Heritance Aarah - Premium All Inclusive - 40 Minutes Away from Male by Seaplane

This was our second visit to the Maldives, the first being last year where we stayed at two excellent resorts that were really tough acts to follow! One of the reasons we chose Heritance Aarah because we wanted somewhere with a good selection of restaurants so that we didn’t get bored of the food over our 9 day stay, and in this respect it definitely lived up to our expectations. Food Ambula, the Sri Lankan/Maldivian tasting menu restaurant, was excellent and we loved both the standard and vegetarian menus. The staff there were excellent, especially Nilanta. Ginifathi, the seafood grill is very good. There are two menus that switch halfway through the week to give variety. The food was great and we visited there a couple of times. Ralu, the overwater Mediterranean restaurant, was superb with lots of choice and great team, especially Adam, Elina and Damith, who were so attentive. Jasmine, at front of house was fantastic and always made sure we were well looked after. Ranba, the buffet restaurant is good, but not great. A decent selection of food is available with theme nights all week. Generally service was just about okay but on our first night, just after arrival, we went there and didn’t feel too welcome and our waiter wasn’t that interested, which made us worried about what it would be like on the island generally - really not a great first impression. It was similar situation on our only other evening visit there (we discussed this with Deepak, the restaurant manager - see below under areas for improvement). Morning service was better. We often preferred to have breakfast at Ralu (rather than Ranba) because it is overwater and cooler. It doesn’t however start serving breakfast until 10am so if you’re an early riser, you’ll need to use Ranba, which has very good variety. One final thing on the food is the Pizza Shack near the pool; Pizza’s are excellent so highly recommend that for lunch or afternoon bite. Bars We really liked the pool bar - great ambient music and vibe during the day. In the evening, while we were there, was a really good live singer, which we enjoyed. The team there are really good too, particularly Ishan and Sakshi, who looked after us very well. The Pool itself is large and very attractive and at night has lovely lighting. Cocktails were great and they will make your requests - we enjoyed trying a variety from the extensive drinks menu. We went to the Sky Bar on our final night. It’s a beautiful bar above Ambula restaurant with views all around and it was wonderful watching the sun set for up there. Service and cocktails were fantastic. Villa We booked a beach villa, preferring these to overwater accommodation based on our experience last year. We originally tried to book a Sunset Beach Pool Villa, but none were available so we requested a villa on the north side of the island away from the pool and restaurants etc. We had villa 160 which had a nice outlook and was very quiet, with a lovely breeze most of the time.

We have spent 5 fantastic days at this wonderful resort. Crystal clear water all around the island with lots of fish. Rays, reef sharks and fish in many species and colours. The food is top class. From breakfast to lunch and dinner. Our best memories are with Ibrahim at the Hathaa restaurant. Magical food cooked with a twinkle in the eye. A show with fire. Sapna at the Ambula restaurant gave us world class service. Last but not least was our fantastic butler Kunal. Always available and always with a smile and helping with everything and a little more.... //Niclas Jansson

Heritance Aaragh is a superb place to spend a week’s holiday. We were treated like royalty from arrival to departure. The staff were welcoming, friendly, efficient and engaging. We were provided with a butler, a new experience for us. We were lucky enough to have Nafiu who ensured that we were looked after like no others. We had some fantastic trips including 3 boat trips and excellent dining experiences. The waiting on staff were brilliant including AJ and his “yard of tea” which was so entertaining. Other staff including Manu went the extra mile to make our holiday excellent.

We had high expectation for our stay at Heritance and almost every single one was exceeded. Our accommodation was beautiful and spacious. The facilities were well looked after and the staff was fantastic. Housekeeping was brilliant and our dedicated cleaner left stunning sand art on our doorstep everyday which we all loved. Our kids particularly loved the Koka Kids Club, especially Tima, Khaing and Momo who all looked after our kids and made the holiday very special (and relaxing for us parents!). Our butler Iru was also fantastic, very quick and responsive with our requests. The food options were plentiful, the all inclusive made things so relaxed and easy, and we loved spending afternoons by the pool. Our one critique is that our beach villa didn't have a beach view due to lots of vegetation.