Palms Retreat

We stayed here for 2 weeks and the moment we arrived , welcome drinks, hot towels,some small canapés was served by friendly staffs. Every time we go to the beach they dropped us by buggy ride which was fun really. Their restaurant is the best in the island , spaghetti carbonara , Vietnamese summer rolls and pad thai seafood are my top choices everyday with quality but a bit pricey but well worth it, they know what they are cooking as we tried 4 places in the island during our stay. As this restaurant always come with complimentary dessert every night something new to try, staffs and Amy the owner always come to chit chat with us, never get bored with the place and the outdoor area is the best to relax and chill out as we brought our laptop to do some works and their WiFi is the fastest among others. We did 5 excursions with Aiman (super cool guy)and we saw 4-5 mantas , some turtles , 100 of dolphins, the best one is bbq at innafushi as chef cooked and prepared fresh for us on the beach after trip got nice shot of video. We catch 10 fishes in an hour such a lucky day for us. We recommend to do excursions here as we talked to many people and another guests we had the best tour guide. Also they have all amenities, you don’t need to bring anything. The room was super clean and beautiful seaview, we love our room so much and dint want to leave the place,cute teddy bear and beach bag. One thing about Fulhadhoo still have5 prayers time a day so be prepared.

Would we stay here again? No - not at all. We second the 2 reviews that refer to the manager’s concern with money only. And also the comments about the poor service. It’s a pricey hotel and there are better options on the island - try luxury boutique and 3 hearts guest house. We went there for excursions and also food and the service and atmosphere was much much better.

Though the island is small, the location is not ideal as does not have any direct access to the beach. There has been a lot of construction ongoing nearby and most of the time noise was unbearable. The hotel itself is nice, the Thai food was super tasty, breakfast was just ok. We tend to frequently visit the restaurant of another guesthouse on the island where everyone, including the owner was super hospitable. Customer service in general was below average, except for one of the Thai crew who was really helpful and nice. The owner is not that hospitable, the moment he realized we are not interested in his excursions he did not even bother to say hi.

I don’t like writing reviews, but it’s probably worth it here, because... cry from the heart. I want to say right away that the review does not concern the hotel staff, the food in the restaurant or the hotel itself. Avoid this hotel if you don’t want to ruin your vacation because of the greed and disregard for the hotel owner and his manager. Let me start with the fact that because of the management, my wife and I lost a whole day of vacation, moved from another island, specially got up as early as possible, sailed to Male at 8 am and, relying on the managers from the hotel, waited for their transfer until about 16:00, in the end we got to the hotel only in the evening, when it was already dark. They justified this by the afternoon waves and the fact that the boat had broken down. What prevented us from being put on a transfer right away in the morning? Nothing got in the way, just some ulterior motives. Of course, there was no compensation for this. At first they promised a free kayak day, then they deceived us about that too. I asked for help with organizing my wife’s birthday - the owner promised a cake, but in the end there was no cake. Then we saw that there was a partially eaten cake in the refrigerator, but no one told us anything about it. We ordered a romantic dinner on the shore - it left much to be desired. An excursion to a manta ray is also something special, you didn’t see any manta rays, but you had to pay the full amount of money. A scam for tourists, nothing more. If you don’t approach the hotel owner about any question, he will only pretend that he is interested. But in fact, he is only interested in your money. On most issues, the manager will pretend that he does not understand you, even if you explain everything in the simplest language or even text. We would gladly change to another hotel, but unfortunately there were no more rooms in the other hotels. For all the services we turned to a neighboring hotel, we thank the manager there for everything, only there we saw a human attitude.

Fulhadhoo is a very beautiful and green local island and Palms Retreat is THE place for staying. We are so glad that we have chosen it and I can not even imagine staying elsewhere. From the beginning they arrange the speedboat from Male, welcome you at Male and at the pier at Fulhadhoo and wait for you with a delicious welcome drink and thai appetizers. I mean total no hassle vacation! And no cars, no traffic, no loud bad music, just peace of mind. The hotel has such a nice ambiance, good music and a lobby to relax and use the good internet. Nice decor, with many wood and places that invite you to have a seat and rest in the middle of the day or waiting for having dinner. An outside area with sand floor is perfect for having popsicles! The room is so good, clean, airy, with everything that you may need, nice amenities - otoman moisture soap was a nice touch- and the most comfortable sleeping ever. High qualiy pillows, bed linen, towels, toiletries, robe,slippers, etc, etc… Nice porch to dry the beach stuff. All the people are friendly, helpful, professional and they are always smiling and ready to help you. The owner, the chefs, the manager and staff are out of this world. And the restaurant is out of the blue: a genuine Thai restaurant with the most delicious food ever - thai and international. The dinner is just amazing, so so good food and so much care for the details. We were missing our trip to Thailand, so have authentic thai food here was a great bonus! And the breakfast is a truly event, 5 course meal, with fruits, soup, pasta , eggs, sandwiches, pancakes, mashuni, etc. Loads of food, is more like a brunch than a simple breakfast !! The coffee is Nespresso. We had a lot of fun at the beach, kayaking, snorkeling, island trip. Kayaking at the blue lagoon was just wonderful! And the best thing is riding to the end of the beach with the cool bikes at no more than 10 minutes through the beautiful jungle path. You can also go walking or with the electric tricycle. We have just loved our staying at Palms Retreat and we will come back for sure! We have been to more than 20 local islands and also 3 resorts and I can say that this island is just perfect, many sandbanks all around, no crowds, no big buildings. And Palms Retreat is a really hidden gem!! Hope come back as soon as possible!

Palms Retreat is by far the best hotel on the Island. It is as close to a five star resort as you can come. The staff treats you kindly and respectfully and they are always there to help you with whatever you need. The food is excellent (Thai) and if you choose full board as we did you will have different food every day. Food is tasty and if there is something to complain about it is too much :-) We did fishing excursion and uninhabited island. Booth were like a dream, but the fishing was best, we got 12 fishes the first time and then 5 the other time. Both times they cooked the fishes for us and served them - gorgeous! In the morning they drove the whole family to the beach in the electric Tuc-Tuc and came and pick us up again at our desired time. For the Island, Fulhadhoo, is pure paradise. It is very few tourists, maybe 20-30 families on the whole island. You literally have the whole beach (which is rated 23:d best in the world) for your self. Me and my wife went with our three kids, 3, 5 and 8 years old, and it was no problem to fit in their spacious rooms. Compared with other places we stayed Palms Retreat is very priceworthy. We would love to come back as soon as possible!