Conrad Maldives – Little Traveler's Notebook

Male, the capital of the Maldivian islands is just a short 70 minute flight from Colombo, Sri Lanka so it made sense to tack on a few days here before our 2 week SL holiday. We were told by MANY that 3 days was not nearly long enough — the consensus on Flyer Talk being 10 days or at least one week. Three days was plenty for us: 1) it is EXPENSIVE in all caps plus at least 10 exclamation points. 2) the food… mediocre to good, or at least at our resort. And 3) once you have swam from your villa, gone snorkeling, joined a whale-shark tour, dined at every restaurant, read a book or 2, tried the spa… what else can you do? It is absolutely drop-dead gorgeous here, and three days were plenty to absorb the beauty and sun, recover from jet lag, plus make a sizable dent in the vacation budget.

Transportation

We flew Emirates business class using miles on the double-decker A380, JFK to Male with a short connection in Dubai. The seats were fantastic, but the best part is the on-board lounge. SOooo much fun to hang here for a drink or two, chatting with other passengers, watching the map and photographing it when you notice you are exactly halfway between Baghdad and Tehran. My Negroni was a hit for several passengers (who were not partaking in cocktails with alcohol), making it’s way into their photographs in a sort of Bill Murray “Suntory time” gesture.

Actually one of us flew from Paris, still on an A380, meeting us in Dubai and traveling on together. That person, the CFO of the family and Managing Director of our accumulation of airline and hotel points, flew in the first class suite, and was gracious enough to swap seats with me for the second leg, albeit on a 777. Deeeeee-vine, dahling… if you ever get the chance to experience, I HIGHLY recommend it.

From Male, the only viable option to get to Rangali Island (where our resort was situated) is via sea plane. A new and highly enjoyable experience for us. It is a 30 minute LOUD flight, flown by barefoot pilots, with great views over the beautiful waters, many atolls, and several resorts.

Resort

We stayed at the Conrad Maldives as recommended by friends, as well as the ability to spend our Hilton points. We rented 2 water villas, side by side, using points for one of them. And actually earned somewhere between 3-5 nights using our Hilton credit cards on the other (plus all the $250++ for each meal.)

Rooms

We spent time studying the resort map and researching the Conrad Maldives thread on Flyer Talk before requesting 2 specific villas — 301 & 302 — on the quieter island, facing the sunrise as we assumed sunsets would be spent nightly in one of the resort bars or restaurants. We were not disappointed by our choices as they are at the end of a pier so no one walked by them, and they also made for some good sunrise swims and coffee on the deck. The villas were spacious — always like it when there is a walk-in closet with plenty of space for luggage. Good AC and ceiling fans as well. Decent bathrooms. Style of the typical modern-luxury-asian-resort type with dark wood and muted neutral colors. Nothing wowed us (other than the views) but nothing disappointed us either — well maybe electric blinds would have been nice.

Word of note: we were on the 2nd smaller island so it was either a long walk (great to burn off all the meals), buggy ride, or a lovely boat ride to the main island. There is a bar (Quiet Zone), a restaurant (Vilu, closed during our stay), and another spa. We didn’t use the spa as we had hoped to, but the spa here has rooms with a glass floor to look at the water and fish while faced down during massage — the main spa does not have the glass floors, FYI.

Activities

Whale-shark tour

We joined this tour operated through the dive shop, but unfortunately were unsuccessful in finding a whale shark. Still, it is a nice boat, a beautiful ride, and provides some excellent snorkeling if you are unlucky as we were on the shark-spotting front. We also managed to see several types of rays and dolphins.

Snorkeling

The Conrad offers free equipment and there is a reef here which supposedly offers some decent snorkeling. However, we ended up aborting our endeavor due to such murky water (it’s beautiful but not always clear) that a dropped mask in shallow water still managed to elude all four of searching for it over 10 minutes. Plus a painful scraped knee due to the aforementioned waters thus not seeing the reef. But one can keep the equipment for the entire stay and the water was much clearer on other days, so still a viable option.

