Adaaran Select Meedhupparu & Prestige Water Villas Maldives

Just returned from a fantastic stay at Adaaren Select Meedhupparu. Wonderful staff, with a special mention to Apoorva in Sufura, Gayan in the Albino Bar (ask him for a special) and Azim in the Water Villas restaurant. Food was amazing, our favourite was Cafe Mass, but the best kept secret was having breakfast at Sufura, with the hotel full, it was nice not to just have the main restaurant to go to. We didn’t bother using the swimming pool, I don’t need to get up early and put a towel on a bed, with such beautiful beaches all around you, why would you. Snorkelling was amazing on the house reef. Thank you to everyone at the hotel for making our first stay in the Maldives such a memorable one, already booked to go back next year. Read less

SUMMARY Great for families. PROS - Staff are amazingly kind, helpful and attentive even when guests are behaving very badly! - Food for meat eaters very good but limited for vegetarians who don't like curries, though if you are comfortable asking they will go out of their way to help you. - Choice of restaurants - Cafe Mass offered good sized portions - Ice cream available at a number of locations (main bar most of day/main restaurant and Sufura during meal times - Mini bar included and if you have a drink preference they are happy to change the contents - Branded drinks included at bars - Albino bar nicely situated and lovely staff - Complementary plug in mosquito repellent in room - Non-motorised water sport equipment available (paddle boards, canoes, snorkelling equipment etc) - Stunningly beautiful green island TIPS - Take snacks the minibar doesn't include snacks, we didn't bring any and wish we had as the shops are overpriced. - Be polite to the staff they are lovely, take your glasses back to the bars and don't litter the beaches, sadly we saw a lot of this - When you leave the pool remove towels off beds so others know the sunbeds are available - Keep your toothbrushes covered in outdoor bathrooms CONS - Beach areas by beach bungalows overcrowded and did not offer the intimacy and privacy we have enjoyed on other islands, aggravated by people from other areas on the island using pool towels to sit outside your room on the sand and then scream and shout and leave their glasses and towels behind discarded. - Unfortunately the area outside our deluxe villa was difficult to sunbath on as the volleyball net was set up right where you would want to sunbathe and some guests thought it was acceptable to slam balls at several guests lying on their sunbeds next to the court, I would suggest the court is either removed all together or relocated where the beach is wider and it is safe to use. As an older woman being hit in the back by a volleyball is quite sore and upset me to tears. - Great for families with kids - largest no of kids I have ever seen on a Maldives island, not so great if you are looking for peace and relaxation - Public toilets not air conditioned, like ovens, which made it difficult when you had to vacate your room and these areas might have been your only respite from high temperatures to wash up while waiting to leave the island. Situation was made worse by unclear instructions on the day you were leaving from reception staff. No area designated as other islands do where you can have a shower, and wash up in an air conditioned area. One member of reception staff appeared irritated by us trying to sign out and ask questions and we were supplied with unclear information and had to ask about whether we were permitted anything to drink or eat in the 3 hour wait to leave. We were told initially to wait in reception (for 3 hours!) - Return journey to Male was a nightmare, after 3 hours sitting in high temperatures we had a boat ride to another island to get the sea plane and the plane then made two stops at other islands, the plane was incredibly hot and by the time we arrived at Male we were a mess, not to mention panicking because we had arrived an hour later (no I was not confused by time difference between the island and Male) than we were supposed to for check in and our luggage was missing for around 10 minutes or more, the arrangements for our return didn’t seem to be very well thought out. - Beaches not checked for rubbish and in one day we saw a water bottle half buried in the sand, a nappy discarded by the side of the pool, cigarette butts all over the island, cleaning cloths left in the sand, panty liner in the sand and lots of bottle tops and micro plastics . We picked up a lot of rubbish and put it in a cigarette point only to find the rubbish had been tipped back out and discarded on the sand. Most islands we have previously stayed at the beach area is checked and raked every morning and immaculate every morning. We also saw a nappy floating in the sea and guests were discarding used cups and glasses and glass bottles from their room next to their sunbeds and expecting the staff to pick up after them. - Getting a space at the pool is impossible, sunbed reserving is strong, and come around 8.30 am you won't likely get a space. There are clearly signs there asking guests not to reserve sunbeds but many did and then disappeared for hours on end. Guests fighting with each other and the pool man left in the middle of it all. Add more beds and only pass out towels to guests if they are staying and removal of items when the beds are left for longer than an hour would help the situation. Better still have a kids pool and a separate adults pool. The water villa guests were also using the main pool even though they had their own pool which made things even worse. - Pool bar was often left unmanned and you could stand waiting for around 10 minutes, give up and return later to wait around again. The other bar would not give out drinks as they only had glasses and not the plastic cups (perhaps some plastic cups at the other beach bar and main bar would be handy). If the pool is unmanned perhaps a member of staff from the main bar could cover it - Cocktails are pretty basic and sugary fizzy drink or fruit juice based, tia maria and baileys or cheaper equivalent not included so a lot of cocktails were not available without additional charge. No ginger available. - No deserts available at the snack bar - Main buffet restaurant overcrowded and intimidating with shoving and pushing at peak times. - You can't walk round the island as part of it is fenced off for water villas - A lot of work being carried out on the island, 3 diggers at the moment which when running created a lot of noise. Thankfully we were permitted to move but we didn’t get much sleep after nearly 24 hours of travel as they started work early and were incredibly noisy. If we were aware of the works it would have been nice to have had the option to move to another island as most chains offer - or at least for us to get notifcation pre travel of the works so we can move to another location. - Numerous maintenance issues in deluxe villa we initially stayed at, cracked plugs, broken hooks, broken taps, handles missing on patio doors so you couldn’t get in your room when the doors were pulled too. Read less

Not long home from a fantastic 10 day holiday at Adaaran Select Meedhupparu (7 days beach villa and 3 days water villa). Everything was perfect - transportation, accommodation, food, beach, facilities, service etc. etc. We would like to thank all the staff, no matter their role, for making our holiday so wonderful. Special thanks to Manoj our Water Villa butler. He is dedicated, passionate and devoted to his job and nothing was too much trouble. We would also like to thank Nuain for his service to us and interesting conversations about conservation and the fascinating sea life around the island. Happy to join the long list of Adaaran Select Meedhupparu fans and advocates and we look forward to returning someday soon. Thank you again to everyone. Read less

My family and I have had the pleasure of staying in Adaaran for a week, and we couldn’t ask for a better summer holiday! The weather was incredibly pleasant for a rainy season, with only one rainy day. We’ve enjoyed delicious food in various restaurants, yummy cocktails in the bars, and lots of different water sports activities and beyond. Thanks for an amazing week! Alisher, May, Lakmina, July, Andrea, Lamyae, Edward you are the best! Read less