Located in the beautiful Lhaviyani Atoll, Hurawalhi Resort is a private island fringed by pristine white sand beaches and crystal-clear turquoise waters, with an excellent house reef, and lush tropical vegetation. This is a truly impressive resort, for not only its exceptional natural beauty, but the impeccable standards of luxury, privacy and service all guests experience.
To reach Hurawalhi, you take a 40-minute sea plane flight from Velana International Airport – a treat in itself, thanks to the stunning views of the atolls and resorts below. Now the new sea plane terminal is open, you can relax in comfort in a luxury lounge while waiting for your flight – which usually departs within a couple of hours. On arrival you’ll be whisked by buggy off to your villa, through lushly planted, frangipani-scented paths and, depending on where you are staying, over long jetties with baby sharks and needle fish swimming below. Quite the first impression!
Luxury villas
The accommodation at Hurawalhi Resort really is the epitome of luxury. The resort offers a range of wonderful villas, including those on the water, and fronting the beach. Each is meticulously designed to provide the utmost comfort and privacy, and all are spacious, elegantly furnished, and equipped with state-of-the-art amenities. The highlight of the overwater villas is the private deck with direct access to the lagoon, where guests can indulge in sunbathing, swimming, or simply marvelling at the vibrant marine life beneath them. Many of the over water villas also have their own large infinity pools, while the beachfront villas offer a private pool and direct access to the powdery sand, providing a seamless blend of indoor and outdoor living.
Hurawalhi is a relatively small resort, with 90 villas in total, made up of 30 Ocean Pool Villas, 21 Beach Sunset Pool Villas, 9 Beach Pool Villas, 15 Romantic Ocean Villas and 15 Ocean Villas. The beach ones are tucked away from view in verdant tropical gardens, and the Ocean Villas perched along long jetties. We recommend an Ocean Villa with Pool – these are truly wonderful with large wide decks affording plenty of shade, and very generous sized infinity pools looking out to the pretty house reef.
Drink & Dine
One of the standout features of Hurawalhi Resort is its array of world-class dining experiences. The resort boasts an impressive selection of restaurants, each offering a unique culinary journey. The quality of the cuisine, the attention to detail in presentation, and the personalised service from the knowledgeable staff truly elevate each meal to new heights.
Canneli Restaurant is located on the beach and serves ‘all you can eat’ delicious buffet style meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This indoor and al fresco dining experience features a variety of international and Asian cuisines in a traditional open-air dining room with live action cooking stations, with choice and quality both exceptional.
5.8 Undersea Restaurant: Hurawalhi is home to the iconic 5.8 Undersea Restaurant, the world’s largest all-glass underwater restaurant. Located, as the name suggests, 5.8 meters below the surface of the Indian Ocean, this unique dining venue offers an unparalleled gastronomic experience. Guests can savour a delectable menu of gourmet cuisine, including vegan options, while being surrounded by the vibrant marine life of the Maldives, creating an unforgettable and truly immersive dining experience. In just a few hours we delighted in watching turtles, sharks and shoal after shoal of rainbow-coloured fish, who were seemingly just as curious to watch us as we were to watch them!
Kashibo, Taste of Asia: Asian street food is the name of the game at this lively over-water restaurant: pamper your palate with Chinese, Thai, Indonesian and Vietnamese inspired cuisine, including seafood staples, vegetarian dishes and teppanyaki. Kashibo was a firm favourite of ours and we especially appreciated the fact that guests be seated next to each other at the very edge of the jetty facing out to the ocean, allowing them to fully soak the incredible and uninterrupted ocean and sky views.
The newest of the four eateries is JFK (Junk Food Kitchen). Offering a vegan take on comfort classics such as burgers, nachos and buffalo wings, guests can indulge in the delicious menu poolside, overlooking the shimmering waters of the Indian Ocean. Promising to be a guest favourite, JFK offers a mouth-watering selection of ethical, guilt-free and vegan options so delicious that they would tempt even the most avid meat eater – the cauliflower buffalo wings are a case in point.
You can also enjoy a range of other dining options at Hurawalhi; including a snack menu at the Coco Bar and pool; in-villa dining (24-hour service); Candlelit Beach Dinners, or the beautiful beachside Chef’s Table.
