Our review - Hurawalhi Island Resort
Our overall review of Hurawalhi: 10/10!!! And expectations were high.
There is so much to say about our first island home in the Maldives - Hurawalhi! This resort was the perfect place for our honeymoon and it will always hold such a special place in our heart. We stayed at two resorts for our honeymoon - Hurawalhi and Kanuhura. Check out our blog How To Stay at Multiple Resorts in The Maldives to learn about how to extend your trip to multiple islands!
Hurawalhi is nothing but romance, seclusion, luxury, fun and adventure. The service is top notch. The food is delicious. The overwater bungalows are a special treat. This adults-only paradise is incredible.
Hurawalhi is a 40-minute sea plane ride from the Male airport. Be aware that sea planes only fly during the day. Since we arrived at 9pm into Male from Hong Kong, we stayed one night in Male. We took our sea plane ride at sunrise and it was a lovely experience. Luckily, the weather was clear and we had gorgeous views of the Maldives islands from above.
Upon arrival to Hurawalhi, we were greeted with some fresh fruit, water, and taken quickly to our bungalow by “buggy”. We chose Hurawalhi because of the spacious overwater bugalows and the resort size. It only has 90 villas!
Hurawalhi Island Resort Swing
Overwater Bungalow with Pool
We spent 6 nights at Hurawalhi, 3 in an overwater bungalow with a pool and 3 in an overwater bungalow without a pool. We would highly recommend either bungalow. The bungalow was so comfortable and spacious. It completely met our expectations and there was nothing better than jumping right into the water for a snorkel or a swim. The bathroom was beautiful and we loved having the shower with the full sliding door out to the patio. The bed was super comfy as well.
The Food
The food at Hurawalhi is out of this world amazing! There are many options to suit your needs for the trip. You can go full all-inclusive, which is nothing like the all inclusive of other parts of the world. We are not big drinkers so we steered away from the full all-inclusive plan and instead did the dinner plan for 3 of the nights to try it out. Almost every plan includes breakfast in your stay… and the breakfast is completely next-level. We are still dreaming about it. It is the best breakfast we’ve ever had, anywhere. Fresh pressed juice, 5 types of organic nut butters, many types of fresh breads and pastries, omelets made to order, yogurt parfaits, smoked salmon, ect. Eating breakfast here on the patio each morning truly set the tone for our days - we sometimes wanted to spend 2 hours luxuriously dining and sipping our coffees in the morning. Highly recommend.
For lunch, we would usually get two ahi tuna salads at the poolside Coco Bar. Also delicious. We never did in-room dining so we can’t comment on that, and we did not do the all-inclusive lunch buffet as we were always so full from the gourmet breakfast.
For dinner, 3 days we did the dinner plan, which included a dinner buffet at the Canneli Restaurant (the same gorgeous deck that we enjoyed breakfast on). It was great! However the most memorable and delicious dinners for us were at the Kashibo Restaurant - not included in the dinner plan. The quaint tables set up right over the ocean here are so romantic and private. This was truly an awesome dinner experience. If you have the opportunity, we would recommend choosing different all-inclusive levels for your stay! This gives you a chance to try out some of the restaurants not included in the all-inclusive plans without wasting any money.
Also, at the end of the overwater bungalows, the Champagne Pavilion is top notch. We spent a couple of sunsets here and it was such a treat. Our tip would be to enjoy the champagne lounge sunset as soon as you get to the resort for the first clear night, because you never know if it may rain or have a cloudy sunset. A beautiful sunset here can’t be beat!
The Service
Everything about the service at Hurawalhi was perfect. Our island host, Saffa, was so kind and helpful, as were all of the staff that we encountered. The staff really get to know you and make sure you are enjoying yourself at all times.
Champagne service at the Champagne Pavilion
Great experience enjoying our Champagne
Activities and Excursions
We don’t scuba dive, surprisingly, but we still found plenty of adventure at Hurwalhi.
