Heritance Aarah

Heritance Aarah is everything it advertises to be and so much more. From the moment you arrive in Male and are greeted at the Heritance desk you are transported to paradise. Watching the sunrise from the deck of the Heritance lounge, followed by the most amazing transfer by seaplane was simply amazing. We were met by our wonderful butler Kunal who has been absolutely fantastic and lifted our holiday experience to the exceptional. I was a little unsure that having a butler might feel awkward but Kunal has the wonderful ability to be constantly available, able to anticipate our every need, making us feel nothing is too much trouble while also allowing us space and freedom. Thank you Kunal for giving us a perfect trip. Using a WhatsApp number he has always been on hand with a lift when we want it and has taken all the stress out of booking (and altering when we changed our minds) restaurants, trips and events. He even arranged decorations and a cake for my birthday. Thank you. The food at Heritance is award winning and I can see entirely why - every meal has been completely suited to its five star rating - rare with all inclusive. The restaurant staff are friendly, welcoming and attentive - it’s hard to single any one person from another when the service is this good but the restaurant manager Deepak was especially wonderful and so skilled at remembering our preferences and names, so that we really felt like valued guests. I have never experienced such high quality food at an all inclusive resort. Ralu has been our favourite restaurant, but they are all excellent. The dive centre was great - trips are expensive but the staff are very experienced, supportive and helpful. Aafan (apologies if I have spelt your name wrongly) has started me on an exciting new journey with the dive experience. I was nervous but he made me feel so safe and confident. I always try to give a balanced report on these reviews but the only hint of a negative is the price of any add ons. That having been said, as the all inclusive includes 4 proper excursions, you really don’t have to add anything to have a wonderful time. We did choose to add the turtle snorkel trip, which was definitely worth the money - just 5 in the group and turtles (and fish of course) in their natural environment. Highly recommended. We stayed in an overwater villa - definitely worth the upgrade - you could spend the entire holiday on the private deck - if it wouldn’t be such a shame to miss the rest of the resort. It’s hot on the Maldives but the sea breeze on the terrace is refreshing and the fish are just a few steps down into the water or under the glass floor platform. Heritance pay attention to all the little things that make all the difference - from flip flops and beach bags, to a fully equipped amenity bag, Elemis toiletries, snorkel equipment provided and ice cold cloths in the restaurants. Every villa has its own sun beds so there is never a fight for a bed by the pool. Fresh towels are available everywhere and the drinks are free flowing. I have been lucky enough to stay in a number of 5 star resorts but Heritance Aarah is by far the best I have ever experienced. We thought this would be a once in a lifetime trip but it is so wonderful we absolutely must return. Read less

What an amazing holiday. Everything was excellent; food, drink, rooms, sea, wildlife, and most of all service. This will be the benchmark for future relaxation holidays! We saw turtles, manta rays, feathertail rays, sharks, and so many fish. There was even a resident turtle that lived a short swim from our accommodation. The staff really did make it special. Special thanks to Dan (and his excellent wine tasting), Zineb (our butler), Deepak, Deepak (not a typo, they were both amazing), Nisha, Sashki and Nihaz. And of course many more. Read less

Beautiful resort & a truly wonderful experience. We divided our stay between an Overwater Villa and a Beach Villa and both were so amazing. The villas are really well appointed with rich dark wood interiors, the most comfortable beds and gorgeous bathrooms! Our butler, Ilmira, was absolutely fantastic. She went above & beyond to make our stay so memorable. Ilmira had booked our excursions and some restaurants in advance as was able to help with some dietary preferences eg. I love seafood but my partner doesn't so she was able to arrange that we dine in Ginifati the seafood restaurant where I enjoyed the delicious seafood menu and my partner had an amazing beef tenderloin which he loved. I cannot say enough about Ilmira, she is exceptional at her role and anticipated our every need. Other staff we found really helpful were Deepak and Nahuus in Ralu (our fave restaurant by far!!) and Affan and Saskia in Bandhi Pool bar. We highly recommend Aarah and can't wait to return! Read less

