LUX* South Ari Atoll

Nice place to visit in mid December. Quite and peaceful. Food is tasty and healthy. Enough space to walk and run . Fits to be used with kids or as couple. I Wallis recommend to visit. I think 7 to 10 days is a perfect stay period

I stayed at the Lux in December/January 2017. I had been to the Maldives 3 times previously and stayed at truly luxury resorts - the best being the four seasons. I had HIGH expectations for the lux, particularly as my romantic overwater bungalow andl all inclusive package was costing around ??20,000. I hadn't realised how expensive it was to visit at that time of year. As we arrived the welcome was wonderful, just as you'd expect from a luxury Maldivian resort. We were checked in very quickly and shown to our villa. It was lovely, but smaller than the bungalows at the Four seasons, Conrad and Huvafen, there wasn't any room to open our suitcases properly. Instantly i realised how busy the resort was. I'd only been during the summer months before and when we were told we couldn't get a bicycle because there were none left and that we weren't allowed to keep any snorkel equipment i felt a tad short changed. The snorkel equipment didn't really matter because Lux does not have a house reef - do not expect to see much underwater activity. Not one to let this get to me, we enjoyed the fireworks display for the New Years celebrations, although it was impossible to get any drinks - the bar did not have enough staff for the people there. At one point i couldn't get a drink because they didn't have any clean glasses - this is not what i'd expect from a luxury resort. The next day we attempted to get lunch at the small beach bar. There were no seats available and after sitting at the bar we were ignored the entire time. It took 20 minutes for someone to even speak to us. We ended up leaving. We had a similar experience at the BBQ. The bar at the main pool also got very busy but the food was tasty. The italian restaurant was lovely and we enjoyed sitting out on the sand, i also loved the teppanyaki restaurant but this was not included in our all inclusive package. The spa was lovely, we enjoyed some nice treatments there and i enjoyed the east bar and sitting in the hammocks over the water. Although one evening i got into an altercation with a woman who was allowing her daughter to throw ice cubes at a stingray. The young girl was told off by another guest, and the mothers response was to throw a handful of ice at the stingray. I was incensed and had to tell her to stop. I felt embarrassed that the staff done nothing. The whole resort had the feeling that money ruled the roost and if you were wealthy you behaved how you like. I've never visited a resort in the Maldives like this. Overall this is such a shame because the island is stunning and it they have spent so much time making it look lovely and instagrammable but this has come at a cost. In desperately trying to be hip and exciting they have lost sight of what makes a maldives resort special. I didn't feel particularly valued at the lux, I didn't feel that anyone knew or cared about us. I feltl completely left to my own devices. I don't know if this was because of the time of year or if they did not have the staff but in all honesty the lux does not compare to the other Maldivian resorts i have visited. I wanted to write this review for everyone because visiting the Maldives can be a true once in a lifetime event. I'd try a different resort if you want the full experience.

If your idea of paradise is sandy beaches, turquoise seas, fantastic service and totally relaxation then that???s the Lux South Ari Atoll. From the moment we arrived at Male airport after a long flight we were looked after and whisked off to the hotels lounge to await the seaplane and after a wait of around an hour and a short flight of 30mins arrived at the hotel. We had booked a Beach Pavilion, so their entry level room, but it???s spacious with a small sofa and desk and a huge bathroom. There is a small patio area with a couple of sun loungers and just a few feet away is the sea with plenty fish passing by and a few small, and harmless, sharks. There is free WiFi, with a good signal, throughout your room and most of the island. The island is large (by Maldive standards) and approx. 1.8kms in length but just a few hundred metres wide. The electric buggies run all day long and will ferry you around the island so you don???t even need to work up an appetite as you walk to the restaurants !! With regards food, there are two buffet restaurants at either end of the island and both serve an incredible variety of food for breakfast. They both serve dinner in the evenings along with another five speciality restaurants serving different cuisines. The quality and variety of food is incredible given how remote the island is and much of it home made. It is true that there isn???t a huge amount to do but you can undertake a wide array of water sports with snorkelling equipment provided free of charge. There are also several yoga and keep fit classes every day, open air cinema and lots of chilling out all over the island (they are some lovely hammocks dotted around). As you might expect, the service is excellent from all the hotel team ??? we would like to thank Sangeeth for looking after us so well during our visits to the Senses restaurant, Sanih for his patience during our daily visits to the ice cream shop and Khan, Kudda, Zaheer & Chathu for their great service during our daily visit to the Veli bar for a very lazy lunch (including having our drinks ready for us before we arrived !). We did have a problem with our room (noisy refurbishment work to the room next door and the room had a steep step down form the patio area to the sea) but we were quickly moved once we had said that we weren???t happy. Equally, from our perspective, its disappointing that you are strongly encouraged to make reservations for all the speciality restaurants as soon as you arrive as they get quickly booked. Sadly this means that you can???t be spontaneous and decide what you fancy on the day (you don???t need to book for the buffet restaurants). Finally, I do agree with some of the previous points around the dress code - the hotel encourages men to wear trousers / shirt for dinner but in reality this is rarely followed. Whilst most still wear smart shorts / polo shirts and look fine there were some 'sights' with some guests looking as if they had just fallen off their sun lounger and into the restaurants - I would ask that they refuse entry to these for the benefit of the other guests. We did stay on an All Inclusive Basis and were pleased we did ??? we understood that most do. There are a few things which are chargeable but these tend to be very exclusive wines and when dining at Umami the Japanese restaurant, which was good but the food elsewhere was equally as good in our opinion. We estimated that we would have spent between 400 ??? 500 US$ / day on lunch, dinner & drinks and whilst we aren???t big drinkers (a couple of beers at lunchtime, a couple of cocktails at sun down and a bottle of wine with dinner) and felt it was better value than H/B but clearly a personal choice. An wonderful holiday and we very much hope to return some day.