After spending a plenty of time and words for selection, we choose this resort due mainly to its convenient location. And it turned out to be an excellent choice for our first trip to the Maldives.

Room :
We stayed in a beach bungalow 127 on the sunset side. Although we found out later that there were more fun-spots for snorkeling in the sunrise-side-shoal, more secluded atmosphere of the sunset side seemed more favorable as our room location. In addition, we were lucky to be in the centre of island to enjoy all of the resort facilities.
The room was well-equipped and well-presented. The bed was comfortable to rest and bathtub was spacious enough to relax. Although we spent most of our time outside, we found excellent housekeeping care of the staff every time we returned from the activities.
We were pleased to find in the bathroom the L’Oocitane body cream and suntan jelly which worked perfectly after sun bathing.

Activities :
We joined the fish-talk lecture, snorkel tour and beach walk, all of which are highly recommendable for better understanding of the nature. Instructions by Katie, biologist and tour chaperon, was of our great value, and we are sure that the more you know about the nature, the more you like the Maldives.
Justin’s Yoga lesson, which turned out to be our private one, was also worth to join. Believe it or not, we can still make good use of his breathing method even after we returned to our home and office.
All the staffs in the water sports centre were very helpful. We recommend you to pop in their office even if you have no specific plans of the day. You will receive some useful information to make your day more enjoyable.

Food :
There were variety of foods available at the Café Huraa for breakfast with which we never got bored. Though it may have been a matter of our choice ( pasta and risotto ), our dinner at the Reef Club was not satisfactory to its price. We would rather recommend this place as a spot to see the sunset with their tasty lime-soda.
You would better not miss the Baraabaru, Indian restaurant where both quality and quantity are the best in the resort. Our minor notes were that the table-reservation seemed not well taken care of by the staffs, who assigned seats just with an arrival order and that, unfortunately, its attire request of ‘smart casual’ was not well-followed. But the place is still worth to dine particularly if you plan ‘special’ during your stay.

Spa :
We were there twice, one for the body massage and one for the body-wrapping treatment, both of which are highly recommendable. It could be better if its shop would offer original goods as a souvenir for the spa-users.

Service :
Excellent! We cannot describe this resort without mentioning the excellent hospitality of all the staffs. In every facilities and situation, we were treated by their friendly manner.

To be very frank, there were some below-expectation points; lack of feeling to be on an island as the place seems connected to its neighboring resorts, noise from boasts going around and so on. However, as a whole, we were satisfied with our first stay in the Maldives mainly because of the quality of service offered by this resort.
Although there are other attractive newer resorts available in the Maldives, we will come back to the FS at Kuda Huraa where we are sure to enjoy its excellent hospitality again.

Rarely am I so impressed in any 5 star hotels that I feel compel to write a review. We were in Maldives for an impulse vacation, and I came back truly impressed. I have been to my share of resort type hotels around the world, I dare say nowhere had I received better service. Thanks Afrief - front desk manager, Ken Zheng - Asia Sou Chef, Samouth - Head Chef, Jim - Excusion Director, Christian - lovely front desk intern, Adam - Front desk staff, Julia - Matre'D at indian restaurant, Joseph Daniel - Assit Rest Manager, Nazeer - Diving Center, Katie - Marine Biologist;, Sugi - Spa, and most most of all, Zhury - diving center, whose attentiveness is unparallel! Everyone try to offer you a service with a smile, and I had one of the most relaxing vaca in a long time! We stay in a beach bungalow with our private pool facing west with lovely view of sunset. The room is very decent size and quite splendid, although in terms of luxury, not as nice as some other hotel such as the Nam Hai, Vietnam (Another Highly rated hotel in my view!) but nonetheless it was wonderful, and peaceful. The diving around the hotel was one of the best, and the hotel has many acitivities to keep their guest busy. Only two suggestions, and I am being very picky i know...but I am slightly disappointed at the sparce collection of English books in the library; and the amenities in the room could be nicer if you are charging US 950/night, I expect to see toothbrush, shaving cream etc. Nonetheless, the people really makes all the difference...great hotel, highly recommended!!

