Olhuveli, Olhuveli Beach & Spa Hotel

Excellent resort, though be careful of the noise/smell/water discolouration on the side of the island nearest the new developments and building work. If you are on the All Inclusive package, just be very careful about any "invitations" you accept. We were invited to what appeared to be a complementary dinner to celebrate our 20th anniversary (no mention of a charge) after which we were presented with a bill for $100! On the last day I disputed this and refused to pay only to be told that the boat to take us to the airport would not be leaving until we did and we were effectively trapped on the island in danger of missing our flight unless we coughed up, despite the fault lying squarely with the hotel - you really couldn't make it up! After being looked after very well for 10 days they suddenly turned pretty ruthless and no opportunity to bleed extra cash out of guests, all inclusive or not, is passed up - a captive audience after all. Still a fantastic place for a holiday but beware this sort of sharp practice, not the first example I have come across.

We stayed at Olhuveli, which is in the South Male Atoll, in 2007. It was an absolutely fantastic holiday, one of the best I have ever been on. The island is a small paradise - it's not too posh or stuffy but has all the luxuries you need.

The staff were all very friendly and did everything they could to help us. I was lucky enough to be there on my birthday and that night the kitchen staff all came out in a procession, banging pots and pans and presented me with a birthday cake whilst singing happy birthday!

The food was good, although perhaps not the best thing about the island - if you're looking for fine dining I'd suggest somewhere else but it was all still very tasty and suited us perfectly.

There is a good range of activities to do as well; we did some absolutely fantastic diving. There was also a 'dolphin safari' boat trip, where we saw many dolphins - they seem to like swimming alongside the boat and playing in the wake.

I would definitely recommend Olhuveli to others, it is the perfect place to unwind and relax. Just paradise.

We spent our Honeymoon at Olhuveli Beach & Spa Hotel in 2009. If there were islands in heaven, I'm sure they look like this one or at least similar. The cuisine, amusements and villas all got our rating 6. That place really worths the money!Everybody's very frindly and always smiled.

Me and my wife went to Olhuveli because it had been hit by the Tsunami at the end of 2004. We felt that this was the best way to give back to Maldivian community, since we had spent our Honeymoon in the Maldives in August 2004 (Sun Island). The island was fantastic, and as I can not swim I could venture out into the shallow waters. Also, we spent our holiday staying in a deluxe villa at the Olhuveli Beach & Spa Hotel, but we upgraded to the deluxe Jacuzzi water villa. All the accommodation has been refurbished since the tsunami and it is very modern. We saw lots of Sharks and Sting Rays!!! The hotel staff were very helpful.

Great for couples!

We spent 1 week Half Board at the wonderful Olhuveli beach & Spa Hotel, in a deluxe room, at the end of March 2006, and we absolutely loved it. 7 days of sun, turquoise sea, colourful fish and very helpful and polite personnel in a relaxing environment. The food was good, and plentiful considering you are on a small island in the middle of "nowhere". If the buffet style dining wasn't good enough, there was always the other 3 restaurants to choose from, where you could get better food than in most British restaurants (not included in HB of course). We had a candle-lit dinner on the beach, even though we were very happy with the buffet (many times better that the average+ British food).

We were perfectly fine with our deluxe room, but when we were offered to upgrade to a Jacuzzi villa for the last 2 nights for a modest price of $50pp/pn, a total of $200 (£120) for 2 days in absolute luxury, we couldn't resist.

Yes, alcohol is not cheap on the island (beer $5, GT ~$9, and a glass of house wine is $3,40), and they charge you a service fee of 10% on everything you buy, but because you are aware of this it is nothing to get upset about.

I think we have only one negative thing to say about the place, and that is that sometimes there are just too many Italians to be comfortable for non-Italians. I won't say anything more about that; everybody that has been there knows what I mean

As a conclusion: if you are looking for a totally relaxing holiday with good food, perfect service, and without any fuss, I would strongly recommend Olhuveli. If you are looking for party and cheap booze, then I would suggest you save your money and go to the Canary Islands or the nearest pub.

