Emerald Faarufushi Resort & Spa Hotel

My husband and I just returned from a magical 7 night stay at Emerald Faarufushi. We celebrated both a milestone birthday for me and our 10 year anniversary. This was a once and a lifetime trip for us (traveling over 30 hours from the US), so I spent hours upon hours researching where to stay - and I can confidently say I made the right choice! I know how important reviews are in making a decision, so I will capture the best I can the highlights of our stay based on what we were looking for. Accommodation: We stayed in the Superior Overwater Villa. We knew that we wanted an overwater villa with a pool for our stay. We also wanted a larger space to allow us to relax and unwind. The SOV delivered just that and more. We stayed in 343 (the last Villa on the left) and had an incredible private oasis (the SOV decks/pools are not visible from anywhere else on the island). We loved visiting the resort pool, but also loved having a place to go back to and relax. There is a rock jetty outside of the SOVs, but this didn't bother us. Given the resort is still new, the accommodations were pristine. Wandi, our room helper, did an amazing job keeping the place clean and also leaving us kind messages and goodies throughout our stay. Food: For an all inclusive, we were blown away by the food. Having 5 different restaurants was definitely one of the top selling points for us and pretty much every meal was incredible. The menus are robust and I was pleasantly surprised by how many non-seafood options there were (I am not the biggest fan of seafood). Our favorite restaurant was Mediterreano (the truffle pasta is to die for). Aqua provided great options for breakfast and lunch (great sushi) and highly recommend Italian night. Make sure to get the Wagyu burger at some point either from the Beach Club or by the Sunset Pool - delicious! I was also able to attend a couple of cooking classes, which were very fun and informative. Special shoutout to Fernando, who made sure our food was cooked to perfection, and Chef Moreno for the fun classes. We also did a private dinner on the sunset jetty for our anniversary. While it was on the expensive side, the food was delicious and the ambiance top notch. We had the carnivore and seafood options. Drinks: We are not huge cocktail drinkers (we prefer wine), but found ourselves indulging in the extensive cocktail list. The drinks were phenomenal! My favorites were the Gili Faaru and Elle. Ankur and Sandur (and the rest of the staff) did an excellent job making sure we were taken care of at the Sunset Pool and Eclipse bars (make sure to check out the sunset from here). Special shout out to Ankur for hosting a very fun gastro mixology class and providing us a special drink (clarified Pina Colada) for our anniversary dinner! So now onto the wine. We were shocked by the included wine list - over 80 bottles! We are a bit of wine snobs and found the wines to be very good. Heather and Bona got to know us and our wine preferences and presented us with a new option every night - superb service! The only suggestion here is to swap out the red wine option that is provided in the minibar - that was really the only wine we didn't enjoy on our trip. Diving/Snorkeling: We are avid scuba divers and part of my selection criteria was finding a resort that offered good diving. We ended up going on a dive our first day and got to dive with manta rays - a bucket list experience! We also went to Nemo's Garden, which was a beautiful pinnacle reef filled with a lot of fish. The dive staff was very professional and friendly. We ended up not doing any additional dives only because the house reef was FANTASTIC! I had read in previous reviews how great it was, but our expectations were exceeded. We went snorkeling every day (sometimes from the jetty and sometimes directly from our villa). The fish life is abundant, but we also saw several sharks and eagle rays. Spa: The spa was very lovely and the services were top notch. The rooms are nestled in the gardens and resemble treehouses - very relaxing. We both got the Emerald Signature Massage and I also got a facial. Overall Resort: The resort was absolutely stunning and well kept. The island is small and intimate, which was another thing we wanted in our stay. We did daily walks around the island, which was lovely. We also spent our afternoons by the resort pool relaxing (and having delicious drinks). We didn't end up using the tennis courts, but it was nice that they were available. We were allowed one complimentary excursion during our stay and did the sunset fishing. Our boat ended up catching a couple of nurse sharks, which was quite the experience! Staff: And last, but certainly not least, was the staff. They truly made our trip. Everyone was incredibly friendly and made us feel at home. We have been to plenty of 5-star resorts around the world and can confidently say this is the best staff we have ever encountered. Some special shoutouts in addition to the people already mentioned above - Nicole was our butler and she was very attentive and helped us with a couple of unique circumstances. Vishnu for checking in on us often (and being a great photographer :). Priyanka for being a delight to talk to at Aqua. Tom for always being a friendly face at the Beach Club. We were sad to leave, but hope to someday got back (next time with our children - the kids club looked great!) Thank you to everyone at Emerald Faarufushi who made our anniversary and trip so special - truly a trip of a lifetime. Read less

Perfect place to enjoy your vacation. Our villa was super and always very clean. The food was always delicious and the cuisine options were varied so every day we could enjoy our meals at different restaurant. Stuff was always friendly and helpful especially Carnivores restaurant waiter Pabuda who took an excellent care of us!! Not only that,One of the most unforgettable trips we had in our lives. Read less

