Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu, Maldives

This was our first visit to the Maldives, we travelled as a family of 4 to celebrate our joint 60th birthday year. After a long flight with Emirates, a short exciting flight with a TMA seaplane and a speedy boat ride, we were warmly greeted at the resort and guided to reception. Jegan the resort supervisor took us under his expert wing, providing us with a refreshing iced tea and a wealth of resort information. It was only a brief wait before we were shown to our accommodation beach villas 40 & 41. We had e-mailed in advance requesting adjacent villas. (Thankyou Jegan) We had direct beach access, what a view ! The villas were immaculate with lovely rustic touches. There was ample storage, a full fridge and a tea & coffee making facility. Plug points were the same as UK . Toilet and shower facilities were outside the villa, the open air concept was quirky but we soon got used to it. Villas on the island are all placed for maximum privacy and are thoroughly cleaned twice a day. We upgraded to spend a night with a floating breakfast in a lagoon villa. They were over the ocean next level luxury. Once you start exploring you will understand why people adopt the barefoot way of life, it was so much easier on your feet. Clean sandy paths access all areas of the island. Do try to visit the Chef's garden and the Olive Ridley turtle rescue centre. The sea is beautifully clear and as warm as bath water. The house reef is occupied by fish, turtles, dolphins, rays and reef sharks. We loved the dolphin trip and snorkeling with the manta rays and had the expert guidance of the dive team. Sunrises and sunsets were beautiful, the weather was fabulous, even the thunderstorm on our last night was terrific ! ... (and scary) Cowrie, the main buffet restaurant is so clean, food is fabulous, freshly cooked in front of you. Nalinda our fabulous waiter made us feel so welcome and always went the extra mile. (Thankyou Nalinda) I would 100% recommend you try the beach BBQ, food and ambience are second to none, we loved it. I would say that the resort drinks and bar menus are not very clear and the choices of drinks and cocktails available on all inclusive is limited. The Conch bar is lovely to drink and eat in, but drinks and food consumed outside of your all inclusive remit are costly. The Cornus restaurant is not part of the all inclusive package. We booked out for 12 noon and were waved off the pontoon which was a nice touch. Be careful at Male airport if you have a long wait for your connecting flight. The greeters may offer you the 'comfort' of an all inclusive hotel room instead of using the airport lounge. Don't do it , pay for the airport lounge, it's safe, it's comfy and all inclusive. Lastly thankyou Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu, we really enjoyed our stay with you and would, without hesitation visit again, your island took our breath away and we loved every minute. If you wish for beauty, peace and tranquility, with excellent food and amazing service, then go - you won't regret it !

We have just spent Christmas on this beautiful island. Having visited the Maldives 20 years ago, we were aware that many of the islands now look over-developed. We chose this resort for its sustainability record and that it looks more natural than many. In particular, they have not gone overboard with the water villas; on many islands they are beginning to look like housing estates! For anyone who hasn’t visited the Maldives before, you will not need a swimming pool when you have the beautiful warm Indian Ocean on your doorstep! You may also welcome the shade of the palm trees and the sounds of nature rather than a water villa. Back to the sustainability stuff, Coco Palm has stopped using plastic bottles and straws, they bottle their own water in glass. Sadly, the rest of the Maldives is still using plastic bottles, and we removed bottles from the sea every day. That said the western world are the worst culprits! I was surprised there was no mention of the use of chemical sunscreens which are damaging to coral reefs. Some countries have banned these products (Mexico, Hawaii, parts of Florida etc) and it would be good if Coco Palm, or indeed the Maldives in general, could promote the use of safer mineral alternatives. The turtle rescue centre does amazing work, and it was very interesting chatting to the staff. Our beach villa (35) was on the north end of the island. It does suffer from beach erosion here and at high tide we were half in the sea, quite nice really, especially when one afternoon we saw 10 sharks and a stingray from our terrace! We could easily access the reef (which runs along the east and north shore) and the seagrass beds (to the west) where turtle sightings are guaranteed. We also enjoyed fabulous sunsets and watched dolphins swimming along the edge of the reef, so we were very pleased with our location. Our room attendant visited several times a day to check we had everything we needed, and also took some lovely photos for us. The restaurant food was incredible, especially the Christmas Eve Gala. The chefs produce an amazing variety, with several cooking stations where food is prepared freshly for you. The waiters were very friendly, and we felt like we’d made friends by the end of our stay. We were able to pay tips at the end of the holiday, through reception, who will pay individually to anyone you name, and we also left a general tip as there are so many staff working tirelessly behind the scenes who also deserve recognition. Many thanks to all the staff for making our holiday truly special.