Also from our side no moaning like some of the other people did in their review. After 12 days tour through Sri Lanka we stayed for 5 days "All Inclusive" on Olhuveli. The transfer from the airport to Olhuveli was good, nice boat and the sea was calm. Unfortunately it was raining so our arrival wasn't that what you expect. We had a superior room and it was nice, clean and 5 meters distance to the sea. Just a note: If you want to book a watervilla and you're not from Japan; please forget it! Almost all water villas are occupied by Japanese and it's just because they pay more per night and cannot have "All Inclusive" so they donate quite some more dollars than the ordinary European tourist. Anyway, water villas are also not that great as you expect them to be.... The personnel was always friendly and the resort was cleaned on an ongoing basis. After one day of rain our beach holiday started and I have to admit it will stay as one of my favorites in the future. Swimming between baby sharks (1-meter)and stingrays (plenty) is absolutely fabulous....You might get bored if you go there for two weeks but up to one week is so relaxing! Everyday snorkeling, some windsurfing and just relaxing. The food in the restaurant was tasty, plenty and what we felt; delicious. We did a Dolphin tour but all we saw was a giant sea turtle but no dolphins. The morning we had to return to the airport the boat picked us up around 6:30 and the sea was as calm as a mirror and the sun was just rising. We were sooooo lucky as during our trip to the airport we were accompanied by I think around 20-30 dolphins swimming and playing along the boat. The captain decreased speed of the boat and we could nearly touch them as these great creatures were very curious. Great holiday!!!

Hopefully everything is still OK with all the personnel as we've heard that Tsunami hit specifically Olhuveli very hard.....

Like the last reviewer, I was slightly worried about our trip to Olhuveli after reading the reviews on this site. Thankfully, our holiday was brilliant, and I'm not too sure about what the other reviewers have been complaining about - I did notice a pattern however, people who go in the low + rainy season (April to September) seemed not to have a good time. People who went in the high season seem to enjoy themselves immensely - so take this into account when you book.

Firstly I'll start with the transfer & accommodation. After getting off the plane, our luggage was on the carousel after only 5 minutes. We met a rep outside and then were pointed in the direction of a 'check-in' desk, where we were given some extra documentation and told where to go for our boat transfer. You get ushered to a bar area, where they charge $3 for a water and $5 for a beer (which is the same price as the resorts charge). I'd opt for water as you can take it on the boat with you - and sometimes you are only sat there for a few minutes. The speedboats are very modern and hold about 14 passengers. The journey is about 50 minutes and is very refreshing after the plane; you also get to see a bit of Male from the water - not a great sight! And you also pass a number of other resorts en route.

Once you arrive at the resort your bags are taken to reception and you are greated in the main bar with a drink and a cold towel which is a nice touch to start the holiday. You then get allocated your room by the guest relations people and get a quick tour of the resort. You then have your bags carried by the porters to your room - they are only small guys, and seeing them having to lift a 20+kg bag onto their shoulders is worth the tip alone ($1 each is appropriate). We had a superior room which had 2 3/4 double beds pushed together which were very comfy. You get a aircon, TV, hairdryer, minibar, shower, bath (in most) and plenty of storage space. The plugs are a mixture of European and English 3 pin plugs - so no need for any adapters. The room was in good condition, probably more of a 3 star room than 4, but to be honest we were barely in it so were more than happy with what we had. The patio doors opened onto a small patio and then it was the beach, and then another 10 metres to the crystal clear sea. Doing that walk first thing in the morning never failed to put a smile on our faces. You get your room cleaned twice a day and clean towels every day, the beach towels have seen better days, but again, the place is so beautiful if you're worried about the state of the towels, then you're obviously in the wrong place.

Right the island itself. The island is surrounded by a large reef, in some directions it is at least 500m until the edge of it, meaning you can walk out the entire way, if you can be bothered. The water was crystal clear and full of marine life, sharks, stingrays and more fish than I can describe. We found it quite amusing that when you heard the word shark, everyone ran into the water to get a look, rather than getting out! The beach goes all the way round the island and is mostly powdery sand, although in some places it is a little sharp with shells etc. You are allocated your own sun loungers, so no need to worry about beating the Germans in the morning to get one! There is a pool on the island which is quite large, lovely and warm, but only a metre deep. There is little breeze here, so it seemed too hot to sunbathe for us, but the pool is nice to cool off in, and makes a nice change from salt water.