Coco Bar is ideally located on the shoreline with a chic indoor area and beautiful al fresco terrace overlooking the lagoon. Here, you can enjoy your favourite drinks as you watch the beautiful sunset or savour a nightcap alongside evening entertainment. This bar is open 10:00am – 01:00am and provides a space to watch sports events on the big screen, or to play (no less competitive!) board games.
Kashibo also offers an over-water bar, where you can sample eclectic Asian-inspired beverages – including shochu cocktails – while enjoying the tropical breeze as you gaze out onto the ocean. Kashibo is just as beautiful by evening by day: with a drink in hand, you can enjoy illuminated ocean waters and glimpse the sharks and rays as they glide past.
The Taittinger Champagne Pavilion is undoubtedly one of the most idyllic places to watch the sun go down in the Maldives. Here, on this intimate al fresco terrace, you can raise a glass to your blissful sun-kissed day with Champagne and canapés. Its location, at the end of a long overwater villa jetty with uninterrupted ocean views was a real highlight of our stay, and, being small and intimate, proved very popular with honeymooning couples too. You simply must experience this during your stay.
Wine Cellar – The resort sommelier is on hand to help you choose from a global selection of wines – and, with more than 355 international wines displayed in an over-water windowed showcase cellar at Kashibo, you’re sure to find one that will suit your palate and complement your selected dish.
Service at Hurawalhi Resort is exemplary. The staff members are attentive, professional, and committed to ensuring the comfort and satisfaction of every guest. From the moment of arrival, we were greeted with warm smiles and a genuine sense of hospitality. The staff went above and beyond to cater to our needs and preferences, providing personalised recommendations, as well ensuring that every aspect of our stay was seamless.
Spa Time
The resort’s Duniye Spa is a blissful sanctuary of relaxation and rejuvenation. Nestled amidst lush tropical gardens leading to a string of overwater spa villas, you can here enjoy a wide range of holistic treatments and therapies to restore balance and harmony. The healing energy of the world-class therapists harnesses Asian massage techniques alongside chemical free, pure organic products to create a natural, holistic, and personalised approach to caring for each guest’s health, beauty, and wellbeing.
Activities
From sunset dolphin cruises, private luxury sailing to deep sea fishing – where are you to start? Utilising the island’s beautiful white sandy beaches, magnificent lagoon and an excellent house reef for snorkelling, Hurawalhi offers a wealth of activities to enjoy – highlights include a sparkling freshwater infinity swimming pool overlooking the ocean, artificial turf courts for football (futsal), tennis and badminton, a fitness centre with personal trainer, and a deep-sea sports fishing boat.
For who love to be underwater, Hurawalhi’s Prodivers outpost offers regular scheduled guided diving and snorkelling trips, equipment and accessory sales, rental and repair, plus a complete PADI 5-star training centre.
Conservation concerns are placed firmly at the resort’s heart. The Maldives has the world’s largest known population of reef manta rays and the Manta Trust is a well-known, UK based, independent non-profit organisation, whose mission is to advance conservation of manta rays and their habitat through science, research, raising awareness, and education. Guests can take part in workshops and trips run by Hurawalhi’s resident marine biologist.
For those who love to be active, Hurawalhi offers jet skis, parasailing, water skiing, wakeboarding, fun-tubes, sofa rides, windsurfing, kayaks, and catamaran sailing for rental and instruction. There are also group and private speedboat excursions for snorkelling, manta searching and turtle spotting – and of course, to see dolphins.
A wonderful experience on our trip was a morning on Hurawalhi’s very own Dream Island. Surrounded by crystalline water, this is a beautiful sandbank with the unimaginably soft white sand, located just a few minutes’ speedboat ride from the resort. You can be dropped off with a picnic hamper of delicious treats and left to sunbathe, swim, look for shells or just sit and admire the stunning view. It’s ever so romantic too!
In Summary
A paradise that offers an array of extraordinary features and offerings for its guests, from luxurious accommodation to unique dining experiences, rejuvenating spa treatments, marine conservation initiatives, romantic experiences, and exciting activities, Hurawalhi caters to the desires of every luxury travel lover. With its stunning natural beauty, warm hospitality, and commitment to excellence, Hurawalhi ensures an unforgettable and indulgent stay in the always-breathtaking Maldives. Out of over 20 top resorts visited in the Maldives, this one is at the very pinnacle of the ones I’d recommend.
Visit: https://www.hurawalhi.com/
By Lisa Curtiss
