Karo BS

Review of Canareef Resort Maldives

The island on which the Canareef Resort is located...

The island on which the Canareef Resort is located is 4.5 km long but very narrow. The sunset villas line the coast on the inside of the atoll, the sunrise villas those on the ocean side. On the inside of the atoll you can swim without hesitation, on the ocean side the sea can get quite stormy, it is covered with rocks and corals - swimming is not entirely safe!

Without exception, the workforce was friendly, warm, competent and very caring!

We had a Sunset Villa and loved it! The villa was lovingly furnished, kept in wood and turquoise tones and had a spacious terrace with a small "private garden" that led to the sea. At "our" beach we had the feeling that we were completely alone. Although the hotel accommodated several hundred guests, it was very much along the long coast. It was NEVER crowded.

You should keep in mind that the beach in Canareef is rather natural. We liked it very much, there was a real small jungle on the beach and there were also seaweed and baby sharks in the water (no, they are not dangerous and I think it speaks for the resort that the sharks choose the beach to grow up) . But anyone who imagines long white, meticulously cared for white sandy beaches is definitely wrong here. We preferred a piece of Maldivian nature .

We particularly liked the outdoor bathroom, including the spacious inner courtyard. There was a real island feeling! We found two 1.5 liter water bottles a day. There was also a refrigerator, but if you wanted to find anything else in it than water, you would have to inform the reception. The prices were reasonable for most products, surprisingly high for some - we could not see a system behind the pricing policy. The bungalows are cleaned twice (!) A day and the bed is freshly made up every day.

Bicycles can be borrowed in the resort's sports center, of course we took advantage of the offer, because it made us much freer and faster. As an alternative, the hotel offers buggies with drivers that take guests everywhere. There is also a fitness center, which is really not badly equipped, a tennis court, a beach volleyball court and all kinds of water sports (unfortunately they are quite expensive).

The hotel also offers a "Lucky Dolphin" cruise. It was included in our travel agency and we were rather skeptical. Very wrongly! The traditional Maldivian boat wasn't even half full and took us to part of the atoll where HUNDREDS of wild dolphins romped about. They swam with the boat and were visibly amused by the tourists, who let out admiring screams with every jump, somersault and trick . The younger, smaller dolphins in particular took the opportunity to practice a few jumps. A real experience for a moderate price (regular $ 50 per person).

The hotel has two pools with bars, the north-facing pool is 50 m (!) Long and almost always empty. At the bar there you can always get fresh coconuts for little money . The other pool is smaller but also very clean and charming.

Since we had booked full board, we actually always ate in the Kilhi restaurant. It was always varied, good and plentiful. All three meals were served in buffet form. The nice thing from my point of view was that the buffet was international, but not European-international, but Chinese, Indian, Arabic! Great for us who are not that into schnitzel on vacation! But we had really great Indian curries, noodle soups, dim sum, dhals and Arabic desserts .

The wonderful Suboceanic dive center is highly recommended, but a separate review is also available!
It was a great vacation for us and we can only recommend the resort!