Velassaru – Maldives – Hotel Review

Velassaru Maldives is a five-star luxury boutique resort in the Maldives and part of the locally owned Universal Resort group. It is further one of the very few Small Luxury Hotels of the World™ (SLH) in the Maldives, which offer secluded and discrete locations with the highest luxury standards. In this hotel review, I will give you my personal in-depth opinion about our experiences at Velassaru Maldives as well as the highlights and unique features of this resort.

DISCLAIMER: WE WERE HOSTED ON A PRESS TRIP AT THIS HOTEL, WHICH DOES NOT INFLUENCE MY PERSONAL THOUGHTS AND REVIEW ABOUT THIS HOTEL. ALL EXPRESSED OPINIONS ARE MY OWN. THIS BLOG POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS. I MAY RECEIVE A SMALL COMMISSION FOR PURCHASES/BOOKINGS MADE THROUGH THESE LINKS, AT NO EXTRA COST TO YOU.

The Location

Velassaru Maldives offers true seclusion in an easy-to-reach location. The resort is situated in the South Malé Atoll and accessible by a short 25-minute speedboat ride from the Malé International Airport. Although being very close to the main island, you aren’t disturbed by the hustle and bustle that is going on around the harbor, airport and main island. The island sits in crystal clear turquoise waters in the Indian Ocean, offers lots of natural white sandy beaches and is filled with palm trees and green vegetation.

The Transfer & Check-in

Coming from another resort, we were already awaited by a welcoming team member of Velassaru Maldives at the harbor nearby the Velana International Airport. He took care of our luggage and guided us directly to the big resort yacht which brought us effortlessly to the island. The transfer took about 25 minutes despite the rough sea conditions on that day.

Arriving at the resort jetty, we were greeted by a group of staff members and were escorted to the reception in a buggy for check-in. The check-in process went smoothly and we enjoyed our delicious welcome drinks. After finishing our drinks, we were brought to our nearby water villa in a buggy while our luggage followed shortly after. In the villa, we were awaited by the most heavenly welcome snack platter.

The Property & Amenities

Velassaru Maldives is a small luxury boutique resort in an intimate island setting and offers 129 villas for guests to stay in. Although the island is compact in size, it has all the amenities you expect from an SLH resort in the Maldives.

All buildings and villas are kept in a contemporary style with clean lines and avant-garde design. The open-style reception sits atop a few stairs and has a sandy floor which I really liked – it gives you an immediate island feeling.

Nearly all amenities are located close to the arrival jetty and reception area in the southern part of the island. This also includes the Velassaru Living Gallery, the boutique and the photography lounge, where you can book romantic photoshoots.

Moreover, Velassaru Maldives features five restaurants and two bars on the island to take care of your culinary pleasure.

There is also a well-equipped gym on the island which is nestled into the jungle vegetation. The resort further provides an overwater spa area, including ten treatment rooms and a hydro pool close to the water villas in the middle of the lagoon. The hydro pool was my favorite spot to gaze over the lagoon and the beautiful Indian Ocean.

A dive center, a water sports center and a tennis court are available if you plan to be active during your vacation. If you’re going to snorkel around the lagoon, you can encounter some marine life such as colorful fish, turtles, whiptail stingrays and reef sharks.

Velassaru Maldives also has a large infinity pool that is aligned towards the beach and the ocean. The pool area is equipped with numerous big, comfortable sun loungers for two and hanging umbrellas.

Couples looking to renew their vows or have a wedding ceremony can enjoy a Bodu Beru procession that leads them to a beautiful beachfront location where they can make their promises to each other.

The Rooms

There are 129 luxurious villas and ten different room categories at Velassaru Maldives, which can be divided into water villas and island villas. The villas in the lagoon are either water bungalows with pool, water villas, water villas with pool, or one spacious water suite. The villas on the island are divided into deluxe bungalows, deluxe villas, deluxe villas with pool, beach villas, beach villas with pool, or a big pool villa.

