Royal Island Resort & Spa — Hotel in South Maalhosmadulu

40 years of Maldives trips, and this feels to us like the original real Maldives, back to everything we originally loved, simplicity in Paradise; staying in one of the simple beach line villas with fabulous food in the main buffet restaurant or the A La Carte restaurant, (who needs a string of different restaurants!) all on this amazing relaxed, unpretentious superb island with its great house reef ideal for snorkelling and diving all complimented by the amazing staff.||All you need to know before you go:-||Visa: |You need to submit a traveller declaration form on line, QR code was not needed at the airport its completion will be linked to your passport (cannot submit any sooner than 3 days before arrival)||Transfers: |From Male you will be guided the domestic terminal to check in for your 20 minute flight, but there may be a couple of hour wait, then you are driven to your boat for a 10 minute transfer to the Island where there is a waving welcome party. Apparently the addition of seaplane is planned, so this would be easier. If your departing flight is 9.00/10.00 am from Male be prepared to leave at 04.30 with a wake up call at 03.30. Unexpectedly breakfast was available to the departing guests, which was nice. |Tip: We made sure the resort confirmed they had our travel details.||Island Life: |A walk around the island with your feet in the water takes no more than 30-35 minutes, depending on if you stop at one of the many swings, or to have a drink. You can eat, when you like (see below), you can drink when you like (see below), you can snorkel, dive, or go on excursions (see below), or you can read your book (there are two library stations) poolside or ocean side, or take a nice wander through the Island to see the history (see below) or discover one of the many quiet garden sites and contemplate. You can join in daily activities too (see below) and then at night you will be entertained (see below) and you can see the sharks and all the fish that are attracted to the pier lights on either pier but mostly on the pier adjacent to the A La Carte Restaurant/ Dive Centre, or simply stargaze!. ||In Detail:||Rooms: |Every room faces the beach, just a few steps from the ocean. Most are shaded by trees, each has a veranda and chairs as well as sun loungers. Beach towels are exchanged daily from there and the lounger cushions put away each night. Rooms are traditional, (although there is a plan to upgrade I believe) with open air bathrooms and although the fittings are older everything is impeccably clean, and cleaned daily. There is a kettle in each room with tea and coffee (albeit instant). Wine, beer, soft drinks and spirits are kept constant, chargeable if not an all inclusive guest. Beds are large and comfortable, on the firm side, and there is a TV with some channels. One side of the Island is sunset and one sunrise, we actually stayed on both and although sunrise villas are premium we preferred the sunrise side, the snorkelling seemed better and we preferred the lagoon here.|Tip: We took our own small cafetière and pack of coffee as there is not a machine in the room and we like our “nice” coffee. ||Food: |Each night at the main buffet restaurant is a themed night but there is always food to suit everyone. Our favourites were sushi night the tuna was amazing, and Maldivian nights. Generally we lived on fish, the perfect salads and curry (when in Rome and all that!). There is also an A La Carte restaurant, one meal for all inclusive guests is included here, additionally there are special meals, e.g. lobster and sunset meals etc for a fee there. We did not eat at the a La carte restaurant, but we did regularly enjoy a sunset drink there, the perfect spot, and the staff there were as ever lovely. Breakfast is 07.30-10.00, lunch 12.30-14.00, and dinner 19.30-21.00. Food is available in the afternoon to teatime at the A La Carte for All Inclusive guests and there are is also food available from the Boli Bar Menu throughout the day.||Full Board or All Inclusive? |A personal choice, we chose Full Board. This includes three meals a day, always water at meals, and tea and coffee and juices etc at breakfast. Otherwise all other beverages including iced coffees etc are chargeable. All chargeable items are then taxed 10% service and 17% tax which feels expensive, so for example one diet coke and one bottled beer was $18.80, however although we had some days when we drank (much!) alcohol we did not spend what would have amounted to the additional All Inclusive cost so for us it was the right choice, especially as we like wine and most of this is chargeable to everyone, however if you think you will drink quite a bit each day, e.g. beer cocktails etc, it would be worth it. All-inclusive does include snorkel rental which would add up otherwise. |Tip: If you are Full Board buy your snorkel equipment before you arrive.||What to wear? |Anything is the answer. No swimwear in the restaurant, otherwise dress code is casual, some people like to look smart for dinner and some don’t! the only tip I would say is ladies no need to pack those heels. Nighttime temperatures are the same as daytime so no jackets required either.||Shops: |There are three shops, a souvenir shop, a jeweller, and a larger shop with clothes, toys, and toiletries you may have forgotten. The clothes were quite reasonable but the smaller forgotten items were expensive, as you would expect.||Recreation: ||Snorkelling, Diving and wildlife- |the house reef is perfect for snorkelling, we saw the full array of fish, moray eels, a sting ray, sharks and turtles just snorkelling, once I saw two Turtles together and was lucky enough to swim the whole reef next to it as it didn’t seem to mind my company, amazing. The dive team were lovely and we were lucky enough to see whale sharks and manta rays. (other Island wildlife included the fruit bats which are great to watch, the Asian cuckoos, a tame yellow parakeet that likes apple! and off course mosquitos – no more than anywhere else though) |Tip bring repellent and candles maybe, didn’t suffer in the room or bathroom but walking about)||Excursions- |as we dive we did not go on any excursions this time but suffice to say if you have never been to The Maldives and would like to go on the trips offered here be prepared to pay handsomely, the cheapest offer I saw was $145 each for a snorkel trips others were higher. ||Island Tour: |Shareef, the Recreation Manager kindly took us on an histroical tour of the Island, and it was very interesting to have the sites you pass and their signage explained. We were even sent the literature afterwards, it was very informative and interesting and we would recommend taking an hour out of your stay to walk with Shareef, you even get to see the 200 year old Banyan Tree in the centre of the Island (the staff quarters)||Entertainment: |Your host WhatsApp’s a schedule every morning with children’s activities and all other activities being held that day and every evening there is entertainment at 9.00 pm in The Boli Bar, either the resident Duo, the Maldivian Night, a DJ, or the very good Band. As well as the odd competition, Hubbie won the “Hold The Stein” competition!||Staff – |Last but not least this Island is made by its staff. I only wish I could mention everyone, but at my age I don’t remember them all! There is a “host” system, every guest has their own host, who is your point of contact via WhatsApp anytime of the day for anything at all, ours was Mark and he was brilliant I especially liked the videos of his bird when I told him we had adopted the friendly island yellow parrot!. The management are very visible and always about to chat, the general manager was lovely and we established we had a tenuous link from the 1990s – small world! , the restaurant manager Ali chatted daily, the recreation manager Shareef, and all the other managers we chatted to were a credit to the Resort. All the other staff, the bar staff at the pool, Boli bar and sunset bar, the waitresses at the Boli bar (Sharma) and in the restaurant – Pandi and Reddy, and the chefs and servers, and room staff, absolutely everyone we met were great. Thank you very much to you all.||Will we return?: |In a heartbeat and we hope to. ||Top Tip We travelled out of season (September/Oct) and hardly had any rain, the Island was not mobbed and the difference in price was absolutely worth it – see...

