Diamonds Thudufushi Maldives Resort & SPA — Hotel in South Ari Atoll

Our first time in the Maldives and our first stay with Diamond resorts and I am delighted to say it was everything we expected from the images and the reviews.

The whole experience from landing at Male and taking the 30 minute flight by sea plane just adds to the excitement of what lays ahead. Though I would just like to say, if you are not a light packer you will be subject to an excess baggage charge for the sea plane. Although we had a 30kg limit with Emirates, the sea plane company only allows 20kg combined with your hand luggage which resulted for us in a $40 surcharge.

Neither the less, this non advertised cost did not detract from anything the island offered!

Once you arrive at the island you are welcomed by the hotel manager(s) and other members of the staff at the jetty who then joins you for welcome drinks and provides you with a tour of the facilities on the island. We had booked a water villa which was just fantastic, light and roomy with a large walk in wardrobe, very comfortable super king size bed and a very well stocked drinks fridge.

All of the water properties are surrounded by some amazing natural reefs which are just a few steps down from your terrace, where you will see a vast array of fish and even a few octopus if you look hard enough.

With the water properties you have exclusive use of their a la carte water restaurant for all of your meals, which is an absolute delight. The staff in the restaurant could not be more helpful and really offer a first class service. I am not one for singling out an individual but the attention to our stay that "Shafiu" gave us was exemplary and he really does deserve recognition for the level of service he brings to the restaurant.

The island is a case of relax as hard as you can and just take in the islands natural beauty with one of there many refreshing drinks. I would personally recommend the "Thudufushi Special" if day time drinking is your thing.

You can walk around the island in about 10 minutes and I would thoroughly recommend a sunrise walk, where you will see allot of fish such as Sharks, Rays and even turtles before they head for deeper waters when it gets warmer. With regards to Sharks there are black tip and grey reef sharks around the reef of the island and they really dont care about you. I spent every morning on the calmer far side of the island snorkelling with the sharks which average 1 - 2ft long, I did come face to face with a much larger grey reef shark which i would guess to be around 4ft. It caught me off guard and nearly swallowed by snorkel, but a few seconds passed and it just swam past me.

The island offers a full range water sports and marine life activities from a Dolphin cruise, Reef Snorkeling, Manta Ray and Whale Shark excursions and you need to do them! The best advise I can give you is to book any excursions you want to do the day you arrive, as the weather can change quickly causing your trip to be cancelled. With a mixture of not enough people and sea conditions my whale shark trip was cancelled a number of times, but we went on the day before we flew home and it did not disappoint!

We have travelled to a lot of resorts around the world and we both agree that diamonds Thudufushi is one of the best resorts we have stayed at, it has a very personal feel about it and we would just like to...

This is our second time on Maldives (first time was 8 years ago and we stayed at Veligandu which we really loved).

The Diamonds Thudufushi resort is extremely relaxing - calm, friendly staff, great food (except breakfast), great nature! Some guests come here each year for a very long time which is a quality proof for me.

Guests come from Italy, Swiss, South Africa, Russia, etc.

Room: We booked the Eco Beach Villa (I double checked before our arrival and the staff notified that Eco is the same as ordinary Beach Villa). Upon arrival we have been provided with villa No 3 but the air conditioning did not work. The staff suggested two other villas and we choose villa No 31 on the different side of the island. Nevertheless it was similar type of villa (Beach Villa), villa No 31 looked bigger and not so outdated.

Beach villas No 1-6 are located close to the reception and have long beach between the villa and the sea. Beach villas No 6-26 have a beach just in front of the villa but also a view to the island under construction nearby as well as breakwaters. Villas No 28-35 has the best view and beach.

There is no big difference between Beach Villas and Beach Junior Suits (just more space inside) - both are located close to each other alternately.

We also stayed 2 nights at water villa. Water villas are very well furnished, with really huge terrace but it is not the best choice for the baby (we stayed with a kid 1,5 years old). As for me beach villas are more cozy. Water villas do not have an open air shower (and the beach villas do).

There is no kids playground, swimming pool or some other activities for the kids. However our kid (1,5 years old) was not bored. All of the staff was extremely friendly with him. The Water Sport guys has some kids toys (shovel, bucket, balls, etc).

We rented a private boat for the Manta Safari and Snorkelling - highly recommended! Thanks to Raul.

Food: Lunch and dinner are very nice (a-la cart because of covid), a lot of options, each day a new menu (repeats every week). Alcohol included in the all inclusive package is quite good, a lot of options, tasty cocktails, good wine (Italy, South Africa).

Akash, Anil, Elaan, Khalil, Naeem, Masud and other guys - thank you so much for your hospitality! Hope to come back!

The below are just facts or recommendations to improve (but these things are not making the hotel worse and are not a negative thing for me):

There are no stamps for the postcards, feminine goods, wipes and condoms as well as kids diapers and kids sunscreens for sale in the boutique. So take with you everything what you may need.

The spa is a little bit overpriced for what you get (~100 usd for a one hour massage).

The house reef is almost dead. However a lot of fish, turtles, sharks.

Breakfast is a disaster - poor variety, food is not tasty. I cannot understand why lunch and dinner are so tasty but the breakfast is so poor and the same each day! Definitely need to be improved.

A lot of mosquitoes at the beach villa.

Beach foreland near the bar is empty and cannot be used - I would recommend to place some umbrellas...

Thudufushi is a natural, beautiful island with a superb reef, fabulous accommodation, great staff and excellent food.

We spent 9 days at stayed in a watervilla facing the sunset, with a large terrace where we had our breakfast delivered to each morning after our dip in the clear ocean. They have 4 poster beds, walk in wardrobes, WiFi and the drinks bar. We loved relaxing and having a bottle of wine whilst watching the sunset on the terrace.

The food wherever you eat was divine with plenty of choices. The buffet restaurant is enormous for such a small island and the water restaurant (Aqua) was serving very good food a la carte at breakfast/lunch/dinner. They put us at ease straight away, they were professional, funny, helpful, very polite and made each meal such a lovely experience.

The reef is spectacular and full of an abundance of marine life. We saw turtles, manta rays, eagle rays, reef sharks, lion fish and so many more only by snorkelling from our water villa. The boat trips are well organised and have a variety of choices for every day so you really cannot get bored! We also did some dives with the dive center located on the island that provided a real 5-star service that I rarely experienced in other location. The experience was simply amazing: we saw mantas, dolphins, sharks and a wide variety of other fishes. Something that we will remember forever!

For a little island it never feels too crowded and is delightful to stay on providing a very intimate experience.

Last but not least the staff was simply incredible, always professional, friendly and very helpful. They try very hard to give you the best holiday experience possible and making sure everything was just perfect so thanks to all of the staff for making this the best holiday we have had! Definitely above all our...