs for free from the resort store), outdoor shower, nicely lit at night, and wireless internet ($20 for 24 hours use - the 24 hours can be used over several days; we used skype to talk free to our parents). Additionally, we had two champagne flutes, chilled champagne (goes for $95 at room service), chocolates, fresh fruit and a letter from management which gave us a choice of beachside dinner, sunset cruise or couple's massage at SenSpa, free of charge as compliments for our honeymoon. Needless to say, we felt treated as royaltees. The room is impeccably cleaned daily, and turndown service is provided at night time (always happens when we are at dinner). Two small bottles of water are provided morning and evening, so we really are not spending any money on water. We have been only eating at the Lime because we are on half-board, and I have to say, this was the best value for money. The breakfast is a buffet with omelette station, sandwich station, bakery station, waffle station and juices, while dinner you feel like you are at 4 star restaurant. They offer you a menu (no prices shown) and you can choose 1 starter, 1 appetizer, 1 main course and 1 dessert. There are 5-6 choices for each meal and 10-12 for the main course, which essentially means that one can eat there almost for 2 weeks and still not repeat a meal. Additionally, every night there is a live cooking station which offers international cuisine such as Italian, Thai, Chinese, etc. We tried the Thai, it was equally tasty like anything else we have eaten. I have included some pictures of the meals. Servicewise - I think we are assigned one waiter, as he takes care of us, regardless where we sit. He is extremely nice and polite, but I think this is because we are good tippers. I know this, because the first night, we only left tip on the drinks portion of our meal (some 20 bucks) and he definitely seemed dissapointed.
The local bar - Sails also has impeccable design, several times a week, a local band comes and plays some live music - they are very talented and its really a pleasure. The bar is great and suprisingly, even if its full, it still feels nice and somehow lonely but in the good sense.
SenSpa - I can only say TRY IT! but book your treatments in the beginning of your trip as we could only use it twice, since there is never time that doesnt coincide with our other activities. The service at the spa is also superb, and honestly the Tropical fruit wrap has to be one of my best spa visits ever. Prices are extremely reasonable (I am comparing with NYC spa prices) and well below the pricing of many 4 star hotels I have stayed at.
Other reviewers at Tripadvisor have complained about prices, but quite honestly, this has to be on the cheaper range of any 4 star hotel in the US. And I really mean ANY. Most drinks (alcoholic or non) are 5 dollars (few bars in US offer them at lower than this, say nothing about hotel bars), meals are comparable to a decent US restaurant (non-hotel), and excursions are between $30-40 pp, except for big game fishing ($500!!!) and sunrise island pickning which comes to $250 pp ($100 for return trip to Male airport+ $149 for the tour operator who provides the seaplane to Sunrise island and another local island + picknig). We are going on this trip tomorrow and we are looking forward to something spectacular.
I truly recommend this resort to any discerning traveller and honeymooners - it provides much value for the money, and we certainly are not rich.