Maldives has deep blue seas, turquoise reefs, white sandy beaches and palm trees. It is the perfect place to sit on a beach and watch a sunset with a cocktail balanced on your hand. The more adventurous can see thousands of fish swimming around the vivid corals just a few feet away.

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We chose to stay at Kurumba Resort and here is a view of the resort from the air.

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Maldives consists of 1,192 islands in the Indian Ocean. Maldives are the lowest country in the world. More than 80 per cent of the country’s land is composed of coral islands less than three feet above sea level. The Maldives remained largely unknown to tourists until the early 1970s. The emergence of tourism in 1972 transformed the economy, moving rapidly from dependence on fisheries to tourism. Now there are over 105 resort islands and over 170 resort hotels.

Most visitors arrive at Malé International Airport on Hulhulé Island. It is its own island reclaimed from the sea and a boat ride away from the capital Malé. Most guests are greeted at the airport by their resort and then transported to their resort island by boat or seaplane.

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We were greeted with cold coconut flavored face towels to refresh ourselves and a welcome drink.

The reception area was beautiful.

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Since we arrived early in the morning our room was not ready for check we were treated to a complimentary breakfast buffet.

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We followed by relaxing and swimming at the pool.

 

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About noon Sandy ordered our pool and beach side lunch.

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Later we were able to check into our room.  We did not know what to expect since this was the oldest resort and had extensive renovation.  Our expecations were exceeded!!!  Enjoy the views of and from our room.

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Even better than the room were the beach views.

 

 

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Next was snorkeling off the beach.

 

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Late afternoon we went to the pool beach side bar for our Happy Hour drinks.

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Later we had to make a choice of where to have dinner amoung their five fine dining restaurants.

As you can see this would be a difficult choice.

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Since we had been travelling since 3 am that morning we had a plenty of food already,

we chose a light evening appetizers at  meal at the beach side bar and cafe.

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The next morning we walked through the resort taking picures of the grounds.

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We had a Thai breakfast after our walk around the resort.

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Our conclusion.  There are more luxury hotels in the Maldives than one can imagine.  They range from small resorts to many hundreds of rooms suited for large conventions, from budget to luxury, from beach villas to over the water bungalows, and from close by the airport to hundreds of miles distance and time away, from boat transfer, to seaplane, or small airplane transfer.

We chose the Kurumba Resort because it was only 10 minutes away by boat and had won the 2013 Traveller’s Choice Award.  It was convenient and as well as having a remote feeling.  Currently the Kurumba Resort is ranked #11 of luxury hotels by Trip Advisor which shows its commitment to renovation to keep it a 5 Star resort over the last 40 years.  The 450 staff members were all very friendly and always provided excellent service.

Take us back to Kurumba!