Raaya by Atmosphere — Hotel in North Maalhosmadulu

Our 13th Maldives holiday & 11th resort, we visited Raaya on an all-inclusive plus package for 10 days in October and had a really great holiday. Inevitably, comparisons are drawn between different resorts, so here are our thoughts.

Our first few hours on the island were frustrating. We were extensively bitten by insects upon arrival and after 20+ hours travelling, being immediately taken on an island orientation tour by buggy without opportunity to freshen up or find some insect repellent was too much. Arriving at our villa, we found we had been allocated half of a two-bedroom Family Beach Villa - not the Beach Villa we had booked. Although very nice and well appointed, we found it lacked storage space (the door to the adjoining room having taken up the wardrobe space) and lacked privacy having a shared veranda. Consequently we felt compelled to take the option to upgrade to a Beach Pool Villa which alleviated the space & privacy issue. We loved our new room & plunge pool - so every cloud has a silver lining.

Raaya is a big property but impeccably maintained with wide sandy beaches almost all the way round the perimeter. It's easy to find solitude and feel like you're alone on the island. Electric Buggys circulate frequently or you can walk or cycle round easily. Only opened in 2023, everything is contemporary and still looks new.

Food & drinks everywhere on the resort were particularly good, in-room mini-bar included. The wine choice for an all-inclusive package was exceptional and really made a difference to our dining experience. The buffet restaurant offering was varied and we really enjoyed the Asian section but we did find that the food in tureens really wasn't kept warm enough. The menus at the speciality restaurants were good and we had some really very nice meals, particularly at The Village (1 x Dinner) and Ampers&nd (2 x Dinner, 1 x Lunch).

The pool area was wonderful on a sunny day - comfortable and plentiful loungers, shade from the trees, umbrellas and canopies if required, good snacks & drinks, sunset views. The start of Oktoberfest lunch barbeque was a real highlight of our stay. But if/when a shower came along, there was really no where to hide and in this respect we found the resort lacked an informal covered area/bar near the pool - if only the Sports Bar had been where the watersport centre is...….

Ampers&nd was a fabulous venue although at times we found it a bit too formal - you really needed to be dressed & dry to go in. Come evening though, with dinner done and a DJ/Singer it really had an Ibiza meets Maldives vibe. Seb's Shack at the South-West end was very laid back and relaxing. Sadly though, both these venues, didn't quite get it right for sundowners. Ampers&nd facing north and the two jetties obscuring the sunset view from the Shack.

We found Snorkelling at Raaya disappointing in comparison to many of the other resorts we've visited. The reef drop-off is just too far/inaccessible and out-of-bounds from the island. The daily organised trips are well run and enjoyable but it's just not the same as doing your own thing. But if you're happy with shallow water snorkelling in the Lagoon there were nice areas on the sunrise side.

The resort runs an 'Island Host' system and an itinerary of restaurant bookings, complementary spa sessions & snorkelling/boat trips is given to you by your host after arrival. We found it inflexible and nothing we asked to change was possible so we just cancelled things. We really would have preferred to take our chances with availability and created our own schedule.

Finally, the highest praise for Raaya, is for it's staff. They really were amazingly friendly and helpful. For us the standouts were Afzal who looked after our wine glasses extremely well, Cindy in Ampers&nd, Supun who seemed to appear everywhere and Nasru at Soaq Pool Bar.

Some of the above sounds negative but we don't want that to be the take-away from this review. Raaya is a very nice resort and anybody who visits is almost certain to have a...

