Villa Nautica Paradise Island Resort

Nautica Resort, though an older establishment, still boasts an impeccable environment. It offers stunning, front-row views of the Indian Ocean, and the overwater villas come with whirlpool tubs facing the sea. The overwater villas even have their own dedicated restaurant, with violin music during dinner, adding a wonderful touch of ceremony to a vacation. Our thoughtful butler, Tola***, kindly arranged for us to dine at the beach villa restaurant, allowing us to experience different dining services. Tola*** provided enthusiastic service throughout our stay, promptly responding to any requests – truly commendable! The hotel also offers convenient shuttle services for transportation, and all staff members were warm and attentive. It's thanks to the hotel's guaranteed service that every day of our holiday trip was so happy and enjoyable. Looking forward to our next visit!

I travel a lot and have stayed at various hotels, but I've never written a review before. This will be my first one! Well, I'll start with the hotel GROUNDS. The resort is located 20 minutes away from Malé, which is very convenient. The island is huge, picturesque, very green, and gorgeous—every spot is photo-worthy! It takes quite a bit of time to walk across the whole island. There are special buggies that drive guests to their rooms, the restaurant, or the main bar. The ocean has a stunning water color and is clean, but since it's a lagoon, it's shallow and mostly geared toward snorkeling. FOOD. We had the all-inclusive package, which is definitely worth it because hotel prices are sky-high ($8 for beer, $12–$18 for alcoholic cocktails). This package includes food and drinks from morning till night. The food in the main restaurant is rather sparse with little variety; it was pretty much the same every day. There are no seafood options other than fish (tuna, white fish). There are two à la carte restaurants—Italian and Japanese. I recommend going to the Japanese one; the food there is genuinely delicious, portions are large, and they serve fresh fish and seafood (free of charge only for all-inclusive guests). ACTIVITIES. We originally chose this hotel to make sure we wouldn't get bored, and we hit the bullseye! There is billiards, tennis, badminton, volleyball, football, and basketball. Every day features a different entertainment program: musical quizzes, water polo, bingo, dancing, discos, fire shows, etc. Shisha is available for enthusiasts, though it costs $50. Plus, we got super lucky and accidentally stumbled upon a football tournament between the hotel staff! SERVICE. This is the best service I have ever experienced in my life!!!! The staff are kind, helpful, always ready to assist, and they'll even bring you a beer before you even ask! ;) Housekeeping comes twice a day, restocking the minibar drinks each time (for all-inclusive guests). They remembered my husband and me by the second day, and on the fifth day, they upgraded us to a room with a private pool—we were pleasantly surprised. Thank you, Abaan!!! EXCURSIONS. Be prepared for all excursions to be very expensive! We took a trip to Malé (recommended for those interested in the city and how locals live in the Maldives) and also a shark snorkeling trip (not worth the money—not many sharks, murky water, or maybe we just had bad luck). I'm not a big fan of snorkeling, so it didn't matter much to me whether there were tons of fish on the house reef, but from the outside, it looked a bit underwhelming. To wrap up my review, this is undoubtedly a great hotel, well worth the money, and after 10 days of vacation, you really feel at home there. We didn't want to leave at all! 100% recommended.

A 20-minute boat ride from the airport brings you right to the resort. Even though it was the rainy season, we had bright sunshine every day. There are plenty of activities on the island; the free spa and hair braiding by the pool in the mornings were particularly popular. The buffet restaurant had a good spread on weekend evenings, with various fish dishes to choose from. On weekdays, there was still plenty to eat. The overwater bungalows offer three different spots for snorkeling right from your steps, and the scenery is absolutely stunning, definitely worth a visit.

Truly lives up to its reputation as a classic five-star resort island; I was very satisfied with everything.

We booked a water villa, and the layout and functionality were incredibly convenient, with excellent service. We only had a few minor regrets: The water villa's private deck leads directly into coral, which is quite close to the surface, making serious snorkeling difficult. You can really only float around the steps to see the coral and fish, which is a bit of a mixed bag. The bathroom floor in the water villa becomes extremely slippery when wet; there were signs warning about it, but it was still hard to avoid. You can see the 'rubbish island' from the south side of the island (our water villa on the north side couldn't see it). If the wind blows from the south, you can smell burning trash on the island. However, the wind doesn't blow in the same direction all day, nor is it the same direction every day, so during our three-night stay, we only smelled burning trash intermittently on our first half-day. According to the restaurant staff, our assigned butler, Riya, is one of the best. However, communication might have been more efficient if we had WhatsApp to contact her; my phone only allowed WeChat, and her replies were occasionally delayed. Overall, for this price point, the resort service was excellent, and we were generally satisfied.