We had an amazing stay at the Royal Island Resort and Spa between 8 and 18 September 2025. On previous occasions we stayed in Komandoo and Kuredu, however, Royal Island provided the best overall experience. Found a good all-inclusive deal on bookings.com, which turned out to be a premium all-inclusive package. Particular praise for the buffet meals, which had wide array of choices for all preferences and dietary requirements, all of which were very flavourful. The quality of the al a carte restaurant (Raabondi) was high, however, given how good the buffet restaurant (Maakana) was we barely wanted to go for al a carte. |We were greeted by a dedicated host on arrival who was our primary contact for all our needs during our stay. Our host was Ajwad followed by Myatt, who both kept us informed of daily activities/weather. They seemed to be more helpful and able to get things done rather than the reception. Almost all staff members we came across from housekeeping to the management of various departments, and the Spa (Araamu) and dive centre (diveOceanus) staff were warm, welcoming, attentive and helpful.|Our Beach villa was spacious with an ocean view (only couple of meters from the back deck). Only downside was the inside was a little dated and the A/C could have been better. But everything else worked well and the room was comfortable. We stayed in room 212, which happened to have a good view of the sunset from the deck and a good stretch of the beach. We would say between villas 211 and 240 would be the best choices. Some areas of the beach at various points had a little bit of broken up coral, which wasn’t a problem for us, you may want to take water shoes if you already have them. Mosquito repellent would also be recommended. |Nice pool with bar just in front of the welcoming main bar and plenty of places to savour the island. Gym, Badminton courts, Tennis courts and several pool tables are available along with two table tennis tables. |Transfers: 20mins domestic flight from Male to Dharavandhoo (around twice a day, one late morning and another early evening) and 15-20mins speed boat to the resort. |Dive Centre: Open from 8am to 5pm. We did Manta Ray Snorkelling at Hanifaru Bay and a Night Snorkelling trip in the house reef with Shabeen (saw few sharks, squid, various star fish, sting ray, bioluminescent plankton, and star gazing in the middle of the ocean was a bonus). On the day we were at Hanifaru Bay, we were lucky enough to see over 50 Mantas and we saw groups of over 30 at one time, but this is not guaranteed. Our guides Shabeen and Eiyaan were excellent at guiding the group of 10 people around the bay so that we get the best snorkelling experience with Mantas. We were in water for 45-60mins during both snorkelling sessions. To note: there is a waiting list for Manta snorkelling and they take maximum of 16 people at one time. Also tour companies have allocated days where they can take snorkellers to this UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. |Water Sports: open from 9am to 5pm, where you can get snorkelling gear and life jackets daily. Osam was helpful when we tried jet-skiing and was also informative during the sunset dolphin excursion which was fantastic as we saw many playful dolphins. |We would like to thank all of the staff seen and unseen, that made our stay very enjoyable and memorable. |Special mentions:|• Maakana: Sandar (bubbly restaurant host who greeted us as if we were a member of the family returning home for our meals); Head Chef Roshan (who took time out of his busy schedule to explain to us about all the processes and functionality of running such a busy restaurant); Chef Sunil and Chef Damith (who went above and beyond to provide for our needs and add a personal touch to our stay which made us feel included and special); Live cooks (Krishna, Maheswar, Muthu and Kebin to name a few who provided comedic entertainment every time we saw them); our table waiters (Murali and Pandi who were incredible attentive and accommodating). |• Raabondi: Chef Kamal for coming and speaking to us after a meal; Rukman and Himali for their warm and pleasant service. |• Spa: Rina, Asha and Sinta for a tranquil spa experience and good massages. |• Housekeeping: Amir who made sure everything was in order with a warm and pleasant smile. |• Boli Bar: Sha, Rai and Swarna who were always attentive to our needs and made sure we were looked after and to Angus who made us laugh everything we saw him with his exuberance and boundless energy. |• Front office: Nasiru who came to check how our stay was going and during a lengthy conversation he explained some of the history of the Maldives, the island and the ethos of the resort. |Couple of things to note: |• Resort contact number provided (+960 334 4777) was not answered in early hours (despite several attempts) when there was a delay to our flight and we needed to urgently inform them about the changes needed for our transfers. Only way of communication was via e-mail. ||• Our departure flight was at 11.15am from Male and we knew we would be leaving the resort very early. However, the information of the procedure, itinerary and checkout details were only sent by 7pm of the night before telling us things had to be settled by 9pm while we are sitting at dinner. This information should have been provided earlier in the day so we could have finalised everything without having to rush on our last night before we had to check out by 3.45am...

