Hotel RIU Atoll

We stayed here for 2 weeks to celebrate my 70th birthday. We loved it there. All the staff were very friendly and helpful and we were cared for from the time we landed in Male. We stayed in an over water suite which was lovely and our cleaner Vimuthki kept it immaculately clean, and his decorations were brilliant! The food was lovely in all the restaurants, and they catered for our friend who was gluten and lactose free. The entertainment team were great, and I'd like to particularly mention Ash(a shortened version of his name!) who organised the boules and the aquagym amongst other things. He was so friendly and we laughed a lot with him! I also noticed that he was very inclusive with people of all abilities,ages and nationalities. I think he made our holiday! The bar staff were very efficient and helpful both during a day and in the evening, as were the waiters who looked after us. The snorkeling was great, and I could have spent longer doing this. We've been to this hotel twice now and would recommend it without hesitation. Read less

Wow just wow this place is like heaven! It was just myself and my 16 year old son and we were in a beach villa with direct access to the beach along with a few sun loungers. If you wanted you could lay around the sunrise pool which was big and very clean. It has a swim up bar which I sat at most days. The bar staff around the pool are amazing so friendly and chatty Chameera, Pasi, Visham, Jessica, Kelvin, Chandana are a huge credit to Riu and they all made friends with my son Jake. The entertainment was brilliant from white and jungle parties with great music to the pool entertainment boules, bingo, darts and fitness in the pool and Ashan really works his butt off getting everyone involved and he was lovely, friendly and super chatty too. The food was great something different every night. I’m only did the one excursion which was the dolphin trip and this did not disappoint there were loads of dolphins it was amazing to see and cost 90dollars. If you are all inclusive you get 1 hour of the kayaks, paddle boards, peddle boats and snorkel sets each day. Tip take your own full face mask from Amazon for £21 Great holiday now saving up hard to be able to return hopefully in 2025 x Read less

We had never been to The Maldives before nor stayed in a RIU hotel but we had high expectations of both! I must say our expectations were surpassed! From the moment we arrived to the time of saying our farewells, our stay was exceptional! All flights and transfers were incredibly slick. The staff, the choice and quality of food, the accommodation, the pool and adjoining bar area, the general cleanliness of the resort ,the on site shop ,the water sports ( some of which were free!),the low key entertainment……amazing! The beach and sea were pure paradise! Some of the highlights included the dolphin cruise ( we saw so many!),the sunset cruise, the stunning evening star configurations and the live daily music played as the sun went down. Truly memorable! This really was the holiday of a lifetime. Would we return? You bet we would! Read less

My wife and I looked at lots of different places to go on our Honeymoon and being a special holiday we chose the Maldives. As soon as we landed we knew we had made the right choice, the heat was welcomed and then once we got our small plane to our island it was paradise looking out the window to see the crystal blue sea and golden beaches. The RIU staff welcomed us with drinks and lots of information about the island, our bags were sent to our rooms and we were sent to the bar, a great way to start the holiday in my opinion. Without going into lots of details ill break it down for people: The Food - amazing, lots of choice and all cooked perfectly. The Maldivian food cooked was out of this world. There was a steak house which we could eat in once a week and also an Italian, again both amazing experiences and food incredible. The Staff - Every single staff member was happy and cheerful. The gardeners done a terrific job maintaining the resort, the cleaners are thorough, the bar staff amazing (Jess knew what drinks we both had and they were never empty), the entertainment was great, there was something to do on the hour from 10am till 6pm. I personally played lots of games including petanque and volleyball daily - but if you don't want to there was no pressure. A special mention to Ashen (entertainer) who i had lots of fun with as we had a regular battle of petanque daily and become quite an enjoyable competition. In all the place is amazing but the staff add that something extra which resulted in having an amazing holiday. To wrap it up if you enjoy white sand, crystal clear seas with lots of sea life and basically wanting to feel like jumping into that screensaver on your computer then the Maldives will do that for you. A great honeymoon a great holiday and an amazing place to spend 2 weeks!! We will be returning. Sam and Lisa. Read less

Please note that this is my own experience. Different people=different thoughts! Please note that this is my own experience. Different people=different thoughts! Riu Palace is the mixture of entertainment/interaction and calmness. We arrived at Male. We booked a seaplane transfer. Everything well organized and after 187 km, 1 hour 42 minutes we arrived to Riu. Welcome greetings was a bit disappointed, 2 years ago from different atoll we were surprised with dance and music. It is a multi-culti spot. We had very good weather, just with one rainy afternoon. Each room is provided with an umbrella, would it be nice to have at least two. Even when it is raining, it remains hot and humid. Note that there are many mosquitos. You need to install their own app – which is not so bad. We booked a room in the villa (2809) cause I do not like overwater rooms which was a great choice. You can walk around but you are not allowed to visit the palace (strange as they can do). Riu is not a 4 star hotel in relation to accommodation. We had a balcony, big enough to sit and lay down. The cleaner does an excellent job and left a different towel art on the bed for 4 days. I am MONK so it was really clean, chapeau! There are three restaurants, the quality of the food in the main restaurant is the best I’ve had from any buffet restaurant however at times can become a bit repetitive. The Italian restaurant was for me a bit disappointment - the starters and desserts come from a buffet??? The chairs were uncomfortable. The steak restaurant however was incredible – I got a tuna steak!!! The quality of food was exceptional. There are ‘leftovers’ available in the sports bar with a microwave should you get hungry later in the night. Once I got an alcoholic coctail instead of non-alcoholic coctail but everything has been solved immediately - we are just human beings. Beaches are immaculate white sand – other side (snorkeling) you will need water shoes. We saw sharks, mantas and a multitude of different colours and types of fish. There are bats which fly around in the daytime. Some are the size of a cat, they are huge. There are a lot of chameleons which blend into the surroundings or even the path! There are little birds with strange noice which are quite confident and will come up to you. Geckos are always active during the night. Paddle boarding, kayaking, pedalos are all included (1 hour) in the all-inclusive package. There are also jet skis, scuba diving etc. for an extra cost. The staff is AMAZING AND HARD-WORKING!!! Employees are all friendly. A lot of them remembered our drink orders when you turn up! I didn’t ever feel that tips were expected by the staff however we did give a couple of euros to staff at points throughout the holiday. The staff are from all over with many from Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Mauritius, India and Indonesia. The daytime entertainment staff are around all day and night. There is a spa which we didn’t try. The gym was well equipped with amazing view (you need shoes!). All in one, we loved every minute and was worth every euro. We will come back! Read less