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

Wonderful island

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.

This was our 2nd visit to Aarah and was even better, if that is possible ! than 2 years ago. A truely wonderful, magical 2 weeks of relaxation. Everything was just perfect. You could say " Paradise on Earth". We are beach bunnies, so our beach villa, 153, was wonderful. It was in a great location and very private. The food and service in all the restaurants was excellent. Out trips were spectacular, but our private dolphin cruise is a memory we will never forget. Saw a huge pod of about 30 dolphins swimming and playing around the front of the boat. Amazing. Far too many outstanding staff to name all individually. However, there are a few we must mention. NIYAZ, our amazing room guy, with his awesome sand art. SHEHAN and his Bandhi bar team for their great spiced rum & diet cokes & margaritas.... CHEF JAYALAL, for our 3 very special meals WADE and all the Ranba team for your outstanding service at all times. ZINEB, our butler for arranging everything. I can thoroughly recommend Heritance Aarah and look forward to going back again. BOOK IT, you won't regret it.