Fihalhohi Island Resort Review

Overall Rating

We have just come back from Fihalhohi staying for two weeks from 12/9/06. The good points were:
The accommodation
The staff and welcome
The dive centre
The fishing trips
Relaxed atmosphere

The flight with Monarch despite having extra legroom
Coming home

We have just come home from a two week stay at Fihalhohi from 11/09/05. The flight was awful. We booked extra legroom seats (costing £60 each) with Monarch, however as one of the seats was a window seat I was only able to extend my right leg due to there being a built in cupboard right where my left leg was. The flight going was slightly delayed as we missed our take off slot at Gatwick due to late passengers which was annoying as we had already been on the plane 2 hours as we came from Manchester. The inflight entertainment started extremely late and the films did not start till after 11pm more that 7 hours after we boarded the plane. At this point most people were trying to drift off to sleep.

Arriving at the airport in Male we were greeted by our rep Laureen who was very helpful and before we knew it we were on our way to Fihalhohi on a speedboat. The journey was a little choppy and lasted just under an hour.

Arriving at Fihalhohi we were greeted by the duty manager and provided with cold towels and a coconut drink we then proceeded to lunch. The first week we stayed in the 'Classic' room which is the most basic of the rooms provided. The bedroom was huge and had a safe and fridge included. A/c was at an additional cost but we just used the ceiling fan. We can not fault the room. We were about 10 steps from the sea and the magnificant views.

The second week we upgraded to a water bungalow. This was fantastic. Again I can not fault the accommodation. The room had tea/coffee making facilities and a stereo in addition to the safe and fridge. Each evening our bedsheets were arranged in pretty patterns and occasionally with flowers.

We went on three fishing trips whilst there and enjoyed every single one immensely. The arra of fish that we caught was amazing and the boat crew couldn't do enough to help us.

My partner went on a couple of dives which he says were fantastic. Even though I only snorkelled the array of fish and underwater marine life just took my breath away. Again the dive centre staff were friendly, helpful and fun people to learn with.

The food was something that we were concerned about, however we were very happy with the food. It is not a la carte, it is a buffet but i felt that on most nights the food was of a very good standard. The only night we did not eat a lot was on the Indian night as we are not keen. As I am not keen on curries, I found plenty of food for my palate, though a curry stand was provided in addition to the buffet most meals.

If you want an action packed holiday then you wont find it at Fihalhohi (unless its diving) but if you want to totally chill and relax do some watersports (diving, snorkelling, canoeing, catarmaran, windsurfing etc) there is also a badmington court, table tennis, billards, read, spend time with partner / family then I reccommend this island. I had a couple of fantastic treatments at the massage centre.

Oh don't bother with shoes. We didnt wear any for the whole two weeks except when going to Male. A word of warning, be very careful in sun. We wore T-shirts when snorkelling and SPF 35 however I burnt on the back of my legs which was very painful.

Members' Comments onJane Shelbourne's Review

• brucelee on 17th Nov 2005

  Hiya Did you go diving and if so did you have to get medical approvement before you went even if you were fit and healthy??