We booked an 8N/9D (B&B) stay directly through LUX, since they sent out a nice 35 point leaflet with complimentary experiences. The team does everything to make your stay memorable and comfortable. We stayed in a Beach Pool Villa, centrally located, on the sunset beach. Housekeeper Anfal kept our villa clean and supplied plenty of water and beach towels. Yoga mats are provided in the villa. All restaurants are in walking distance, a complimentary shuttle operates as well. Bicycles are $5 per day. The island has nice beaches, but very little marine life. A complimentary one hour snorkeling tour operates daily to the nearby house reef. Unfortunately it’s always the same house reef, even there the marine life is negligible. We booked a combined 3 hour Manta/Whale Shark tour ($295) that saw both being elusive. The resort offered a second tour complimentary, here we saw at last one Manta. SUP rental is $20 per hour. The breakfast at MIXE is a great way to start the day and has a lot of options. We enjoyed the Teppan Nights at Umami thanks to Chef Allan. East Bar is a great spot where Mixologist Mark pours your favorite drink. Allegria serves tasty Italian food, Beach Rouge is great for a small bite and the DJ played danceable tunes 3 times a week. ICI has super yummy ice cream. Senses is a Shisha Bar and an ME/Indian Restaurant.Overall we spent an average of $200 a day in F&B. Our resort coordinator Nacer stayed in touch via WhatsApp to help with restaurant bookings, excursions and other requests. The resort manager Mamoun is always available and very helpful. We did appreciate the environmental conscious approach of the resort. Solar panels complementing the resorts’ power needs, reusable water bottles with locally sourced drinking water, soap/shampoo dispensers, no plastic is used to wrap or store food - everything in reusable containers/glass jars. Commendable! I only awarded 4* since LUX does not deserve the full 5*, at best a 4,5. Some of the “experiences” promised were not available: no Happy Hour, no twice daily free ice cream (we were charged, the charges were later removed on my insistence), only 4 complimentary Yoga sessions per week, some restaurants open on an alternating schedule and it is a hassle to get a reservation. PCR testing is $125 and the result came back after 36hours. Overall a great vacation, to improve the experience, it would be a great start to deliver what was promised. Change the destination of the snorkeling tour to different reefs and be more flexible with the restaurant bookings.

What can I say that hasn’t already been said... We are currently sitting in the airport waiting for our flight home. We had such a fantastic 5 night stay at LUX* that we are already pricing up another holiday here very soon. We booked the whale shark tour for our first full day, it took 3 hours to find him but he finally revealed himself and it was worth the wait. We swam above him for about 20 minutes until we got tired. It was most certainly the highlight of our trip! We also did a 90 minute tour looking for the mantas but no such luck. Luckily, someone told us that actually the mantas come up to the arrival jetty at night time (they like the light). They weren’t wrong! We went down to the arrival jetty at 7pm once it was dark and there they were! 3 of them putting on a show for us. We got to enjoy them, for free, all by ourselves, (from the jetty as no swimming at this time) and it was unbelievable. We watched them for about 30 minutes. The night guard told us they come every day at 6.30-7pm and stay all night to the early hours of the morning. So save your pennies, and go see them in the evening instead! At the moment there’s 3-4 places open for lunch and dinner each day, all on a rotation. So you’ll get a chance to eat at all the restaurants. For the all inclusive package, the Italian (Allegria) and the Japanese (Umami) you get a 30% discount. We didn’t realise Allegria wasn’t included until we got there, but that’s ok, as there were still lots of alternative options for lunch and dinner each day, that we never felt like we missed out on it. Senses (Indian/Maldivian) was particularly good! The staff really do go over and beyond for you. Everyone is so so friendly and really do all they can to ensure you have a good stay. Special shout out to Mamoun the manager, Centay and Morfezul, as well as Tiki who made delicious omelettes for me in the morning complete with the fieriest Maldivian chillis! All the staff wear masks, but guests don’t need to. The staff dont leave the resort at the moment due to covid, and all the guests have a negative PCR test anyway, so we felt super safe the whole time and it was such a nice break from wearing a mask! As for the resort itself, it’s super stylish, very clean, bright and modern, and there are so many Instagram opportunities to make all your friends jealous, the vibe is sooo chilled and there really is something for everyone from a chilled out reggae-themed beach bar, to a stylish/modern bar for some sunset drinks, to casual dinners as well as more formal dinners etc. Book here! I promise you won’t regret it!

My Husband and I went to the LUX South Ari Atoll on our honeymoon for 10 days. We could not have asked for anything more, it was perfect. The staff at the LUX are amazing, they are so friendly, kind, and went above and beyond to make our honeymoon as special as possible. We really grew attached to them and we will miss them so much! Just to name a few, Razan who was looking after us was so helpful. He answered any questions we had, promptly and at anytime, dealt with our bookings and was generally very friendly. The chefs were amazing, they were so accommodating to our dietary requirements and made sure we always had loads of options! The food there is so good! Special shoutout to the Senses chef, Subbunihni, who made us a special dinner on our last night there. Riley, Zahir, Daminda and the guys at Allegria practically feel like family at this point. Banda at Senses bar and quiz master Cham, we will miss you!! Everyday our room was looked after by Anfal who made extra efforts to make it special for us with swan towels and heart shaped sheets, he is so talented and always made sure we were happy. Our buggy boys and our friends Centey and Mofizul, we will miss you guys - thank you so much! Buggy’s always available if you didn’t want to walk or bike. We very luckily were able to see a whale shark too which was the most incredible experience, and a huge reason to come to this part of the Maldives! So, thank you so much to Aank and the boat crew, to Razan for making it happen and of course to Mamoun, the resort manager who always made sure we were happy and has the best team. The people at LUX made it amazing for us, we will always be so grateful. In terms of a covid safe environment, you are as safe as can be here, all the staff wear masks at all times so that the guests don’t have to. The guest all test negative before arriving, there is sanitiser everywhere and cleanliness is high all around the resort. There is a lot to do at the LUX, from snorkelling excursions to various water sports, if the heavens decide to open you can shelter and play pool at the bar, you name it, they’ve got it! The island itself is STUNNING. 100% recommend the LUX to everyone and anyone!