Our best holiday bar none! It was our first visit to the Maldives and we did plenty of research about where to go (thank you to all the TA review writers amongst others!) Once we had decided on the Emerald at Faarufushi the trip was looked forward to for months. Reality did not disappoint! From being met at Male Airport by the delightful Zuba, and escorted to the lounge to await our seaplane departure, our experience was of exceptional hospitality and smiles. The sea plane trip to the resort was spectacular, flying over atolls until Faarufushi was reached. The team greeting at Faarufushi seaplane jetty was unexpected and set the tone for our 10 day stay. Check in was fast and before long we were taken by buggy to our beautiful over-water villa by Nabeel, our butler/magician, who made extra sure our holiday was perfect in every way. The villas have been described in other reviews, they are spacious, comfortable and equipped with everything you need including a mini bar which has water, soft drinks, beers, wine and snacks and is replenished daily. Our villa was looked after by Shafeeq, who made sure that everything was gleaming twice a day, he even turned up in a torrential rain storm to do evening turn-down - going that extra mile - an attitude we found evident in abundance throughout the resort. There are a variety of dining options and Nabeel had made sure we got to try them all during our stay. Our dining itinerary was clearly set out on the Emerald app so we knew what we had to look forward to the next and subsequent days. Our favourites were Mediterraneo and Aqua. Moreno, the executive chef for the resort is very present making sure guests are enjoying their Emerald dining experience and his team are brilliant, Fernando at Aqua cooked some delicious locally caught Job fish for us, Prasan, the omelette and grill expert always working with a smile are just two examples from the wonderful kitchen teams. The restaurant front of house teams are also an important part of guests' experience and from being greeted by Mija at breakfast at Aqua restaurant, being looked after by Priyanka, Izad, Jamshid, Nabeel (2!), Ahmeed and so many others whose names I sadly did not note down, service is second to none. Bona and Heather were available to advise on the quite extensive wine list. We tried (on recommendation) wines that we wouldn't normally select and were not disappointed! Cocktails are also a resort speciality and Rokan and colleagues made sure we tried some of their special Faarufushi mixes. The resort has a tennis and a padel court (plus rackets and balls) for guests to use. During our holiday I had padel lessons with Feri, the resort pro, to master the basics, hoping that I'd get to a level to be able to start to play socially on my return home. Feri was a very patient coach, together with being an expert, and he ensured that lessons were fun. Top tip, book lessons first thing in the morning, before it gets too hot! We used the gym several times, it's small but has enough kit for a holiday workout if you feel the need! I took a mask and snorkel with me but borrowed fins from the dive shop so that I could snorkel while we were at Faarufushi. The house reef is very close by and filled with all the colourful fish you see pictures of. If you want to see mantas and turtles you may need to book a boat trip to do so, we were happy with the amazing variety on view around the house reef and lagoon. We were fortunate to meet Mr Nihal, the resort's head engineer and have a behind the scenes glimpse of the incredible infrastructure that makes the resort such an amazing place. The teams running the laundry, water bottling plant, power generation and supply, desalination, waste management, maintenance and so many of the other unseen areas deserve congratulations for all their efforts. It's now almost 2 weeks since we returned to 'real life'. We are still blown away by the genuine desire of all the Emerald Faarufushi teams, from Patrick the resort GM and his senior team including Rao and Moreno all the way down the chain, to ensure guests have a fabulous holiday at the Emerald. We are already talking about when we can return... Read less

The room was very big with a pool at the balcony and freshed with the elegant fragrance which created a good mood and sleep for us every day. Our room number was 336 at the sunrise side. The sea view was fantastic during the sunny days. And we saw rainbows when it was raining for a while. The cleaningman Wandi provided nice service for us, cleaning the room twice a day and would satisfy our special needs written on the letter every day. Our steward Nicole helped us a lot. Whenever we have problems or made some small mistake(like missing the time) she would solve the problem for us. She also arranged the surprising dinner and room set for our honeymoon and the birthday of my husband. The waiter Rabkit at the carnivals was a kind man. I was scared by the lightening one night and he gently changed a table and served special dish to comfort me. What surprised us most was the technique of the cameraman. He KNEW how to make the most beautiful photos for couples and families. Although it was a little expensive, we still bought 8 extra pics. I have to say that Emerald was a fantastic island. The food and resort and facilities here totally showed it was a leading hotel company. Read less

Stayed in this resort for 7 nights recently. Nicole was our butler. She's extremely helpful and made our stays the most amazing experience. The island is beautiful with plenty of restaurants and activities. Staffs are friendly and keen to assist. We stayed in a water villa which is extremely beautiful, and the ocean view is stunning. Snorkeling was amazing. There were not much around the villa but if you swim further out there were plenty to see. Sad that we experienced 2 nights of thunderstorms which made the water a tiny bit cloudy next morning, but otherwise it's amazing. Food was generally fantastic, especially the Teppanyaki and Mediterranean restaurants. The only overall issue is booking is mandatory, and booking is very hard. Nicole has kindly booked for us in advance so that we were able to try every restaurants, but there's not much room for a second visit if you really enjoy one. Aqua is the default place to go if you haven't make any arrangements, but food choices there (as a buffet restaurant) were limited. Read less