It was our first visit to Four Seasons Kuda Huraa but not to the Maldives (previously twice to One&Only Kanuhura, superb resort).
1) Accomodation: We (3 adults) stayed in a beach pavilion which was big enough for the king sized bed and an extra bed. The rooms are nicely furbished and has amenities you need or don’t need (who needs tv?), but bring your ipod to hook on the sound system. The bathroom has beside all the usual a great outdoor shower. A big bravo for house keeping.
Outside you have an nice small pool (cleaned every day), loungers and a great daybed.
2) Location on the island: the pavilions are situated on the windy side and this mild breeze is definitely welcome (30°C day and night). Some pavilions have more privacy than others, we stayed in 119 which was secluded enough. The beaches are not that great (rough sand and corals compared to other islands, sounds silly but you’ll notice when you try to walk barefoot on the shore) and are smaller than on the bungalow side. Both sides have a nice view (which cannot be said for the watervilla’s. We visited one and were quiet disappointed by the view, next island resort way to close, you can wave hello so ask for one with an unspoiled view.).
3) Snorkelling: not our favourite island for snorkelling, you need a boat to get to the house reef.
4) Dive centre: Excellent dive centre: high safety standards, good equipment and exceptional dive sites.
5) Gym: well equipped and very friendly staff (thank you for the much needed cold towels).
6) Food:
- Main restaurant: great breakfast buffet and good food for diner.
- Baraabaru: do the Kasbah night, best Indian food ever (even compared to India), we were hooked and the chef is so great (he made an extra dish off menu for my husband). We would go back even for his cooking alone.
- Reef Club: sadly a bit of a disappointment. Even the “bit” is maybe to nice. The pasta was so poorly/not cooked, we couldn’t eat it. The second evening we went there, they got it right though.
7) Spa: I took a massage, a facial, a pedicure and a manicure. All very good treatments and what a location!
Overall, a great resort, good qualified and friendly staff, good value for money. We will definitely return!

I have just literally returned from a stunning 9 days in the Maldives in the company of my family of 5.

The combination of location's, The Four Seasons and the One and Only Reethi Rah the scenery, the service and the experiences leaves us rested ,rejuvinated and planning to return.

We were met by the Four Seasons staff at the airport and transported the 35mins to the Four Seasons Kuda Huraa where on arrival we had the only real glitch of our stay a 2 hour wait for our two beach bungalow properties, after 18 hours travel , not really a great start! This seems to be a common problem with the early morning flights as there were approximately 8 people in similar circumstances, searching through luggage to get into swim wear.

When we finally got into the beach bungalows they were well up to Four Seasons standards, and the house keeping chaps were great. The individual pools looked out onto the reef side of the resort which was much quieter than the pavillion side, and whilst we were there did not benefit from the cooling breeze so it was pretty hot, but thank goodness for the pools!

The food in the main restaurant is very good ,we adore asian cuisine and fresh fish so a good choice and combination was always available, interestingly I found out when comparing the costs we incurred at our second hotel the One and Only Reethi Rah it was around 35% more expensive.

One disappointment was the reef club Italian which served one of the most inedible pasta dishes with octopus I have ever had, I returned it and did not go back!

The sports and leisure facilities were good, fantastic small reef on property and plenty of fish. Great small quiet gym.We took the nightime fishing trip 3 times and were able to catch some amazing and varied fish. The hotel will cook your catch for you and charge $15 per person-
The staff here are wonderful, friendly, knowledgeable and mostly local which was really impressive.

After 5 nights we transferred to the One and Only Reethi Rah via the hotel motor launch, it took about 45 mins direct.

This hotel is on a different scale with some of the most amazing villas I have ever experienced. We had rooms 144 and 146 and there were stunning, This is a larger hotel spread out across a long thin Island of approximately 3 kms, but each group of villas are clustered around their own beach, so you feel totaly secluded.

You are met by your own 'butler' who offers a foot massage and then he arranges your restaurant and leisure bookings.

We ate the first night at the main Reethi restaurant , a large and exquisite dining experience,( very similar to the Chedi in Oman for those who know) the bar is very showy and I was surprised that when my daughters cocktail glass broke as she was drinking and subsequently forced into a change of clothing we did not get an aplogy or even an offer of a free drink....A bit impersonal prehaps?

The resort has a much greater number of Europeans and non locals working there and I think this leads to a lack of warmth and service, we saw it in the gym, the Japanese restaurant and some of the shops. Generally we felt the location and the food was stunning, amongst the best we have experienced in 30 years of 5 star travelling, yet something was not quiet right with the overall experience.

Interesting whilst the food was good value compared to the Four Seasons, the leisure costs were also less expensive at Reethi Rah, we took out big game fishing trips at both and Reethi Rah was almost half the price!

So in summary both resorts are amongst the best you will experience, both have their own charms and strengths and in our view we were very glad that we had the balance of both.

The Maldives are still developing, they will continue to thrive and we will be going back!