We had a really great stay at Coco Palm. The location is fantastic; a house reef for snorkelling and proximity to great dive sites make it ideal. Our dives instructors, Miriam and Erica were wonderful and knowledgeable. The daily buffet was excellent and the staff are so friendly. The only negative was that the bed mattress was too firm and uncomfortable. We will definitely recommend this resort to friends!

We returned to Coco Palm after we had a fantastic time in November 2023. But as returning guests, we were hugely disappointed this time for a number of reasons. 1. We got in touch with the resort reservation desk at the time of booking this year's trip in March 24 and we asked for the same villa or one near to the one we were given a year before. We repeated the reminder twice more, and they confirmed receipt of our request. Yet upon arrival, we were allocated a terribly located villa that we simply weren't prepared to stay in. We were given one for three days before they relocated us to the one we asked for. All the packing and unpacking and packing and unpacking again totally spoilt our first week. The disappointment in the lack of effort to use the surely available computer based booking system from the point of our initial booking to 'pencil in' our request was just unbelievable. 2. The main reason for our return was the excellent food offering in November 2023. The variety and the quality of the meals were second to none last year but not this time. Boring, bland without much variety of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. There are too many sweet cakes in the morning, a lack of decent fresh fruit choices, no decent bread rolls, only processed sliced bread, very limited cheese and cold meat choices, and poor offering of yogurts too. Salad at lunchtime was just terrible. Clearly tin kidney beans, sweetcorn, sliced cucumber, carrot, and tomatoes just chucked in separate bowls with dressings supplied separately. Barely any prepared salads. Dinners were the same and bland each night. Far too many desserts, nothing great. We paid extra for the lobster save as last year, but this time it was smaller and under whelming. 3. Staff were friendly often over the top, clearly for tips, until the last day. Once the tip was handed over, as if we became invisible. The place is no longer what made it so exceptional and such value for money. We will not return. The house reef is good. They upgraded us to all inclusive, which we naturally appreciated, but I'm afraid it food not make up for the issues as listed in detail above.

We recently returned from fabulous 9 days at Coco Palm Dhuni Kohlu - the island was recommended to su by fiends who travel a lot so we trusted them, and the experience delivered! We were staying in one of the villas tucked away in the greenery and maybe 10m to the beach. We loved the privacy and the proximity to the water at the same time. The resort in not new, and some may say it looks tired in places, but it has amazing min-jungle covering most of the island and a lot of character - we loved the rustic style, the authentic furniture and materiality. So if you are after polished, luxury and show off experience, this is not your place. If you are after barefoot life, total relax and letting you hair down you'll appreciate the island. The staff has been amazing across all experiences. Cannot name everyone but big thumbs up to the restaurant (self-service) manager Sushantha: his crew was super attentive, always smiling and anticipating our needs. The cooks - wow! the selection and variety of dishes was great, and the pastry chef in particular deserve a big mention, we simply could not stop coming back for more of his creations. We also had a wonderful seafood meal at the beach, have not tried the Thai restaurant but the other guests we spoke to, were impressed. The PADI Diving Centre: great experience being looked after by Erika, our fantastic diving guide, and the support team on ground and on water: done exciting dives (off the boat) and, being a nervous diver, appreciated the professionalism and expertise of the team managed by Antonio. Dhuni Watersport Centre: Azim and Piz were our knowledgable (and proudly Maldivian) guides on a fantastic boat trip, found us a beautiful coral spot for snorkelling and turtle spotting! Big thank you to All staff at the resort - you've made our holiday a very happy time, we'd love to come back for more.