Let me preface this review by saying that my wife and I have been to dozens of islands in the Maldives. We usually stick with islands that are accessible by speedboat or seaplane, as we did not find the prospect of an additional domestic flight that appealing after a long international flight. We broke this tradition when we visited the Park Hyatt Hadahaa earlier this year, a resort located in the same atoll as Robinson Club. As you can read in that review, the Park Hyatt turned out to be our favorite resort of all. We happily took the opportunity to return to the Huvadhu Atoll to visit another resort we had read so much about and one that actually opened around the same time as the Park Hyatt (late 2009).

Accommodations: We stayed in a Lagoon Villa facing the west. These are no doubt one of, if not the best value in their price class. At 115 square meters, these villas are incredibly spacious and well appointed. Lovely glass panels in the floor and plenty of light to accentuate the airiness of the room. The decks of the Lagoon Villas are huge and one of the largest we've experienced in the Maldives. The elevated jacuzzi with its own roof was a very nice touch.

These villas have a stunning view of the brilliant turquoise lagoon and are incredibly private. You cannot see any other villa from your deck, only sweeping views of the lagoon and horizon. This was one of my main criticisms of the water villas at the Park Hyatt and one area where those at Robinson Club excelled. Easily 5-star accommodations but at 4-star prices. In fact, we have paid more than double the amount for a comparable room at supposedly higher end resorts.

Staff: Service was excellent in general. Attentive and responsive to requests. Dive Center was excellent in pointing out aspects of the house reef. I can't think of anything that stood out in particular, but I felt the service was on par with 5-star resorts I have previously visited in the Maldives.

Dining: Everybody is booked into a meal plan they call Full Board Plus. This is essentially all meals with drinks included. The quality of food was fantastic for a buffet style restaurant and a definite highlight of the resort. A nice mix of dishes from all cuisines was on display throughout our stay, and we particularly enjoyed the various live cooking/preparation stations. The food was definite 5-star quality, in particular the freshness and presentation of the dishes. Possibly the best buffet we have experienced in the Maldives along with Mirihi's. There is a nice mix of non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages to choose from at meals, including various wines. There is a set menu or gala dinner (table service) once a week that is a nice change in atmosphere from all the buffet dining.

We actually preferred this to the genuine all inclusive plans at some resort islands, as we typically don't manage to take advantage of all the extras thrown in (we're light drinkers and don't really fancy most excursions offered in those plans).

Setting: Like Hadahaa, this was another stunningly beautiful island. It is a slightly larger island than Hadahaa but still very quiet and romantic. There is practically no plane or boat traffic of any kind in this atoll, though I really don't mind hearing an occasional seaplane take-off or land. There are 101 rooms on the island including the water villas, but I hardly saw anyone else on the beaches or lagoon during my stay. They did a very good job spacing the rooms on the island to ensure maximum privacy for all guests.

Lush vegetation abounds in the interior of the island while a beautiful beach hugs the entire island. There are no unattractive sea defences, and I did not notice any problems with erosion on the island. The white sand covering the beaches is powder soft, though the Park Hyatt still has the softest sand of all the islands I've visited. There is a large and brilliantly turquoise lagoon on one side of the island, and there is an outstanding house reef surrounding the whole island.

House Reef: An excellent house reef is one of our main prerequisites when choosing a resort island. The one at Robinson Club is definitely in the Top 3 of my list of best house reefs. We have been to several resorts that claim to have the best house reef in the Maldives; a few of the more recent resorts with very good to outstanding reefs we visited were Park Hyatt, Mirihi, Athuruga, Lily Beach, W Retreat, and Angsana Ihuru. If I were to rate the reefs at these resorts based on the health and beauty of the corals, I would say that Park Hyatt's is the best followed by Robinson Club and Mirihi's reefs.

The hard corals in the atoll shared by Park Hyatt and Robinson Club are well known for their spectacularity. They managed to escape the mass bleaching from the El Nino event over a decade ago and are a good example of how the rest of the reefs in the Maldives used to look like. The table top corals in particular are very large and impressive compared to even healthy reefs in the other atolls. As with any other reef, you can expect to see the usual cast of Maldivian sealife when snorkeling or diving. We snorkleled around the entire island several times during our stay and always saw something new each session.

