Everything was amazing! The island, the sea, the rooms and the food are incredible! Restaurant staff is excelent and the food is really good. Tons of different dishes, that changes everyday. The rooms and the common areas (bars, restaurants) are very clean.
We are regular visitors to the Maldives, coming roughly once a year, and this is the 3rd time we’ve stayed at Reethi Beach, although this is the first visit under the new ownership. Our last visit to this resort was in March 2020, just before the world locked down for the covid pandemic, so we were one of the last guests to stay under the old regime. I’m really happy to report that very little has changed, and that the new owners and management seem to fully understand that this resort is a true old school gem that offers what sadly, very few resorts do now – authenticity. This is a fairly detailed review, so I’ve broken it down into subsections so you can skip ahead if you want to. GENERAL - Reethi Beach is roughly 20 years old, she’s aging well, but she is aging. There are one or two areas that could do with a spruce up and works are quietly ongoing. The deck of the main bar has recently been replaced. However the resort retains the rustic charm, laid back atmosphere and friendly vibe it always had. We were greeted by every member of staff (with the exception of one grumpy waiter, who was maybe having a bad day) with a warm hello at every passing. We stayed in Deluxe Beach Villa 110, which is situated roughly half way between the water sports centre and the sunset beach bar. At the time of our visit, there was a wide and very beautiful bit of beach here. When we last visited (room 108) the beach was very narrow and proceeded to get narrower during our stay. This is our preferred location, I had requested room 110, and was delighted to be allocated it on check-in – thank you reservations team, much appreciated! THE ROOM – the shower in our room overspilled onto the floor quite a bit. There was a drain in the corner of the bathroom, but unfortunately the floor wasn’t angled towards it so we were left with a puddle every time one of us showered. A small issue really, but it does make for a very slippery floor. It was however spotlessly clean, everything worked exactly as it should, and we were kept topped up with shower gel, clean towels etc; no real complaints. The room itself is spacious, there’s a corner sofa/daybed set up at the front behind large floor to ceiling windows, a large double bed (at a guess I’d say Queen size), two double wardrobes, a safe, kettle with tea / coffee / sugar / whitener, mini fridge & hairdryer. There’s also a couple of dressing gowns (we didn’t use them so can’t comment on size) and some life vests in case of tsunami; note, these are not snorkelling vests. The air-conditioning was very good, practically inaudible, and there are two fans in the ceiling should you need extra wafting. The bed however always leaves a bit be to desired for us. We’ve always found them far too hard at this resort, and after a day or two a stiff back is looming. The resort will pop on a mattress topper for you if you ask, we didn’t bother asking as previously we’ve found it made little to no difference. Also, at this resort there is only a sheet on the bed, no lightweight duvet as some resorts have started providing. I can see the logic in this, its warm so you don’t need it, and if you get hot you’ll just crank up the A/C and waste energy. I did get a bit cold though most nights and so ended up throwing the beach towel over the top for extra warmth – maybe I’m a chilly mortal! There’s also a tv on the wall in the room, I’m really not fussed about having a tv in the Maldives, but hubby likes to keep up with the news occasionally, however we couldn’t find one English speaking channel at all, they were all Maldivian or Indian, and since we speak neither language it was a pointless thing to have. Outside your room, on the porch, there are two steamer style chairs with seat cushions (no back cushions, but we used the ones from the sofa in the room) and a foot / leg rest, along with a traditional Maldivian style swing under the shade of the trees. There’s also two sun loungers and a shade on the beach set just at the edge of the lush vegetation. The beach loungers also have comfy pads, and beach towels are provided. I think they should be provided every day, however our room chap seemed to forget to leave fresh ones each day, perhaps because we were already using the ones previously left he assumed we were ok with them – in actual fact, we had little choice but to use them unless we were prepared to forgo them until he’d been and cleaned the room. Which leads me nicely to the room cleaning… I have no complaints whatsoever about the cleanliness