We absolutely LOVED our stay at Vakkaru, with it having become our favourite island of our Maldives trips
Hard product: We tried two room types, the Beach Pool Villa and the Overwater Villa. Both were brilliant, with tasteful decor and stunning views. Overall resort appears very well maintained - everything feels like the resort was built very recently. I was shocked to learn the resort opened in 2017, especially when comparing it to an island we visited previously that opened 'only' 5 years earlier in 2012, but the hard product appeared substantially older than Vakkaru. AC system was new and very powerful, probably the only resort I've been too where the coldest setting was actually too cold! The one part I would say this doesn't hold true is the bicycles, where the ones we had were very rusty in places.
Restaurants: Food was very impressive - breakfast buffet with fresh pastries, with all the normal stuff such as croissants, pain aux chocolate, etc but then some very impressive specialist pastries every day, such as Nutella cruffins which were delicious! Lagoon bar sushi tasted very authentic (particularly the vinegared rice which many places do not do properly).
Onu the Thai food and Indian food were excellent (we had come straight from India but were still so impressed with their kebabs and butter chicken).
Isoletta - the pizzas were very impressive, dough is clearly fresh and was delicious. We had one issue which was the Tuna wrap - being in the Maldives, we thought (I think understandably) that it would be fresh tuna, but it was in fact tinned tuna - we were shocked by this, as tinned food has no place in any 5* hotel, let alone one that is on an island with easy access to fresh seafood (as well as the premium prices of food in these resorts) - I hope management quickly rectify this and adjust the dish or remove it from the menu.
The food at Vakku was our favourite though (as well as the overall ambience and view of the restaurant) - the foie gras starter is definitely some of the best foie gras I've had anywhere in the world (serving was perfect as well - many places serve the pate immediately out of the fridge, where it is too hard to spread - not the case here).
The chefs came to visit us at multiple times to discuss the food, which was a nice touch. Drinks are also kept at the perfect temperature - ice cold beer, which really contrasted with other resorts we've been too where beers were kept in the same fridges as wine so were not crisply cold.
Service: All the staff were AMAZING! Our butler Tina was brilliant, having organised all our restaurant bookings before we arrived and helped with moving them around per our preferences, as well as organising excursions for us. We ate lunch at Isoletta most days and Rash is doing an excellent job with the team there - the issue we mentioned above Rash fully understood and appreciated, dealing with it promptly and perfectly. The beach service at Isoletta operated by Munhid was outstanding - consistently providing us with water and ice as soon as we sat down, fetching us various other drinks from the bar and coming by with fruits, as well as taking photos of us on the beach! Our room attendant Sodhi also did an fantastic job, making the effort to come and introduce himself to us, and quickly learning our habits (when we went for breakfast, when we would be out for dinner) so that our room was cleaned by the time we came back. All the staff remembered our names as well, which was very impressive and made the service feel overall much more personalised.
Island: The island is STUNNINGINGLY beautiful, seeming very natural with extensive growth and tall trees. There is so much wildlife on the island, geckos, birds, etc, it was really breathtaking. it really feels like you are in a jungle. The sea life by the blue hole we enjoyed, as well as the ease of accessing the snorkelling here via the jetty. The corals are not the best (though we knew that before arriving) but there are extensive amounts of fish and baby sharks that we saw. Overall the island feels incredibly secluded, with no visible resorts close by, which is amazing considering how easy the transfer is with a sea plane. They also do a number of fun things, such as the pop up bars on the jetty where you get to watch amazing sunsets, and the crab race which was a great way to spend an evening.
