We spent the most wonderful fortnight at Vilu Reef at the start of May 2022 and it has taken a while to write our review due to the chaos of being back home but I feel I must write our review and express our views from our incredible stay. There is a lot to say but hopefully it is a way to do this island justice as to how amazing it actually is.
This was our second time to the Maldives and we chose Vilu Reef as a different island from the first time we went. We did a lot of research for which island to choose and I think we chose the best island!
We travelled with our 19month old daughter from Edinburgh with Qatar Airways- two long flights, a nice chill out in the Sun Siyam private lounge in Male and then a smooth seaplane transfer (which our daughter was delighted with - we put headphones on her for the flight as the seaplanes can be loud), and after disembarking off the seaplane, a quick 3min boat to the island. We arrived hot, tired and thirsty so we were grateful to receive a warm welcome and be given a fresh coconut to drink. Our host assigned to us for the fortnight was Uchey and we were told the easiest way to contact him throughout our stay for any requirements was to join the free WiFi (more or less in every building on the island) and chat through WhatsApp. This was very useful and Uchey was great and dealt with all our needs and requests politely and quickly.
We were put in Villa 157 with a pool on the west side of the island (you get a nice breeze on this side, the east side is more sheltered and feels much hotter without the breeze) - in our opinion, the best villa, as it is halfway along the length of the island and therefore easy to get anywhere in a couple of minutes. It was also nice and private with bushes and trees making it less exposed than some of the other villas. A rug in the villa would have been nice by the patio doors to keep sand out of the room but we made do with a towel on the floor.
The kids club was great for our daughter, she was too young to be left alone but if we took her ourselves or payed for babysitting she was assigned to a babysitter and they could play with her in the kids club so we could go for a snorkel together. We did this a few times and her babysitter Naff was totally fantastic and lovely, she sent us photos/videos of our daughter to us and made beautiful arts and crafts with her, swimming in the shallow and shaded kids pool, and even very kindly gave her a lovely present when we left - we were very sad to say goodbye! Zuha was also fantastic with our daughter. The kids club also had buckets and spades and various inflatables that we could borrow at our villa so that was useful to note as I had considered bringing things with us, so I'm glad we didn't.
The restaurants were fantastic - the buffet, Aqua, was brilliant - always plenty of choice for breakfast lunch and dinner - always local and Indian curries to try, salads, bread, fresh meat and fish, bbq options, and local Maldivian meals. Masala Dosa was my favourite for breakfast! All the staff were like friends throughout our stay, and it was a pleasure to see them always so smiley and happy at each meal. Our daughter had a particular favourite - Wajeeh - and she was delighted everytime she saw him and gave him big cuddles! He'd take her to feed the fish in the mornings with Eem and Yumi, she was constant entertainment saying hi to all the waiters all the time! Printey the chef was also great, and sometimes brought his pet parrot Buddy out to say hello and let us hold him and have photos with him.
Spice was unreal as well - Italian by day and Indian by night, the curries were amazing and Sunil the chef was just fantastic at letting you try different curries and flavours, or recommending dishes. Again, our daughter was delighted with all the waiters/chefs at Spice and Well Done and Sunil even gave her her very own chefs hat!
We found Well Done was nicer for lunches, as you'd sit under the trees with a lovely sea breeze watching the waves.
You'd have to book the day before for the a la carte restaurants but we never found it to be a problem, we did this via WhatsApp with our host.
The snorkeling was fantastic, we had some great encounters with turtles, Moray eels, reef sharks, and Eagle rays etc. Fish galore! We found it best if you drop in at the top of the island by the sand spit, and drift down along the reef, it was effortless snorkeling with maximum results! I also did the morning snorkeling excursion where you go to a local reef (only 10mins away) and saw amazing table corals and other fantastic sights. We wanted to do the whale shark trip but unfortunately during our stay it was too windy and stormy so the boats were unable to go out - sadly that is just the way it works out and we fully understood that.
We managed to have a go at kayaking and paddleboarding,(all included) we even took our daughter on the kayak as they had life jackets small enough, which she loved.
Our villa was always spotless, out housekeeping person was Rashid and he was great, we told him when our daughters nap times were so he always managed to clean before then. Mini bar always kept stocked up and they would bring us cartons of milk too for our daughters bedtime bottles. They clean 3 x a day but we said once was enough! Pool cleaner was also great (didn't manage to see his name badge!), and always cheerful and happy.
Every single member of staff, whether it be ground keepers, gardeners, maintenance staff, reception etc ALWAYS said good morning/hello with a smile when passing. Our daughter even got a couple of rides on the golf buggies much to her enjoyment! The island was spotless, after the storms the staff would be round picking up fallen leaves/branches etc. We did some litter picking on the beach as occasionally plastic bottles and smaller bits would wash up but that's sadly a factor of the Maldives.
I just have to mention some of the staff members who made our stay more memorable - Wajeeh, obviously in Aqua, along with Eem, Yumi, Reddy, Mode, Shifau, Adhy, Poonam, Avil at the pool bar with his awesome cocktails, and Ram at Nautilus, Zayan and Wishal, Sunil, Vijay, Sudeera, Tharinda, Arthir, Viktoria.
We were VERY sad to leave and would love to come back one day... Just got to start saving!
