Dusit Thani Maldives

Fabulous all round! Excellent reef close to shore, lush & well maintained vegetation, luxurious villas, exceptional staff in every area, amazing food and a good range of experiences offered, many of which are free. Not just a high quality resort but one also dedicated to effectively managing its sustainability and environmental footprint. Perfect!

Hello everyone, here is our definitive review of Dusit Thani. We had an excellent 9 days here, and as a background this is our 9th trip to the Maldives. As usual this will be by categories so if you are interested in something specific just scroll to that section ARRIVAL in MALE and TRANSFER We arrived early in the morning in Male around 7:30 AM, we quickly got the bags, the new terminal made customs and baggage pickup really fast even if there were a lot of planes that landed. We greeted the resort rep and after 5 minutes we were at the baggage drop off for the sea plane. After another 10 minutes in the bus for the Dusit Thani lounge at the sea plane terminal. The lounge is lovely, with showers, food and drinks, well equipped. After a long journey it was such a relax to stay there. Not for much since at 10 AM we got into the seaplane and after 30 minutes of scenic flight we landed at Dusit Thani ARRIVAL IN THE RESORT We were greeted by the general manager, Mr. Jean-Louis Ripoche. What was nice and something different was that besides him explaining to us all the details, he was a constant figure around Breakfast and Dinner asking how is it going and how do we feel. We never had such an active GM so kudos for all this. Welcome drinks and lemon grass towels were provided, and after a few minutes we went to SandBar since our room was not ready (11AM arrival). The resort was at full capacity so we do understand that the early arrival would not make possible to get into the room. After about 1 hour of waiting we finally got into our Waterfront Pool Villa, number 509. ISLAND NATURAL BEAUTY One of the best things we loved about Dusit was the stunning natural beauty, for us the most beautiful and well taken island that we ever visited. It used to be a coconut plantation, so you can find lots of 20-30m coconut trees, very dense and jsut stunning to watch. Also every path is taken care to to perfection, lots of plants planted on the sides. Also it's a very lush vegetation in the middle so i think it's a picture perfect island. ISLAND BEACHES This is not a very "extensive beach resort" and please be aware that the sand moves depending on the season. Most of the sand was in front of the beach villas 301-318 in high season, The beach there is perfect, very extensive and goes on a nice slope into the water. Also, the lagoon so very sandy and almost no coral bits. If you want a perfect beach during Dec - April i think these villas would be correct choice. Also in front of the main pool and SandBar there is an extensive beach. The rest of the island has mixed beach with almost no beach. SAND QUALITY A nice surprise is that the sand is powder soft, just like the Standard that we visited some years ago. There was no sand pumping anywhere and that make me happy. There are almost no seawalls and no sandbags anywhere. VILLA. QUALITY / ACCOMMODATION There are 2 waterfront villas, number 5xx and number 6xx. I would always go for 5xx in high season because the seaplane lands and departs from the arrival jetty that is just to the right of villas 6xx. Also the 5xx waterfront villas are just 3m away from the best part of the reef. The bad part of 5xx is that just to the right is the supply jetty and from time to time ships come and make a little noise, so be prepared. The villas is freshly refurbished, everything was clean, nothing outdated or not working. The nice surprise is the A/C that is very strong but does not blast in your face but has a calm breeze all around the room. The bathroom/cabinet is a little small for my linking, but overall not much problems here. The patio of the villas has nice shade all day long and easy access to the ocean via a stairway. There are sun loungers and a table with chair for you to relax. The pool water is warm around 30* and it's not too small. SERVICE At the begging we had a hit and miss, some staff members were up there and some not. But after a few days everything got perfect and we got the perfect stay and feeling that everyone is doing there best for us to feel welcomed. FOOD AND RESTAURANTS The resort has 4 restaurants: Benjorong, Sala, Market and SeaGrill. Out of the all we ate, SeaGrill was the perfect one. On HB you have dine around, so you can eat a 3 course meal anywhere. Problem is that lots of other guests are doing the same so make sure you reserve every mean way ahead after you arrive on the island. The part i. did not like is the 7 PM start of dinner, and since we only ate 2 meals per day it was a bit hard to reach 7PM, especially with the kids. every other island we visited had 6PM start time for dinner. And the 7PM is for all the restaurants. Benjorong food was good, but the lobster was a total miss. We took again lobster at Seagrill and it was amazing, so i do recommend for sea food to go SeaGrill. Sala is a vegetarian only, it is just above Benjorong, The setting is gorgeous and we had an interesting dinner of vegan food. The cocktails at SandBar were nice with proseco, Italian wine and lots of cocktails. My favorite is of course the pinacolada. You can also order snarks during the day at SandBar and they bring them from Seagrill, the burgers were amazing also. regarding Market buffet, i find the breakfast and dinner limited in options, some nights it was very good and some nights so and so. What i did love is the live cooking station, especially during the Maldivian night where you can have the perfect reef fish grill with sweet chilly sauce. I wish i could tell you how could it was, also the calamari grill, shrimps etc. For sure the live cooking station saved the dinner for us. and we were very pleased. Breakfast has all the basics with eggs live station, fresh fruits and a lot of fresh juices. REEF AND SNORKELING This must be the most easy to snorkel reef we had since Villamendhoo in 2017. I am so excited that besides the nice coral regrowth and fish soups, it was so easy to snorkel with my 8 year old daughter. Just swim 15 seconds from the villa and let the current take you to Benjorong exit. This is the best part of the reef, with the most regrowth, color and fish soup. It was an amazing experience mainly due to how stress free it is. There are a lof of corals flowers, we saw a lot of turtles and a million fish all around. It lacked really big stuff, but there are some black tip sharks and a huge nurse shark just under Benjorong. I think this reef has the quality for the most avid snorkeler, and remember that during off season, Hanifaru Bay is just a coin toss away. SANDY PATHS FOR BEAR FOOT EXPERIENCE The path are indeed sandy but not to the quality i would expect You can go bear food, but not the most comfortable bear foot experience. Bikes are provided and it's so nice to pedal around the island an relax. Remember to keep left please! :) MAIN POOL The main poll is one of the best we ever saw, it's huge and has a old banyan tree for shade, making it perfect for kids during the hot afternoon sun.The water is perfect and we really love hanging around there. Also you can get food and drinks right away and relax in the pool. Also the sunsets there are to die for. VALUE FOR MONEY I will always provide this in my review since i do think it's one of the decision factors for most people. I found Dusit a 10/10 VFM, we did get a lot of freebies like free upgrade to HB, free seaplane transfer and free upgrade to waterfront villas, but for around $800 per night in full season with this quality of a resort i just cannot fault anything. TLDR: THE GOOD Gorgeous palm trees all around, Good reef, good service and food TLDR: THE NOT SO GOOD 7 PM dinner time to late, sometimes service can be a miss, Market selection sometimes limited and not many tables there with "feet in sand". $16 for cocktail kind pricey. Some villas have very pool beach, like 402-420 villas. Some noise from jetty's seaplane or refueling boats if staying in waterfront villas. No way to clean feet at main pool if coming from the beach, you need to reach a shower in the back. Thank you for reading! If i missed anything please do let me know!