We had the pleasure of staying in a lovely water villa (#404) while staying at the resort. WiFi was complimentary in the room and across the island. I absolutely adored the modern furnishing as well as the big bathtub and the amazing L’Occitane bath products.

Water Villa

We stayed in a stylish water villa that offered beautiful and far-reaching views over the southern part of the lagoon. The villas are built onto stilts at the island’s south-western tip next to the overwater spa area. The spacious villa has 112 square meters and is equipped with everything you need for a comfortable stay.

The room features a plush king-size bed, a seating area with a sofa, a wardrobe, air-conditioning, a desk, a minibar with a separate wine chiller and floor-to-ceiling folding glass doors. Our bathroom had an indoor shower, two separate vanities and a bathtub for two with wonderful lagoon views. From both rooms, you could access the private outdoor terrace to lounge on and have direct access to the sapphire lagoon using the wooden ladder. We loved to relax at our deck at sunset with a glass of bubbly in our hands.

The Restaurants & Bars

If you want to indulge in culinary experiences at Velassaru Maldives, you have multiple enticing options to do so. You can visit five restaurants that serve a wide variety of cuisines from around the world in different settings. You can also dine in the privacy of your own villa or choose one of the various other gastronomic voyages the resort offers.

The main restaurant Vela offers world-cuisine with a laidback vibe. The varied gourmet breakfast and dinner are served buffet-style and food options and flavors are superb. We absolutely loved dining there because, in our opinion, Vela was the best main restaurant we have come across so far in the Maldives. Multiple food and live-cooking stations, as well as fresh produce, made breakfast and dinner a true culinary pleasure. This restaurant could definitely rival some of the specialty restaurants at other resorts.

For lunch, we went to the Turquoise restaurant. We enjoyed continental cuisine mixed with Asian influences in an intimate setting. They have lots of delicious small bites and main dishes available for you to indulge yourself in for lunch and dinner. All the dishes we tried for lunch were excellent!

If you are looking for specialty restaurants, Velassaru Maldives has you covered. Etesian serves Latin American-inspired cuisine, while their Teppanyaki offers Japanese dishes with a twist over water in the lagoon. One evening, we had dinner at Sand, the resort’s oceanfront dining option with spectacular views. We were lucky to have our own private pavilion at the water’s edge to dine in and enjoyed their Pan-Indian Ocean specialties to the fullest. This would also make for a nice romantic dinner for two. I can definitely recommend dining at Sand!

Looking for a drink, you can head to one of the two bars on the island. The modern and stylish furnished Fen Bar is located next to the reception and the pool area, whereas Chill Bar sits at the northern end of the island. At Fen Bar, you can sink into luxurious daybeds, beanbags and comfortable chairs while savoring modern beachfront sips and snacks. At night, you can join a live music performance or a cinema under the stars. Chill Bar is perfect for you if you want to enjoy panoramic ocean views, mixed drinks and light bites. The bar also offers beautiful vistas of the stunning Maldivian sunsets.

The Staff

While staying at Velassaru Maldives, we could quickly call the reception team and they would help us out whenever we needed something or had a question. The receptionists were also well informed about our activities and kept us up-to-date with everything. This level of service and the staff thinking ahead is what truly made a difference in comfort for us. Next to the reception, you can also get a lot of information right from your TV where you can access your hotel bill, messages from the reception and daily activities in addition to many other things.

Looking at the restaurant staff, the service at the restaurants was quick to take orders and after the second breakfast, they already remembered our favorite drinks and brought us our specialty coffee without us having to order it. That was such a pleasant surprise!

However, our empty plates always remained quite long on our table during breakfast and dinner so that we had to pile up our plates to have enough space to eat comfortably. Besides, we also were never proactively asked if we wanted to have any additional beverages for dinner at Vela after our water bottle was empty. Here, we would have expected a tad more care. Another thing that was a bit irritating for us is that on several evenings staff members sat at tables in the middle of the restaurant, eating and using their mobile phones, while other guests and we were still having dinner at around 8.30 p.m. As already mentioned, Vela was the best main restaurant that we’ve come across when it comes to food, so we would have loved the service to be on the same level to make it the perfect dining experience.

