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#1 of 1 hotels in Makunudu Island
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Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Makunudu Island is one of the original and much loved Maldivian island resorts. With only 36 simple and traditionally designed bungalows set amidst lush tropical vegetation each with direct beach access. Superb house reef. Guest rooms are available with queen or twin bedding,sitting area, private garden bathroom with shower,hair dryer, mini-bar, personal safe, IDD Telephone, Writing Desk, tea and coffee making facilities. Restaurant, Bar, PADI diving school, snorkeling, Non-motorised water sports, volleyball, badminton and table tennis and a library with TV are available for our guests.
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This was our third visit to Makunudu, once again arranged through Angelfish Travel, who specialise in holidays to the Maldives and have personal experience of the islands and are happy to talk through various options. Their expertise and professionalism is second to none.
Makunudu is an unspoilt gem. If you are looking for flashy facilities and high end luxury this small island is probably not for you. But if you appreciate warm waters, great snorkelling and a relaxed unhurried charm, Makunudu fits the bill.
The rooms have been refurbished since we last visited and the new beds are very large and comfortable. Unfortunately sawdust like debris from the roof still comes down every day, but the drapes on the bed do provide protection from this. Although the villas are semi-detached they are very private and you can’t hear your neighbours at all.
We were on a full board package and this has been improved since our last visit and includes water and soft drinks/tea/coffee with each meal. Dinner is a four course set menu (with choices) 5 nights a week and this suited us well as we are not keen on buffets. The quality of the food is good and the waiter service is excellent.
The snorkelling was very good during our stay and I felt that the reef has begun to recover quite well. We saw a good variety of fish from just outside our villa and at least one turtle made an appearance every day.
The sunset bar opens every evening for a couple of hours and it’s quite magical to sit in one of the deckchairs, with a cocktail, watching the sunset in a totally unspoilt spot.
It would be good to see less plastic being used (particularly water bottles and toiletries). Being such a small island, bottling their own water may not be viable but hopefully they can work with other hotels in the group to come up with sustainable solutions.
The management team were visible throughout our stay and Alli, the GM, made a point of speaking to guests daily, which we appreciated. All in all, it was a very enjoyable and relaxing stay and I am sure we will return.
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Date of stay: January 2020
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Wanderer44416371446, General Manager at Makunudu Island
Responded 6 Feb 2020
Dear JB37, Thank you for sharing your holiday experience on Trip Advisor on your 3rd visit at Makunudu Island. We are delighted to read that you truly had an amazing getaway at our resort and thank you for describing the hotel improved facilities in such wonderful words and are also pleased to read that you have been spellbound by the services delivered by our team members who always strive to afford the best attention to our guests. Your feedback is for sure a source of high inspiration and will constantly motivate our team members to provide an irreproachable service to our valued guests. We reiterate our thanks for visiting our property and look forward to the opportunity to welcome you back for another relaxing break at your adopted hotel, the Makunudu Island. With my warmest regards, Ally Mohungoo General Manager Email: ally.mohungoo@makunudu.com
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Stayed couple of nights in Makunudu island , was one of few affordable options to book on a high season , I was actually positively surprised by the quality of service in this beautiful paradise island , we’ve been greeted by a very welcoming and nice lady named Sou to show us around , took us to a nicely decorated and well maintained bungalow , all amenities were provided and the staff was genuinely responsive and friendly, Shout-out to the Room attendant for a beautiful bed decoration made for my girlfriend’s birthday, I also wanted to than the beautiful ladies in the spa who did a great job with a relaxing massage to help release all the tension I had before coming to Makunudu. Food was delicious and many options to choose from , really like the concept of buffet for breakfast and lunch and set A la carte menu for dinner , makes a difference in terms of service quality . Thank you for a beautiful short escape and will be back again.
