Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu, Maldives

A wonderful place, unforgettable ! Here I lived a splendid week in a spectacular nature and everything in the village was perfect. Clean, well-kept and welcoming environments. The food exceptional, especially the desserts.

A very pleasant, quiet island with fantastic sunset bungalows and fine, white sand everywhere. A typical barefoot island with a great bar on the sunset side, which is dimly lit, allowing you to observe the entire starry sky without light pollution! Friendly staff! An interesting turtle sanctuary, and if you're lucky, you might witness turtles hatching! The nests are well-marked on the sunset side of the island! The food is good, but could be a bit more varied!

Exceptionally beautiful island where you can do as much or as little as you want. The resort itself is spectacular with little things like the dive school and the wildlife and turtle rescue centre adding an educational touch. The food and drink is great but what sets it apart is the staff and team. Nothing is too much of an issue and they make you feel exceptionally special.

We stayed at Coco Palm Dunhi Kolhu for 2 weeks during the second half of Feb 26 and in short, we had a wonderful stay. We were booked into a Deluxe Beach Villa on the all-inclusive package. We were met at the landing jetty by Hajiba who escorted us directly to our villa (No 62) and after a few minutes we were left to get on with our holiday. The villa design is fairly basic but it was very comfortable and absolutely fine for our needs. How long do you want to spend in the room anyway? One of the great features of the room is the outside bathroom, which we really liked. At the back of the villa, a path takes you through the bushes to your own bit of beach. Now, this is where your own experience will depend on where you are on the island and the time of year. At the time of our visit, there was very little beach to speak of at the back of our room, however, we found out that the island changes throughout the year as the sand gets removed or deposited by the tides, depending on the season. The lack of beach immediately behind our villa did not bother us at all as the main beach on the other side of the island is long, wide and always feels quiet, no matter what time of the day you are there. It’s also close to the main reception area, restaurant and beach bar. Our villa had the same cleaner for our visit who would also service the room in the evening. It’s not unusual to have an arrangement of petals or leaves on your bed when you get back in the evening. It’s a nice touch. As we were on the all-inclusive package, the default for meals was the Cowrie Restaurant. You can book to eat at The Cornus Restaurant (Thai) if you wish but you will pay extra. The restaurant is buffet style catering for a variety of different tastes. You can stick to what you know or be a bit adventurous and try something different. The beauty of the buffet is that, if you don’t like something, change it. You’ll probably have a particular waiter who will serve you for your stay although they may not be around the whole time. Our main waiter (Raja) seemed to appear out of nowhere each time we arrived and after a couple of days knew what drinks we would like. If he wasn’t there, Didi seemed to be there in his place. Some reviews suggest that there’s not much choice. We didn’t think so, however, if you’re staying for 2 weeks, it’s reasonable to expect that some of the dishes will reappear. For drinks, we mainly visited the Beach Bar. It does exactly what it says on the tin but was a great spot to have a pre-lunch game of scrabble/beer or a pre-dinner drink with a beautiful view of the sunset. On a few evenings, the beach was visited by dolphins and rays. On most of our visits we were given great service by either Anees, Abul or Arun. At the top, I mentioned Hajiba, who welcomed us to the island. She has a pet bird (Hajibo) who likes to perch in and around the Beach Bar, occasionally landing on unsuspecting heads. We also saw him entering the restaurant on a young boy’s head one evening. The island has a reef which, the main part of which seems to start just after the water villas, going clockwise round the island and is just a short swim off the beach. Although there was a good range of reef fish present when we were there, it seemed to be large numbers of a relatively small number of species. If you want to see a wider range of fish of all sizes, then it’s probably better to go on one of the trips. We had the opportunity to snorkel twice on a reef by a neighbouring island and the number of different fish we saw was mind blowing! Nevertheless, we did enjoy the house reef as it was right there by the beach. One amazing thing was that, just off the beach there was a strip of bait fish that seemed to stretch round the island with Reef Sharks and Blue Trevally (I think) just waiting for dinner time. We saw two Reef Sharks beach themselves in a frenzy while trying to feed. There was also a Heron waiting patiently for one of the bait fish to come near. If you’re not used to Reef Sharks, it may be a bit daunting at first to see a large shark swimming nearby but they are really not interested in us. Don’t worry about taking snorkeling equipment as it’s all available from the dive centre. We went on a couple of excursions, one to see Manta Rays (which unfortunately we did not) and one to see turtles (which we did). You have to accept that it’s down to luck. Also, we did get to snorkel on some incredible reefs with lots of different fish; some in large numbers. Just like being in an aquarium. Back on the island, a visit to the Turtle Sanctuary is a must. Some reviews have said that parts of Coco Palm Dunhi Kolhu look a bit “tired;” I’m not sure. It’s not the most modern or glitzy of resorts but it does look and feel like it’s being lived in by happy and content guests and staff alike. There’s a wonderful laid-back feeling from the moment of arrival till you put your shoes back on to leave. We had a wonderful visit. Thank you. Oh, and don’t forget to look for the peacocks!

We are just heading back from a week at Coco Palm Dhuni and we bring with us splendid memories. Highlights: - Wonderful access to animal life all across the islands, both on land, with lots of local birds everywhere, and in the water, with plenty of tropical fish under the lagoon villas, but also the chance to encounter turtles, eagle rays, and black tip reef sharks meters away from the villa! - The turtle rescue centers, with volunteers taking care of injured turtles as well as caring for nests on the island - Superb diving and snorkeling trips, where we got to spend hours in splendid spots with views of tropical fish, hawkbill turtles, sharks, dolphins, lion fish, scorpion fish and, most impressive, massive manta rays. The diving instructors were also super nice and professional. - Great food - the kitchen is doing an amazing job and the buffet they set up for Easter was particularly beautiful. Kudos to the chef Both adults and kids are now coming home with stars in their eyes and a desire to go back soon!