Shangri- La Villingili, Maldives Reviews

The perfect location for the absolute dream vacation! Simply unforgettable :)

The hotel is very great as a service location in all respects, but the price is for the ability, knowing that the hotels in the vicinity are the same luxury and prices, but the choice is available from the beginning of arranging the trip program.

The service and food was excellent. Everyone me met were so kind and obliging. The island is stunning and we loved the water activities in particular. Snorkelling with reef sharks, Manta rays and turtles is something we will never forget. Thank you for having us!

We had a life time experience staying at the resort for 6days. Special mention to Ashraf and Waseem who made your stay in the resort to next level . They are a Gem of person and were a wonderful host. Because of them we have such wonderful memories to cherish for our entire life. Special mention of our island host , Nassy who was always there when required .Wonderful people in the island and we are looking forward to coming back again.

Great villas! Comfortable and spacious. Beautiful island with bike and walking trails to all the amenities. It was such a fun experience to be there. Great snorkeling right off some of the over water villas. The food was delicious with many styles and desserts and plenty of fresh fruit. The staff was very nice as well!

It's a great resort!
There is also a shisha.
I went to the end of August when it rains a lot. Male was almost forecasted to rain, but it was almost raining here because it was to go over the equator. Even if it falls, I will immediately see it.
Guests here will receive an Equatorial Pass certificate on their domestic flights from Male to Gun. As it was the flight name and date and time, it became a product of memories, and I thought it was a nice service.

Epitome of luxury, water villas treating you to the best, inspite of being an old resort, the rooms are clean and neat. Buffet at Javvu restaurant extremely tasty. Cycles provided for moving around in the resort and almost all facilities are free of cost. They give you credits to done at other restaurants, which adds to the experience. Indian flavours very tasty. For all these, the price tag is definitely on a higher side.

Beautiful resort with friendly staff. Relaxing holiday with great views of the ocean. Different restaurants to try variety of cuisines and very courteous and professional staff.

Staying in paradise on earth, so comfortable and relaxed.

We had the most fantastic stay for 9 nights from July 4th to July 13th.
We can not fault any aspect of the stay. The accommodation was beautiful and kept so clean and tidy. The island as a whole was the same.
The staff so friendly and helpful and always with a smile.
It is by some distance the best holiday we have ever had.
Thank you to everyone at Shangri-La Villingili resort for making it like that.

It was amazing day s in shangri-la
I will come back again
Big thank s for team shangri-la

Where do I start, this resort is a like a dream. You almost don't feel like you are in a resort as the development was kept to a minimum and the island was brimming with live. We stayed in a water villa over near the golf course, it was very quiet over there with crystal clear waters. I will always remember sleeping under the stars on the over-water swing bed. If I get another chance, I would like to stay at the whispering palms where there are more fish to see during snorkeling.

The food was quite good overall, with some mixed experience. Breakfast was quite nice with great variety and quality. Lunch at Javvu was quite good; the tuna sashimi and kun pao chicken were memorable dishes. Dinner at Javvu was somewhat mixed, the buffet had good quantity but I guess lacked the fine dining experience. We also had A La Carte dinner, the entree and soup was really great, but the mains were forgettable - we ordered coral fish and lobster. Especially the lobster was a bit too tough, I guess I had been spoiled with the quality of lobsters here in Australia.

Dining at Fashala was a fantastic fine dining experience overall. Loved the location, perfect spot to see the sunset and also it wasn't as windy as Dr Ali. For the food, I'd say you really need to pick carefully to have the best experience. For entree I'd highly recommend the chicken wing risotto, that IMO is the signature entree for this place. The actual signature mahi mahi was a bit too sour for our liking. For the main, the signature dish was spot on however, the Coral fish was simply exquisite. Interestingly, for such a great entree in the chicken wing risotto, if you ordered the spring chicken or seafood risotto for the main, you might be surprisingly left a bit disappointed with the high expectation set by the entree. Lastly for desert, again you cannot go wrong with the signature rocky road. It will leave you in a really good mood. Overall, Fashala the best dining experience on the island for me!

We also tried the chinese dishes at Dr Ali, in hindsight maybe we should have tried the Arabic food there. It's not bad, but as I have a chinese background we've probably had better chinese food in China. Probably not too wise to travel all this way to have chinese food.

Lastly onto the activities. for me the most memorable one was the turtle quest snorkeling tour. Just a unforgettable experience swimming so close with turtles. Second was the snorkel at Whispering Palms, I saw so much fish whilst swimming near the edge of the cliff that it felt like swimming in a fish tank. I also enjoyed the Addu City tour, which really was an opportunity to see how the locals live. Unfortunately the guide's wife was away, so his house was too messy for us to see, that would have been the cherry on the top!

