Kuredu Island Resort, Lhaviyani Atoll Review

Overall Rating

Accommodation
Food
Friendly Staff

Island not that well kept
Little special touches not there.

We spent 11 nights in Kuredu and had a very enjoyable stay.

Unfortunately the previous year we had a holiday at at Sun Island which was the same star rating and cost and we found was far superior and kept comparing the two resorts.

On you arrival you are met with the customary cold towel and at Kuredu a small glass of orange squash but at Sun Island a hollowed out cocunut with a cocunut drink inside. At Sun Island you are then driven in a golf buggy to your room and everything explained to you at Kuredu you are given your key and a map and told to walk and find it yourself.
One of the things that really bugged us was that there was no free drinkable water in your villa. Even though we were all inclusive you had to purchase bottled water for $1.5 from the bar and then walk to the other end of the island with your bottle. The other alternative was to pay $7.5 for the same quantity of water from the mini bar. At Sun Island you were given a bottle of fresh bottled water in your room every day.
At Kuredu they had coffee making facilities in the villa however when you had used the sachets of coffee and tea (after 1 day) you then had to purchase additional sachets from the shop.
Also there were chairs on your patio but no flat sun beds. At Sun Island you had flat sun beds in addition to chairs which also had soft pads on.
We were situated toweard the end of the island on the south side which was nice away from the crowds even though it was quite a walk. There bikes for hire but only a limited amount and the sand tracks to ride around the island were not good. At Sun Island bikes were plentiful and the tracks around the island were beautifully paved.
Also the island resort was not that clean there were a lot of leaves around and on the beaches we constantly found old ceramic tiles, wood, seaweed and even glass on 3 occassions. The cleaning of the beaches and tracks was no were near as frequent as on Sun Island.

The swimming pool was not that big for the number of guests and sun beds in short supply with the majority being reserved with towels. At Sun Island the pool was huge had an islan in the middle, a waterfall and a swim up bar.

All in all even though the holiday was beatifull and we had a fantastic time if you are looking for a 4 star holiday for £3,000.00 for two people don`t go to Kuredu go to Sun Island instead.

Members' Comments onSteve and Lyn's Review

• Mary1967 on 2nd Mar 2006

  Hi Steve and Lynn, I had a look at Sun Island and in all the brochures I've seen it's 4 *. The standard rooms and Land villas where you were situated in Kuredo are 3*. Can you let me know where you booked Sun Island as that's an option for us next year especially if I can get it cheaper than I've seen. Thanks

• onerachel on 21st Mar 2006

  Sun Island should be avoided at all costs. In the press lately they have been reporting on which resorts support the Dictator President Gayyoom. Sun Island is one of them and on the 'Friends of Maldives' this resort is blacklisted and tourists are urged to avoid it to not fund a dictator. This may not seem important to you but Gayyoom's militia are violent and all countries should avoid supporting this. See The Times for more information.

• onerachel on 21st Mar 2006

  Sun Island should be avoided at all costs. In the press lately there has been a lot of coverage on 'Friends of the Maldives'. This initiative is urging tourists not to visit resorts in the Maldives which fund President Gayyoom's dictatorship. Sun Island is one of the blacklisted resorts so please consider this when booking a resort as you are in effect funding a dictator and his regime. For more info there are lots of stories on The Times along with the full list of blacklisted resorts.

• emmathomas on 15th Jun 2006

  We went to Sun Island one year and Kuredu the next. We are going back to Kuredu this year as we loved it. Kuredu is more like what you would expect of the Maldives with sand floors in the bars. I would only stay in the Sangu area of the island as the beach is kept spotless at this end of the island. My parents went in May and it seems that improvements have been made to the rest of the island. Kuredu is also one off the best islands for diving and snorkeling. The dive school/centre is much better than sun islands. Sun island made us want to return to the Maldives but Kuredu makes us want to return to Kuredu only.