Mirihi Island Resort

This year we spent a few days in the Mirihi Island Resort mainly motivated by the diving attractions offered by the surrounding marine biosphere. The superlative service of the Resort's staff began upon our arrival at Malé airport. A Mirihi representative, Maria, was waiting for us and accompanied us to the Resort's lounge in the seaplane terminal where we could rest from the long journey and enjoy refreshments before boarding. The flight to the Mirihi island lasted half hour; we enjoyed our first seaplane flight and the aeronautical engineer in me found very interesting to watch pilots' operations. We arrived at the Mirihi international airport, the tiniest in the world, and were welcomed by the resident manager, Alexa, who kindly gave us a description of the resort and its activities. Then another representative, Carmen, accompanied us to our villa and, on the way, gave us further useful information for our stay. Everything went well and smooth, obvious result of perfect organisation. Our water villa was well sized and had a nice terrace with direct access to the water, an essential component to start the day with an early-morning awakening swim followed by sipping espresso macchiato while watching the infinite horizon and to end the day with one last drink while rewinding memories and listening to the surf's soft noise helping the transit into a good sleep. The island, small and quiet, suited perfectly our expectations. The resort offered several social activities. In particular, we appreciated the management cocktail, a nice occasion for cultural interactions through which guests meet and socialise. We shared a few pleasant moments conversating with two Australian couples about a few interesting subjects. My wife, Rosario, of course, was instantly attracted by the diving center's activities. She basically dived every day, morning and afternoon. In her words: "Mirihi is a divers' paradise. Not only they have one of the most beautiful and well preserved reefs in Maldives, but Ocean Pro Diving is really a five-star diving center. Nice facilities and, more importantly, amazing staff. Thanks to Philipp, Jana, Steve and Sammeer for accompanying me through some incredible moments. The marine life around the wreck is breathtaking and encountering mantas is very thrilling; I even saw my first stone fish. I appreciated the divers-instructor low ratio and how well every diver's experience and skills are accommodated. Thanks to Mari and Naaim for helping us out at the center and a big hug to Lynn, the marine biologist, for showing me the house reef and specially the coral nursery. I really appreciate Mirihi's efforts and Lynn's care towards coral conservation." I interacted mainly with Lynn, Mari and Naaim. Lynn gave an interesting educational lecture on sharks and manta rays, with a scientific nuance that, being a person of science myself, I thoroughly appreciated. I participated in two excursions that gave me the chance to swim with turtles, mantas and, luckily, an awesome whale shark. Swimming next to those majestic creatures had the real power to bring me to an interior state of peace and tranquility. Memorable experiences! While my wife devoted most of the day to diving, I enjoyed very much snorkelling and canoeing around the small island, with stops at the international airport. I also trained daily in the gym. Unfortunately I could not attend the yoga sessions early in the morning but that is a todo for next time. We liked the Dohnveli restaurant and enjoyed the ample choice of fine food it offered. They have the nice habit of dedicating dinners to selected international cuisines. The restaurant staff are very kind. The chef-in-chief supervised lunches and dinners and advised guests about the food. The other chefs were also very helpful; we remember in particular Robin's friendliness and Pradeep's mastery to prepare pasta dishes that have nothing to envy to those found in fine Italian restaurants (trust me, I am Italian). We also wish to mention Athif and Ahmed who helped us at the table; very efficient and proactive fellows, always ready to help with a great smile. In conclusion, we had a great time and were very happy of our decision to explore the Mirihi. Indeed, we have already booked for next year and look forward to repeat our first experience. So, a big thank you to all Mirihi staff and see you soon!

