Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu, Maldives

Oh my gosh, where do I start about this beautiful Island where we stayed for just one week. We arrived on my birthday and were met off the sea plane by smiling faces. Onto the speed boat to the jetty for even more smiling faces. A young man led us straight to our room to find flowers saying happy birthday (thank you to Pratyush our housekeeper for being so great). The room was a delight and lovely and cold to escape the heat. A charming outside toilet and shower with lovely towels and robes and tea making facilities plus a decent size fridge. Perfect! Off to the bar next for our first sunset. Sanjit was the first to serve us but we soon got to know Ram and Abu as well over the course of the week. The best Piña Colada I have ever tasted. Next off to the restaurant where we sat down and then we were whisked to another special table by the gorgeous Sarmila with a message for my birthday set on the table. How very special. Next we met the cheeky Bibek who became our waiter for the week and made sure we had everything we needed, making us laugh every day. The Island is a beautiful as we imagined and only took about 25 minutes to walk around the whole thing. Our villa was near the great snorkelling part and it wasn't long before we saw brightly coloured tropical fish. We also saw from the water's edge, reef sharks, black rays and not forgetting Turtle hatchlings making their way to the sea. Talking of Turtles, it was great to visit the turtle hospital and see the great work that Michelle and the team were doing. We organised a few trips while we were there, guided by all the helpful reception team including Hajiba and Matheena, thanks girls, you were smashing! One of the trips was for my husband to go fishing. Naswaan the office manager helped us with that and arranged a speedboat with a local professional - what a great experience that was with Abdulla - thank you Naswaan for joining us and bringing refreshments too. A final thank you to Aakash, the Head Chef who has 70 staff under him who cannot do enough for you. We had 3 nights of bespoke dinner cooked for us rather than using the fantasic buffet, we had missed out on the Maldivian food night so he arranged that and then he cooked us the fish my husband caught and finally on our last special night, he arranged for seafood risotto, a favourite of mine. I cried on the last day, we had made such great genuine connections here (plus it was the end of our 30 day trip in India and ending in the Maldives). Sam and Bill will definitely be back!

Coco Palm Dhuni Kholu is the quintessential tropical beach paradise. This was our second stay and I hope it won’t be our last - we’d love to return. The accommodation is beautiful - spacious & comfortable, tastefully & thoughtfully designed; the island is beautiful - soft coral sand with lush tropical plants, and cleverly hidden cottages; the staff are incredibly friendly and helpful - you get the sense everyone wants to make sure you have a wonderful stay. Special mention to the gardener who gave us an impromptu tour of the cook’s garden when we turned up one afternoon. The food was very good, there’s lots of choice and much is freshly prepared and cooked in front of you. If you like Indian breakfasts look out for the photos next to the pancake station - this is where to ask for egg hoppers, pav bhaji, puri bhaji… yum. The Thai restaurant Cornus is excellent and not expensive since the portions are so generous - we found one starter, one salad and one main was plenty for two of us. We were slightly apprehensive about All Inclusive but found it to be very good - no bracelets to wear (phew!) and if you want anything different you are free to purchase as normal. Given this is the Maldives, and everything needs to be shipped in specially, I didn’t find the prices of food and drinks on the non-AI menus outrageous - pretty much what I’d expect in a smartish place back home in London. The excursions were great and reasonably priced. Zaaid and his team were so enthusiastic about the sea life and keen to make sure we saw everything there was to see. We booked through Angelfish travel who were brilliant - again! Their service is second to none. It’s a rare pleasure nowadays to find customer service delivered by human beings - and the people at Angelfish are very well informed, helpful and responsive. Not only did they give us excellent advice and make sure everything went smoothly, they also got us an excellent deal - so we made a significant saving by booking with Angelfish versus if we’d booked direct with the hotel or through an online booking platform. Win win.

This is our dream Island, it’s simple luxury in a beautiful environment, lovely staff. we love our bungalow on the water, we love the service, we love the snorkelling and scuba diving, or basically we love everything! As soon you step out of the airport in Male the experience begins with smiling staff.. Don’t look for marble palaces, giant waterslides, electric golf carts, huge out of place swimming pools or anything completely out of place on such an island. here you walk to your bungalow through luxurious plants and gardens, silence is only broken by birds and the gentle sound of waves. Staff is very attached and attentive to your well being, everywhere. The food is good and there is a lot of choice. We will come back again and again. Thank you for having us, see you soon

This is the 3rd time we have been to this resort. It's a small resort and the service is very personal. The villas are clean and beautifully appointed. No fancy coffee machine, but we don't go for that. The staff are helpful, knowledgeable, friendly and welcoming. They make birthdays and anniversaries special with table decorations and bed messages. There is a dive centre but we don't dive and all that you have to do is relax and enjoy the beautiful weather and exceptional food. We did snorkel with black-tipped reef sharks and a turtle! The fish on the reef are amazing, too. Can't wait for next year's trip.

An amazing 10 night stay to celebrate my birthday and my friends birthday. Truly superb! A wonderful welcome and taken to our beach villa, which was larger and nicer than anticipated. The beaches were stunning, the food was fantastic with great choice. The bars were good and well located. We used the Spa which was great. We did 4 boat trips all splendid. As for the staff a huge THANK YOU to Rosie the Marine Biologist who is a credit to this hotel - they are lucky to have you. Zaaid and Simah who made our trips so extra special. Bibek who looked after us during meal times, nothing was too much trouble and he had a great sense of humour. Ram in the beach bar, our superstar! Gunga who keep our room clean and tidy during the first week. To the Management of the hotel, everyone was lovely but these people stood out above the rest.