The island has two bars, one called the lagoon bar, which has beautiful views out over the sea, and the other is the pool bar which is strangely enough by the pool - this has a TV where you can watch the footy if you're that way inclined (we were). You pretty much get your own waiter(s), once you get to know them, they will always try to take your order which is actually nice - they all speak excellent English are very friendly (genuinely) and are very interesting to talk to. We were all inclusive which suited us perfectly, you have the choice of 3 beers (Heineken, Sam Miguel and tiger), house red and white (not great) and bog standard spirits (but all known labels i.e. Smirnoff etc) and all soft drinks are included. You can get your bill at anytime and it shows you how much you would spend if you were paying for your drinks. We 'spent' about $2500 on drinks in two weeks and weren't drinking a great deal - a vodka and coke comes in at just under $10, a beer is about $5 and water is $3. If you're not all inclusive, you pay 10% service charge on everything you buy. You can only have one drink at a time, so you need to be able to finish one drink as the next arrives, as they are under strict orders not to let you have two at once! The service is very good at all times and tipping helps to keep everyone sweet. We gave $10 to 2 waiters after 3 or 4 days and then another $10 at the end of our stay - the same with the room boy who cleans your room.

All inclusive dining on the island is all done in the main restaurant. You have 3 buffet meals a day here. Breakfast is fruit, cereals, freshly made omelettes etc, boiled eggs, toast, cereal, so plenty of choice. This is a Muslim country so there's no bacon :-( (well they have beef bacon, but it's just not the same!). Lunch consists of vast array of hot and cold food, salads, pasta, stir fry's, potatoes, rice, and then various meat and fish dishes. Dinner is a very similar affair. We found the food to be very good and out of 50 odd meals only had 3 or 4 bad meals there, and this was down to poor selection (they make their curry's very hot). You get allocated your own table (very few people shared) and a waiter - ours was a bit slow, but generally they are very attentative - our tip to our waiter reflected this. There is also an a la carte restaurant which we eat in a couple of times just to break up the routine of eating in the same place. The food is good here and ranges from $8 up to $50+ (for lobster) - your all inclusive drinks still counts here. There is a wine list which starts at $18 a bottle for a nice shiraz, and goes up to $350 for the top champagne (Moet etc are all $144 a bottle).

The island is used by Brits, Italians, a few Japanese, German and Swiss people. The Italians are the majority and they are loud all the time. Many have there children with them, but there's a kids club so you barely see or hear them. The entertainment is run by the Italians, so can get a little annoying. The entertainment consists of a magician (rubbish), a live band (excellent), crab racing (good fun), love night (cheesy songs) and a disco (crap Italian music, followed by rap and house music till 2/3am). The entertainment is really the only bad thing a little too butlins for my liking but I think this is the Italian influence, the crab racing and band are good, but the other stuff is just annoying. My girlfriend and I are in our mid 20's and would normally like the disco etc, but we came to the Maldives to get away from this... but it is only one night, and if you complain to reception enough apparently they turn it off!

They run several excursions and the customer rep will tell you pretty honestly about them, we went on night fishing and dolphin spotting. The night fishing was ok, but the dolphin tour was rubbish, we didn't see anything and they don't tell you what's going on, so it's pure luck if you see anything. Clothing - don't pack more than one pair of trousers (boys and girls), it's just too hot. A t-shirt or short sleeved shirt will be the most you can tolerate, or vest tops and light tops for the ladies. Flip-flops / sandals is all you need for your feet (we did see some girls wearing high heels!!) Take lots of factor 30 for the first week and then you can move on to the lower factors in week 2.

Right, I'm waffling. The snorkelling around the dive school is great; we've never snorkelled before and were amazed by what we saw. Try to get snorkelling gear and underwater cameras in the UK. Hire of the kit is about $50 a week and the cameras are $26 to buy. Go snorkelling, you'll love it, even if you don't think you will.

