Hurawalhi is a beautiful resort located in the Lhaviyani Atoll in tropical Maldives. We stayed there for 2 nights, and we had a great time. Hurawalhi has been on my Bucket List for long, and I’m happy that I finally got to visit their resort and the famous underwater restaurant.
It was a nice stay indeed, with good food, cool experiences, relaxing spa treatments and a beautiful tropical environment.
Down below you can read more about our experience in my Hurawalhi review!
Table of Contents
Room Standard (Beach Villa)
We had one of their beach villas the two nights we stayed at the resort. The villa was spacious and nice, but quite simple compared to other beach villas we’ve stayed in the Maldives. In the villa, there’s a spacious room with closets, desk, big comfy bed, couch and flatscreen TV. Next to the bedroom lies a big bathroom with a huge shower and free toiletries. From both the bathroom and bedroom you can enter the terrace, with outdoor furniture, sunbeds and a nice view of the beach and ocean.
I’m happy about the villa that we stayed in. It was simple, yet beautiful, and had a comfortable bed – which is one of the most important things according to me!
This is what you get when booking a Beach Villa
- Comfy bed with soft sheets
- Bathroom with huge shower area and free toiletries
- Ocean view
- Couch & flatscreen TV
- Desk
- Closets with flipflops & beach bags
- Robes & slippers
- Free water
- Minibar
- Air conditioning
- Terrace with sunbeds and outdoor furniture
The Water Villas
The resorts most popular villa is, of course, the water villa with private pool, which I think is the most price-worthy villa on the island. The price is almost the same as the one we had, and the water villa even has a private pool and a stair right into the ocean.
The inside of the villas are more or less the same, very simple, but they all have that nice bungalow look and some of them have an infinity pool overlooking the ocean.
So if you plan on staying at Hurawalhi Island, I can definitely recommend you to book one of the water villas with pool, because they’re, according to me, the best villas on the island.
Breakfast
The breakfast buffet was good at Hurawalhi. They had a broad selection of options, and I really liked that they had many healthy things such as nuts, salad, fresh fruits, dark whole grain bread and white omelet. As I’ve mentioned in reviews before, I’m quite picky about my breakfast and not a big fan of buffets, but this one was really good!
Outside the room
When you’re not hanging out in your villa, you’ll probably be somewhere around the island relaxing or doing some activities. At Hurawali they have many fun watersports for you to try, cruises and different kinds of snorkeling and diving trips. The luxury resort also offers a spa, a gym, an infinity pool, restaurants, bars, and cafés where you can have something good to eat or something cooling to drink.
Oh yeah, Hurawalhi Island Resort also offers a private sandbank called Dream Island, which is pretty cool.
Dream Island
One of the days we went over to Dream Island for about 2 hours. Dream Island is a sandbank located just a few minutes outside Hurawalhi by boat. The sandbank is quite big and is, like you might have understood, only a pile of sand out in the turquoise waters.
It was a great experience visiting the sandbank, and we loved that the staff provided us with both drinks and snacks in case we would get thirsty or hungry.
Now you might think; isn’t it super hot to stay on a sandbank for 2 hours since there are no trees? Yes, it can get very hot, but fortunately, they have a small hut where you can get some shade, put your things, and relax while eating your snacks.
It was really cool to visit this dreamy island and stay there all alone with my love. You can take so many good photos, and it was just romantic and relaxing to stay there for a couple of hours.
Spa
Our second day at the luxury hotel, we went to the spa to get a spa treatment. We decided to get the 60-minute couple massage, and it was great. It was actually the best spa experience I’ve had so far in the Maldives.
When we got there they gave us some refreshing drinks while filling in the papers. The staff was very friendly and professional and made us both feel comfortable in their company.
Before the massage, they washed and scrubbed our feed on the terrace outside the spa room, and the view was magical from there. There we sat getting pampered while watching the fish in the ocean and seeing all the beautiful beach villas.
The spa room was just as nice and even had small windows in the floor so you could watch the fish swim by while getting your massage. I’ve actually never seen this at any of the resorts we’ve visited, and I think it was very cool and relaxing.
It wasn’t the overall experience and environment that was the best, but also the massage. It was a really nice massage, and they used some different techniques that we haven’t experienced before. After the treatment, they served us some delicious tea and cookies, which I thought was a really nice touch.
I can highly recommend you to spoil yourself with a spa treatment while you’re at Hurawalhi.
Lunch & Dinner
We mostly had dinner and lunch at the Canelli Restaurant, which is the main buffet restaurant on the island. The food was really good to be a buffet with many options, and most importantly, many healthy options as well as delicious unhealthy desserts haha. The desserts during dinner were really good – that good that I had two portions of the oreo ice cream… The breakfast, as well as the lunch, was also good at the Canelli Restaurant.