Restaurants

Rangalli Bar

This is a large indoor/outdoor lounge set next to the reception area. Service was friendly and laid-back. Sometimes a little slow. Food included burgers, club sandwiches, salads, as well as several Mediterranean, Asian, and Indian options. Decent, nothing amazing. Oh, but the GT specialty cocktails were fantastic!! And about $30 each, so they should be. Nightly entertainment included a couple who sang covers along the line of “We’re Sausalito” (Lost in Translation seems to be a running theme for me.) They provided good background music and many comedic relief moments such as the rendering of “Quando Quando Quando” sung as “Condo, Condo, Condo.” It is also entertaining to lunch here, watching those attempting the jet-propelled water boot thingies, beginners on paddle boards, or Chinese honeymooners doing photo shoots. Oh, the interior features a very cool chandelier made from plastic water bottles. See photo in gallery above.

The Quiet Zone

Located on the quieter island where our villas were situated. Indeed quiet or completely empty other than the Happy Hour which is complimentary for Hilton Honors members. Very friendly servers, good service, and a lovely view over the water looking towards the main island. There is a nice infinity pool here as well.

Sunset Grill

Aptly-named and lovely restaurant set in a pavilion over the water. Excellent service. Food neither wowed nor disappointed. We were entertained by the fish feeding next door to the underwater restaurant, ITHAA.

ITHAA

The famed underwater restaurant. We chose not to dine here, but to experience it via their morning champagne cocktail hour for a mere $90 each *eye-roll*. A group of 20 of us followed our host into the pavilion, were poured champagne (or juice if preferred) and provided with information regarding the structure’s architectural and engineering feats. We then proceeded downstairs to the dining room. Let the oohing, ahhing and photographic frenzy commence! Our host was lovely and took photos of each party. We were served some hors d’oeuvres which looked much prettier than they tasted. The place does get quite warm so if you are tempted to spend your money here on lunch or dinner, I would certainly recommend dinner. Cocktail hour provided us with entertainment and the ability to check that box without the $1K++ price tag for a meal of mediocrity.

Mandhoo

One of the prettiest restaurants I have ever dined at! This is located at the main spa and includes a menu proclaiming health attainment through options based on the 5 basic elements of air, water, earth, fire, and plants. My “fire” choice of spicy tuna (or was it water?!) looked beautiful but was not very fresh tasting. And definitely lacking in heat or “fire”. However, my salad starter of crabmeat and watercress was quite yummers. And the Australian sauvignon blanc went down WAY to easily. Note that there is fish feeding here at lunchtime AND the lunch bill offers a 20% discount for Honors members.

Atoll Market

One of the 2 breakfast restaurants, the other being Mandhoo which we did not try (but-should-have-but-some-of-us-were-too-enamored-with-the-large-buffet-offerings-of-Atoll.) Sushi, ice-cream (try the Durian, I dare you!), full-English spread, omelette/egg station, tropical fruit (including the elusive mangosteen and rambutan), yogurt, pastries and doughnuts, waffle/pancake station (the boys favorite), dim sum and Asian/Indian options including several curries. Also a juice station with attendant-at-the-ready, fresh juices, and great latte and cappuccino. Miles enjoyed preparing a bacon-egg-N-cheese sandwich each morning with toasted rolls, scrambled eggs (yay for soft, wet version!!) Lunch and dinner here are also buffet so we did not try it for those meals.

UFAA

The high-end Chinese restaurant. Boys wanted to do room service so it was date night here. Delicious Peking Duck with all the fixins’! Pretty interior though most were dining by candlelight outside with a lovely view of the Sunset Grill/ITHAA pavilions.

Vilu

Alas, Vilu was closed for our stay which was a big disappointment since it was so close to our villa. No renovations were being done. Guessing that the resort was low occupancy and management just did not want to staff it.

Concluding thoughts…

All in all, this was a fantastic holiday. While we aren’t sure if we will return, unless perhaps it is tacked onto another nearby location (India? Thailand?), it is a place that is unbelievably beautiful and unique. It does seem to be a place people return year after year and the number of points earned using the Hilton credit card on top of points earned from the enormous guest folio would certainly provide some value in this. Feel free to ask me any questions OR let me know if you have a resort there to recommend.

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Transportation

Resort

Rooms