The only thing better than the island are its staff members like: Yassine, Princess, Lani, Sharaf, Mo, Julius, Tiara, Omar, Roxshad, Ruth, Ashi and please forgive me for not naming every man and woman who helped make my stay there simply perfect-I am so grateful for them all! I was treated with so much consideration and kindness by everyone working there. I have never been taken care of so well in my life! I must return. Every day, I was so busy but equally relaxed. Arrival day included a 45 min seaplane ride (and yes we landed in the water which was so cool), and immediately greeted by the staff members in the warmest drumline-parade I've ever been in❤️, greeted by our butler and the , driven by golf cart to our OCEAN VILLA (my best nights of sleep EVER), ate late lunch with my favorite cousin at the main restaurant (so many delicious entrees from around the world), and watched our first, undulating sunset in the middle of the Indian 🪸 Ocean! That was only day one! The next morning we joined sunrise yoga and it was windy, warm and absolutely perfect. I basically did sunrise yoga most mornings and a sunset yoga on my last night there. I received the most tender spa treatments from Lani and a magical haircut from Princess. They were both so kind to me and truly are such wonderful women and I'm honored Princess did my first big chop! Immediately afterwards our guide, Roxshad booked us for island photos with Yassine who is such a gentleman being so patient with me as I had no idea how to pose. Yassine is a consummate professional and I highly recommend taking these once in a lifetime photos with him! My cousin also celebrated her birthday and when I say I cried at how thoughtful Philippe's planning was and all the incredible staff who not only decorated our table with colored rice in the shapes of manta rays they also serenaded my sweet cousin and even brought us a huge chocolate cake! I honestly could not have been any happier and this was only day 2! We also enjoyed a movie on the beach! So cool and with a huge full moon overhead while we relaxed with our feet in the warm, soft sand ( and yes we fell asleep - jetlag🥴) but I'm sure the movie was good🤭. Our attendant, Sharaf was such a great help with keeping our room clean and cozy...we wanted for nothing because it's like he would give it before we could even ask! We appreciated his generosity with his decorations he made in our room on our final night; it was very classy. Plus Sharaf helped with getting me out of my fear to snorkel off my balcony and when I finally did😳😍 I didn't get out of that warm water! It's so peaceful swimming in the bay looking for baby 🐠 🐟...I even saw my first sea cucumber 😳 and some baby needle nose sharks! We also had a 5-course meal at Ampers&nd. All I have to say is WOW the view is beyond gorgeous on this other side of our island. It is a must - to go upstairs to Amerpersa&nd's huge day bed for you stargazers like me🥹. Our final day there included an amazing deep tissue massage and how could I forget our sound bath❤️❤️!! Oh and as if our room and literally every single facility isn't beautiful and functional...every🤌🏾 single🤌🏾 bathroom🤌🏾 on that island is top tier🤌🏾💗 and makes the 4seasons look like a pit stop. I'm not even done! We also went on a boat ride and snorkeling in the ocean😳and 🥹I was in heaven.So many schools of fish & a turtle 🐢 just below my flippers it was an amazing experience that I must return to. I almost forgot we went on a scavenger hunt and crafted woodwork making our own traditional Dhoni boat with our talented, Mindy. The local traffic includes bicycles and golf carts. I can literally walk 5 minutes anywhere and catch a bus at the cute little bus stops. The weather is humid but lovely and although it rained a couple days you could not wipe the smile on my face off if you tried- I was so happy there. After 6days I was well rested from the stress of Los Angeles, and even made good friends and was totally kissed by the sun 🌞. Planning my...

Our stay at the Amari Raaya Resort was definitely a 10/10. It‘s a very new resort and we were there during the official opening period. We can definitely recommend staying at Amari, please find the details below:

Accommodation: We stayed one week in an Ocean Pool Villa and one week in a Beach Pool Villa. First off - both were amazing, designed in a very stylistic way, modern but also capturing a Maldivian island spirit. The Beach villa was slightly bigger and we had our own beach segment. The Ocean Villa had less sunbathing possibilities (a risky thing on the Maldives anyways) but also access to very lively snorkeling areas where we saw muray eels, little reef sharks, sting rays and countless colorful fish.

The Island: The island was larger than we thought before, which was a plus to us. There are plenty ways to use transport carts or rent bikes to be faster but walking always was a pleasant option as well.

Food/Restaurant: The food was next level covering all possible tastes and cuisines from around the world and all varieties of local food. Our favorites were the on demand stations where fresh food was prepared (eggs, pancakes and waffles in the morning, fresh fish, meat, pasta and several pop up action cookings at lunch and evening times.) The dessert section was also incredibly good and did not only cover all fresh and exotic fruits you can think of but also high class patisserie. The kitchen chef Putu was highly engaged and enthusiastic and surprised guests from time to time with additional servings of sushi, food or desserts which were not on the buffet. So be nice to him (hardly possible to be not)… ;-) We have not tried the Italien Restaurant Prego simply because the included food was too spectacular. The staff is also super nice - Maldivian restaurant staff chef Haleem is always good for a story or insight, Melody was very caring and warm and Fred did not only always have a smile on his face but was also very caring - just to mention a few. They also must have an excellent memory because they remember your name from day one and all your preferences.

Facilities: We discovered all the facilities in the middle of the island quite late, but they were amazing. The Asian themed Spa was just wonderful and the treatment extremely professional. The kids playground was hidden but super nice and the kids club also made a great impression (but we haven’t used it). The fitness room is state of the art and they have an artistic zone as well where all guests can paint a wooden local ship or buy art. The water sport club was also having all possible selections. We tried the jet ski and the sea bob which were both great fun. The dive center was also super professional and we spent most of our additional budget there to do snorkeling tours to see mantas, turtles or beautiful coral gardens. The guides were 100% professional, well equipped and caring. Kudos to Hummas and Haleem who showed us so many great wild life while still making sure we are disturbing nature as little as possible. Unfortunately the only shop on the island was still stocked quite basic - so make sure to pack well. Yet the lady who runs the shop tries to make everything possible showing the most gastfreundlich mindset. Snorkeling equipment can be rented for free though.

Staff/Island Host: Maybe because it was still a brand new team, but everyone seemed authentically caring and interested in the guest’s well being. From the airport receptionists to the colleagues cleaning the beaches, everyone was friendly, greeting and supportive. While the concept of personals hosts might not be new, Amari has a great setup of various language hosts which support your whole stay. You can reach them through WhatsApp and they make sure to help you in every matter. We had the great pleasure to be hosted by Sandeep who was very caring, warm hearted and humorous. Overall - Great Job...