Stayed here over Christmas in one of the Ocean villas. Overall, we had a fantastic holiday and loved our time here – but if I am honest, it didn’t quite live up to our expectations! Maybe because we generally don’t stay at all-inclusive holidays, normally preferring to try the local foods and choose our restaurants – and we had just come from a fabulous week staying in Dubai where standard were very high. We had high hopes for Heritance Aarah from all the things we had read and knew were included in their premium all inclusive. There were many highlights – to name a few: The villa was fantastic, beautifully decorated, well equipped and cleaned daily. We did not have to ask for anything – even the towels were changed twice daily if needed. Beach towels were also replenished daily. As a side note: If you are fussy about hairdryers, take your own though. I didn’t as was told they were good – and then wished I had. They are the type you have to hold the button on to work – and not powerful enough for me. All the staff were fabulous. Remembering our names and taking the time to greet us with a few words at each encounter. The food overall was delicious. Everything on the island was clean and well kept. Bars were great – great cocktails and good selection of premium brand drinks – although at dinner you had to rely on them pouring your wine per glass, rather than given the bottle – and they could be a bit slow replenishing the drinks. Spa was lovely – great setting. We had the couples massage and it was lovely. Beautiful beaches – and the main pool and bar was great (although, beware, there was a LOT of sunbed reserving going on – and the staff are not allowed to remove the towels – this was very annoying when the beds were empty till lunch time). Good well equipped gym. Our private butler, Nafiu was very attentive and knowledgeable – and helped to book all our restaurant reservations – and was on hand via whatsapp for lifts around the island – or anything else we needed! Sea plane experience was fantastic – although due to the fact they only fly in daylight hours – and your onward flight times you may find yourself at the airport way earlier than you would like. Male airport does not have much going for it! But if it seems too good to be true – normally it is. The ‘annoying’ points for me that I felt let it down: On arrival at Male airport – it was not at all clear where we should go – and when we finally did find the counter (amongst a mayhem of others) instead of being taken to the Aarah private sea plane lounge that was greatly advertised and anticipated – we were taken to a hot mini bus and then a stark waiting room. There was a LOT of upselling or add on’s – at expensive prices. Someone else has already mentioned that some seafood was additional for instance – and a few of the restaurants there are additional fees. All of the F&B private dining options were ridiculously expensive – like mostly 400 USD and upwards per person! It’s a shame as if the prices were a little lower, we certainly would have take up a few more – but we just did not feel they were value for money at all. Any excursions not included on the all inclusive, for example, the additional boat trips for snorkelling or turtle watching were also too expensive. We were there over Christmas – so it included the Gala ‘buffet’ dinner. If you wanted to sit somewhere other than internal in the restaurants (outside on the veranda or on the beach front for instance) – you had to agree to purchase wine from the reserve list. Prices started at $180 and upwards per bottle. We did this happily though as we looked at it like we were paying for the dinner experience (and we actually got a good bottle of wine!). The mini bar inclusion for the Ocean villas was not as it seemed: 2 bottles of wine, replenished daily, 1 x red, 1 x white - the wine was so bad, you didn’t want to drink it anyway - and they would not swap the wine for anything else. I asked if I could swap both wines for just one bottle of Rose, but the answer was no - even though you can go to the bar and drink as much as you like. The bottles of spirits – again, are replenished daily if necessary – you only have a choice from Gordons Gin, Vodka, Whisky or I think maybe Barcardi..? This would have been OK but there was no facility for ice in the room – and the fridge barely got cold (we even had someone out to check ours was even working) , so was not so keen on drinking warm Gin and Tonic. Welcome bottle of fizz on arrival – but again, you have to drink it warm! Small thing – because generally the toiletries supplied in the room was good quality – but no bath salts or soak supplied. I would have loved this as the bath was so lovely, looking out over the ocean. It was also my birthday while we were visiting – and the literature says: Complimentary bottle of wine, birthday cake, fresh fruit platter and bed decoration. I got the bed decoration, but no bottle of wine (unless they counted the wine in the mini bar already!) or cake or fruit. I did get a cake desert at the Ambula restaurant that evening – I don’t know if that counted…? We didn’t feel that there was enough choice for places to eat – or menu options. We were there 6 nights and glad really it wasn’t for longer for the reasons below on the restaurants: Ramba restaurant is the buffet restaurant – nice, but not for me. Great for breakfast though (although Ralu was way better). Ambula was great – but same menu at all times, so you can only really go once. Sky bar above was fantastic though - best bar on the island. Ginifati was lovely – fantastic setting – but again they only change the menu every 3-4 days (and it’s a set menu every time) so this limits the amount of times you visit. We ate here twice, the first time was a bit hit and miss - and the food a bit cold, the 2nd time though was much better. Ralu was our main ‘go to’ – with a good selection of choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We mostly ate here. Pizza shack was good – but only if you can get a seat/bed by the pool to sit on at the time. We also visited Haatha for an additional fee, which we were happy to pay, however, it was an experience theme dinner where you sit and watch your food preparation around a hot plate. They had oversold this event and instead of maybe 6 persons max, sitting around the front to see the cooking – they had double that amount, meaning the remaining people (us included) had to sit and look at the back of the Chief cooking – and didn’t get the full experience at all. They also offered Saki, but did not make it clear it was an additional cost. We requested and would have loved to have a go one afternoon on the bikes – but it seems they rent them out on a longer term basis – and so they just sit outside someone’s villa unused instead of being available to those that may want to actually use them. The inclusive boat cruises were good – but again, maybe due to the time of year we visited, could only be classed as a normal boat trip: The sunset cruise was never a sunset due to low level cloud on the horizon – I don’t think we saw a proper sunset the whole stay sadly. The dolphin cruse – no dolphins (shame for us!) – and the sunrise cruise was cancelled due to winds. We ran out of time for the fishing trip – so didn’t do that one. Still definitely worth going out on the trips though just for the experience and change of scenery – and you never know what you might see. In fact the wind, although very welcome during the day when you were walking around, also kept the seas a little rough for the duration of our stay – so as a consequence the visibility for snorkelling was generally poor – and we were unable to try some of the water sports on offer. Again, shame for us, but obviously not a fault with the hotel! Would I go back – possibly - yes…. but maybe I would consider upgrading to the Ocean Suites for more choices - or look to one of the many other island options available. Read less