of the rooms, or the resort itself; it’s always been great in this respect. However, under the previous management structure, rooms were attended twice a day as they are in most Maldivian resorts. A good clean and service usually whilst you are at breakfast, and then a quick spruce up and turn down while you’re at dinner; sometimes coming back to an artistically folded sheet or some flowers on the bed. I don’t need folded sheets, or flowers on my bed, but I did miss coming back from dinner to find the room fairies had been in straightened the sheet and put some lights on. It’s one of those special things that you seem rarely to get elsewhere in the world, and it makes the Maldives feel extra special. THE RESTAURANT – We booked the all inclusive plan, and so could only eat at the main buffet. We could of course have chosen to eat in any of the a la carte restaurants, but they would have been outside of our plan and therefore chargeable (with a small discount). Being previous visitors we knew what to expect from the buffet, and had thought that after the first week we might upgrade to premium all inclusive, thereby being able to use the other restaurants, previously the buffet food was nothing to write home about. But we quickly realised that some major changes had taken place within the F&B department the consequences of which is a much improved offering in the buffet; so much so that we stayed on the normal all inclusive and very much enjoyed it! Like many resorts, evening food is themed, although if I’m honest sometimes I failed to see the connection at times. Without exception, everything we ate was tasty and well cooked. At breakfast there is a good offering of cooked traditional ‘English’ style foods, alongside cold meats and cheeses, as well as fruits, yoghurts, porridge and cereals. Lunch and dinner had similar offerings with soups, salads, plenty of main options and a live cooking station – at lunchtime this offered toasted sandwiches which were very popular. At each sitting there is also a Maldivian curry option, and the ones I tried were delicious! As repeat guests, we were gifted a visit to The Saima Garden, which is in an intimate setting under the lush trees at the edge of the beach. There are just 5/6 tables, each under its own pergola, and they are all nicely spaced so its not really possible to hear other couples talking. There is a set menu here, which you need to choose 24 hours in advance, and there are choices of vegetarian, fish, meat, Maldivian and at an extra cost Lobster. I chose the fish, my husband chose the meat. The meal is 4 courses plus a palate cleansing sorbet midway. We’ve had this meal several times before, and whilst we’ve always enjoyed it again we were pleasantly surprised by the uplift in quality both of the food and the service. Sadly I didn’t catch our server’s name, but she very professionally delivered each dish explaining what it was with just the right amount of friendly conversation. Between mains and dessert the chef walked the tables and chatted with everyone, so we had an opportunity to thank him for our very delicious meal! Honeymooners are also gifted this experience I believe; I highly recommend it! Sadly we didn’t use the Moodhu or the Grill on this visit. THE BARS – Reethi Beach has 5 bars I think; the main bar, the sunset bar, the pool bar, what we call the jungle bar (under the trees near the water villas) and another bar by the water sports centre which during our stay was never open. The guys in the main bar, and Rahul at the sunset bar all did a very splendid job looking after guests and keeping glasses topped up. We did have one small issue requesting drinks without ice, and almost every time they would arrive with ice, and lots of it – first world problem really. My bigger critiscm of the bars though, is that with the exception of the main bar they all shut at 8pm. This was always the case with the sunset bar and pool bar, however the ‘jungle bar’ was previously open until 11pm, which meant that if you wanted a quiet evening, a drink under the stars, or simply to escape the entertainment in the main bar, you could do so. Now there is nowhere to have a drink after dinner except the main bar and that often has very loud and IMO unnecessary ‘entertainment’. In our 12 night stay, we ‘endured’ 2 karaoke nights, 2 disco nights, 2 dive centre presentations, 2 spa presentations, and 1 live music set. The most enjoyable was the spa presentation. The dive centre one, whilst interesting, was way too loud and I came away with ringing ears. I cannot even begin to describe how dire the karaoke was at times and we most certainly would have chosen a quiet drink at a beach bar instead if that had been an option. For guests not on all inclusive, then