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Date of stay: April 2022Trip type: Travelled as a couple
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We really enjoyed our stay on this tiny island where there is no need for fancy clothes or shoes. From the beginning, we were surrounded by the attention of the staff and enjoyed the surprises associated with my birthday, which I celebrated on the day of arrival. We spent 9 nights there and chose the FB type of catering. The price of the drinks was extra, but their selection and prices were quite reasonable. We really liked the type of catering - a la cart. It was a great pleasure to have lunch and dinner with the personal waiter. The food at the restaurant, run by a chef from Sri Lanka, was varied and delicious, beautifully presented. Breakfast was buffet style, but there were plenty of food choices and very tasty fruit. We liked the fact that there were very few people on the island, the bungalows were comfortable and cleaned twice a day. The private beach patio has sun loungers and chairs and direct ocean views. The island is small, it has a total of 37 bungalows, a lot of greenery and various animals - lizards, crabs, bats, birds. We especially liked that there was enough depth nearby for swimming, a white sand beach and some amazing home reefs. While diving we saw a lot of beautiful fish, turtles and even beach sharks. We will definitely recommend Makunudu Island to our friends and look forward to coming back on our own.
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Date of stay: March 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Makunudu Res, General Manager at Makunudu Island
Responded 15 Jul 2021
Dear Loresere, Warm greetings from Makunudu Island. Thank you for spending time to give us your review for your recent stay at Makunudu Island. We are delighted to read your positive comments particularly on the surprise prepared by our team on your special day. We always strive and offer unique special moments to our guest and the house reef where you can watch an array of sea life swim by. We of course look forward to welcome you again for another chapter of Makunudu stories. Best regards, Arjay Abelador Sales & Marketing Manager
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This is my fourth visit to the Island,the welcome from the General Manager and the staff is just amazing. From the minute you step off the boat they are waiting to greet you and welcome you, that special feeling,and excellent service continues right until you leave and you are waved goodbye. I love this Island,it is so tranquil and a perfect place to rest and reflect. The food is exceptional, the service nothing is too much trouble. I took my mother with me again for her second visit, the staff really go out of their way to help her with her needs, carrying her plate, helping her up steps any thing she needs to enjoy her holiday. I would recommend this Island, for anyone looking for excellent snorkelling, rooms, fantatic service, great food, and other guests feel the same, they like me, keep returning to this Magnificent Island. Thank you Mr Ally and your team. Looking forward to returning to see you all again soon in 2020.
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Date of stay: November 2019Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Wanderer44416371446, General Manager at Makunudu Island
Responded 13 Jan 2020
Dear Anne Dobbs, Sunny Greetings from Makunudu Island, your adopted home! Thank you so much for your beautiful review posted on Trip Advisor. We are very happy to note that we stood up to and surpassed your expectations and right from your arrival experience and through your stay we created some golden memories for you and your beloved mum, Mrs Schofield. All of us at the resort look forward to welcoming you back for a yet another relaxing stay with us. Warm Island regards, Ally Mohungoo General Manager Email: ally.mohugoo@makunudu.com
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this island is a class apart. you get this really free feeling the moment you set your eyes on this island from far. They have ensured that the natural beauty of the place has remained intact with everything still remains as original as it was. the staff at the reception were really cordial and ensured a pleasant transit from all the travel tiredness we had. DK was our snorkel guru and should thank him profusely for this. The bar in-charge Fahid really knew what to scintillate us with in form of wonderful cocktails. Chef Ravi takes special mention as he actually helped me a lot with no-peanut dishes every time i set my foot at the dining. Kuntal and Anandhoo knew my birthday and ensured a very special celebration which made the entire experience so personal. I though had a bitter experience with the waiter names Vaji, who was attending us. His behavior was very rude and was not at all accommodating even if it was for refilling our glasses of water or change of tables. Felt very demeaned at times and that was the only reason why i would give a 4-star rating. Else, i can assure anyone who are first timers to Maldives to enjoy in Makunudu Island which is pristine and close to perfection an island stay can ever be.
