Rahaa Resort

Travelling to Rahaa resort can be quite tiring as it is relatively far from Male. BUT it is a very good choice if one is travelling to Maldives in the rainy season. We were there for 9 days at the beginning of July, 4 days were fully sunny and the rest of the days were partly clouded with a few showers during the night. The color of the water is amazing with all the shades of blue and though reef is further from the shore and need to take the daily, complimentary boat ride to see the corals, if one is lucky, then can see sting rays, baby reef sharks or turtles swimming close to the shore. The advantage of the place is that there are many different types of live corals in the neighborhood. The variety of food for us was more then plenty and very delicious, thanks to Chef Chaminda and his staff. We must highlight the exceptional service and kindness of all the staff. They really acted as one happy team who enjoyed playing games with or against the guests. We would like to say a big thank you for the surprise table and room decoration, the cake and all that has made my husbands birthday truly memorable.

Travel time and the stronger current during high tide.

Staff are incredibly hard working and friendly. The resort is on a beautiful island, lot's of wildlife on the island and in the ocean. The reefs nearby for scuba diving are healthy and some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. We took the half board and found the food to be excellent. The best dishes were the local ones, curries, parati etc. Room was cleaned daily and bottled water provided daily. There were some comments that the island has no nightlife...honestly who goes to Maldives to party? Go to Ibiza.

The Wi-Fi is acceptable for social media, but if you need to work, it is not reliable. I could not have zoom calls and had some trouble loading bank files. The island is on a massive sand bar, so not so good snorkeling from the beach. They do provide a boat twice daily to snorkel out on the reef (10-15 min boat ride). I was really hoping to take out the little catamaran sailboat, but we could not take it due to missing parts or something.

Excellent location just a few steps from the sea, beautiful surroundings. This stay was kind of a dream come true. Staff was competent, very kind and helpful, foods and drinks were varied and delicious. A wonderful island, close to nature, snorkeling excursions gave us a lot to remember. Rooms were nicely decorated, comfortable and well equipped. I loved the open-air bathroom. Warmly recommended!

Our stay at Rahaa was amazing!!!! The island was quiet with nature surrounding you everywhere. The snorkeling along the coral reef was just spectacular, we saw rays, turtles, an octopus and a wide variety of fish and live coral. The food at the buffet was also great with a wide variety of dishes that did not disappoint. The chef was friendly and checked in on us every day to see if we had any food preferences or to get our feedback. I cannot say enough about all the staff at the resort, everyone was so friendly and helpful. We participated in most of the organized activities like volleyball (guest vs staff), tug of war(guests vs staff), and the kayak race. It was such a great way to meet the staff and get to know them a little more. Our villa was on the ocean side and we absolutely loved it, it managed to give us the privacy we wanted while still having quick access to the beach and ocean. We spent Christmas day there and it was made special with a visit from SAAAAANNNNNTTTTAAAAAAAAAA!!!! :) Much love to everyone at Rahaa for making our special trip so memorable.

The only thing we missed was access to a pool. But we were speaking with the owner (super friendly guy who you will often see strolling around and interacting with guests) and he said a pool is in the plans.

The breakfast and dinners were great, many many options and all beautifully presented. The Staff are amazing - they don't get time off because of a lack of staff due to covid and yet they were always smiling, always sunny, kind and helpful (especially the servers). The rooms were absolutely gorgeous, I cannot think of anything that would make the villa we had any better. At night we walked out from our patio the 30 seconds to the beach where our loungers were waiting, to lay by the ocean and see the stars. It was amazing. They also had a 24 hour gym which was small but great.

It is a long trek to get there... The souvenir shop is run by a third party who never appeared, so we never were able to buy anything from the shop.

I liked really everything - the food, the room, my seaside beach villa, snorkeling each day in the same but kinda different place. Was amazing experienece.

Good food Resort is new, large room, comfortable bed, nice bathroom, terrace with sofa Daily free snorkeling excursions, water sports staff is nice However: Not much of a beach, except in front of the bar; beach is in the shadow in the afternoon. Weak wifi. Lots of corals that hurt the feet, shoes are necessary, seaweed in the afternoon (see pictures). Unsuitable for swimming: shallow water - ankle-deep at low tide and waist-deep at high tide. There is a manmade swimming channel in front of the bar, quite limited. Therefore, the only snorkeling possible is through an excursion. We tried swimming in the lake, but the water is very warm there, it’s like swimming in a bathtub and in addition the water is dirty (see pictures). There is a pipe bringing the sewage of the hotel to the open ocean from behind the port, you can even see it on the satellite if you look closely. Depending on tide/current, this water comes back into the lake. Apart from lack of beach/swimming, the worst was the transfer issues and the complete disregard of customers.

We came from another hotel nearby that had booked our internal flights. So Rahaa charged us “only” for the boat transfer from/to the airport (that was by the way more than 200 USD per person). Upon arrival, they wanted us to pay the balance, having already charged the credit card for approximately half the amount. No proforma/information invoice was provided, only an amount that we had to pay. We declined to pay until we had the detail. Later they sent a table via WhatsApp that was not giving any details. After a lot of discussions (wasting our holiday time!!), they provided a more detailed table, that was wrong by several hundred dollars since they were counting the plane tickets, that they didn’t book! After complaining, they finally amended the total. However, they never provided a proper invoice, when leaving they still gave us an “information invoice”. Even though our internal flight returning to Male was in the afternoon, Rahaa insisted that they put us on the boat to the airport at 6 o’clock in the morning. We had booked a hotel in Male precisely to avoid such early rising before our long flight back home. Rahaa said it’s a shared boat transfer, basically they didn’t want to run the boat for 2 people only, even though they charged us 200 USD for it. They are saving money at the expense of the customers wellbeing; they didn’t care at all and the only solution they offered was to pay extra for a boat. (If you read the other reviews, they book people on the early morning domestic flights even though their international flight is in the evening, probably the morning flight is cheaper.) As a result, after getting up at 5 in the morning for no reason, we spent 7 hours at the domestic airport and we were very tired the whole day. Holidays spoiled. This was our sixth time in the Maldives, we have stayed at a range of accommodations, from 4 and 5-stars to small hotels on the local islands, these were all good experiences. Rahaa is absolutely the worst!!

Location: amazing island, very nice beach and preserved nature Food: good breakfast and dinner. Menu changes daily in dinner Room: wide room with a small terrace, the beach is just in front of the room; large bathroom Staff: Very nice staff, welcoming and super friendly Cleaning: well made overall Activities: wide range of activities with snorkelling, diving, gym etc Facilities: well organised space 2 bars, SPA, gym, numerous seats throughout the beach

Transfer: I believe it can be optimized - our flight was at 11.55 pm in Male and had to leave the resort at 6am to arrive at Male at 9am, so we had to wait 15 hours in Male Airport for our flight which can be long considering the fact we had another 8 hours transit afterwards Extra: the mandatory new year dinner at 220 USD per person extra charge was too expensive for what it was. Snorkelling: nice spots were at extra charge; free tours were nice but they keep the best spots if you pay extra

I liked really everything - the food, the room, my seaside beach villa, snorkeling each day in the same but kinda different place. Was amazing experienece.

Beautiful place, very intimate atmosphere. Nice and helpful personnel. Very good and diverse cuisine. Free snorkelling.

Transfer management