Mirihi is a rare gem in the Maldives. It is a small (350m in length!) beautiful island with a fantastic house reef. We have travelled extensively - not so much in the Maldives but in other high end locations - and Mirihi had hands down the very best dinner buffet we have ever had. Head chef Felix is not just incredibly passionate, creative and talented, but also very approachable, humorous and friendly. It was a joy to hear him talk about his latest creations every evening. We miss him already!! The staff in all different departments is very attentive and truly goes the extra mile. We have also noted that most staff members have worked for Mirihi for many years which speaks for the island and its management. We were also told that during COVID, they didn't lay their employees off but instead used the time to renovate and improve. We highly respect the humanity in that. The whole island is very laid back and unpretentious which we loved. It's a proper barefoot island - you really only need shoes or flip flops for arrival and departure. The dress code is also very relaxed and in true spirit of island life. The Marine Biologist Lynn at the Dive Centre was also fantastic. Very professional, approachable, knowledgable and fun. My husband went on house reef dives with her and loved it. We also did a Manta Ray snorkelling excursion with her and she was a wonderful guide. Unfortunately we forgot the name of the wonderful dive centre gentleman who was also incredibly nice. I. believe he was Maldivian. The other two we spoke to lacked a bit of the warmth that everyone else on Mirihi displayed but that might have been a cultural issue or lack of experience working in 5 star resorts. We loved the peacefulness and tranquility and despite its small size and full occupancy, Mirihi somehow manages to make you feel as if you are the only guest there. There are lots of cute hidden spots to relax, sun beds, bean bags and hammocks scattered around the island and also the main bar area invites you to relax throughout the day and evening. The evening entertainment was incredibly enjoyable. During our 5 night stay, we had two evenings with wonderful live music and a magical cinema on the beach experience. The latter was our absolute favourite and if we had stayed for longer, we would have loved to book a private cinema on the beach experience as well, since it was so much fun to watch a movie under the stars and with sand under our toes. Thank you, Mirihi, for such wonderful evenings. Still and sparkling water was free in the rooms and throughout the island which we appreciated. Be warned though that other food and drink prices are incredibly high. Mini bar snacks go for about 15 USD net, food on the all day dining menu were between 25 and 35 USD net and drinks ranged from about 10 USD net (soft drinks) to 25 USD net (cocktails). You need to add 26% on top for taxes and service charge. It's somewhat understandable considering everything needs to be imported and ferried to the island but you need to budget accordingly! We chose half board and that was perfect for us. Full board would have been honestly too much as we really wanted to be hungry for the exquisite dinner buffet and also breakfast was always excellent. It's an absolute move of genius that Mirihi has adopted their own time zone, 1 hour ahead of Male time. This allows you to enjoy sunrise at a reasonable time (around 7am) and have sundowner drinks at around 7pm. The day feels much longer. We also loved to go for dinner while it was still somewhat bright outside, enjoying the magical ocean view from the main restaurant. It's been quite a debate though on whether to rate Mirihi 4 or 5 stars. Tripadvisor calls 4 stars 'very good' and 5 stars 'excellent'. To be honest, Mirhi would have been excellent if it weren't for a few things that also need to be noted: - We stayed in another Maldives resort before coming to Mirihi and sadly the rooms first felt a bit like a downgrade, despite both being 5 star resorts and Mirihi even having a slightly higher price tag. We chose a Water Villa as we wanted to mostly relax in our room and go snorkelling from there. The rooms are not huge but comfy and homey. The bed was superb with a wonderful mattress. The layout was well thought through with direct access to the shower from the balcony and great ocean views from all corners of the bedroom and bathroom. The big downside, however, was the balcony furniture. The other resort we stayed in before had incredibly comfortable sun beds with soft mattresses and similar styled seating corner with a table and comfy chairs. Mirihi also provided two sun beds as well as a table and two chairs on their Water Villa balcony, but they felt cheap in comparison. No mattress, just some kind of netting and really not that comfortable. We have seen such sun beds before but usually in cheaper budget to mid-range hotels. We would have expected more from a 5 star resort in the Maldives where it is expected that guests spend a lot of time relaxing on their balconies. We strongly urge Mirihi to update their balcony furniture. The other furnitures throughout the island were excellent, so why not also in the rooms? That's really such a bummer. - Access to the house reef is difficult. We chose to stay in a Water Villa thinking that this way we would be able to access the house reef straight from our room but unfortunately this was not the case. During the first few days of our stay we weren't even able to access the house reef from our room during high tide (since high tide was not that high). Instead, we had to use the only access lane or jetty (right next to each other - both opposite the Dive Centre). From there, though, the nice section of the house reef is a bit far to swim there, enjoy it, and swim back, factoring in currents etc. Only during the last few days of our stay were we able to access the house reef directly from our Water Villa during the highest point of high tide. This was fantastic. But again, having chosen a Water Villa we would have expected to be able to do that on all days. To mitigate this issue, we would have appreciated a second access lane to the house reef that was apparently once there but has since overgrown. A second access lane and/or jetty between Muraka restaurant and the Water Villas would have been highly appreciated and is - in our opinion - truly lacking. Other than that the house reef was truly fantastic. In our opinion the best part was right in front of the long line of Water Villas. Crystal clear water, lots of coral and fish! It felt like swimming in an aquarium :-) Overall, Mirihi truly is a hidden gem. Again, if it weren't for the two things mentioned above, we would have easily without hesitation rated it 5 stars. We also noted that many guests were repeat clients, having come for the 3rd, 4th or even 10th time. This also speaks for itself. Thanks again, Mirihi, for an incredible honeymoon and for the nice welcome with beautiful bed decoration, chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of sparkling wine to celebrate our special occasion.

Absolutely top class in every way. Fantastic food and beverage options. Diving and Snorkelling options brilliant. Jump into an Aquarium off your accomodation. Staff friendly and polite and very attentive. The bare feet policy is a winner. Small island, very private if you want. No TV also a winner. Cannot rate highly enough, unbelievable experience.