Veligandu Island Beach, Veligandu

Thanks to Veligandu for a perfect dream holiday! Great island, good organization, friendly staff. Special thanks to the fantastic food cooked by Elsassian chef Gilbert and his team. We particularly enjoyed the creative patisserie!

We were there in November 2016. Everything was great!

My favorite hotel in Maldives. Everything is perfect!

To sum up: Veligandu was unique! It was the best decision we could make to travel to Veligandu despite COVID-19. And just because of COVID-19 it was a very special, unique and great experience. We arrived on the day of the reopening, September 1st, as guests number 3 and 4 during bad weather on the island. Our island host Antje welcomed us right in front of the seaplane and guided us to the bar where we were warmly welcomed with soft drinks, wet towels and Bodu Beru. After a temperature check and a short welcome by the General Manager Fathuhulla Antje escorted us to our bungalow. As already announced by her, besides many other hygienic measures they also tried to reduce the paperwork to a minimum. So a few minutes later we received an email from her with the events of the week and further information about the island and the activities as well as her WhatsApp number where we could contact her at any time. An app which allows to access all the information and also book excursions, activities etc. was currently being programmed. ISLAND For us it felt like a private island. Only very few guests were there ( max. 20) and you only met them at meals. We had Villa 180 which is highly recommended: free unobstructed view to the westward (sunset), a nice wide beach in front of it, direct access to the house reef, the diving school nearby ( no noise though), no generator or similar noise sources nearby. However, in summer (north-west monsoon) it is also the weather side, therefore it can be windy. FOOD In short: Everything is possible. Following this principle, all wishes were fulfilled. Basically the concept during our stay was a mixture of buffet and a la carte. As a rule, one chose starter and dessert from the buffet. For the main course one chose from 5-6 food suggestions, which could be combined or adapted as desired. Three times a week there was beach BBQ with freshly grilled delights. The variety of food was more than sufficient and the quality of the food was very high. Of the 8 islands we have visited so far, the food on Veligandu is clearly among the top 2. DIVING On 7 of our 8 diving days we were the only two divers in the whole atoll. Our guide Nooh obviously enjoyed visiting the otherwise often overcrowded dive sites with us after 5 months of shut-down. The diving school is well organised and Nooh is an excellent guide. The crew on the boat is very helpful and you feel secure and in good hands. We suggested that tea between dives would be great ... and the next day the wish was granted. And we were lucky: Whale shark, Mantas, many different sharks, trusty Tunas ... As we didn't want to stay dry on the last day we explored the house reef. The corals seem to recover slowly from the bleaching, lots of fish, turtles, stingrays and reef sharks SPA We already knew the Spa group from Mirihi. On the second day we enjoyed our 15min welcome massage. Later we had a wonderful back and neck massage. The staff is very friendly, well trained and also here a lot of attention is paid to hygiene. COVID-19 MEASURES In these times a special topic, therefore the following information: The hygiene measures on the island are very extensive and well thought out. Contact-free disinfectant dispensers are available at all entrances. On arrival and departure, luggage is disinfected. At breakfast the temperature is measured daily contact-free. Paperwork is avoided as far as possible. Employees all wear mouth-nose protection and attention is paid to a safe distance. The sampling for the free COVID-19 test ( starting at 5 nights) was done in a separate villa by the island doctor and was done very professionally. All measures were very discreet and completely non-disturbing! We were very sad to leave Veligandu after the wonderful 11 days. The fact that the GM Fathuhulla, the COO Adam, Antje, Nooh etc. waved goodbye to us at the jetty did not make it easier. We can only warmly recommend Veligandu and we will definitely come back!

Amazing