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| Wonderful
Trip to Kuramathi |
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Pros:
great accommodation, good facilities, beautiful coral reef
Cons:
expensive
General info
Our holiday 2001 started at the 14th of February. We had decided
to visit the Maldives again. This time we had booked a hotel on
the largest resort island: Kuramathi.
From the airport we were transferred by speedboat / yacht. It took
1 hour and 40 minutes to arrive at Kuramathi and during that period
there was nothing to see but water.
At Kuramathi there are 3 resorts: Kuramathi Village, the Cottage
Club and the Blue Lagoon. All resorts are managed by the same company
(Universal Resorts) that owns many other resorts at the Maldives
as well.
Facilities
The main building of the resort houses the reception, lobby, bar,
restaurant and a small gift shop. Every guest is allowed to use
the facilities of the other resorts as well.
We think that the food in the main restaurant (where you have your
half/full board) is very tasteless. Due to an insufficient amount
of tables, we had to have our dinner with total strangers. Very
weird and uncomfortable. For those reasons we almost every night
dinned at Siam Garden, a superb Thai food restaurant. Worth every
penny.
The Laguna Grill, another restaurant, serves also good food.
NOTE: I have had numerous visitors who have
been at Kuramathi as well, and a lot of them did not share our opinion
on the main restaurant. Taking that in consideration, I assume we
just had bad luck.
The bar serves great, but expensive ($8 a glass) cocktails. In case
you have booked 'All Inclusive', you are in luck, because almost
all drinks (cocktails too) are included.
For accommodation at Blue Lagoon you can choose between a beach
bungalow and a water bungalow. The water bungalow we had booked
was comfortably furnished with chairs fan air-conditioning and minibar.
The water bungalows at Blue Lagoon and at the Cottage Club do not
have a sundeck. Only a verandah is present, but you won't catch
any sun there. Stairs are going down from the verandah to a platform.
From there you can get in the sea.
After arrival and checking in we were transferred by minivan to
our hotel: Blue Lagoon.
Beach
& Sea
The beach at Kuramathi is not the best we have seen, but it is still
very nice. Especially at the end of the island (Blue Lagoon side).
A perfect spot at the sandbank to sunbathe. The sea is very calm
and clear, and it has a great reef. Many, many different species
of fish, small and large. We were even lucky to spot a turtle.
Daytrips
Relax, sunbathe, snorkle or scubadive. If that is not enough for
you, you can windsurf, sail or hang out in the bar.
There are also some excursions available at the reception; the ones
we did:
Snorkeling Trip:
We visited two reefs, not far from Kuramathi. The tour was guided
by a marine-biologist. At both reefs the snorkeling was ok, some
nice corals but we think that overall the reef at Kuramathi is much
better.
Shopping at Rashdoo:
A 2 hour visit to the nearby local island Rashdoo. You are only
allowed in the 'shopping area'. You find souvenir shops that all
sell the same goods: T-shirts and woodcarving, mainly imported from
Indonesia.
Island Hopping:
There are two different zones for the Island Hopping tour. We were
only able to do zone A. We visited Fesdhoo, another resort island
manages by Universal Resorts. Feshdoo has a beautiful housereef,
only a couple of meters out of the beach. Beautiful corals to see.
After that we had a BBQ lunch at an uninhabited island. We tried
to snorkle there, but the current was too strong. Bad Luck.
Sunset Trip:
Less than an hour on a boat, just out of the coast. You get a glass
of champagne, and when you are lucky a nice sunset.
Our
opinion
Kuramathi is a very beautiful island, lots of tropical vegetation
and an incredible housereef. If you plan a trip to Kuramathi we
can only advise you to go. Perhaps you should consider booking the
Cottage Club or Kuramathi Village (the other resorts), because we
had the impression that the Blue Lagoon Resort didn't had its necessary
'upgrade' yet. |
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