Six Senses Laamu

Words cannot do justice to our experience at Six Senses Laamu ~ the views, the villa, the food, the ambience and the customer service were all exceptional. This is heaven on earth in the form of a resort! A special shout out to our GEM, Shiunee, who was exceptional and provided us with the most incredible service during our stay. She removed all stress, concern and logistics when war broke out and disrupted our travel plans, and replaced our concerns with peace, certainty and kindness. We loved every moment of our stay and will treasure the memories made.

We had never been to the Maldives and were unsure which hotel to pick. A friend who's a travel agent and had stayed at 14 different hotels there sent us to Six Senses Laamu. 'If Robinson Crusoe had designed a desert island, this would be it', she said. And she was right. It exceeded all expectations. Almost everything is over the water on stilts. You're given your own bike and on your way to breakfast you'll see sting rays, reef sharks, even turtles coming up for a gulp of air. Steve Backshall, the TV marine biologist, was there when we arrived and had been giving talks that week. We had a room on stilts and it was even better than I'd imagined and so private. We spent most of the day on our own and wandered to the communal evenings at night. The food was wonderful and the staff are incredible - always smiling and helpful. There's a great dive centre there. A British man who is an experienced diver said it was one of the best he'd been to over the years. I hadn't dived for decades but did my refresher course and within a few days Danny and the team had me out on a channel dive watching sharks and barracuda 20 metres under the sea. But the snorkelling is just as good too - turtles, reef sharks (they don't hurt you), stingrays too and so many spectacular fish. A marine biologist leads a snorkel trip every day but it is all right there on your doorstep. You just climb into another world whenever you want. I run a lot - there is actually a running track of sorts. it's just over a kilometre long. But for anyone like me who wants to run, you can do laps and run up and down the boardwalks where the water villas are. I managed 5 miles/8km without any problem. We only went for a week but that was still a perfect reset and I can't wait to go back.

We had an incredible stay in the Six Senses resort Laamu. It was the second stay we did here in a timespan of 8 years. The resort was great back then and it got even better now. The food, which is super important to us, is very, very good. The nature is great, the reef is incredible (very important for me as I reside almost 3 hours a day in the water), the ambience is super nice, but most importantly, the staff is out of this world. They translate the values of the hotel so well to the guests. They genuinly care about you having the greatest time of your life. The gem we had this time, Janko, was so kind , so well hearted and so professional. He made us feel so good and appreciated. Also other staff like Jack from Bhutan , Hassan, Nathu and Vinod (wine). We are so happy we made the decision to come back. We even made te decision to come back next year with our two daughters (5 and 7) . I would always recommend this resort to all my family and friends.

The mark of a really great holiday is when you come home and find yourself regularly casting your mind back to the place you have just returned from, to relive the experience. This is how it has been for me since I returned home from Laamu. I had read many many amazing reviews of Six Senses and there was a part of me that thought, ‘it can’t be that good’ But do you know what - it really is! I have been very fortunate to travel a great deal over the last decade and have been to some amazing places but when I set foot in Laamu, I actually cried because it is beyond magical! Yes the setting, the food (which is really 5* and delicious), the sand under your feet (I was barefoot for a week), the colour of the water, the spa treatments, the drummers on the beach, the wildlife, the sound of the ocean are all truly magical but what really makes Laamu special is the people. Efro was our Guest Experience Maker and I honestly would have adopted him as my third son, if I could have! He was thoughtful, attentive, a great communicator and incredibly reliable. He also came to find us every night to check how we were and what sort of day we had had. Noah the Food & Beverage Director was also so lovely and we saw him everyday talking to guests and rolling his sleeves up, clearing plates and generally getting in there with both staff and guests. He really struck us as someone with an exquisite attention to detail. But also everyone else who worked there were so friendly, helpful, and you did feel that they were genuinely happy to have you there. As someone who deals with clients in my everyday life I know the challenges of always bringing your best self to any given situation, which the staff at Laamu met time and time again. I can honestly say that Six Senses is one of the most magical places I have ever been to and I feel incredibly lucky to have experienced such beauty, serenity and a truly warm welcome. Oh and in my view the website does not do the resort justice, it’s even more spectacular than the photos! Go if you can.

My partner and I are both in our 40s, fairly fit and active, and I think that’s an important lens for this review. The island is large, you get around by bike, and there’s quite a lot to do. If you enjoy being active it’s fantastic. If mobility is limited or you prefer a very compact resort where everything is five minutes away, it may not be the best fit. Getting there is part of the experience. Six Senses meets you at Malé airport and takes you to their lounge before the seaplane transfer. The seaplane flight is about an hour and actually one of the highlights — flying low over the atolls and seeing the islands from above is spectacular. The sustainability ethos is very real here and not just marketing. The reef is excellent and the snorkelling is some of the best we’ve done. I don’t dive, but just from snorkelling we regularly saw reef sharks, turtles, rays and all sorts of fish. Everyone we met who does dive was extremely positive about the diving here as well. The island also hosts a marine science centre with several resident marine biologists. They’re incredibly generous with their time and clearly know their field inside out — I learned far more about reefs and marine life than I expected to on a holiday. We stayed in an overwater sunset villa which had a real Robinson Crusoe feel but with all the comforts you’d expect (including a pillow menu — which we did experiment with). I highly recommend that option. I am not sure that the beach villas have the same sense of wow. They have a window in the floor of the wc so you see fish swimming by when you go to the loo. The gym is very good with a proper selection of weights and cardio equipment. We also unexpectedly got quite into aerial yoga, which was great fun (lots of other yoga options as well). One thing that pleasantly surprised me was the food. With only 96 villas I was slightly worried the restaurants might feel repetitive after a few days, but they run several different ones and all were good to excellent. Zen the Japanese one was my favourite, my partner preferred leaf. We originally came for a week but ended up staying for two because flights out were disrupted due to the war in the Gulf. As it turned out, that was no hardship — there was plenty to do and we never got bored. Have decided to try something else for the next week or so. It’s also a great place to learn to surf. The nearby waves are very regular and manageable, and if you fall off you’re not getting completely pounded while trying to swim back out. Service throughout the resort was excellent and the spa was top quality — the massages in particular were superb. There are some kids around, but the island is big and restaurants have family areas so it never felt intrusive. In fact the kids looked like they were having a great time. Overall this is a very special place: beautiful setting, strong environmental ethos, excellent reef, and enough going on that you could happily stay longer than planned — which, in our case, we did.