For our honeymoon in the Maldives we spent a long time researching and choosing where we would be staying. After all we were going to be spending a lot of money on the accommodation part of this holiday. I found it so hard to know what made a good resort as it was a type of holiday I’d never taken before. There were crazy expensive 5 star places or do it yourself guesthouses but I’d like to say we choose more of a middle ground between the two. If you’d like to know more about choosing a resort in the Maldives then go have a look at this post.
Adaaran Club Rannalhi Review
It was one of a few resorts under the Adaaran name and having had friends stay in another of their resorts we opted for Adaaran Club Rannalhi . It is a small 3 star island that still offers some luxuries but at affordable price which was exactly what we were looking for for our honeymoon. We’d seen amazing videos on YouTube of Soneva Fushi and Soneva Jani but with crazy prices and over the top luxury we knew Adaaran Club Rannalhi would give us the trip we were after.
To help give you an idea of just what Rannalhi offers I thought I’d break this review down into the main aspects of the resort: accommodation, food, activities and location.
Accommodation
We were very lucky to have been able to book a water villa for our stay here and it was absolutely the best choice. The water villas were vastly more in price compared to the standard villa, however, they were completely worth it. We were located at the opposite end of the island to the main reception and our villa was on the first boardwalk out across the lagoon. There were more villas further out than ours but from the outside these seemed only a little different. The best part about the location of our bungalow was that we could watch the sunset from our back deck and swim out to the edge of the lagoon for some amazing snorkelling.
The room was larger than I had imagined with space for relaxing as well as the bed and desk area. The bathroom was located just as you entered the villa which meant maximum space to enjoy the views from the windows at the rear of the deck. The deck was just large enough for two sun beds and a table and double chairs. The best part of the deck was the steps that lead you straight into the ocean. The room itself also had a square section of glass floor which allowed constant views of the ocean below and the countless fish that swam below. So that you didn’t miss out on these views at night there was a spot light under the villa to light up your private spot of ocean.
The room had all the normal facilities you’d expect from a 3 star hotel, the bed was super comfy and we always had fresh towels each day (both bath and beach). The best facility in the room by far though was the speaker system, you could attach any device via bluetooth and play music while sunbathing outside or chilling inside, what’s more the sound quality was incredible.
Food
We were on an all inclusive plan for our stay in the Maldives and I’m honestly not sure it would be worth doing anything else. Most resorts have one main restaurant so this would mean paying for each meal separately when it could have been included in your whole package. For breakfast, lunch and dinner we dined in the main restaurant which was just off the beach although some parts of the restaurant you still had a sea view. We were lucky enough to be in one of these parts. Each meal was a buffet choice with a huge variety. The options were different everyday of the week too which was nice. They had a mix of Asian influenced food as well as some western options. For every meal there was a selection of rice and curry available then both lunch and dinner there was a salad bar and desert station available. Most of the other options changed every day.
Each meal we would struggle to decided on what to choose that day and come back with a rather large selection of food on our plate. The most useful thing was that each choice was labelled with what it was as well as allergy labels, this included labels which specified if it contained dairy or was gluten free. This meant I was able to eat with relative peace of mind that I would not have a crazy stomach flare up. That being said I wasn’t convinced all of their labels were 100% correct and the curries were pretty spicy which meant my stomach didn’t cope too well away. I still wouldn’t put this down as a negative as I know my stomach is very delicate to even the slightest change in my diet.
On a few occasions we dined away from the restaurant, this was mostly for breakfast as we were able to order it to our room and were given a lot of choice of food when doing so. The final time we dined away from the restaurant was for a luxury ‘romantic dinner’ on the beach. You can see more of this in my vlog, typically it rained for part of this but the food was incredible. This was an extra supplement but in return we got a bottle of sparkling wine, a cocktail each and a 6 course dinner which included half a kilo of lobster each.
Activities
The activities on the island that you could do for free were limited, there was of course limitless opportunities to sunbathe, read, swim and snorkel, however, additional activities came at an extra supplement. All prices were clearly labeled for these activities and you just had to check if they included tax and service charge. The extra activities range from spa treatments, water sports or day trips away from the island. As we had spent so much money on the accommodation we found we couldn’t justify to ourselves doing many of these. Based on that theory we picked two activities to do together: shark feeding and paddle boarding and one to do each: JP went diving and I got a massage.
If you found you could justify these costs then there were multiple options for water-sports and excursions from the island.
Location
When we picked our resort we didn’t give a huge amount of thought to the location as we were more concerned with getting something within our price range, however, the location was great. The South Male Atol is known for it’s amazing marine life more than other atols meaning there was amazing opportunities for snorkelling and diving. Another huge draw to the South Male Atol is that it is close enough to the Male airport that you can get a cheaper transfer of a speedboat rather than having to fork out the ridiculous price for a sea plane.
If you want to find out more then head to their website. They are a few different resorts and I’ve heard good things about their other ones too.
Video
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What a brilliant place.