VARU by Atmosphere — Hotel in Malé Atoll

Arrival and transfers: ||Transfer from the airport is somewhst disorganised (sole hotel rep trying to collect a dozen passengers) , but the air conditioned spead boat makes it a comfortable 45 min ride. On arrival you are greeted with an offer if a glass of Champagne and a hotel rep. We arrived before  "official" check in time but got our villa sorted, had a quick buggy tour around the island and went to lunch in notime. Departure was very smooth with the resort manager's farewell and no traffic jams.||Location and hotel grounds: ||It's a fairly small island (takes less than 15 min walk to circumnavigate it at a slow pace). House reef is nothing to write home about (if you after diving don't go there) and even twice daily inclusive boat trip to nearby "proper" reef is not that impressive. Coral reef just opposite the Bay Rouge bar is probably the best if you combine it with couple of cocktails.||Hotel grounds have usual amenities of tennis and badminton courts, football field, small gym, studio, spa and several restaurants (more below). Gym is rather small (compared to a number of other resort we visited), but ok for a week holidays. Tennis and badminton bookable in advance. Staff played volleyball and football in the evening and invited guests to join. There are also yoga and pilates classes which we have not tried.||What to do: ||Not much tbh (as expected). You have 2 daily snorkeling trips and couple excursions included in the package (we choose fishing and sunset cruise). Extra excursions are expensive, but are well organised and have small groups - we have taken trip to a sandbanks and turtles and thought it was very good. Boat crews are very friendly and knowledgeable and happy to chat and make you feel very comfortable. If we're stayed longer we'd go for one more.  We have not done diving this time, but it would be worthwhile to get your PADI open water certificate here.||Excursions and most activities are pre-bookable in the Varu app, and your dedicated hotel rep can assist you with anything.||I had massage at the spa on the first full day which was good to relax and get into a holiday mode.||With some sporting activities and excursions you can keep yourself occupied fora week or two.||Rooms: ||We had a family villa with pool which was perfect for us. Your own access to the beach, dedicated lounges, (ours was also close to the Bay Rouge and the main pool), outside showers with large double bath, two separate but connected by the courtyard villas - definitely worth paying extra for. ||All island villas are ocean facing and shielded from the walkways by shrubbery, overall it feels quite private. Jetty villas, however, look quite crowded (at least from the outside) and those closer to the island have less impressive views. Overall, it feels that 3 separate jetties are a bit too much for the size of the island although sometimes we were the only people on the beach (other than one near Bar Rouge which is busier than others)||The rooms are serviced twice a day (they are managing to do it when you go for breakfast and dinner), bar restocked daily, very clean and well maintained.||Having your own pool set 5 metres away from the beach but behind the hedge and with a glass of wine or a cocktail to enjoy the sunset - perfect!||Restaurants:||Restaurants may be not as good as a number of other 5* resorts we stayed in over the years, but ok. ||We visited 3 specialty restaurants (Charcoal, Nu, Kage):  Kage (Maldivian) located inland and attempting at authentic (ish) setting was the best with few local Maldivian dishes to try. Nu (Italian/ seafood) was fine - tuna and deserts were good, other dishes were average. Charcoal (meat) was a bit disappointing - lamb was good, but streaks were sub-par (not as good as you average BBQ at home). ||Lime & Chilli (main restaurant) is nothing special - it was getting repetitive after several days. I would say Indian dishes were the best (and Chinese on Wednesday), but BBQ want that great and there overall choice was somewhat limited (compared to other 5* hotels in ME/ Asia/ Indian Ocean). Don't get me wrong - it's fine, just don't expect high end dining experience.||Selection of cocktails and wine is about average, perfectly drinkable. Chilean wines were fairly decent (both white and red, Chardonnay being our favourite). If you ask the bar stuff will also mix your own choice of cocktails as well. No need to go for higher end drinks package.||Service and staff: ||Staff to guests ratio is high so you are well taken care of and get top end service, whether its at the gym, the bar or the restaurant. We hope Varu maintaines the quality of service and rewards its staff accordingly.||Some tips:||Varu plan is a "must". Its all inclusive, with drinks, snorkeling trips, 2 excursions and spa treatment to choose.||Not all villas have similar impressive views (particularly over the water ones). Ask for your preferred location.||Don't hesitate to ask anything.||Overall, while I would not call it a "high-end" resort we wouldnt hesitate coming to the Atmosphere by Varu for a...

The 5star hotel that likes to say No!!!

I have travelled the world and stayed at some of the best places money can buy. So thought Varu Maldives must be right up my street from the pictures and reviews. But this has to be the worst 5star hotel resort I have stayed in.

Don't get me wrong they were not outrageously bad, and I would rate them an overall 7 out of 10. But when you spend eye watering amounts of money, you expect the best!

Can I have snorkel equipment to my room, No

Can I have a table by the sea, No only reserved for honeymoon couples. We are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. Most of those couples you have given the tables to; won't last 5 years.

Can I have xyz drink, sorry that's off the package it will cost extra. Yes don't worry we will pay your extra 20 bucks but please dont judge our spending power

Can I have a buggy to the reception, no we don't have any available. Funny that, as just outside the room one was passing and he said fine he will drop us. But again ask yourself wouldn't you not enquire where your buggies are for a guest asking as it was really hot to walk from one end of the island to the other. Of course not why would you want to be helpful.

