We’ve been traveling the world for many years, and with a total of 27 vacations—in the Maldives alone—we’ve gained quite a bit of experience with the local conditions.
This was our third time on Manafaru—once in 2013 and twice in 2026 (March and October).
It’s not as if there aren’t enough islands in the Maldives 😉, but since a very good friend of ours works there, it made sense to travel there twice within six months to visit her. This time it was very last-minute—just four days over the weekend from booking to departure.
The natural island is very well vegetated in the interior and, as a result, pleasantly green. Unfortunately, Manafaru also experiences the natural phenomenon where the sandy beach—depending on the season—shifts from one side of the island to the other. Accordingly, the beach in front of the beach villas is either narrow or wide.
This time, we opted for an overwater bungalow on the sunrise side—the right choice for us. Even at low tide, the lagoon is deep enough to allow for a good swim from the bungalow when there’s a light swell.
The Kakuni breakfast restaurant has a great buffet, and there’s also a small additional menu in the mornings. In the evenings, they alternate between various themed nights; I particularly enjoyed the seafood BBQ, followed by the Maldivian night.
There are two other restaurants: the Ocean Grill (on the beach) and the White Orchid (part of the Stingray Jetty with a slight Asian flair); both are also highly recommended.
No matter where we went for dinner, special requests were accommodated everywhere—for example, if you have food intolerances.
What we particularly liked was the extremely friendly staff.
Even though it’s unfair to mention only a few staff members by name here, we’d still like to do so because we were simply able to build a deeper connection with them and because we already knew some of them from our previous visit. But in fact, all the staff were friendly, courteous, and open-minded.
Nevertheless, our good friend Ting took excellent care of us and looked after us lovingly throughout our entire stay, making sure we had everything we needed.
Likewise, Chef Jessep, together with his kitchen team, made sure we were well taken care of in terms of food. My daily Maldivian breakfast was a delight, and Ajun’s crepes were also very tasty. We were also impressed by intern Hoodh, with his friendly demeanor and enthusiasm for cooking.
On the service side, we had a lot of fun with Anel, Imram, Naif, Nizam, Rambo, Rishah, Pranita, and Shaadh, who were always friendly and provided us with everything we wanted.
A big shout-out also goes to Soodh, the resort manager, and his team.
We had two concerns: first, the brightness in the villa as early as sunrise, which made it difficult to get a restful night’s sleep there, even with a sleep mask.
Since the six installed roller blinds were not opaque and also had gaps in some places, it was as bright as day at sunrise.
We arrived in the evening and, after the first night, noted that an opaque curtain serving as a room divider between the living room and bedroom would be extremely helpful. We had actually meant this as a suggestion for future improvement, but no sooner said than done—after breakfast, the curtain was installed. Hats off to them!
The second concern was finding a solution for the sometimes fierce wind.
Since the outer wall of the shower and the toilet consists of several modules of a slatted partition, it was impossible to shower due to the very strong winds that had been blowing for days. The water stream from the rain shower was literally “blown away by the wind,” and on top of that, it was drafty and cold. As for the toilet, the wind also blew rain into it, leaving the floor constantly wet.
Although one module each of the shower and the toilet was already protected on the inside by a transparent plastic wall, this protection was insufficient given the weather conditions.
Here, too, we mentioned the issue, and two additional protective walls were immediately installed in the shower, so that this problem was also resolved within a day.
Once again, our heartfelt thanks to the engineering staff and, of course, to Soodh, who arranged this.
In short, we almost felt right at home, and we think it’s worth vacationing here if only for the staff.
Would we come back to Manfaru?
To visit our dear friend Ting and because of the staff—a definite YES!