Finally, the Star Service Award for me goes to Chrystelle from the diving centre, and a Nepalese lifeguard at the Whispering Palms (sorry forgot his name). Although I didn't find the scuba dive offered as much value for a non-certified diver like me (you pay 190 instead of 60, and you can't take photos/videos during the dive), but Chrystelle was impeccable in terms of her coaching in the classroom and also her guidance in the water.

If there is one thing that will stop me from going back, it's the tyranny of distance. The trip into Male was ok, but the fact that the island is on the southern end of the Maldives meant we had to take a 90 min domestic flight to Gan. The engine noise was really loud on this flight and the extra 90 min trip on top of a long travel into Male was challenging. I'm not sure if the resort can do anything about this though. I'd suggest maybe taking an extra stop in Sri Lanka and take a flight from Colombo to Gan to bypass the domestic leg.

Superb service and an out of this world location. I have traveled extensively and have never seen such a fantastic location. Amazing!

Fantastic hotel! Nice people(always very kind), great sea food! Simple but challenging par 3 golf course! Amazing bungalows sea view!

The quality and attitude of the local service staff are very different (but it is still acceptable in the field). ! ! But the environment can have 4 stars (still seeing garbage on the shore from time to time and one of them has an unidentified smell on one night (like the taste of fertilizer)

A staff member named Island Staff will attach a person in charge to the room, but it was meaningless whether you were present or not at your own convenient time. Lol Other services were wonderful. is.

We came on out honeymoon. We were upgraded to the Tree House Villa which is spectacular! Food and drinks are delicious! We got the all inclusive package which is so worth it. Have deep pockets if you go without it. They were so kind to decorate our villa for our arrival for our honeymoon and I've been feeling special the whole time. The staff are so genuinely friendly and happy all the time. This makes such a difference to your every day life here. Also, every room has a free bike which you can ride around the island on. Alternatively, you can call reception and hire a buggy to take you. Overall, it seems they've thought of everything. A wonderful place to be

Compared to Conrad, 4 Seasons, Gili Lanka Fushi and one and only resorts, the Shangri-la is a poor second. Tired in decor, average (at best in service) and gimmicky with all the shows and add ins such as dancers, shows etc the only saving grace were the rooms that were very functional and nicely laid out. The beach was dirty and unpleasant to swim and restaurant service was poor.

Amazing nature, fabulous top notch service. Beautiful rooms. We have the two room beach villas for our family of 5. Large Private pool with ocean view, feels like you are secluded on your own property. Villa 131 is close to snorkeling and main area, highly recommend!

Thank you shangri-la maldives team for your hospitality and best services ...every thing was perfect and much more than expected ..very nice enviroment and people...memorable experience, also the kids were very happy and busy all day with cooking class, meeting the coconut climbers, arts and crafts, tennis and golf excursions....and many many more
And as my 5 years daughter said : I feel soooo sad leaving maldive ....its my home too And I'll miss everything here....when are we coming back????

Best shangri-la, and maldives experience ....

Very extraordinary warm welcome and Goodbye from the staffs and management that we are very impressed. The Resort , the staffs, foods and hospitality are OUTSTANDING!!! What an experience trip to our family as it was out first time in Maldives.

Super friendly staff, excellent arrangements for special occasion large room

The resort is very well designed. However, the sloppy and inattentive service has made it a mediocre experience for us. We had to ask for everything 2-3 times and wait for half a day before it was done. Hotel staff, especially "butlers" and reception clerks were too relaxed and not really caring about anything. Also, you need to talk to the airline about getting another morning departure flight later than 5:30am. And better change the departure boat time so that people don't have to sit one hour at the airport.
In short, you need to care more about your guests to become the real luxury hotel. Which you are not at the moment.

The staff on the resort were amazing. My husband and I went here for our honeymoon and it was the most luxurious holiday we have ever had. The food was excellent as well. We would definitely recommend the holiday package and resort to our friends and family and also hope to return to the island soon.

Good facilities & friendly staff. Great meal buffets.Excelent buggy transportation.

What makes the place very nice? It's the hospitality of the staff from the Gen Manager down to the staff. The whole island is basically your playground. the flora and fauna in the island is diverse it is teeming with corals, colored fishes, sea turtles, small sharks, stingrays, very large fox bats, white terns and lots of geckos. the view is breath taking frim sunrise to sunset if you know where to look. bikes are available as well as a service golf cart Modern facilities and conveniences are also present in case you get bored with nature.