We are a family of 4 and this is our 5th visit to the Maldives and the first time to Dusit Thani. The priority for us is to have a great and easily accessible house reef, a la carte restaurants and a kids club. Dusit has it all. We loved the house reef, we see turtles, eagle rays, and large school of fish on a daily basis. We were even lucky enough to swim with dolphins just by the house reef. We particularly enjoyed our food in Banjaran and Sala. We also loved the spa and riding the bikes around the island. Special shout out to our butler Saeed who looked after us so well during our stay. Thanks to James from Banjaran who treated us so well for our daily visit. We thoroughly enjoyed our holiday and look forward to visiting again.

Both,my husband and I had fantastic holiday in Dusit Thani. It has been one of our best experiences in a long time vacation. The place is Amasing, Stuff is excellent. Especially Chef Mohan who has been taking personal care of us each time we come. He cooks amazing food and puts his heart in all the preparations,knowledge and love in his cooking. we appreciate him and extremely grateful. Thank you dearest Mohan. Also Chef Gayan is Amazing both as a person as well as a Chef.The quality of his desserts is Superb.We thank you Gayan for all you are doing.And for your generosity and high quality of whatever you prepare. We want to thank a lot kaka for his professionality and personal love he always put. He takes care of every detail to make us feel so special.No need to ask him.He knows already what to put on the table in the most loving and bright way.Thank you so much Kaka.You make us happy each time. Our Butler,Nan is Amazing !!!

My wife and I just returned (to a blizzard!) after spending a wonderful week at Dusit Thani Maldives. Spoiler alert: The resort, and people, exceeded all of our expectations. We selected Dusit Thani based on 1) The house reef 2) Positive reviews about the level of service and 3) The island itself (size, greenery). Firstly, the snorkeling was the best we have ever seen (includes frequent Caribbean trips as well as Hawaii). The ability to see such a large variety of fish, as well as quantity, literally a few strokes from our villa was extraordinary. We quickly found several jump in points, at the Dive Center and Benjarong Restaurant, swimming with the light current and spotting reef sharks, turtles, starfish, and a large assortment of colorful fish. The service at this resort can be described as genuinely warm, gracious, and respectful. Starting with the reservations team, all questions were answered promptly and thoroughly prior to arrival (shout out to Irish!). Reveesha at the Sea Grill was another favorite, starting with a special Valentine's Day dinner and providing that large smile and welcome conversation throughout our stay. Taking care of all housekeeping needs, Yusef's warm smile and engaging manner was a daily treat. Last but not least, our butler Danil was a rock star, being ultra responsive to our requests. Stopping by nightly at our dinner table, checking in on us and our casual conversations, was both a nice, personalized touch and a welcome daily event. The island itself was a slice of paradise, we are going to genuinely miss our daily bike rides! We would strongly recommend Dusit Thani Maldives, well worth the long trip from NY. Five stars plus!