Luau Beach Inn, Maldives — Hotel in Felidhu Atoll

If you're reading this review, you most likely are planning to spend a couple of nights on a local island in the Maldives. Things you're trying to figure out is whether or not it's worth it to go off the beaten path and spend a few days on a non-resort island. Is it safe? Is the food going to be OK? Will locals speak English? Will there be activities? Is there gonna be Wi-Fi? Will I be able to wear a bikini?! I cannot speak for other islands nor other hotels, since this was my first time in Maldives but after extensive research on local islands, I narrowed it down to three islands and I am glad I finally chose Fulidhoo, and even happier I picked Luau to stay at.

Communication: Timely, clear, concise. I mostly communicated with Linda, who is an absolutely delightful host with her effervescent personality! From the moment I began exchanging e-mails with her, I knew I made the right choice of hotel. I had about 100 questions (sorry, Linda!!!) and she answered them all. Do I need a converter for my chargers? Can I bring US dollars? Is smoking allowed? Patience of a saint. BTW, you don’t need to bring a converter; their rooms have built-in universal sockets and USB ports. Luau Beach also communicated directly with the resort I was going to afterwards, to make sure we could do the boat transfer at Malé without any hiccups.

Location: The Luau side is the side of the island you want to be in, facing the lagoon. It’s way prettier than the other side of the island. Luau is also very close to the bikini beach. 3 minutes walking at a leisurely pace.

Accommodation: Clean, spacious and bright rooms. Comfortable beds and pillows. Minimalistic and rustic decorations. USB speaker in each room!

Cleanliness: The staff was constantly sweeping the floors and stairs because of all the sand that inevitably gets brought in. There’s a citrus scent throughout the hotel that I loved.

Food: We chose half-board (breakfast and dinner only) thinking we might want to try other restaurants. I would recommend just getting full-board. The menu has enough variety between Eastern and Western cuisines to keep the palates entertained for many meals. And the food is actually good! Plus, their restaurant is on the top floor, which gives you a gorgeous view of the beach.

Activities: You can book water activities at Luau. They have snorkeling, diving, fishing excursions, paddleboards. We booked a trip to a sandbank and snorkeling with nurse sharks. Ismail and Mafu were our expert guides, and were kind and patient with our group of first-timers in open water.

Bonus: They gave us metal water bottles as souvenirs so that we could refill them at the hotel, thus eliminating the need for plastic bottles!

Staff: We came in as guests, left as family. The staff was so welcoming that we felt at home right away.

After 3 nights in Fulidhoo, we went to a big resort island. While it was a great resort, it just didn’t feel as warm and genuine as it did at Fulidhoo. That’s when we realized we had left a piece of our hearts in that little island; Luau Beach Inn is where we...

Luau is a paradise that our family enjoyed to the most. Usually, when people visit Maldives, they look for over-water banglow as the only place to relax and eventually they spend too much amount. But there is an even better experience that is still not known to many people. Luau Beach Inn is located in an island where Maldivians live and you can experience the life of the local people.

We looked for a 5-Star accommodation experience, great hospitality, beautiful views and explore each every water activity. We were too much satisfied with our accommodation in Luau Beach Inn where we got everything we needed at an affordable cost which we can never even imagine with other resorts in Maldives. Room was super clean and environment friendly. Everyone here are very friendly and caring. Linda, Ablo and Ablo's wife took great care of us in each and every aspect. Without their care, we would have not been able to explore this paradise or experience different water activities. They even taught us all the rules and easy options to handle all the water sports.

Luca and Ana are the Scuba instructors who were super-awesome. Try to atleast experience this Scuba dive once in your life. They had so much patience to teach us about all the instructions and gave us some practical lessons before taking us on the boat ride. They handled us with complete care due to which we were able to stay in the home of so many beautiful sea creatures for more than 35 minutes even though we were first time divers. We felt so much confident to stay inside the ocean in presence of Luca and Ana.

Next, they provided us full-board which includes food and water. The food we got every day was top-of-world. Chefs here are excellent and they provided quality, fresh and yummy food for every meal. Especially the Pastry for each meal was amazing. I also want to thank Madhu who was very pleasing, smiling and very welcoming whenever we stepped in to the Restaurant.

Each and everyone in this place has got great talents and I really appreciate and respect it. I like to sincerely thank each one here for treating us with love and care. My son was also missing everyone here because he got connected with all the amazing staff more than us.

Location was also amazing. You can watch millions of beautiful small fishes right near the shore where we also had a great chance to watch the Ray fish, Shark and many other beautiful fishes that are usually visible only while you snorkel or scuba dive.

While we checked out and left to the boat (back to airport), we felt so hard in our mind that we miss this place a lot. Durong our next holidays, we sincerely wish to return to this beautiful island where we created amazing...

The location of Luau Beach Inn is without doubt the best you are going to get on Fulidhoo. It occupies a really nice bluff of sand looking out onto the bluest sea you’ll ever see. In front of the hotel they have hammocks and chairs set amongst trees that provide great shade from the intense sun. It’s a really nice spot to hang out.

Unlike other hotels on Fulidhoo there are lots of opportunities to engage in water sports if you stay here. Hotel guests can enjoy kayaks, the jet ski, paddle boards, a catamaran and something similar to a banana boat. There’s also a couple of other boats they use for excursions and fishing trips. They provide a number of excursions that they are always happy to adapt to meet your specific needs. Everything’s competitively priced, great fun and the staff have lots of experience and knowledge so you always feel you are in safe hands.

We stayed on the 2nd floor of the hotel in a large, really light and airy room with a large balcony overlooking the sea. It had everything we needed in it to have a relaxing time. It was cleaned or made up as little or as often as we wanted. The hotel is really clean throughout and blends nicely with its local surroundings.

The third floor is home to the roof top restaurant. The views from here were even better than from our room. We ate in the restaurant three times a day and enjoyed everything we ate. All the guys running the kitchen and restaurant are Sri Lankan, they are all really nice and the quality of the food they serve is amazing.

Everyone working in Luau Beach is really friendly and warm hearted, from the family that own it, through to the kitchen and cleaning staff. They all go out of their way to make sure you have the holiday that suits your needs and they treat you like a member of the Luau extended ‘family’. Collectively they provide the perfect balance between being welcoming and engaging on the one hand and respecting your privacy on the other. We really enjoyed getting to know the team there and sharing a few jokes and stories. They are all such fun. Particularly Linda and Ablo.

On arrival everyone gets a free stainless steel water bottle that you fill up with free from water dispensers that are located on every floor to discourage buying water in plastic bottles. They also have recycling bins on their stretch of the beach.

My conclusion The Luau Beach Inn is a little bit more expensive than other hotels on the island but given what you get in terms of personal service, facilities, and lovely food it’s definitely worth that little bit extra. If you don’t stay here you’ll walk past it everyday...