Can I get chillies with my salsa, no as customers don't like it, and also we don't really do it

Can I take my coffee cup back to my room, no you can't.

you see for a 5 star resort that is just not on. So please make sure you are happy to hear a NO....when you spend that sort of money and you keep hearing the word no.

First time I have had these many no's in a 5 star resort, charging this amount when my demands were minimal and very reasonable.

Also generally the staff were inconsistent. Some would walk past without even saying a hi. Some were just not happy generally when serving you. No service with a smile at some places. In the bar we had to ask 3 times for someone to serve us! What really made me laugh was in Lime and Chilly their buffet restaurant, a lady with a clipboard tried to guess our room number daily and got it wrong. Give up love, don't play guessing games. Just ask us. She carried a Clip board round as if she was the commander of the ship and I found her quite disconcerting when she spoke.

Good things were: Mini a chef in the restaurants was excellent and behaved and interacted like staff should with guests. It's amazing though, that I can only talk about one staff member and know their names. When I usually go away to resorts like this globally, I can mention half a dozen names who were excellent.  Some of the staff were nice and did care. But it was highly inconsistent which just shouldn't happen at a 5 star resort.

Wife was good overall and the transfer to and from the island was great. The boat even had wifi and it worked well.

As part of the package the sunset cruise and snorkel expedition was included, and both were both good. But please book in advance at least a few days before to guarantee a space.

Nu as good

Char coal we didnt go

Lime and chilly was good overall. Some of the food was over cooked or had stayed on under the lights for some time which dried it out. Best is to ask the chef to make it fresh which they did and it was excellent.

General repair of the property is becoming poor. Worn out walk ways, bubbling walls, poor paint work etc for a 5 star resort is not on. Our Bathroom shower rail was broken and someone had stuffed a rubber eraser in it lol.

The beach from its build, as this is a 80 percent man made island, still has shrapnel left over from the building works and hurts your feet in places.

As its a man made island they have a rock groin built which is unsightly at best, across the West of the island. Which does spoil the view in my opinion of the pristine waters.

Overall like I said a 7 out of 10. But when you pay serious money it should be a 9 and above.

So think before you spend...

We have just returned from our 8-day holiday from Varu by Atmosphere where we stayed in a water villa with pool. We are travelling several times a year but our stay in Varu was our best holiday by far. Between the staff, the sea, the rooms, the food, the landscape, everything was perfect. The hotel is perfect for people who would like to relax and disconnect from the world, providing several beaches with high privacy (these were never full of people). The hotel is as well perfect for couples who are keen to move around the island and do activities provided by the hotel. Our mornings usually consisted of snorkelling around the hotel where we could see nice fishes and sometimes some small sharks. We loved to take the bikes and going around the island. Every three days there are shark feedings of which we did not miss one, here you can see big fishes 8-10 sharks and rays as well who usually come to eat. Our best best experience was the snorkelling trip to the turtles and the private jet ski trip to the sand bank. These were really truly maldivian moments where we could experience wildlife and the beauty of the nature. The food is perfect, however unfortunately we do not eat seafood ( for the ones who eat the experience can just be better). The lime and chili main restaurant always provided wide range of high quality food with fresh ingredients. Our favourites were the live fried banana making with loads of toppings, the live eggs, waffle and pancake preparation in the morning. Our favourite was the Charcoal grill restaurant where the steak is amazing. The Varu plan offers an exlusive unique additional complementary massage at the spa, snrokelling twice daily, - the a la carte restaurants are complementary as well we got 3 for our 8-day-stay. Apart from this two cruises or sunset fishing is included in the package. Further to this the cocktails made in the hotel are all delicious.

The person who made our holiday the most special and a huge shoutout to him is Salim from the watersport centre who brought us by jet ski to the sandbank and to snorkel with the turtles, as well he made such videos and pictures of us we could never dream of. He took time outside of his working hours to follow us in the room to take pictures of us as well as during the sunset. He prepared a video of us about our stay as well he was follwing us with a gopro during the turtle snrokelling and made beautiful videos of the underwater wildlife. During the shoots he was showing us the best spots on the island and recommending us the best time to take the pictures. He really made our holiday special because his job is his passion at the same time.

From the pool bar we would like to recognize Sandeep for the special services given us each day. From the lime and Chili restaurant Hillol, Soukaina and Johann who were always kind and providing excellent service.

The person responsible for our room was Mangal who did not only provided perfect service but was always surprising us with either a bath with flowers or a decorated bed or a monkey made from towels hanging from above the bed. He was always asking us the day before our plans for the following day so he could come and clean when it is the most suitable for us. We loved the evening chocolates he brought each night.

A special thanks to Krisztina who arranged a room change based on our room view preference.

Congratulations as well for the management for the great team they are building.

All in all the price value balance is perfect for the hotel and the exclusivity it provides to the customers is priceless. Further to this I have never felt emotional before leaving a hotel because of the staff, it was the first time. We will definitely return to the hotel soon. Thank you for making our holiday special and...