We just spent two incredible weeks at Huvafen Fushi as a family of 4 (2 adult kids). Having been to several different top properties across the Maldives, Huvafen was essentially an alternative to Gili Lankanfushi to us, as we felt like our favourite place has sadly become too noisy with the growing civilisation. So, in this review I will compare Huvafen to some of the other places we have seen, but also try to objectively reflect on our time there.
Firstly, let me say that we had an absolutely wonderful vacation at HF and we enjoyed ourselves from the moment we stepped onto the island until we left. The island is certainly a magical place, both in terms of its nature / surroundings, as well as the people working and living on there. After two weeks on the island, we truly felt like part of the family and we were extremely sad to leave.
Now, you might ask - why did you only give 4 stars if it was so wonderful? Honestly, this was not an easy decision at all. We had a heated discussion in our family and even after some weeks our opinions are still split - ultimately however we agreed that there are some small, but important, points that stopped us from giving this place 5 stars. But believe me, if 4.5 stars were possible, we'd give them that!
But first, let me describe the numerous positives of Huvafen Fushi, that made our vacation here so wonderful:
1) The island location is perfect, only 30 minutes by speedboat from Male, but at the same time extremely quiet with no other large islands or noice pollution around
2) The island lagoon is stunning, with the water being crystal clear and very clean. The overwater bungalows have beautiful blue water in front of them (also deep enough to swim properly - which can be an issue at some Maldives properties), while the island bungalows have beautiful white sand beaches in front of them
3) In terms of activities, Huvafen really offers something for every taste. The island is extremely calm and relaxing for those who just want to spend their holidays doing nothing (the Spa is also amazing for that, including the incredible underwater spa), but at the same time offers a great variety of activities. We went windsurfing and catamaran sailing quite a few times which was extremely fun (Thanks to Aneel and the rest of the watersports team!!), as well as scuba diving (Thanks to Musto for taking great care of us and showing us lovely dive spots!), snorkeling, a sunset cruise and a super cool session with the Marine Biologist in the underwater spa (Highly recommended!!!)
4) The Thakuru (butler) service is great because it really feels like your well-being is at the center of your Thakuru's attention. Our Thakuru Yoonus took exceptional care of us and made us feel like no request was impossible! After a while, we didn't even have to voice our wishes anymore - he would simply pick up on them even before we could think of them and just make it happen. Big kudos to Yoonus, he was a GREAT part of why this vacation was so relaxing and care-free
5) Everybody at Huvafen is extremely attentive and concerned with our well-being. We were even offered to move to a more wind-protected villa when the weather was acting up!
6) The villa lay-out of the 2-bedroom ocean pavilion with pool was perfect for us, with 2 large bedrooms and spacious outdoor and indoor areas. We didn't stay in the smaller villas, but they looked extremely spacious as well, I would say larger than your average villa on the Maldives. The amenities in the villa are as you would expect, we especially appreciated the daily fresh tropical fruit basket and the very clean and attentive housekeeping service
7) The salt restaurant was an absolute delight, with its Japanese Fusion kitchen. The food tasted delicious every time we went there, just as the cocktails that accompanied our meals. The service was also outstanding, with the waiters and chefs being very friendly. Especially Shammu was outstanding, extremely professional service and a great person to talk to! This guy could easily be the resort manager in some years!
8) The infinity main pool is very calm with no kids playing around. We usually don't go to "public" areas in these resorts and prefer to stay in our room, but here even we enjoyed ourselves and spent some days by the main pool
9) I joined the complementary morning yoga every morning, and with max. 2 other guests this really felt like a private session. The Yogi master Basheer did an amazing job at personalising the sessions, while making it possible for everyone to follow
10) Most of our waiters from the main restaurant Celcius (like Mua and Kassi) were really great too - always a smile on their face and great service! Bijay even started to remember our specific fresh fruit orders for breakfast - that is what I call personalised service!
Now, let's discuss the reasons why we as a family thought we can't give this resort 5 stars. Please keep in mind, that these are complaints on a very high level - and can probably be overlooked by many. But do keep them in mind when booking HF:
1) One of the main issues for us was the awkward layout of the buildings on the island. The island itself is very small, so the staff village has been kind of spread across the island - leading to the staff walking around in their private attire on the main walkway (which is neither nice for the guests nor for them...). The staff village itself is made out of buildings that don't look very appealing (old and not the "Maldivian" nature vibe you want to see) - which wouldn't be an issue of the staff village was better hidden. Sadly, however, the large building are mostly exposed - so you can see them from the lagoon and Salt restaurant. Not a very nice view to have during your idyllic sunset drink... Moreover, the football court is built on the most beautiful stretch of sunset beach (the other beaches are separated by stone walls every 50 meters to avoid sand erosion we guessed), and as the football court is surrounded by a rusty old fence, this just gives off weird slum-like looks - not a 5-star luxury feeling you'd expect. So, while the layout cannot be changed now, I would definitely suggest to HF to try and cover the staff area a little better with some palm trees (especially on the side to the Salt Restaurant and around the football court)!!