There is so much I would like to say about this incredible Island...

From the moment we arrived, there was someone waiting to take us to the local check in desk. After a very easy 20 minute flight with Villa air we arrived at the local airport and were then transferred to the speed boat. 15 minutes later on a very special speed boat journey we arrived at the island. We were immediately greeted by incredible staff and had our own member who explained everything and took us to our villa. We were also given fresh towels and a smoothie as we arrived which was a wonderful touch after a long journey from Moscow on a not so comfortable Aeroflot journey.

We were all inclusive during our time and I would recommend anyone who intends to drink to do the same as the prices were expensive for drinks (£10 smoothies and beers), but they have to make money and we read about the prices beforehand and all inclusive gave us access to pretty much everything we wanted. It was definitely value for money considering what we ate and drank during our time.

Other benefits of all inclusive included unlimited access to snorkeling equipment and kayaks. free food and drinks in mini bar which were refilled everyday (apart from shorts in our mini bar but we were informed without needing to mention this.) They provided us with beer, wine, coca-cola, mango juice and nuts everyday.

Also as we stayed for longer than 6 days we were given a free meal at the al-la carte restaurant which was one of the best meals we've ever eaten. Drinks were not included and 3 items on the menu such as Waygu steak and lobster also were not available but we fully understood why.

Another benefit of staying more than 6 days was a free sunset fishing trip which was a great experience. Myself and my wife both caught fish and the staff were really kind and made it great

Food given everyday was a huge buffet selection which changed every meal not just everyday. There was so many choices to choose from from meats/fish and ample vegetarian selections if necessary. They had traditional local foods and some days fresh sushi, Thai food, burgers, lamb chops and so so much more. We were truly spoilt for choice and the amount of weight I have gained during this time is proof of the amazing cuisine which was on offer.

Our room was exactly like on the pictures, in fact the whole resort was. Yet there is so many more little things to see and do such as swings hidden and also the wonderful bats, birds, crabs and lizards which occupy the territory. Making our stay truly feel like we were in another world.

I have to give also two other special mentions. The ladies who served us at the pool bar and Samantha are all credits to this company. They were so helpful, friendly once again always asking about our day. Even the lady who greeted us when we entered by buffet would ask about our and speak to my wife daily which was such a lovely gesture.

Then the main shout out goes to our cleaner and friend Muneesh. We stayed in villa 205 and if you can ask for a villa or person who looks after the villa, say you want to stay wherever Muneesh is. This guy was truly a diamond and someone who made our time extra special with everything he did. He was everything for us and summarized our experience.

Literally only minuses we could find is my wife says that she would recommend bringing your own hairdryer as the one in the bathroom was not so strong especially if you have long hair. Also there was no evening entertainment during our stay which was disappointing as we had seen and heard many great things about this. We were told why about some of the evenings but honestly I think it was because the resort was only about 50/60% full and out of main season so if we were to stay between November-March, maybe it would have been different.

But that didn't change in anyway what was such and we would absolutely dream holiday for us and we WILL be coming back to our new favorite place very soon, and we will be bringing others to join in this amazing experience.

Thank you Villa Hotels and Thank you...