Overall we had a fantastic time, definitely the nicest place I've ever been to and the photos in the brochure and online don't do it justice. Forget about the moaners on this site, if you focus on the great things about this place (and there are loads) you will have an amazing holiday. We met some other people our age and older and we all agreed it was fantastic. If you want to ask me anything about the island drop me an email: [email protected] and I'll try to help out.

We just returned a few days ago from Olhuveli and I was extremely apprehensive after reading several bad reviews of the resort. It seems to be a very individual thing whether you enjoy a holiday or not and is heavily dependant on individual taste! Personally we really enjoyed our holiday and thought it the best we had been on yet and I have quite a discerning taste!

We stayed in a water villa which I highly recommend if you can afford it, which had brilliant facilities (a new flat screen TV was delivered to our room whilst we were there). This would not be ideal for those with young children though due to the location over the lagoon.

The service was brilliant as was the food in the buffet and we also ate on the lagoon deck 3 nights which was wonderful. This was a la carte which you pay extra for.

The only thing I would complain about was the mosquitoes that seemed to be a greater problem the hotter the weather got. It did rain a little in spells for the first 3 days but I still managed to burn! However it was very hot and sunny for the remaining 7 days!

On the whole, despite seeing some negative reviews before our departure we thoroughly enjoyed our holiday and would go back there again.

I would recommend staying in a water villa though as they are on the quieter side of the island and the sea is much calmer. Also to note the live bands can go on until 2am but we didn't hear them from this side of the island (I can't comment on the other accommodation but I believe this is quite basic and can be pot luck with the location).

This was our first holiday to the Maldives. All previous reviews are very mixed in opinions and I can understand how this will be confusing to potential holiday makers to Olhuveli Beach & Spa Hotel.

The Island

The island is beautiful. Again I will stress that this is the only island we have visited in the Maldives but the sand is lovely, the sea/lagoon fantastic - very clear and a lovely colour but more so at one side of the island. It was a good size island for our needs. Just busy enough really. The weather on the whole was good. It was the rainy season so could have been a lot worse. There were 3 or 4 poor days out of a two week stay.

Rooms

We stayed in a 'superior' first floor room. It was a bit dated but the 'room boy' was excellent and it was always clean, towels replaced twice a day, sheets folded back every evening. I agree with other reviews stating that the towels have seen better days and are grey and fraying however. The room was spacious enough for two. People I spoke to in 'deluxe' rooms and in the water bungalows were very happy with their rooms too.

Food

I found the food satisfactory but nothing to rave about. My husband liked to eat off the 'hot plate' then he knew it was just cooked. I tended to see what looked like it was fresh out of the kitchen and had not been there too long. I avoided eating the salads as they were warm and unappealing. The desserts tended to be quite similar, i.e. mousse type desserts of different flavours (although they all tasted the same to me) There was always fresh fruit available. In the evening there was always a massive queue for fruit being freshly cut by a chef. Likewise, pasta was always being freshly made to appeal to the Italian guests. The seating arrangements were that a lot of couples sit together on tables of four. I personally did not mind this as we met some friends straight away. I can see why some people may not be happy however as you don't know who you will get landed with and as you may be eating breakfast, lunch and dinner with them for two weeks that is quite a bit of time. I'm sure those who really object can get a table for two, if not straight away, as soon as possible.

Entertainment

The entertainment on the whole was quite good. There was a good magician, crab racing, a live band (they were excellent) and a disco. It would be nice to provide different entertainment on a two week rota for people who holiday for a fortnight however.

Snorkelling/Diving

My husband had just passed his 'advanced divers' course and this was our first holiday diving for him outside the UK. He was happy with the diving team although he sometimes questioned a few points as they were done different to in the UK. He went on four dives altogether and saw just about everything he hoped to see and as he had an underwater camera we have some superb pictures. I was happy snorkelling around the island. We went on an excursion that included snorkelling at two different points but the fish there were not as good as around our reef. Although on the trip we did see a turtle, manta rays and dolphins swimming alongside the boat.

