On our first wedding anniversary, my husband and I wanted to spend a romantic holiday and so we chose Maldives. After doing a lot of research, we booked our mini vacation of 5 days at the Adaaran Prestige Vadoo Resort (“Adaaran”). We were transferred to the resort by a boat from the Male Airport. Adaaran is very close to the mainland so it didn’t take much time to get to the resort.
We were provided with our personal butler who took care of all our needs and was always available to help us throughout our holiday. The resort is small but has a beautiful ambience and feel to it. For water sports lovers, this is not the right resort as the only water activities that you can enjoy here are scuba diving and snorkeling. We had booked a sunset water villa as we wanted to make our anniversary a very special day to remember. As the name suggests, the villa was on the water with a private plunge pool facing the ocean at the deck. The bathroom had a glass bottom floor from which you could see the fish swimming in the water. They also had an open air jacuzzi. All water villas have a private wooden ladder giving access to the ocean. They also provide free snorkeling equipment in the villas. You can snorkel whenever you want for no extra cost.
The resort staff (especially Mr. Nalaka) made our anniversary day memorable by decorating our room with flowers and providing us a complimentary cake. We went for scuba diving on our anniversary day, which was an amazing experience. The instructor was a professional and she took some great underwater pictures for us. We went at a depth of 13 meter below sea level. The water life and the corals in Maldives are breathtaking. As this was our first diving experience, the trainer accompanied us. I removed my oxygen mask by mistake inside the water and panicked. But due to the intelligence and expertise of the trainer, I survived and was able to enjoy my dive. The total duration of the scuba diving experience was approximately 3-4 hours. For the afternoon session, we booked a couples hot stone massage at the resort. The masseuse were amazing and friendly. They made our massage experience truly relaxing and joyful. The staff at the resort had arranged a special romantic dinner for us at the beach. Due to the rains they had to shift us back to the restaurant, but as soon as the rains stopped the staff rearranged the dinner set up for us. We were really touched by this gesture.
For the next few days, we tried snorkeling and enjoyed the beach at the resort. We also won some massage vouchers at the traditional Balinese folk night, where the Balinese massage girls performed their folk dance and conducted a quiz. On one other night the resort had set up a free cocktail and snacks party for the guests. We also visited the Japanese restaurant in the resort. This restaurant was specially opened on our request. We had also booked a private sunset cruise which was truly romantic. Maldives is a scenic place with beautiful sunset and coral life. We took some great photos during our trip.
Being a coastal area, most of the food in Maldives is sea food with very few vegetarian options. Despite being vegetarians, the staff at the resort tried their best to provide us with good quality vegetarian meals. The breakfast buffets were sumptuous and the service was fantabulous. I was very impressed with the hotel staff.
The only downside is that there are few options for water sports activities as the resort is close to the sea traffic area. If you are going on a family holiday then you should opt for a resort with more beach and water sports activities. The one thing that put us off a bit was that the resort has strict restrictions on men’s dress code. Men are not allowed to enter the restaurant for breakfast in a vest while women are allowed to wear even bikinis to breakfast. We found this strange but were told that this was mainly done to cater to their Arabic guests. Maldives has a very high number of visitors from the Middle Eastern countries.
Overall, I loved Maldives and would definitely visit again. I highly recommend a visit to the Adaaran for couples who are looking to relax and enjoy a romantic getaway. The hospitality offered at the resort is great and we were treated like a queen and a king. This has been one of the best holidays that I have been to. Maldives doesn’t have much to offer in terms of sight seeing, but it is a great option for a short relaxing break. Visiting Maldives was literally like being in the arms of heaven.
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