the Moodhu is I believe an option for an evening drink, but as all inclusive guests we would have had to pay our drinks. SNORKELLING – this is the main reason we love, and choose to return to this resort. Sadly the reef and corals are not in the best condition, but we saw some really encouraging signs of regrowth and improvement over our last visit in March 2020. The fish life though remains reliably ‘fishy’ with the legendary walls of fish ever present at the drop off. At the time of our visit the sea was sometimes a bit bumpy / crashy at the shore so getting in and out was a bit tricky, but once at the drop off it was much calmer with often great visibility. The nurse sharks can be found snoozing in the inner reef not far from the sunset bar, the turtle can often be found doing his/her thing there too, and all the usual fishy friends can be found in abundance. We also fairly regularly spied eagle rays both in the lagoon and at the drop off. Sadly I didn’t see any sharks on this trip, not even the baby ones in the shallows, but my husband did find a reef shark one day on his solo snorkel. NOTE - This resort still feeds the rays at around 6pm every night, something I personally wish they would stop. SPA – We both enjoy a spa visit when in the Maldives, and visited on two separate days. Both visits were really enjoyable and relaxing, but I was disappointed to find that the steam room was out of action for maintenance, and my husband reported that the shower in the gents changing room did not work. EXCURSIONS – We had thought that being in Baa Atoll and not far from Hanifaru Bay we would take advantage of the timing (full moon at the beginning of the Manta season) and join this excursion. However this presented a couple of issues for us. The dive centre, Ocean Fanatics, who run this trip have a very effective line of communication with the rangers in the bay. This means that they will update guests when manta are seen in the bay and you then need to scoot along to the dive centre sharpish and join the trip. These updates are sent via a WhatsApp group – great idea, until you realise that you need wifi for this to work, and the resorts wifi is woefully bad. Unless you happen to be in the main bar, the Moodhu or the reception area when this message is sent you will have no idea that the trip is happening – which was the case with us. After a couple of days we arranged to hire a wifi dongle from reception – we had to wait around 4 days for one to become available. We then started receiving the messages, but sadly the full moon had passed and the manta had moved on. We also found the cost for this trip a bit on the high side; $150 per person ++ so for a couple that’s around $370! Waaaay too much in my mind. WIFI – Its dire, there’s no other way to describe it I’m afraid. If you plan to visit this resort and its important to you that you are connected, then either try to pre-order the wifi dongle from the resort or pick up a tourist sim in the shop outside the arrivals hall before you make yourself known to the seaplane check-in. Once you’re identified and checked in for the seaplane you will be whisked off to that terminal and lose any opportunity to buy one. TRANSFERS – Reethi Beach now use Manta Air in place of TMA. The terminal they use is pretty basic, although its nicely air conditioned, and I found them to be pretty efficient and very friendly and helpful. We might have been lucky, we only waiting about 25 mins for our seaplane to depart. EDIT, I understand that as from 7th July 2022 both Manta and TMA will be using the new seaplane terminal. SUMMARY – all in all we once again had an extremely enjoyable visit to Reethi Beach and it remains one of our go-to resorts in the Maldives. We will absolutely return again, albeit perhaps not on the next visit. It’s a charming, old school, rustic resort that really does do everything very well. There’s only three things I’d change: - Please sort the wifi out, its unacceptably poor in the 21st century. - The beds are pretty uncomfortable for us, but maybe that’s just us. - I would love it if you stopped feeding the fish, rays and sharks. PLEASE don’t change anything else, you are just perfect as you are, see you again beloved RBR!…
We prefer to stay on the West side of the island to enjoy the snorkelling on the house reef in the day and the beautiful sunsets in the evening. Lower numbered properties are more convenient for the amenities on the island. You can walk along the beach around the island in 30 minutes. Some sunset villas are semi-detached whereas deluxe sunset villas appear to be detached. Check this out when booking if this is an issue. Sunset villas are OK but the deluxe sunset villas are a much better option all round but are more expensive.