The water sports team and the dive center team were also extremely helpful when we got two kayaks for an hour and also rented fins for snorkeling. They gave us lots of helpful tips instead of just handing over the equipment which we have experienced in other hotels.

Activities

Velassaru Maldives offers different activities and experiences. At the GLIDE water sports center on the eastern side of the island, you can go kayaking, catamaran sailing and Stand-Up paddle boarding. To satisfy your need for speed, you can go water-skiing, wakeboarding and windsurfing, among other adventurous activities. We decided to go kayaking since they have a glass kayak and we always wanted to try one. It was amazing to see the ocean beneath you through the bottom of the glass kayak. It’s such a unique experience!

The IMMERSION dive center at the arrival jetty offers scuba and snorkeling gear and takes you onto diving journeys to experience the magnificent underwater marine life. It doesn’t matter if you are a novice or seasoned diver.

Next to all the water-related activities, Velassaru Maldives offers various excursions and experiences to choose from like a snorkeling excursion, a dolphin discovery cruise, private dining experiences or an island escape on a Maldivian dhoni to a nearby sandbank. We planned to go on a romantic sunset cruise but, unfortunately, the sea was too rough during our stay at the resort, which meant that the cruise had to be canceled on all evenings. But let me tell you from experience that it is absolutely worth doing a sunset cruise in the Maldives. It’s a must-do activity!

What we also really liked is that Velassaru Maldives offers weekly complementary activities such as lagoon snorkeling, sunset group yoga, a morning cruise or a cocktail-making class.

Spa & Wellness

To revitalize and recharge, The Spa at Velassaru Maldives offers signature treatments and classic therapies using indigenous ingredients in their overwater pavilions. You can also use a hydro pool, which is perched over the lagoon, a steam room and a relaxation room to relax. We had the pleasure of trying the unique hydro pool and the steam room during our stay and I absolutely loved this experience. So, if you have time, definitely stop by the Spa area!

If you are interested in Yoga, the Spa also offers resort guests a complimentary sunset yoga class at the main beach three days a week.

Sustainability

The resort takes great pride in its ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability. One of the initiatives is Velassaru Maldives’ own water filtration and bottling facility. Using this facility removes at least 200,000 plastic bottles per year and allows to serve still and sparkling water in glass bottles. They also serve their drinks with 100% biodegradable, edible straws to reduce plastic which is really great.

Moreover, Velassaru Maldives has a marine biologist on site who is teaching guests about the importance of marine life during guided bio activities such as a snorkeling adventure or through informative presentations.

The One Unique Thing

For us, the One Unique Thing at Velassaru Maldives is the color of the water of the lagoon. You might argue that many resorts in the Maldives are surrounded by clear and turquoise water, which I absolutely agree with. Yet, we haven’t seen such unbelievable vivid turquoise water anywhere else in the Maldives so far. Even on rainy and cloudy days, the water color looks incredible. We were really impressed by the turquoise lagoon surrounding Velassaru.

Moreover, I would like to make an exception and mention a second unique thing: the hydro pool at the Spa of Velassaru Maldives. Only a handful of other resorts in the Maldives offer a hydro pool at their properties.

Conclusion

Velassaru Maldives is a 5-star luxury boutique resort surrounded by the most incredible turquoise lagoon. It’s the perfect place if you look for contemporary luxury and unparalleled style in an intimate island setting with excellent culinary options. The resort is also the perfect choice if you want to stay close to the airport and don’t want to lose valuable vacation time due to long transfers while having a secluded island feeling at the same time. The villas are modern with a beautiful design and offer everything you need. Velassaru Maldives is a wonderful location for couples, honeymooners and families (who don’t need a special kids program). I can highly recommend staying at this resort and would return anytime.

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— My Travel Photography Gear —

Camera: Sony A7R III
Allrounder Zoom Lens: Sigma 24-70mm F/2.8
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Camera Tripod: Rollei Compact Traveler No. 1 Carbon
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