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Date of stay: September 2021
Location
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Room Tip:all the rooms are of the same type so no differentiation.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Abdulla Shaugy, General Manager at Makunudu Island
Responded 11 Nov 2021
Dear Vishtrails On behalf of Makunudu team, I am thankful for your inspiring compliments with regards to your happy holidays with us on Makunudu. It appears you were taken care of by our staff members. We are grateful and wish you all the best. Thank you once again. Abdulla Shaugy, General Manager
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We have just returned home from an amazing 2 weeks on the beautiful island of Makunudu. Our bungalow was typical maldivian style and was very clean and comfortable. Our room guy did a fab job and came twice a day, he would clean the room and restock the tea and coffee, and also replaced our bathrooms products regularly. We had the perfect location to get down onto the beach from our villa. The highlight of the holiday was the snorkeling, we saw turtles, sharks, moray eels, octopus and many different variety of fish and corals. Everytime we went out we would see something different. The water is beautiful and clear. During our time at Makunudu we were assigned our waiter Anwar, who did a wonderful job of looking after us at every meal. The food is buffet style for breakfast and lunch then in the evening it was a sit down service and you choose your 4 course meal in the morning at breakfast. There was always plenty of choice and had a separate menu if you are vegetarian which was great. Overall we had an amazing time at Makunudu, all the staff were very friendly and we will definitely be back again. Thank you Makunudu for our amazing holiday.
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Date of stay: March 2023
Value
Location
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Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Abdulla Shaugy, General Manager at Makunudu Island
Responded 5 Apr 2023
Hello there - great to hear from you and thank you so much for your compliments. We, the team at Makunudu are very happy that you had a wonderful holiday with us. Sunny regards, A. Shaugy / General Manager
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If you want an unspoilt Indian Ocean paradise, that’s what you’ll get on Makunudu. Lush, green vegetation, amazingly crystal clear water, and nice big rooms. Yes, the bathrooms could do with some TLC, but they’re clean and serviceable and does it really matter when you only spend 30 minutes a day in there anyway. The reef fish are opulent in their profusion, right outside your beach front bungalow. The sand is white and beautifully clean. The restaurant and bar staff are very attentive, we never sat with an empty glass for more than a few seconds. The food in the restaurant is sumptuous. The lunchtime buffet always made me over eat and dinner was always well cooked and of good quality. My only whinge is, why on earth would you introduce karaoke in the bar and spoil the peace and serenity of such a special place, which invariably made everyone, but a few, leave and go to bed early! I don’t get it, although the staff seemed to enjoy it more than the guests!
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Date of stay: November 2022Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Abdulla Shaugy, General Manager at Makunudu Island
Responded 21 Dec 2022
Dear Riyoken I take this opportunity to express our appreciation and say thank you for your constructive and positive feedback from your holidays in Makunudu. I noted your comment about the bathrooms - I must inform that we have plans to renovate the all the bathrooms next year hopefully during the off season - our plan is to give the bathroom a face lift and modernise a bit. Sorry about the karaoke - which is one of the entertainments we have twice a week for our guests - we have introduced that because of of guests like it and its hosted by our team members but I can understand how you feel when there is loud music on this peaceful island - I have noted your comment and will talk to our team members try to find a way we can perhaps do an alternative entertainment which could be a bit quieter but still engaging - thank you once again - look forward welcoming you back to Makunudu in the near future - sincere regards, Abdulla Shaugy - General Manager
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Beautiful laid back island I could (normally) recommend but 2 negative aspects ruined the positive impression at the end.
1. Diving: At the beginning many things will be promised „…I will give you guys a big discount“, „jump on the boat anytime“… At the end of the day it is a business relationship so it’s all about money. When the bill has been settled no discount given (except no charge for the flash light @ the night dive) & charges for a snorkel trip (120$) appeared whereas I thought it’s free. Behaviour of the guy running the dive Center changed from super friendly to nasty. It would have been easy to solve this issue by remembering his discount words (btw, we spent 2600$ in 5days for 2x OWD course & diving…) from the first day, but by insisting acting correctly he ruined the positive impression I had, the tip for him & his stuff. He would have ended up with the same amount of money in his pocket and a happy customer giving a positive feedback. Short sighted, not a smart but greedy move. House reef is boring. Recommendation of the Dive Center guys for Turtle point is to book a snorkel trip (60US$ p.P.=240US$ for a family) with them. I watched the tour. The boat departed from the pier and stopped 30seconds!!!! later about 50m away from the island!!!! Think twice…
2. Use of Credit Card: According to the reception the bill will be settled in US$. So far so good but the truth is that the Exchange rate given by the Resort (in my case 0,9259654) is about 7-8% worse than the actual daily exchange rate (0,86). Settling a bill of 7000$ gave me an extra 500€ on your bill w/o receiving anything. Speaking to MasterCard this is called DCC (Dynamic Currency Conversion) and needs to be disabled otherwise you pay with the conversion given by the Resort. Not the first time that this happened - see previous comments, e.g. Claudio They force you to settle the bill to their agreement otherwise they threaten you not to provide the speed boat to Male airport. Stuff at the front desk are not the most professional & smartest ones.
