Soneva Fushi

First let me say it was a relatively late call to visit Soneva Fushi on our last trip to Maldives. I had booked the last 5 days in a resort in the Male atolls for easy access to the airport when departing. However being during Easter everything was extremely expensive and I could not justify the value for the resort I had booked so changed to SF. Thank you Di from Addicted to Maldives for always taking care of my multiple changes and wobbles with a smile. I hestited about writing yet another review of SF as I was not sure I could add anything from my previous stays. However when I was perusing their website preparing for my next visit I realised that what is special about SF is the ethos and soul. What Eva and Sonu has created is an island/resort with and amazing heart. How many places do you know that banned plastic straws last century - or help the local island handle rubbish, water and teach children how to swim. How many business have staff that have been there since inception. I could go on. These things are really important to me but maybe not to everyone. Yes the island has an amazing jungle, exceptional food, genuine caring staff, great beach, reef and rooms but its is more than the sum of these things that make Soneva special. Yet its not for everyone. It is pretty low tech and totally not flashy. Yet everything is well maintained .You will look out of place if you dress up. We generally prefer smaller resorts with less families but these things have never bothered us at SF. The only thing I dislike about Fushi is the prices !!!. Being obsessed is not good for my bank balance

We spent two magical nights at Soneva Fushi before heading to Soneva Jani, and it completely stole our hearts. Even though it’s one of the larger islands in the Maldives, it somehow feels so cozy and peaceful. There's something really special about the atmosphere there. We stayed one night in a beach villa and one in a overwater villa, and both were absolutely incredible in their own ways. The restaurants were amazing. We especially loved Out of the Blue, such an impressive design for a restaurant, and the food was delicious. One of the highlights was dinner at Fresh in the Garden, a magical spot surrounded by greenery, and we ended the evening at the Observatory, stargazing through a telescope with the resort’s own astronomer. Looking at planets while hearing stories about the universe was such a cool, unexpected experience. We also tried the zipline, which was way more fun than we expected. And honestly, what made our time at Soneva Fushi even more special was our host, Regina. She was absolutely incredible! The most thoughtful, attentive, and effortlessly kind person. I’ve never experienced that level of care and attention at a hotel before. Regina, you're a star! Soneva Fushi will always have a very special place in our memories.

So if there was one place in the world that I would rather be, it will forever be Soneva Fushi. From the charming, gentle and thoughtful staff, to the beautiful, authentic villas and lush surroundings, there is nowhere quite like it . The airport lounge gives a glimpse into what pleasures lie ahead, lovely nibbles, massage and compression leggings to ease the symptoms of a long flight. Our lovely barefoot guardian, Adonia, was super fantastic! We never felt awkward requesting anything ( which we have felt previously in other places) and she thought of everything before we even knew that was what we wanted! Truly, she made our time here amazing. The food here is sublime, great quality and created with great skill and thought. We loved the evenings where all the chefs had a cooking station and you could wander around, just picking what you fancy. Great for experimenting new flavours! We had a family Villa for 4 adults on the sunset side, so much space and we loved it…although the new Crusoe 2 beds tour left us breathless…. Next time! We really don’t mind the view of the local island, ( nor did the dolphins that pass by in the channel between!) but I can appreciate some won’t want that. The beautiful beach more than compensates, and we enjoyed the views of Out of the Blue and out of the Sea in the distance. Shout out to all the beautiful restaurants staff, I’m so bad with names, but they were all, without exception, outstanding! They remembered our names, what we liked etc, the spa staff, Josiah the Chinese doctor is highly recommended. I have a thing about lovely loos… and Fushi has beautiful toilets, all with a view!!! Check out was flawless and easy.. so sad to leave, but the consulation was a 2 night trip on Soneva in Aqua on the way to Jani…buts that’s another review for another day! To sum up, Soneva Fushi..you have our hearts! Check in and out was seamless, very sad to l Shout to Adonia,

Soneva Fushi is special! We stopped in a sunrise overwater villa, & it was excellent... & HUGE The water slide is a lovely touch... But we used it twice in a week... However the study, bedroom, deck, pool & bathroom are all incredible spaces. The food is excellent (would strongly recommend Out of the Blue), & breakfast is always special. This is NOT a cheap island to book, but once you're there, prices are very comparable with most other Maldivian resorts. Service superb throughout. If you only get to go to the Maldives once - Then this is the one to pick.

What a treat Soneva was. We came for a few nights as part of our honeymoon. Complete paradise, it's exactly what you dream it to be. We loved our villa on the beach, it was really nice to have direct access to the shore line. We went snorkelling most morning's and evenings - so many fish! We had dinner one night at So Bespoke which was a highlight, a Japanese meal was made in front of us while we watched the sunset. The ice-cream / chocolate room was also a big highlight, this was open to enjoy at our leisure. I highly recommend the guided snorkelling. They take you on a boat out to see and you'll get to snorkel at a reef out in the middle of the ocean, we saw turtles, 1000's of beautiful fish and reef sharks. The sunset dolphin cruise was also stunning. We loved out time at Soneva Fushi! We also went to Soneva Jani, Soneva Fushi was our favourite out of the two.

I am absolutely appalled by the way this hotel handled our departure with several safety concerns throughout our journey. The seaplane from Manta Air was delayed and Soneva staff knowingly sent us away even though many of us repeatedly asked and voiced our concerns to the hotel staff, regarding how we could possibly make it before dark. The planes are only allowed to fly when there is visibility and yet they still send us away on the plane at dusk and after 7 minutes in the air, we had to do an emergency landing. When we landed back in the lagoon, the staff instead send us away on a speedboat to a commercial airport 15 minutes away with full speed -and at this point it was now dark out. We felt very unsafe and we were offered no lifejackets. We had several children on board. Very very concerning. The staff then put us all on a commercial plane to Mahle - also knowing full well that we would be stuck in the middle of the night there. The second we arrived the local airport staff from Manta Air told us we would not make the plane, and we would be rescheduled. This was also confirmed by the local Soneva staff on site as they had told the people rearranging the flights that it would not be possible to make the plane. They still send us away because they didn’t want to deal with putting us up at Soneva for an additional night and paying for our new tickets even though it was solely their responsibility that we didn’t make the plane. We had to purchase new tickets out of Mahle ourselves, which we do not know if the insurance covers and the hotel doesn’t seem to take this seriously at all. We are very very dissatisfied with the way the hotel has handled this whole situation and will also be pursuing this case legally at this point, as several safety breaches was made from Soneva’s side. We are a group of 14 people in total who had this experience and have paid several over a hundred thousand dollars at this hotel for the last couple of weeks. Suffice to say, we will not be taking this lightly.