One of the bigger islands, spacious water villas however there are better options in the Maldives. They had some seaweed problem when we stayed there. Best rooms are located on the last jetty of Villas near the golf course. Water are quite deep a d currents can be strong.

if i have more money to spend i will come again and again and again.pleasee invite me

My wife and I came to the Shangri la Maldives for our honeymoon. We spent 6 nights. It was fantastic. The arrival was nice, resort representatives met us in Male and from that point on was seamless. Check in was also quick and appropriate. Assad, our Island Host stayed up to date with us and Ali Hussein, our villa housekeeping was very good and was accommodating to our schedule as we spent most of the time in the watervilla. We enjoyed the Spa and after a mix up on scheduling our couples massage the Spa corrected it immediately. We loved riding around on our bicycles. The one area of our stay that my wife and I were disappointed in though was the food service, specifically in the evenings. Several times we watched the sunset from M Lounge the service was slow, multiple days we were there we received very slow service for the bill, up to 45 minutes to receive it and often after several requests from multiple waiters. On several occasions the waiter would come back to reaffirm what villa we were in prior to bringing the bill. At dinner at Javvu we received other tables beverages and the tables next to ours received our order. At Dr. Ali I ordered a dessert cocktail and I was informed it would take 5-10 minutes to prepare, which is understandable, however, 25 or so minutes later(after our dessert arrived and was finished) the waitress came up and asked how we liked our cocktail and dessert. She was unaware of the fact that I had not received my cocktail yet. There seemed to be some miscommunication between the wait staff at each of the restaurants as to which waiter would bring the food items out. Since these service errors occurred each time we dined at an a la carte restaurant for the evening it was seemed to be more of a trend than an isolated incident. However, due to the fact we were on a relaxing vacation and not on a vacation where we had a strict itinerary to follow it was not a huge annoyance to wait longer after we finished eating for the bill than we would expect from a resort of this quality or for the amount of money the meal cost. Overall we greatly enjoyed our stay and would not hesitate to return, but the evening food service(not the food itself) did leave much to be desired. I still would give my trip 5 stars as the watervilla, island, other resort facilities, and breakfast offerings were beyond amazing.

Excellent stay, everyone we met there was so kind, so warm and so helpful, every things just too good

A tremendous experience for the family. A truly laid back luxury holiday - which was not lip service but the real thing. The villas were fully ready when we reached and there were no major or minor hiccups throughout. Each day fitted into the next with ease. Our whims were all catered to - such fine attention to detailing behind the scenes! All kudos to Philippe and his team who did a marvelous job to make the holiday count. What fantastic teamwork - rare! The farewell too was so heartfelt that it left us aching to be back, and we shall. We truly felt cared. Thank you!

This is the most fantasy place in the world. Absolutely incredible service and a location that is absolutely indescribable.
The ultimate luxury resort.

Fantastic resort. Top of the shelf staff, facilities and food and beverages.Luxury beyond expectations. Location in close proximity to Gan international airport simplified the arrival process. The over water bungalows were enormous and superbly equipped - almost beyond belief. The house attendants, wait staff, chefs and management all excelled to a standard never experienced before in our many years of high end travelling. Special mention should be made in respect of Shyam, our Nepalese house attendant who excelled at proving service

Lifetime vacation from the luxurious stay and co-ordination between the entire staff to the delightful food and transcendent moments of awe !! I just can t thank u enough ( Naji Osta - Ali Muzahem - Zina Grech - Aishwarya Devaiah - Ruwaida Abela

Wonderful resort. I went here with my husband and our daughter. We stayed in the water villa which was huge. We spent 8 days here. They provided us 3 bicycles for our villas. We biked to the restaurants, to swim at the beach, to do snorkeling.
The coral at this resort was incredible. There were many kinds of coral and also huge corals. We found black-tip sharks, sea turtles, many kinds of fish here by just snorkeling from the beach of the resort.
There were several restaurants which you could choose to enjoy each day. We had never got bored here.
We will come back for sure. We love this resort.

We would expect the island host to provide more information regarding the activities at the resort so that guests would not miss out on any activities

Fantastic resort. Great food, the island is beautiful and well kept. Service of great level. Cleaning very good. Only complain about diving, not well organized for the guests as like us stay longer, and rental price of equipment is out of market, is a pity as there are so many dives on the atoll . We made 25 dives paying more than 500 USD for rental of BCD regulator and fins. It seems diving is focused for people staying few days and making 3 or 4 dives. I complained about it to the diving manager but I had no satisfaction

Wonderful tropical island vacation stay
Great for families, couples or groups. Lots of activities available, well equipped gym, exceptional food.

The only point to improve is to action outdoor tables as smoking and non smoking.

Rooms good (although a mix up with agent left us with a sour taste). Facilities are excellent. Staff are superb. Spa was one of the best. Food was a complete disaster, not the actual food but waiting. We waited over 1 hour on average for food, waited on average around 15 minutes for water and drinks to the table (ended up self serving when i could). Buffet meats took ages, eggs and pancakes at breakfast were also slow with a queue everytime. On the basis of the amount of time wasted waiting for food i would probably not come again. The local band, the 5 guys was superb and throughly enjoyable. The lounge lacked atmosphere i have experienced at other resorts. The coral, the water and the feeling of paradise is undeniable - if the food had been delivered quicker then this would have rated as a top destination, food experience is so key at a resort like this and must be made better.