Interesting fact: using my MasterCard at the airport they also charged in US$ without any fixed/high exchange rate, so it is not a Maldives but a Resort issue…
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Date of stay: October 2021Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We loved our stay at Makunudu so much that we can say we will definitely return one day… and we are a couple that never say that.
Some info. The island is tiny with only 36 bungalows available. Therefore there can only be a maximum of 72 guests on the island at any one time. Because of that too, the service and your relationships with staff are that much more personal.
Makunudu does not have ‘water villas’ (which can have a negative impact on coral) but all villas are very comfortable with air con and excellent beds.
A great advantage of Makunudu is the home reef which surrounds the island and which was teeming with all manner of fish, some (not dangerous) sharks and stingrays. A snorkelling heaven. You can dive and there is a great dive/excursions team on the island. We went out on a number of boat trips to snorkel and had a great experience doing that.
We would advise going all inclusive as there are no other options of restaurants and bars on the island. We were lucky to have Anwar as our waiter during our stay. He seemed to like me singing his name at dinner after a couple of cocktails.
The only things to improve would be bathroom fixtures which are a little corroded. Warning too that wifi was poor which at the time did cause some stress as we needed to complete no end of forms for UK government for our return due to Covid-19.
My actual rating would be 4.5 but as you can’t award that, there’s no way I would give 4 stars. So 5 it is!
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Date of stay: March 2022Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We spent amazing 10 days and celebrated my birthday. Island very small but very green like jungle. We stayed in villa 15, location has some pluses and minuses. Huge plus that it has a small private area just for you, and you don't see other guest much which is amazing. Plus it gave us opportunity to spend our evenings on the beach and see the stars....no other guest only us. From other hand beach area is full of rocks and corals plus always low tide so to swim in this area not possible most of the time. We went for snorkeling around 11 when it was a bit easy to swim but still you need to walk slowly to get to the point where you can swim, we saw turtle and few sharks. Mandatory swimming shoes otherwise you will hurt yourself. I would suggest to go to the beach in front of the Bar, this area with amazing beach and lagoon plus in few meters is amazing reef with a lot of fish. Resort providing snorkeling equipment for free which is very good quality and quite new. One of the best restaurant in Maldives personally for me, food is very tasty and they always change it so every day new options. All staff are very friendly and professional especially front office team Aijaz and Anandhu always ready to help. We even didn't ask for late check out but they arranged it for us and it gave us one more chance to go for snorkeling in the morning and not be in a rush to pack our bags, very much appreciated for that. During my birthday they arranged amazing table set up and cake which was so nice) and when we came back to the room it was one of the best bed decoration, i didn't even want to sleep on the bed))) and ruined this beauty, thank you so much Didi for your efforts to make it !!!
Again thank you so much to all Makunudu team for our memorable stay with you)
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Date of stay: June 2021
Value
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Chipping Norton, United Kingdom1,052 contribution68 helpful votes
Wooden with separate mattresses. (We used to take the mattresses in at night to keep them dry as we found that leaving them on the rail outside the room meant that during heavy rain they got very wet and took ages to dry.)
Very heavy to move, and the ones outside our room were quite old but functional.
There are more places to choose from in the Makunudu Island area.
PRICE RANGE
$483 - $1,404 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
LOCATION
MaldivesKaafu AtollNorth Male AtollMakunudu Island
NUMBER OF ROOMS
36
Prices are provided by our partners, and reflect total costs of the stay, including all taxes and fees known to our partners. Please see our partners for more details.
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