Kuramathi Maldives — Hotel in North Ari Atoll

I went with my bff back to Kuramathi this yr in June. Our last trip was June 2022 for 6 nights. This time we stayed for 5 and at the same Water villa with pool category. We also upgraded our meal plan to the Select AI from Basic AI. This cost USD70 /day/ pax ( It's USD55 then you need to add the 16% + 10%). It is well worth the money to upgrade for better food from the Ala carte restaurants as unfortunately we still found the buffet lacking in taste and variety. WE actually skipped bfast for 3 days and went for lunch instead.||I will split this review into Pros and Cons. |Cons :|1. We found out that the Specialty Coffees that are available under the Select AI plan are no longer served for Bfast. :( It's not significant but it puts a damper as we remembered the lattes and cuppacinos we had during our prior trip which we thoroughly enjoyed during bfast. Please put it back.|2. Same as per prior review whereby the room maintenance needs to be stepped up. There were a couple of wooden planks on the decking that was a bit loose. We could NOT find the switch to turn on the pool lights despite trying every single one but since we didnt swim in the evenings, it was of no consequence but still, maybe the pool light switch didn't work. Please look into it for 307.|3. The water from the shower, the bathtub and even the outdoor shower on the deck was warm to hot which started on our last night there which was the 22nd June onwards, we checked out from 23rd morning 8am. I had informed the front desk to perhaps check the plumbing as it seemed odd that even when we turned the tap to the extreme end of the cold ( blue) area for all the taps, the water was actually HOT.. not even room temperature. My friend was sweating in the bathroom in the morning as she took a shower before we checked out. Didn't happen till evening of 22nd.|4. this is a slight con whereby the placement of the table at the entrance way is basically blocking the entrance way. PLease change the table to either a SHORTER one OR change the door to open from the other side instead. It's very awkward.||Pros :|1. What stood out is as usual the service from the wait staff at all the restaurants and the housekeeping staff. Thank you ALIF from housekeeping for taking care of our room AND for the lovely surprise of the sand art at the doorway. He did a whale shark and also a hello kitty on seperate days. I am assuming he saw my hello kitty bag and my friends hello kitty earpods! Very nice and a lovely surprise to see when we stepped back into the room. Toilets and everything was always spick and span.||2. At the restaurants, it was always service with a smile.. I recall ( and I could have gotten the spelling wrong) an indonesian lady ; Meylin? We chatted with her lots at PALM and we also saw her on the last night dinner at the REEF restaurant. The other wait staff was also great and I cannot fault the service at any of the restaurants that we went for. Our fav is PALM and Island BBQ. Reef restaurant had really fresh Catch of the Day fish we had (Tuna and Red snapper) and thoroughly enjoyed for our last dinner. Food is just awesome at the Ala carte. So I highly recommend upgrading to the Select AI from Basic. My compliments to the F&B for the Ala carte restaurants. We love it!! And the sundaes from Palm.. YUM!!!! ||3. SPA was a great experience for my friend. She was gushing about the facial service. She even fell asleep during the facial which meant a huge thumbs up. :)||4. Due to global warming, there is really not much coral to speak of but there are TONS Of fish especially when you get to the deep blue waters near the drop off. I encountered schools of black tangs ( not the hawaiian ones but the ones with a white tail ..) parrot fish, a nice big reef shark came by and lots of other wrasses, triggers, unicorn tangs, powder blues and others. Back in June 2022 during the early mornings, the water was perhaps knee high, now the tide is higher from 7am onwards. I find the best time to snorkel is between 8am to 10am. The waters were relatively calm ( some choppiness but doable) and for regular joes, it is doable. I am not a regular swimmer but I am able to snorkel out. I saw 2 rays as well on seperate days,. ||Overall an awesome girls trip. We were so happy to get there and so sad to leave. :( Hopefully we might return again some day for Trip # 3 to Kuramathi. |Thanks and do bring back the speciality coffees to the...

