Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu — Hotel in South Maalhosmadulu

Spent 6 nights / 7ish days holiday package to the Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu resort island. An "Emirates Holidays" vacation package. I trusted Emirates to provide me with a well-selected, premium vacation experience, in line with their reputation as an airline. Not. I paid around 7,000 USD, including flights for my wife and myself from Dubai. How should I describe our experience? Is this a 5 star resort? Both on its own and in comparison with other 5 star resorts I would say no. More like 3 or 4 stars. It was really a mixed bag, and whether or not you'll have a good time depends on your acceptance of various things. It's certainly beautiful, especially all the tropical trees and plants that cover the island. But on the weird side, for example, there are no TVs in any of the "villas" (in reality: one-room huts with straw roof). Most importantly, the "beach villa" we were assigned had no beach whatsoever but was straight on/in the water, with only a small concrete terrasse. After a number of days, the very loud, never ending sound of the waves relentlessly crashing straight into the concrete all around us started to drive us crazy. I ended up wearing noise cancelling headphones in the room. Pretty good everywhere else on the island was more quiet and tranquil than our room and waterfront. On the island there is essentially only one restaurant. For breakfast, lunch and dinner. So quite limited. There are technically two restaurants, but only the buffet restaurant is included in the all-inclusive package. The other restaurant (Thai) is charged separately. And closed 3 out of 7 days. Also, there is only one "real" beach lounge bar. (During the day there is a small, second set-up on the beach with bean bags that also serves drinks). I complained about the absence of beach at our beach villa and on day 3 they offered us a different "beach villa" which I rejected because it was also not what you envisage from a Maldives vacation: the "villa" was positioned some 20 meters from the beach and the view from all the windows was essentially shrubberies and tropical jungle trees, completely obscuring the sea, the beach and the sun. So, that's not a "beach villa" either. Unfortunately, if you want to escape the sun and relative heat and humidity for a while, you really have only one option: stay in your one-room "villa". Because in the entire resort only the "villa" have AC. All other places on the island are open air, with ceiling fans working hard to provide some relief. Then the distances you had to walk again and again: it was 8 minutes normal walking pace between our hut and the restaurant/bar, which adds up. Especially because the in-room minibar is excluded from the all inclusive package. So for a drink you have to take that 8 minutes walk. No buggies. There was nothing on our side of the island, its all clustered on the south tip. And guess where they put us? All the way on the other end, up north. Btw, a north facing terrasse means no sunlight after 11 am. They really gave us a bad spot on the island, filling up an unattractive room. Oh, did I mention that the toilets are outside? And an eyesore is that all along the beach there are sandbags, to reinforce the island against storm I imagine. The staff are all friendly but, except for Chef Zeyad who was very alert in helping us as vegetarians, they're mostly quite slow. On occasion, a simple can of Coke arrived as we were already finishing up our main dish... The entertainment is substandard. Karaoke night was fun enough, but the one-lady band on other evenings was singing false and using the wrong cords on her guitar. They offer Shisha waterpipe, at a steep charge, but then don't maintain it or replace the coals. So it dies in 30 minutes. Shame. There is no gym and no pool on the island. There is a badminton court but that seemed to be for the staff… Seven days at the Coco Palm is definitely (too) long. If you do choose to stay here, three or four is the max I think, especially because of these quite limited options and the peculiarities of this...

We just came back from a two weeks trip from Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu and want to share our experience and some „good to know“ tips at the end. We're in our mid / end thirties and have experience traveling Thailand, Dominican Republic, Cuba, and many other countries.

Overall we a totally happy and still overwhelmed with the quality of the service and the food that was offered. From reception, room boy, pool boy, bartenders, and waitress, all were so nice and friendly.

Island and maintenance We arrived on the island and were overwhelmed. It looks like an Island you want to get lost on! We’ve spent two weeks barefoot, it was just awesome! Everything we've seen is very well maintained. Also during our stay, a lot of maintenance happened.

Room We stayed in Deluxe Beach Bungalow (77), so a hut on the beach with a small pool. All is built that you have a great level of privacy. It feels like your own strip of the beach. Occasionally people walk by, but even with a nearly booked-out island, still not much going on.

Food The buffet in the Cowries restaurant was amazing. It had rarely the same things during the two weeks and if it had, we were happy to eat nice stuff again. When something was out, it was quickly refilled and I’m not sure if they had really run out of something during a meal.

Breakfast serves eggs in all styles, fresh fruit salad, yogurt with normal or low fat, bread, and toast in different styles, cheese, marmalade, some meaty stuff, baked beans, muesli, porridge, and other stuff.

