Eriyadu Island Resort

Beautiful place to relax and reset Your mind. Small island with a coral reef around - there was a lot of sea animals, incl. Sharks. Very good food, great trips (especially night snorkeling). We had the all-in option, so we could rent snorkeling equipment and a kayak for free. Hotel staff at the highest level. You have a person assigned to the house you rent who cleans the room regularly and will help you with everything you need - we had the pleasure of meeting MONOWAR, who was irreplaceable! Renovation works are currently taking place on the island, which do not disturb your relaxation. I highly recommend this place! Read less

The island is small with one bar & a beach bar, one restaurant, small spa, small gym, pool table & table tennis. We stayed in one of the bungalows but wouldn’t describe them at all as deluxe as they are very tired so much so that the manager even agreed and it also does depend on the location of your bungalow as there was a lot of swapping going on but this is not always possible. The food was good but we did go for dinner & tea at the beginning of the service to ensure that it was hot and fresh. We chose this island as we wanted small and the easy to see sea life. This was our first visit to the Maldives and we were really looking forward to the Maldives experience and the holiday of a lifetime but unfortunately this was spoilt as Blue Bay Travel sent 2 emails regarding building work on the island, one just a week before we were due to go, they told us that nobody had complained and that it wouldn’t affect our holiday. The island was taken over by new management in June and we have since found out from other guests that they were shown the plans for the island which are major changes for the future. We have since found out that an inspection was carried out and this work was on the report which clearly means that people where aware and we feel that the island should have shut for a couple of weeks to do a new dive centre and a new jetty all at the same time. The email we received from Blue Bay Travel clearly said that the work was on the 42 year old jetty and the work was preventative maintenance work but this was total incorrect as the work was building a new jetty! Read less

An excellent break in a lovely resort. The house reef is superb - and very accessible; the food is varied and tasty (with healthy options available); and the staff could not have done more to make our stay enjoyable (special mention here of Muhammad and Ijlal, who both provided outstanding service). The rooms are a bit tired - but perfectly clean and comfortable, and you're not in the Maldives to sit around in your room. The island is small, but full of interesting wildlife (herons, bats, hermit crabs, geckos ...). Good facilities (expeditions for those who want them, a fitness room, a spa). But the real joy of the place is the reef. If you enjoy swimming, snorkelling or diving, this is an affordable and memorable destination. We had a great time. Read less

We have just returned from a trip to Eriyadu, booked via Blue Bay Travel. On the run up to the trip we received messages from BBT that minor renovations would be talking place while we were there but would not affect our holiday. Then a couple of days before we left this had changed to what sounded like major works involving machinery but we were assured this would stop at 5.30. Too late to change islands, too late to get any sort of a refund from BBT. The reality was that the work continued until around 7pm, as our time and date stamped videos demonstrate, making a quiet pre dinner drink in the bar impossible unless you want to watch and listen to a large mechanical excavator. BBT were unconcerned but the hotel management were sympathetic and did their best to ameliorate the nuisance, and after we had complained, work stopped earlier. I would be reluctant in future to believe anything BBT told me about work in resorts. I feel that they were very unfair to the hotel’s management who were the ones having to deal with complaints on the spot and who were unfailingly courteous and did their very best to placate us. The holiday itself: We were met on arrival at Male by a rep from the resort who shepherded us to a waiting area. Our speedboat then whisked us to Eriyadu. We were shown our room, thankfully on the opposite side of the island from the pile diving noise. I think calling it ‘de luxe’ is a bit of an exaggeration, the furniture was plain and utilitarian but perfectly comfortable and about 20 yards from the beautiful beach and very close to the little beach bar. Our room steward Mohammed did a great job, keeping it spick and span, and timed his visits to coincide with our absence on the beach. Lovely to come back and find everything swept and smart. Thank you! There is a great deal of new planting going on all ever the island. Very charming. Paths swept, everything very neat. A great job. There is one restaurant, a buffet, which I am not usually very keen on but the food here was top notch. The head chef Malala Sampath does amazingly. It helps to like Sri Lankan type food, which we do. Wonderful breakfast omlettes with minimal queuing. We regret not catching the name of ‘the egg man’ as he was excellent. A couple of times his lunchtime offering was pakora, vegetables deep fried in the crispest batter, very fresh tuna. Very nice puddings, particularly the various types of brownies. What was particularly outstanding was the quality of the bakery. Everything cooked on the premises, excellent bread and at least three varieties of breakfast donuts every day, Swiss pastries and croissants. We found the house wine perfectly acceptable especially the red. The waiters in the restaurant were unfailingly helpful and attentive, especially John, who ensured we had everything we needed including always a table convenient for me with my impaired mobility. John, you are a star! Many thanks for your kindness. The bar was also staffed by a charmingly helpful crew. Beautiful sunset views, sometimes less than beautiful sound effects when the digger was going full pelt. Also though we appreciated the effort made to provide evening entertainment in the bar, a couple of quiz evenings and kareoke. On other evenings the volume of the soloists was ridiculously loud to the extent that you could not make out a word that the person sitting next to you was saying, and guests moved onto the terrace leaving an empty bar. Beautiful voice and fine guitar playing but far too loud. (Tiny complaint about a great holiday!) With responsibility for food and beverages, together with a big contribution to stopping the building work on time, we are very grateful to Amitha. He is such a friendly and approachable person and makes great efforts to ensure his guests are having a good time, regardless of their issues with BlueBay. Having stopped visiting the Maldives for a few years because of the tragic coral bleaching we encountered on our last visit, it was good to find so much coral here in good condition and so easy to access. So overall, how was the trip? I loved the island because it has that traditional Maldives feel to it, the food was fantastic and all the staff helpful and friendly. Would we return? I would be happy to do so though I worry that future development would spoil this little gem. I would certainly be fussy about with whom I booked it. Meanwhile huge thanks again to the General Manager and Amitha, Malala, anonymous omelette man, Mohammed our room steward, John, and friendly Durf from the Dive Centre and everyone else we encountered at Eriyadu. Read less