What can I say? This island is amazing. We stayed in a two bedroomed beach bungalow and I would highly recommend them. Our son had his own floor - the bathroom had bath, walk-in shower and outdoor shower, and downstairs we had the same but our bathroom was massive! Both rooms had lots of wardrobe space with enough hangers, both had a fridge with some complimentary drinks, but alcoholic drinks and chocolate were chargeable. The beds were enormous, and extremely comfortable. Opening the patio doors our son had a balcony with two loungers a small table and two chairs and there was a glass balustrade, which was the perfect location to watch for passing sharks in the sea just below. Ours opened onto a decked terrace, with 2 loungers plus the small table and 2 chairs. Step down onto stone blocks, where there is a tap to rinse off the sand, and you are on the white sandy beach with 4 loungers, and beyond just a few steps into the Indian Ocean. We were on the reef side, a short walk along the beach to the Laguna Bar and Champagne Lounge, and to our breakfast restaurant Farivalhu. We had the All Inclusive Select and I am very glad we did. Although we never tried the lunch or evening buffet restaurants so I can't comment on the food, what I can comment on is the absolutely amazing food and service at all the other restaurants we tried. (We went to them all except Kobe). Each one is like a Michelin Star restaurant, the food, the service is just first class. The resort we were told was 97% full when we were there, however you wouldn't know it. It is a large resort with of course lots of beach, so you could find parts of the beach with no one on, in fact the only 'busy' part was around the Sand Bar and Coffee Shop area, and when I say busy, I mean there were always a few people around, but it was never crowded. The pools are fabulous, there are three (other than the private villa pools), one near the Sand Bar, one at the Laguna Bar and one near the Spa, where there is also a tennis court. There is a football pitch but it seemed to be used mainly for staff use, although we were told they would welcome guests. The watersports and excursion staff are incredibly professional and our experiences of the Snorkel Safari and the Paragliding were amazing, I felt we were in totally professional and well trained hands who had safety at the forefront at all times. All the staff throughout the island were top notch, extremely helpful and attentive. Special shout out to our 'Room Boy' Samil (not sure if that is how his name is spelled), who was friendly, very smiley and so keen to help. We had the local island visit and Sunset Cruise included in our package and both were well worth taking. The local island is very close to Kuramathi, but is a world away. It is very rundown for the most part but they had a fabulous football pitch for the local kids, which was being used for a training session when we were there. They are obviously trying to educate the locals with regards to rubbish disposal but I suppose it is very difficult to know what to do with it other than throw it in the sea; there are signs up everywhere to try to deter this, but not sure what else they can do with it - presume places like Kuramathi can help with this and hopefully tourism in this case can have a positive effect. When out on the Sunset Cruise it was quite dismaying to see rubbish floating in the Ocean - plastic bags etc. However, the Sunset Cruise was a lovely little highlight - we were served champagne before the storm hit! It was short lived and certainly livened things up a bit. We saw a large shark whilst out on the cruise too which was a bonus. When on the snorkel safari we saw some False Killer Whales from the safety of the boat, which I hadn't heard of before, and of course lots of colourful fish and a lovely turtle. Unfortunately it was the rainy season when we were there which didn't affect the temperature but we did experience a lot of cloud and a lot of rain. One tip -take sea shoes -...

Kuramathi delivers on all that it promises, I can't fault them there at all. There are a few little things that they could improve on that would make Kuramathi even more unforgettable than it currently is.

Firstly, upgrading to the Select All Inclusive food and beverage package is a must. There are so many great restaurants on the island, that being able to experience them all and not having to worry about any nasty bill surprises at the end of it just the best way to enjoy a meal. As part of the all inclusive package you also get 2 hours of windsurfing per day. Thats great! But i dont know how to wind surf so you do need to pay US$69 p.p for a lesson (if you are stuggling, and it is hard, you will need more than one). It would be amazing if Kuramathi could add paddle boarding and kyaking to the package aswel, it wouldn't cost too much more for them and would make us use the island more. Might even stop us drinking our weight in cocktails at the pool bar.. probably not though haha!

A couple of other things before i start praising them. We were staying in villa 364, the furthest villa to the west to try and get the best sunset (I cannot recommend this villa more, it is so peaceful and private, you have almost 270 degree views and a perfect view of the sunset). That all being said, you are the furthest for the neareat buggy stop some 600m away. There is room to have another buggy stop at the end of the jetty to the Thundi Water Villas. This is something I think they most certainly should do. The walk is not too far, and is actually quite beautiful but after a few cocktails and a lot of sun, a lift to your villa would be much appreciated.

To the good things now! There are so many there is no way I will cover them all.

The service! It was fantastic, from the attention to detail in the restaurants, the perfect wine etiquette, the housekeeping and the small things like saying goodmorning and hello to you when walking around.

The room, again Villa 364, if it is in your budget and there is just the 2 of you, try and get it! When we requested it, we ofcourse were not guaranteed it, but if you dont ask it you wont get it. It was just perfect, very large, huge bed, massive outdoor deck and private pool.

The snorkeling is fantasic. They have channels leading out to the reefs if you are confident or you can stay in thr lagoon. Either way there is plenty to see. Thousands of fish! Small baby reef sharks (completely harmless), sting rays and corals.

The food in the restraunts is great. Having tried all but one (Indian, 30 degree days, a bit hot for indian I think) I can safely say that they are all great. I do have my favourites, Kobe tepinyaki was the best! As good as any tepinyaki I have had at home. The Reef (seafood) with its fresh fish is amazing and if you are after some red meat, Island BBQ is where you can grab an awesome steak. And of course if you get the Select All Inclusive pacakage it is part of the price and you get a $0 bill even with a couple bottles of wine!

The pros of Kuramathi outway the cons by a mile. Make sure you get a room on the western end of the island. It is much prettier (doesnt have the necessary infrastructure the island needs, that is all to the eastern end of the island) and the rooms are newly renovated. I hope ocer time the renovate the other rooms so everyone on the island can have an amazing place to stay...