Conclusion: Robinson Club is most definitely a 5-star resort but without all the frills of the established luxury brands. Don't be fooled by the name of the resort and the fact that it offers an all inclusive meal plan. Everything is of superb quality at this island, and the fact that it charges only 4-star prices is even more reason to stay here. Robinson Club has so far been the best value for money of any resort I've stayed at in the Maldives.

Along with the Park Hyatt Hadahaa, Robinson Club has become one of my favorite islands and one that I would love to return to. The only drawback is its location so far south in the Maldives. I really dislike the additional domestic plane and speedboat transfer, and it took us almost 4 hours from landing at Malé to reach the resort. Nonetheless, this is a small price to pay when you consider the unspoiled location and exceptional coral reefs of this atoll. There are very few whale sharks and manta rays in this atoll (but tons of other sharks and pelagics) according to the Dive Center, so I would stick with the South Ari Atoll if seeing those are of great importance. Otherwise, this island offers just about everything one could want from a perfect Maldivian paradise.

Robinson Club is a wonderful holiday destination. This was the third island that we have visited - the other two being Lily Beach and Mirihi. Robinson Club is quite similar to Lily Beach in many ways but I would say offers better value for money. And Mirihi is really for couples only and I would not go back there in a hurry as it is too small and very limited in way of facilities. On this trip there were 4 adults and 3 small children.

It feels like a 5 start resort. Specifically the quality of food at the resort was excellent (excluding breakfast which was average). Meals are all buffet style with the exception of the one evening which is 5 courses served. Although the resort was quite full it is a very spacious island and one never has a sense of overcrowding in any way.

The reef snorkelling was easily accessible from beach and excellent - we saw small sharks, morays, and turtles on several occasions. The dive centre was also well managed and quite informal - I did 4 beautiful dives typical of Maldives.

Guest mix was about 60% German and 40% Asian. Very laid back with people keeping mostly to themselves. There were a number of organised events but once again relatively low key. All the staff speak english and service levels are outstanding.

Rooms were extremely large - we stayed in 1317 and 1318 (adjoining family beach bungalow) - with direct access to beach and great snorkelling. Only complaint is that the rooms are very dark but you get used to it and it is shelter from the heat. All beach bungalows have direct access to swimming beaches and it was not obvious to me that there were better or worse rooms - however it may be wise to avoid rooms to close to the staff quarters and generator as I imagine that this could be a littel irritating.

Facilities included a beautiful pool plus kiddies pool, main bar area, pool table, "library", beach bar, table tennis, Fully equipped gym with daily programme, and a lovely spa which was highly rated by the guests. lots of watersports and big game fishing also an option with good success from what we saw at the dinner table.

Weather in September is variable and we had a mix of sun cloud wind and occasional shower - but nothing that stopped us enjoying the trip. The break from the sun was a relief as heat can be intense. Waether forecasts are meaningless by and large so do not get too excited by them!

The only other important consideration is that its a long way to go. We had a very efficient transfer from Male International to Male Domestic airport and then caught a turboprop with flying time of about an hour to Kadedhdhoo airstrip. After that a 30 minute transfer by speedboat. Realistically from either Europe or Johannesburg via Dubai you are looking at up to 24 hours door to door.So be aware. Probably would not go for less than 10 days. But its worth it.

It takes time time to get there, as it is far from the Male capital, but it worth. The place is quiet, intimate and romantic, a piece from heaven. The stuff are friendly and cuisine excellent and diversified.

I cannot find a word to describe how wonderful and impressive the hotel is. This is the place you will think of coming every day and once you step on the island, you will never want to leave.

The island is quite far from Male airport. Though a little time consuming, the distance brings cleaner water and more fish around. Tortoise and baby sharks are very common in the house reefs surrounding the island. No wonder this island is almost the best place of snorkeling in Maldives.

Rooms are very very spacious. The bed is so comfortable that once I get on it I fall asleep.

The all inclusive buffet is fabulous. Just take as much as you can. They are so delicious and never get empty.

I will rate this island extra five-star, though the price is not that expensive. Great place!