We stayed at the Residence Dhigurah for 5 days and 4 nights.
We have prepared a detailed video review as well in case you do not want to read the entire review below. Link--> https://youtu.be/vgNmkLs90wc
To get the full extent of the Maldivian holiday experience, we opted to stay at the overwater pool villa (sunrise) for 2 nights and at the beach pool villa (sunrise) for 2 nights.
Getting to the Residence (3/5): We flew in from Bangalore, India. We took a short flight (2.5 hours) from the BLR airport to the Male airport. The Residence is quite far away from Male and we have to take a domestic flight from the Male airport to the Koodoo airport (1 hour flight) and from there on, we had to take a 10-min speedboat ride to the resort. While the flight times are short, the layover time was enormous for us. We had a 5-hour layover in Male and our connecting domestic flight was delayed. We ended up reaching the resort only after sunset. We saw the sunset from the speedboat but could not really enjoy the full first day over here.
Check-in experience (5/5): The check-in experience was smooth. The staff kept everything ready, explained the different facilities and activities that we could avail during our stay. We went to our villa by a buggy.
Water villa (5/5): The villas are beautiful. They are very spacious, aesthetically done up in lots of wood and cane. The décor was a blend of traditional Maldivian architecture and modern design aesthetic. The room comes with a king size bed with an epic view overlooking the pool and the ocean. There is an office space, a minibar and a seating area in the living section. The washroom is massive. Almost as big as the room itself, it is actually one of the biggest washroom I have seen in a hotel! Comes with double vanities, a closet with enough storage space, a bathtub, and an indoor as well as an outdoor shower. The rooms have an espresso machine, hair-dryer, safe etc. (there are no irons in the room, although you can ask for it). We also had a deck with sunbeds and seating area and a pool. The pool is 1.2m deep. The deck extends and you can climb down the stairs into the ocean. The ocean is shallow and you can easily walk around. Diving into the ocean is not allowed since it is too shallow for diving here. The water is crystal clear and you can see corals and fish swimming about clearly. The room, the washroom, the decks, apart from being massive and extremely clean. You can walk around barefoot everywhere.
Beach villa (5/5): The beach villa, structurally, is pretty much the same as the overwater villa but is slightly smaller. Comes with the same facilities and inclusions. The view from the bed is heavenly here as well- overseeing the pool, the cutest little hammock, the white sand beach and the ocean. The pool in this villa is much longer here (1.2m deep) and I enjoyed the pool here more. The beach pool villas are closer to the rest of the common facilities as compared to the water villas and ours was actually right opposite the beach club!
Both the rooms come with the following inclusions:
Free WiFi connectivity (we connected 4 devices and all these devices worked well). Even though the resort is huge, the WiFi connection of our room could be accessed throughout the property.
2 Bicycles: All rooms come equipped with 2 bicycles. Everything on the resort is far-off and this comes in super-handy. If you can’t ride a bike, you can call for a buggy and they will shuttle you to wherever you need to go. However, the average wait times for the buggy is over 15 minutes.
Both the rooms are very private and it feels like you have the entire beach/ ocean to yourself! 😊
Food and drinks (5/5): We were on the all-inclusive package which means all 3 meals + all softdrinks + all hard-drinks were included in the package for us. There were enough and more options and we didn’t ever have to think about anything before we ordered. The dining room is the main dining area of the Residence Dhigurah. It serves buffet-style breakfast, lunch and dinner and there are tons of options to choose from. Every night, there is a different theme for dinner (like Arabian, Maldivian, Tex-Mex etc.) and there are speciality foods, live counters, and grills that are prepared accordingly. The usual cuisine options present everyday include Indian, Chinese, Continental etc. You can get all kinds of seafood (Prawns, Crabs, Lobsters, Octopus, Squids and Shrimps etc.) and meats (Lamb, Beef, Chicken, Ham, Pork, Bacon etc.). The drinks menu is extremely comprehensive and you have all kinds of hard-drinks, cocktails and mocktails included.
Apart from the dining room, there are various speciality restaurants here. This includes Café-del-Sol for lunch, the Beach Club for drinks throughout the day, and Li Bai (Asian speciality restaurant, has a dress code and requires reservation). Additionally, guests have access to go to the sister resort (the Falhumaafushi) for dining as well. Here as well you have a buffet style dining room, a fine-dining restaurant- the Falhumaa (has a dress code, requires reservation)- and a beach club. So, for a 4-night trup, we never really ran out of options for food/ drinks. Some of these restaurants require prior reservations for dining.
Property (5/5): The property in itself is massive. It is not possible to walk around and explore and if you can ride a bike, it will be super fun. The Residence has 2 properties on this island- the Dhigurah and the Falhumaafushi. Both these properties are connected with a 1 km long bridge with a quaint little castaway island in the middle. The sunset views from the bridge and the castaway island are stunning. A sunset dolphin cruise was organized for us in a traditional Maldivian Dhoni boat (beware, lots of rolling in the ocean and you might end up feeling queasy). We saw so many dolphins playing around in the ocean and watched the sunset in the middle of the ocean from the dock. There is a dive center where you can go for guided snorkeling tours or scuba diving tours. You can also get the required equipment and go by yourself if you so choose. We also had complementary sunrise and sunset Yoga although we didn’t end up attending these classes. There are lounges, a fitness center and a spa as well. The beach club has a 42 meter infinity pool and there are daily activities organized here including movie nights, daily DJ nights, pool parties etc.
Our RTPCR tests were also quick, and very well-organized.
One thing I didn’t like so much was that you really have to plan your day and activities well in advance. You can’t get last minute bookings and a lot of these activities and even dining required pre-booking. There aren’t too many slots. For example, if you want to organize a floating breakfast, you will need to book almost 2 days in advance (also, it is charge-able and not included in the standard packages). Similarly, for dining at the speciality restaurants, you need to make reservations almost 1-2 days in advance (free of cost for the all-inclusive package). So if you don’t plan in time, you might end up losing out on some of these experiences.
Having said that, the resort is really a beautiful representation of the quintessential Maldivian holiday experience. There is lots to do and still a lot of time to take it easy, and take it all in. The sunrises from our villas were gorgeous, the sunsets were majestic. On one of the days, the sky turned the most magnificent shades of purple and it was really a sight I will remember for the rest of my life. The water is turquoise and crystal clear. There is no pollution- light or water. It is very serene. We would walk around in the night and watch the stars. The beach is beautiful- white sand and perfect for those vacay shots on Instagram. The Maldives is called the paradise and for good reason. The turquoise panorama, the relaxing pace of life, the stunning ocean views, the gorgeous sunrise and sunsets, secluded & private beaches, dolphins and sharks and corals! It is so surreal, so special and certainly unforgettable.
I loved our stay in the resort and will highly recommend it. The only thing to remember is getting here can be slightly challenging and time-consuming, but if you can dedicate half a day for travel- this resort is totally worth it.