Raffles Maldives Meradhoo Resort 5 stars

It was a perfect stay overall,

Amazing staff& wonderful overwater villas

It was beautiful experience

I was expecting a lot from Raffles Maldives, but my expectations were exceeded!! The overwater villa was fantastic, very well maintained with everything you could wish for. Food was generally good, I just didn’t like the food at Yuzu - but that was because I don’t like seafood, and the non-seafood dishes didn’t quite hit the mark. I would definitely recommend Raffles Maldives, and will be back…

We stayed just over a week and split the stay over both the overwater villas and the beach villas. What we loved about the Overwater Villas was that we stayed sunset side and had uninterrupted views of the sunset while bathing in our private pool, perfect with a sundowner. The shower also had Ocean views as did the bathroom , the bedroom and the living room. We loved the overwater villas for the sheer size and comfort of the bed and the separate living room gave me space to work and us more space to dine in the evening. The villa was huge as was the pool being larger than most other places we have stayed which have more of a plunge pool. Both the overwater villas and the beach villas have great privacy but the Beach Villas were surrounded by lush gardens which was perfect to relax in and gave a more serene feel to the outdoor area. While the size of the Bed was slightly smallers in the Beach Villas , the Bathroom area was massive as was the dressing area. Its hard to pick which villa we liked more but as a general preference we preferred the beach. The restaurants had exceptional staff with genuine heartfelt , not fake but sincere service, nothing seemed to much trouble and Manuel seemed to be ever present to make sure things ran smoothly. What we really appreciated was the ability to ask for certain food or tweaks to dishes that weren't no the menu. Nothing seemed too much trouble. The quality of the cooking, food and ingredients was high, never overcooked, never cold and seasoned well. We particularly loved Yuzu with its Peruvian , Japanese Nikkei Cuisine, extremely fresh , healthy and packed with taste. Fahri was our second favourite with a wide range of different dishes but also located next to the main pool, bar, gift shop, wine room and watersports centre -so was great as a central hub for your daytime relaxing. The other thing worth mentioning is the activities - WOW . With only 20 islands inhabited out of 290 in this large Atoll , every activity was almost exclusively ours , no crowded dive sites, no one else using the snorkelling sites on gorgeous reefs ( even though we had not one but two house reefs to enjoy we still went out to other areas) , we also did Jet-skiing to remote sandbanks , stand up paddle and deep sea fishing - not once did we see another person in the water. We snorkelled both house reefs ( beach and overwater) and found fish life to be abundant with regular turtles, white tip and black tip reef sharks, puffer fish, Idols, banner fish, different rays, trigger , parrot, Napoleon fish and many more. You can snorkel independently or you also have the use of your butler ( everyone has one) who also operates as your Marine Butler, he knows his snorkelling and where to find things and is also on hand to give you guided snorkelling. The butlers in particular are fantastic. Fahudh immediately got us on whatsapp and everything from ordering food, handling laundry, snorkelling, booking restaurants, sending menus was no trouble at all. Last but not least the overwater Spa was amazing, the Indonesian and Bhutanese staff gave exceptional treatments all with a view of the ocean. We also took part in Sunset Yoga and used the gym which has floor to ceiling glass windows allowing you to look out on the reef and the ocean as you worked out. Overall we found the island perfect. No gimmicks, small number of villas , very personalised heartfelt service , quality experiences , good food and really large private villas. It gave us everything we could want and more , fully recommended if you need that switch off.