Dream Island
Our best 2 hours at Hurawalhi were probably at Dream Island! No doubt, this was one of the reasons we chose Hurawalhi. The amazing sandbar that changes shape naturally based on the ocean is one of the most unique geographical elements of The Maldives. We were excited to experience a little place like that and the seclusion of being the only ones on this little stretch of paradise. It was such an amazing experience. We did the 2 hour trip and enjoyed the picnic basket. As photographers (and drone flyers) we could have easily spent 4 hours here. We swam around and enjoyed the soft sand and warm shallow waters on the sandbank. Truly a once in a lifetime experience!
We suggest going to Dream Island early in your stay in case you have to reschedule due to weather.
Snorkeling
There’s nothing better than jumping off of your overwater bungalow and into the crystal clear waters surrounding Hurawalhi’s island. The wildlife below the surface is absolutely incredible. The island is surrounded by a reef with a huge drop-off into a vast dark blue ocean as you swim further out. The fish are literally everywhere, and each time we snorkeled we saw some other unique underwater creature! Often times, we would see different types of rays swim by from our balcony, and we would jump in to swim after them as they would glide through the water.
There are also many Blacktip Reef Sharks that swim around the island! We were both shocked and excited when one swam by us on our first day, and first swim at Hurawalhi. The staff told us they are harmless and it seems there have been very few attacks from Blacktip Reef Sharks, globally. We loved seeing the baby sharks swim by in the shallow waters!
Many different types of rays
Blacktip reef sharks (supposedly harmless!)
Underwater life and coral a short swim from the overwater bungalows
Turtle Snorkeling Excursion
Hurawalhi offers a Turtle Snorkeling excursion! We did the 2-hour trip which is a short boat ride (5-10 minutes) to a neighboring island that is home to many sea turtles. Diving and swimming with these gentile giants in the clear water was absolutely incredible. We were completely caught off guard, as were our snorkeling guides, when a ~6ft barracuda swam by while we were swimming with the turtles!
Snorkeling during our turtle excursion
Sea turtles near Hurawalhi
Private Candlelight Dinner
To celebrate our honeymoon right, we really wanted to have a private dinner on the beach. We absolutely loved the secluded and romantic experience. We almost had to cancel due to surrounding thunderstorms, but we skirted the rain and had an incredible time, although wind-blown, on the beach. Again, if this is a top priority for you, we would suggest booking this early in your stay in case you have to reschedule due to weather!
Private candlelight dinner on Hurawalhi’s shores
Yum!
Hurawalhi Spa
No honeymoon, or trip to the Maldives, is complete without a trip to the spa! The Hurawalhi spa is, itself, an overwater bungalow, giving you a fresh ocean breeze during your experience. The massage tables even have a hole in the ground so you can see the ocean below you while you’re getting a massage! We loved our experience, and the full body exfoliating experience was one to be remembered.
Hurawalhi Duniye Spa over the water
Our spa day!
Other things we loved about Hurawalhi
Adults-only. Honestly we underestimated how much we’d love this. We went here first and to a resort that had families after, and we see why people would want to end with the adults-only resort. It is so relaxing. While we love kiddos, they can be loud. Surprisingly, some people do bring their kids to the Maldives (it is not very far from many parts of the world!). Once we got used to the adults-only vibe for our honeymoon we pretty much fell in love with it.
Wildlife. We saw a few baby sharks, and even one medium sized black tip reef shark (they aren’t dangerous). Stingrays. Coral. Fish. So beautiful! It wasn’t Manta Ray season but we would swim with them next time for sure.
Their playlist running at their restaurants is incredible. It really sets the mood. We rarely notice stuff like this but in such a peaceful environment for breakfast every morning it was amazing.
Also a fun fact, if it wasn’t amazing enough, Hurawalhi ups the bar by setting their own timezone - so you can have more daylight during your stay! :)
Other tips:
Bring sunscreen and a sun shirt. The sun is VERY strong and purchasing sunscreen in the Maldives is very expensive! Check out our favorites sunscreen options in Our Gear.
Bring some snacks in your suitcase, it can be nice to have them to munch on in the bungalow if you don’t do the all inclusive option.
If you stay at Hurawalhi you won’t regret it. We can’t wait to go back someday! Enjoy your trip, soak up all of the sun, and as always please contact us if you have any questions about booking a once in a lifetime trip to the Maldives!