The Staff

All the staff -the waiters, bar staff and room boys are all very hardworking and friendly.

Watch out for - the prices. I think the only way to go on this island is 'all inclusive' as drinks are very expensive.

The Holiday Makers

The resort attracts the British, Italians and Japanese mainly. It seems that there are slightly more Italians or is that just because they are the loudest?!!!

Summary

Our previous holidays have been mainly to Spain, The Canary and Greek Islands. They have all been much cheaper holidays and usually self catering. Therefore a holiday like this to us was definitely an improvement and like paradise. However if you are the type of holiday maker who likes Five Star luxury, Olhuveli may not be for you. I do want to go back to the Maldives again in the future but we will try a different island. I would recommend it though and if you are going -enjoy.

Arrived at Olhuveli Beach & Spa Hotel on the 26/07/04. Boat trip from airport longer than expected due to terrible weather. Booked deluxe room. First room taken to was appalling, looked like a bare prison cell, just three beds and a TV, bathroom was stained and dirty looking. All the bedding and towels looked grey and worn and rather frayed at the edges. Requested better room immediately. Credit to the manageress she didn't quibble and moved us to a far better room on the better side of the island. She explained that some of the rooms have been updated and many are still waiting to be done. There is a big difference in the finishing of the newer rooms. One side of the island looks out over the lagoon which is filled with sea grass and not very pleasant to look at, the other side is sand and clear(ish) sea. Also the upstairs rooms are better than the downstairs rooms (Deluxe villa's, we can't speak for the standard rooms). If the management spent a little more money getting the small details right, i.e., replace all the bedding and towels that are worn out, it would help improve the general feel that they actually take pride in the resort.

We have now been eight times to the Maldives and the food is always to a very high standard. This island is the exception. Food is plentiful and edible; however it is not anything special, reminded me of school dinners. All the other islands we have been to vary the menu daily, here it is virtually the same old stuff every day. If you like pasta you will be ok as there is an Italian chef who cooks fresh pasta every mealtime as most of the guests are Italian (very noisy!)

The house reef is ok. We did not experience a strong current and were able to swim easily. We saw rays every time we went out and a five foot white tipped reef shark twice. The water is fairly murky due to the plankton. Learning to dive on this island seems quite expensive. When you go to the dive shop they tell you it is $350 (as did the manager in an email before we left). They fail to mention there is also a $120 'certification' fee, $12 per boat trip and finally a 10% service charge on top of everything. This 10% service charge is applied to everything you buy on the island from drinks to any trips. None of the staff seem to know why it is added. The losers seem to be the boys who take you on boat trips as no one was tipping them as a service charge had already been added, apparently this does not go to them but to the hotel.

If you are going to the Maldives for the first time you would probably be satisfied with this island. It rates itself as a four star island. In our opinion this is a 2.5 star resort.

Take the strongest insect repellent you can find. The mosquitoes are something else. everyone we saw and spoke to had bites. None of the guests we spoke to had seen or heard any spraying/fogging at all. Every other resort we have been to carry out mosquito killing at least twice a week. We have returned covered in bites and we took the best spray we could find (jungle formula).

All of the staff on the island are very friendly, you can not fault them and this review does not reflect on them in any way. Some of the staff we spoke to were very interested in our opinion of this island as we had been to several over the last few years. They tend to move from island to island and the general opinion was that this was not the best island they had worked on.

If you are looking for a quiet, unspoilt romantic holiday (in our opinion, what the Maldives sells its self on and is what it is all about)then you will be very disappointed. It appears to be very geared to the Italian family, apparently the kids all go free. It is very noisy including the evenings when the entertainment begins at 22.00hrs with most rooms able to hear the loud noise, not our idea of quiet and romantic! If you are a family looking for an exotic 'Butlins' type resort you will be more than happy with this island, but do be prepared for a cramped room if you take the kids.

The other islands we have been to are:- Velivaru 7/10, Veligandu 9/10, Coco Palm 8/10, Thudafushi 8/10, Kanaifinulu 6/10, Velidhu 5/10, Kuramathi 4/10. We have given each an overall rating out of 10.