Lunch had ready-made salads, single ingredients to „mix your own salad“, dressings & oils, Sushi pieces, a lot of choices of meat and fish dishes, and the best desserts I’ve eaten in an all-inclusive buffet. The ice cream was two choices per lunch/dinner and it was always stunning.

If you’re a coffee drinker: it’s only included in all-inclusive for breakfast (as far as I understood). In the afternoon you get only powder coffee all-in but can buy high-quality coffee at the bar.

The house reef & snorkeling The house reef of course suffered from the corral dying due to the warm weather. Still, we’ve seen amazing things while snorkeling and they are making a big effort to bring corrals back, which you could see. We’ve seen blacktip reef sharks, nurse sharks, eagle rays, a turtle, squid, many fishes like lionfishes, box fishes, and other things. You must know, that we’ve been snorkeling every day and often 1-2 hours, so don’t expect to just jump in and see all of these, but there is a chance!

Diving Diving with Coco Dive was a pleasure and so easy! We went on three dives together with the dive masters Antonio and Osman. They were really kind, knowledgeable, and fun as well. We always felt safe and when my girlfriend's air was running out a little early once, Osman let her breathe through his Octopus, so she could stay a little longer and we didn’t need to go up as a group early. Thank you for having us and making our experience so nice!

The turtle rescue center / Olive Ridley project The turtle rescue center does some awesome work. The turtle expert and the marine biologist explain their work once per week each and two times per day is turtle feeding, cute and interesting to watch. They also had activities for kids.

Tips and „good to know“ when you go You’re on an island, so there is a shop to get small things, but it’s pricey. especially (reef-friendly) sunscreen is needed a lot, we brought factor 50 and still returned back home tanned. Alcohol on the room is extra and a little pricey, I’ve heard cigarettes as well. To bring a good snorkel, mask and fins were great for us to enjoy the reef a lot! You can borrow equipment at the water-sports, but it’s not as fitting for you as you might want it, when spending a lot of time in the water. We bought a SIM card at the airport and didn’t need it, since the wifi was so good and worked nearly everywhere Bring some dollars to tip where you...

Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu is a resort that we can wholeheartedly and convincingly recommend, and it will be the first holiday destination we will visit again. I will now provide the following 7 reasons why this resort is worth the money:

1 The entire island is impeccably maintained, with great care taken for the surrounding nature. Everything is in harmony with the natural environment, from the planted palm trees to the use of palm-derived materials. The island exudes a truly natural ambiance, and cleanliness is maintained throughout.

2 The main restaurant offers incredibly delicious food that deserves special mention. The team led by Mr. Siyad in the live cooking area, the service staff, and the friendly individuals who accompany you to your table - all of them are exceptionally friendly and accommodating. My partner is a vegetarian, and every day they were asked if they found sufficient and satisfying options at the buffet or if the kitchen could provide something else. They attended to every request with friendliness and professionalism.

3 The beach bar, with colleagues like Mr. Abul, always prepared delicious drinks for us. We had many pleasant conversations, and the quality of the drinks included in the all-inclusive package was diverse and high-quality. We felt a strong sense of familiarity and warmth.

4 Coco Dive is the most organized and tidy dive center we have ever seen. The owner, Antonio, and his team have built an excellent dive center of which they can rightly be proud. Diving here is slightly more expensive than in other regions, but it is well worth it considering the dive center's responsible care for the complete equipment, ensuring a true "luxury diving" experience. We had the pleasure of diving with the dive master, Jaz, with whom we also had personal fun. He showed us everything one can see in the Maldives, from sharks, dolphins, and rays to countless colorful fish and well-preserved coral reefs.

5 The Olive Ridley Project, an injured turtle rescue project, is present on the island. The project focuses on rehabilitating turtles that wouldn't survive on their own. Visiting the turtles was a daily highlight for us. Each turtle touched our hearts, and we are proud to have "adopted" our favorite turtle. Dr. Marianna and her team, along with the volunteers, do an incredibly amazing and admirable job. The island also has turtle nesting sites, and during our stay, two out of the six nests hatched, with dozens of baby turtles making their way to the sea. It was a remarkable highlight. The project team accompanies and explains everything, making it a remarkable and awe-inspiring experience within the resort.

6 The reception is staffed around the clock, and the team is exceptionally helpful and competent. The colleagues were able to assist promptly with any request and made everything possible. There were also team members who spoke our native language, as well as Russian, Spanish, French, and more. The team is truly customer-oriented and even speaks several Asian languages. They cater to each individual guest's needs.

7 The sunset. Regardless of the room type or location, it is always a short walk to the sunset side. You can relax at the beach bar, where there are plenty of comfortable chairs, benches, and bean bags. The bar staff will also serve you, making every evening a highlight.

Warm regards and until next time! Maria and Thomas, Honeymooners from Villa...