Guest User
July 28, 2023
Just had an amazing holiday at The Residence and already looking at another holiday to the Maldives. We stayed in an overwater villa with pool, sunset view - room 329. Could not fault the villa, living area, lovely comfy bed in bedroom, huge bathroom with indoor and outdoor shower. The bar was restocked every day with 'sparkling wine', beer, soft drinks and we even had a bottle or 2 of Baileys. Francis deserves a shout out, he even came looking for us on the beach to see what drinks we would like in our room. The linen was changed as often as you liked, you just left a note on the bed asking for fresh sheets. Pool/beach towels were provided and were not restricted to one each. Bath towels were large and soft. No need to take travel adapters, UK plugs fitted everywhere. We would be in our pool and watch turtles, rays and reef sharks swim by and even watched the dolphins 100 yards away flipping in and out the water for 20 minutes, no need for books, too much marine life to watch. The bikes were rarely used, had to get 2 changed as brakes did not work and sister fell off hers. If we didn't want to walk we just called reception and a buggy was sent to us to transport us to wherever we wanted to go. We used the facilities at Dhigurah as the beach bar/pool at Falhumaafushi was undergoing restoration works which happened to be completed and re-opened on the day we left. The weather in July was lovely, don't look at the forecast before going, we were expecting rain everyday but only had 5 minutes rain one evening and a couple of hours over night one night. Food was amazing and the chef even made specials for us including some huge prawns on our last night. Good choice of menu at all restaurants, our favourite was probably the Cantonese. Every member of staff could not do enough for you, particularly in the restaurants, there are too many to name but they are all a credit to the hotel. We almost felt we were the only ones there and often had beaches or the main pool to ourselves, no fighting for sunbeds. There would be us and maybe another couple in the restaurant so if its a lively place you want, this would not be for you. One negative was the beach at South End on Falhumaa - it was not the soft white sand you expect and you needed beach shoes. The nicest sand was at Castaway island and the beach villas we saw at Dhigurah also looked to have nice beaches. Falhumaa v Dhigurah - I think Falhumaa was nicer to stay at particularly for adults, Dhigurah probably better for families. Dhigurah has more food options but with the buggy and bus it's no hassle to travel between the 2. It was a long journey, direct flight from Heathrow to Male (10 hrs) then a wait of 4 hours at Male for the internal flight and then 10 minute speedboat. Coming home was probably worse, had to leave hotel at 4am for flight back to Male and then another 4.5 hour wait for flight home. But was it worth it - YES definitely.