After a whirlwind tour of Sri Lanka, we boarded our hour flight to Male, the capital of the Maldives, or as I like to call it, Heaven on Earth! The Maldives have always been my ultimate honeymoon destination and it almost didn’t feel real to finally be there! I actually had butterflies as I was so excited to be visiting (and honeymooning) in a place which has been at the top of my bucket list for as long as I can remember. For our honeymoon we had completely splurged and booked 7 nights at LUX* South Ari Atoll in one of their Romantic Pool Water Villas. I don’t think I will ever forget a moment of our seaplane trip over the beautiful islands and atolls of the Maldives, to landing at LUX* and seeing our overwater bungalow for the very first time. The Maldives were honestly the most magical of honeymoon destinations and both of us have agreed many times since that it was worth every cent for a honeymoon experience in paradise that we will truly never forget.
LUX* offers its guests the use of their private lounge at the Male International Airport seaplane terminal whilst waiting for your seaplane. Our lovely LUX* host who met us at the airport quickly checked us in for our seaplane flight before whisking us to the lounge. It was the perfect place to relax after travelling and a taste of what was to come at the resort. The lounge is beautiful, bright and stylish with complementary homemade sandwiches, cakes, macarons and other sweets as well as fresh coffee and plenty of other drinks. There are also showers and bathrooms so you can freshen up, and take full advantage of the amazing creams, scrubs and sprays from the LUX* spa line. We felt wonderfully pampered and refreshed by the time we were called for our seaplane.
The seaplane trip from Velana International Airport with Trans Maldivian Airways was an experience we will never forget! Trans Maldivian Airways actually operate the largest fleet of seaplanes in the world which we were really impressed by. I think the pilots must have one of the best jobs in the world, they all wear shorts, are generally barefoot and get to travel all over this beautiful country every single day!
The flight from Male to LUX* took about half an hour and every second of the journey was breathtakingly beautiful as we flew over the atolls and islands of the Maldives. Seaplane transfers are not cheap but they are worth it and are also the quickest mode of transportation to your resort! For our return flights to LUX* we paid USD$449 each. It is also important to keep in mind that the seaplanes are small and if you don’t stay within the baggage restriction of 20kg per person for checked luggage + 5kg for hand luggage then you will be charged for each additional kilogram of baggage.
About 30 minutes after taking off we started to descend and soon could see LUX* island! We were already in awe of the overwater bungalows and I think I actually squealed when we saw all of the staff lined up on the jetty waving to our seaplane! We soon found out that LUX* has over 300 employees, and they have staff from almost every country in the world, all of whom are incredible and went above and beyond to make sure we had the best stay!
As you can see we were pretty stoked to have finally arrived!
We met Daisy who checked us in and ran us through everything we needed to know about the island, the resort and most importantly, our all-inclusive package! Once we were checked in we were taken across the overwater walkways to the overwater bungalows! The water was so stunningly blue and crystal clear and we couldn’t believe how many fish we saw on this short walk!
Our water villa was the sixth from the right in the picture below which meant we didn’t have to walk too far which suited us perfectly! We fell in love with our water villa the moment we saw it and in our next post I’m going to be sharing all the photos and amazing extras which came with our water villa! We’ve been lucky enough to stay in some pretty amazing places around the world, but I honestly don’t know if we will ever manage to top our water villa at LUX*.
Once we had checked out our water villa and I’d managed to slightly calm my excitement and stop squealing, we decided to check out the island and of course have some cocktails! When we were researching which resort to book, we noticed a lot of resorts don’t start the all inclusive package until the afternoon/dinner time and finish at 12pm on your final day. Our flights to the Maldives arrived early in the morning and our flight home wasn’t until late at night and so we were really happy to see that LUX* starts your all-inclusive package from the moment you arrive until the moment you leave in your seaplane!
Our first stop was Lagoon Bar! We loved the laid-back beachy vibe at Lagoon Bar and the chilled-out music they played! Lagoon Bar was certainly one of our regular wining and dining venues throughout the week and it was one of Dan’s favourites on the island, mostly because of all of the surfboards. It was here that I found my favourite cocktail, the Pineapple and Passionfruit Margarita mmmmmm! I won’t tell you how many I had during the week, but I will tell you that they are wonderfully refreshing and sweet!
After a few cocktails at Lagoon Bar we wandered up through the island to our next stop, Veli Bar! Here we had a delicious lunch and plenty more cocktails! Veli Bar is also another really cool bar which is open during the daytime for drinks and food. It was by the island’s main pool and was the perfect place to swim, drink and dine without having to move more than a few metres… talk about relaxation!
After lunch, we headed back to enjoy our water villa and have our first dip in both our infinity pool and the Maldivian waters! We were in love with the Maldives from the minute we arrived and after spending our first few hours exploring some of the island and indulging in delicious food and cocktails, we knew that we never wanted to leave!
Keep an eye out for our next post where we’ll be showing you through our epic overwater villa, complete with private infinity pool and cinema!