2) Besides the Salt restaurant (which, like I said before, was OUTSTANDING) and the breakfast buffet, the remaining food was sadly at most average and a main point of disappointment during our stay. Let me summarise why:
- The main restaurant Celcius offers a la carte dinner most nights, and while the quality is okay, the tastes and creativity among different dishes just doesn't offer enough variety. If you are only staying from some days you will be fine, but otherwise you will find yourself repeating meals pretty quickly. Moreover, most of the fish dishes were basically the same (grilled fish with veggies), as well as the 4/5 different curries with a very similar tasting base. From most other resorts we know that they offer (high-end) buffets or themed nights at least 3-4 times a week, but here they only have a Maldivian buffet once a week, which is honestly underwhelming. Compared to Gili Lankanfushi, where they have around 8 live-cooking stations per themed night, here the food is mostly already prepared - which just has more of a cheap buffet vibe.
- The in-room lunch menu was more than underwhelming with extremely limited options on the menu and uninspired tastes. Gladly, we started to memorise the lunch menu from other occasions (like the dinner menu), so we appreciated that they were willing to prepare those for us at lunch. It would be nice, however, to have some more creative, healthy and tasty options on the in-villa dining menu besides your classic pasta and sandwiches (like Summer Rolls, Sushi or Asian Noodles).
- We opted for an "Arabic dinner" as a destination dinner - which will cost 250 USD per person. This is a normal price by Maldivian standard, but keep in mind tat wine and water will be extra. The starters were quite nice (average Arabic Mezze), but the main course felt a bit like an overflow on your place (we couldn'T even finish half of what we were served), with some sauces that were not tasty at all.. We would prefer quality over quantity at those prices and locations...
So, all in all, a little bit of a revival and creativity on the F&B side would be much welcomed. Paying so much money for this resort, you'd expect more gourmet-style dishes and more of a "wow" factor when it comes to food... (Or just look at Salt - you did it right there)
3) A minor, but absolutely ridiculous thing that just didn't sit right with us was that we were being charged 5.50 USD per bottle "house-made" water. Seriously Huvafen!?!? Paying so much money per night, you'd expect to at least have water included in your half-board meals....
4) The interior design of the villas does feel outdated, as well as some of the exterior on the "public" areas of the island. FRom what we could tell, simply not a lot of money has been invested in renewing things since the launch in 2004... (we think?). My father summarised the the design of the interior as "Airport lounge vibes mixed with strange James-bond like technologies from the 2000s". While the furniture is not really something to be bothered by (I guess this is more of a personal taste), the pipes and cables sticking out in random places across the island are just not that pretty to look at.
5) While most of the local employees were absolutely lovely, we did miss the "social" character of the island a bit. This might also be due to the guests Huvafen attracts (Mostly Arabic and Russian couples that completely keep to themselves - the bar was always empty), but we would have also wished for some more interaction by management. Lots of other resorts have some sort of management cocktail and management will be around during dinners to speak to guests. Here, management seemed more like a back-office job, but somehow missing the guest-hosting part.
6) Lastly (and we know that this is a very personal thing), Huvafen runs on Male time. Most other resorts in the Maldives have adopted "island time" (one hour ahead of the regular local time), leading to an additional hour of sunlight in the evening with sunset happening at 7pm rather than 6pm. I understand how this can be confusing to locals, but as a guest we always appreciated the more "normal" sunset hour, as you could go directly from sunset to dinner. Here, we did have to "wait" in the dark for 1 hour before we could go to dinner.
So, to summarise again, we really did thoroughly enjoy our stay at Huvafen Fushi! The negative points are really just something to be aware of and maybe can act as a small suggestion to management for how to make this resort from almost-perfect to perfect. We truly believe if Huvafen was renovated and had a few minor touch-ups on the points mentioned before, that this could be our next go-to place!
Thanks a lot again to everybody who made this stay wonderful, especially
- Our incredible Thakuru Yoonus
- Aneel and the rest of the watersports team
- Shammu, our lovely waiter from the Salt restaurant
