Maldives – the highly sought after tropical country with crystal clear blue waters and soft white sand. While I’ve always wanted to visit this place, I have remained undecided about which island to choose from (because to be honest, the price tag ain’t cheap)…

Until I had my wedding at Regent Hotel Singapore.

Signing up with Regent Hotel Singapore allowed me to book their Four Seasons Maldives resort at a package rate. So after my wedding I packed my bags, brought my husband along, and headed to Four Seasons Kuda Huraa Maldives for 5D4N.

The Flight There

I took Scoot because it was the cheapest option but the timings were bad (the kind where you reach Maldives at 9pm Maldivian time) so I touched down a day earlier and stayed at Hulhumale for a night. Any inn along the beach would do; you are there only for the night. For details on how to get from Velana International Airport to Hulhumale, you may refer to this site written by a fellow Singaporean.

Four Seasons Kuda Huraa can only fix the speedboat schedule a day before your check-in. For me, because I arrived a day earlier but stayed on the mainland, Kuda Huraa very kindly informed me of the speedboat departure timing via the inn I was staying at.

Getting to Four Seasons Kuda Huraa

At Velana International Airport, you’ll see a lot of booths which can be confusing.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Four Seasons’ huge lounge where you can help yourself to biscuits and beverages. Talk about the start of luxury.

The speedboat itself takes about 30 minutes and while it is really pricy per pax for a two way trip (USD$250 before taxes), the interior of the boat was pretty comfy.

Checking in

Upon arrival there’ll be a few staff singing a welcome song and before you know it, check in is done and you’re ready to see your room!

I stayed at the Beach Pavillion with Pool. It’s the least expensive out of all the other bungalow options, but I was lucky to be housed near the activity and food area.

Entrance to your pavillion.

Private pool with Pavillion (unicorn’s mine!)

Every bungalow leads to the beach. This means that there are two entrances to your bungalow, and one of it is open to anyone who wants to walk in. Not a cause to be concerned though, I felt very safe in my 5 days here.

Short 30 seconds walk to the beautiful beach facing the sunset.

Activities

There are many activities available at Four Seasons Kuda Huraa. Take the opportunity to do complimentary non-motorised water sports such as stand-up paddling or snorkel at the snorkel trail at your own time. If you’re feeling more adventurous, go for their motorised water sports such as wakeboarding, dive at one of their many curated sites, or go on a snorkeling adventure for a fee.

Kuda Huraa offers guided snorkeling experiences such as Kuda Huraa House Reef or Turtle Adventure Snorkel (USD$25 and USD$75 before taxes respectively).

Feel free to snorkel on the sunrise side of the island.

Love the open waters but diving and snorkeling are not your favourites? Join Kuda Huraa’s cruises to get a chance to see wild dolphins putting on their best spinner shows.

Managed to catch some dolphins on camera!

If doing activities is not your thing, you can visit the various swimming pools on the island, head to the gym, or chill in your own villa pool.

Serenity Pool is an adults only pool. It is located at the Reef Club.

The gym is fully equipped and a personal trainer is available if you need one.

The resort also has a separate spa island which you’ll have to take a quick boat ride to get there. I didn’t do their spa but I’ve been advised to book my preferred treatments before my trip.

For the period I was there, I estimated the occupancy rate to be an average of 180 pax. Curiously however, I hardly saw anyone during the activities or using their facilities. It’s almost as if you were the only one on the island.

Restaurants

Kuda Huraa has four main restaurants for dining – Cafe Huraa, Reef Club, Kandu Grill and Baraabaru.

Cafe Huraa is your main restautant to go to. It’s where you’ll go to have your buffet breakfast in the mornings. The breakfast spread here is awesome!

Entrance of Cafe Huraa.

Reef Club serves Italian food. I’m not a fan of Italian food but their food and plating were very well done. Plus the view is to melt for.

Entrance of Reef Club.

Dining by the sea at Reef Club.

Kandu Grill, as the name suggests, is a place for your grilled seafood and meats. It’s only open for dinner. We tried the Mixed Seafood Grill and were surprised that we were full from the platter fairly quickly.

Kandu Grill. The entrance to this place is via Cafe Huraa.

By recommendation, I also tried the Indian food at Baraabaru. I ate their Reef Fish Briyani and Murgh Makhani, which tastes like butter chicken. This dish was super nice.

Entrance to Baraabaru.

Service

I really appreciate the meticulousness of the staff at Four Seasons Kuda Huraa. Their attention to detail is amazing. For example, they noticed that I dried my wet clothes by the bathtub and thoughtfully placed towels underneath the clothes to help dry it faster. On another occasion, my husband’s clothes were flipped inside out and placed messily on the bed. When we returned from breakfast, they had flipped it back and folded it nicely as part of their housekeeping!

Talking about housekeeping, this resort does housekeeping twice daily, once during breakfast hours, and once in the evening. It’s really very comfortable to come back to a clean and neat place.

Tips

Some tips for you:

• It is important to make reservations for dinner as the restaurants can get quite packed during dinner time and you would want the best seats (such as those by the seaside).
• You might want to ask if the food you’re ordering is too much for your party. We didn’t know the portion size and ended up wasting a lot of food for some of our meals. 😦
• Some activities such as the Turtle Snorkel Adventure and Dolphin Cruise have limited seats, so do make your reservations a day at least in advanced.
• Bring seasick pills along just in case. The boat ride out to certain sites for snorkeling may take up to 45 minutes across choppy waters.
• The resort provides beach bag, bikini cover-ups, and after-sun gel. Sunblock is available throughout the island for that must needed replenish when you’re out playing.

I love Four Seasons Kuda Huraa for its excellent service and intimate island experience. Although the whole island is rather small (you can easily walk from one end to another in 10 minutes), most of the activities and facilities are empty as majority of the guests prefer to stay in their bungalows. I constantly wondered if there was some activity unknown to me that everyone else was at.

I told my husband we would come back here for our 10th anniversary. Let’s see what happens then. For now, sun out!

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