Visit number 19 to our favourite piece of paradise. As always a tremulous welcome and treated as old friends . Food is still great and the Executive Chef goes out his way to ensure perfect meals . We go on a bed and breakfast basis which allows us to eat where we want to , rather than being tied into the main restaurant. The island for us is perfect albeit need as a little TLC I. Places
We stayed at this resort 10 years ago and returned to celebrate my husbands retirement. The high quality of service and attention to detail which we remembered still remains. From food to room service everything was perfect. I am writing this review to show how much we appreciated the outstanding costumer service . Aalam was at all times friendly, attentive and helpful looking after us at every meal, everyday and his kind gesture of decorating our table made our last night very special. Thank you also to Rubel for his lovely freshly cooked omelette every morning. They were delicious. Please let them as well as other employees know that their efforts did not go unnoticed. We enjoyed a wonderful time for our two week stay. Upon arrival we were warmly welcomed and shown to our room, a beach villa for the first week and on the second week we stayed in a water villa. Both rooms were clean, spacious and very comfortable. Loved the outdoor bathroom at the beach villa. Moving between rooms was easy as our luggage was transferred over while we were at breakfast. House keeping kept the rooms spotless and they often left messages on the beds from foliage making us feel very special. We were on an all inclusive package so ate at the main buffet restaurant. There was plenty of choice to cater for all taste and the food was outstanding. They had a different theme nightly and decorated the room to reflect this, even down to the background music. The hotel management treated us to a complimentary dinner at the Saima Garden Restaurant as return guests which was a lovely gesture and much appreciated. We had the seafood dinner and it was beautiful. We arrived on the 28th Dec so had the pleasure of ringing in the New Year on the island. The resort made every effort the make it a night to remember. The theme was James Bond's Casino Royale. The island's walkways were light up and the attention to detail in decorating the restaurant was unbelievable even down to James Bond's silver car as a center piece and large life size playing cards displayed around the island and a roulette table at the main bar. The staff were wearing white T- Shirts with black Bow Ties. The food was SPECTACULAR with every conceivable choice available and drinks were flowing. Fireworks on the water rang in the new year. A New Year's celebration I will never forget. The island itself is truly beautiful. While I'm sure a lot of work goes into maintaining the vegetation it looks very natural. This is not a modern contemporary styled resort but has a rustic natural style which I loved. Hopefully we will make it back again of another holiday.…
Sunset villas are very nice, but you should renovate beach towels. Water for dinner and wi-fi in the rooms should be free! The national themed dinners are interesting and delicious, even music is chosen to match the dinner!
The Island is located in one of the best spots the Maledives have to offer. It has a very natural finish, which was exactly what we were looking for. The food is outstanding as well as the staff trying to make your stay an unforgettable one.
The staff was terrific. The grounds of the resort are great maintained, everywhere are small seating areas and great photo points. The selection at the buffets could not have been better. There was always something delicious for everyone, always fresh and arranged great every day. The facilities in the water villas are getting on in years.
We stayed at the reethi beach resort ,what a magical place it was pristene and beautiful everything you could want from an island paradise .The water villa was perfect cleaned daily and allways left looking impecible. Various restraunts on the island offering a large variety of food and drinks BUT the one thing that really stood out on this holiday is the friendships we made with the staff special recognition should go to Faloo , Aariba and wiaam they were amazing to us and we looked forward to seeing them daily and having a chat in between them working they were great . We also went manta ray searching with the diving fanatics club a day i will never forget what is there left to say the baeches were white the sea was crystal and warm and the whole time spent was everything we could ever wish for and would come back in a heartbeat Thank you Reethi Beach Damian and Stephanie…
Me and my family (17 people, siblings, grandparents, nephews, nieces, parents and partners) spent about 10 days together at Reethi Beach. And it was the best vacation by far! I have never in my life felt so refreshed and relaxed after a vacation like I did from this one. And that’s exactly how a vacation should be. •Check in was seamless. And everyone in reception was very friendly. • You’ll get your steps/exercise in walking between room 172 and the main bar (but to be honest you will probably need it after eating all the AMAZING food from the buffet. •Amazing reef right outside the rooms. •Loved the outdoor bathroom. • Loved that there wasn’t any Wi-Fi in the bedrooms (It was a little hard at first but after the second night it just felt refreshing to disconnect and just be present) •Who cares if the tv doesn’t have all of channels, we weren’t there to watch tv anyway (in fact my partner only turned it on once) •Amazing food!!! And the Christmas buffet!! OMG it was unbelievable! I’ve never had a better buffet! Literally EVERYTHING you would ever want! And the staff was exceptional. •Moodhuu Bar makes the best sashimi tacos and will enjoy your meal you’ll enjoy a beautiful relaxing view. •Sunset Bar, Raul’s territory! Except for the mesmerizing sunset from this bar and the amazing ocean Raul and Sandy really made that bar 10 times better. Always smiling, super friendly and always doing that little bit extra to make the experience even better. A massive thank you to my new Maldivian/ Indian/ Nepal family (Ali, Faloo, Meghna, Sunita, Raul, Sandy) for everything. We will be back for you! Also a massive thank you to the reception girls, spa girls and management team! My pros outweighs the minor cons off this place. You get what you give so be kind :) This island is for nice people who loves life. Lots of love to Denise and Ali!…
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