I must also mention that the restaurant has beautiful interior and decor. It’s actually very impressive and something I haven’t seen at other resorts in the Maldives.
Except for Canelli Restaurant, we also tried the Coco Bar where we had lunch our first day, and also the famous underwater restaurant. Down below there’s some more information about each restaurant.
Coco Bar
Next, to the beautiful infinity pool, you’ll find Coco Bar, which offers an extensive menu of wines, cocktails, shishas, and snacks. This was the place where we had lunch our first day and we ordered two greek salads, one fresh coconut for me and one fresh pineapple juice for Alex.
The salad was really good and it almost felt like I was back in beautiful Greece, which is a really good thing. The coconut was also delicious and Alex liked his meal just as much as I did.
5.8 Undersea Restaurant
The incredible and world-famous 5.8 Restaurant blew our minds away. It was just as cool as I thought it would be, and I didn’t get disappointed in any way. It was actually better than my expectations since the food was really interesting and good as well.
The setting under the sea is simply magical, and it was so much fun to see all the fish swimming around the reefs outside the windows. It was that much fun that it was hard to have a conversation haha. We just wanted to stare out the window all the time and admire the marine life.
When it got darker outside we could see all the big fishes coming out to hunt for the small fish – thanks to a couple of lights on the reefs around the restaurant that made it possible to see all the action that happens under the sea at night.
I don’t think I can recommend you enough to visit this restaurant. It truly is something special and unique, and something that you must check off on your bucket list. It’s worth visiting Hurawali only for the restaurant in my opinion.
Staff
The staff was very friendly, helpful, and did always smile towards us. They picked us up with their buggy’s whenever we wanted and was just generally service-minded – like it should be at a hotel.
WiFi
The WiFi worked really well in our villa, and also at the restaurants (except the undersea restaurant).
Location
Hurawalhi is located in the Lhaviyani Atoll, about 40 minutes by seaplane from Male Airport. The luxury resort is surrounded by lush nature, white sandy beaches, and crystal clear waters. The snorkeling is also good – I even got to see a lionfish while I was out snorkeling.
Summary of stay at Hurawalhi Island Resort & Spa
Alex and I had a nice stay at Hurawalhi in the Maldives. The highlight of our stay was definitely the underwater restaurant and the spa treatment. The snorkeling was good, the beaches were beautiful and the food was also very delicious.
Our villa was simple but still nice, however, if you look at the price I think it should be more unique and exclusive. For example, there’s not a bathtub in the villa, which might not be a big deal, but something I would expect a 5-star hotel with a spacious bathroom to have.
So, it’s finally time for the big question: Can I recommend you to stay at Hurawalhi Island Resort? Yes, I can, if you don’t have a tight budget – then it’s worth it since it’s a nice and unique resort with its underwater restaurant.
If you’re not interested in visiting the undersea restaurant or travel on a tighter budget, then I think there are other Maldivian resorts that give more value for the money (if you just want a beautiful beach and a sunny vacation), considering the price per night at Hurawalhi.
But again, the underwater restaurant is something really special and one of the coolest restaurants I’ve been to, and then you also have Dream island, delicious food, cool decor in the restaurants, and good snorkeling – which I think makes it worth a visit.
Useful information about Hurawalhi
Flights and Hotel
What other guests say about Hurawalhi on Tripadvisor:
Other guests who have stayed at Hurawalhi Island Resort in the Maldives have written on Tripadvisor that they really like the island and the great reef and snorkeling. When guests complain they write about lacking service and some feel that it gets expensive if you’re not on the all-inclusive package. But I would say that’s pretty common in the Maldives, it’s a pricey destination.
What’s included in the all-inclusive package?
All-inclusive is a good option if you don’t want to think about your wallet that much during your vacation. See below what’s included in the all-inclusive package.
Dining:
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner buffet at Canneli Restaurant.
- 24-hour Afternoon Tea served at Coco Bar.
- 10% discount on a la carte food menus ( the undersea restaurant isn’t included).
Drinks:
- Unlimited alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks as specified at restaurants and minibar.
- One Demi bottle of Champagne per villa per stay.
Excursions:
- One sunset cruise (regularly scheduled)
Activites:
- Free use of fitness center, daytime use of tennis, beach volleyball, badminton courts, table tennis, billiards, snooker, darts, and soccer.
- Free use of canoes and windsurfs
- One 1/2 hour group snorkeling lesson (regularly scheduled)
- Free group yoga sessions by Duniye Spa
Map of Hurawalhi
Down below you can see a map of where Hurawalhi is located in the Maldives.
Hope you enjoyed this Hurawalhi review! If you have any further questions about the resort, don’t hesitate to leave a comment with your questions!
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