Note: I mainly used my phone to take photos.
For our honeymoon, Mr FPJ and I booked in 5 nights at the Maldives (because #yolo). We purchased a package deal with Luxury Escapes at Finolhu resort in Baa Atoll. The package covered everything – return domestic transfers, an overwater villa (we paid extra to upgrade to a pool villa), all meals and unlimited alcohol/drinks. It took us about 36 hours in total, including stop overs, to finally reach the Maldives. That’s 5 flights plus a boat ride to get to our island. Finolhu looks like it has a long tail from all of the over water villas joined up by a boardwalk.
When we arrived at around 7.30pm, we were greeted by our host who took us to reception, sat us down, provided us with welcome drinks, and went through general information about the island. There are no cars on the small island, only golf buggies. We were driven to our over water villa and shown around. It looked like this. Bliss!
Hang get loose at Groovy Finolhu. 🤩🤩🤩Click on link to find out more: http://www.finolhu.com/events/ #finolhu #finolhumaldives #lagoon #overwaterbungalow #poolside #islandplayground #groovysparkle #retrorevival #borntoplay #mybeachclubhaven #couplegoals #endlesssummer #maldives #indianocean #baaatoll
As a honeymoon gift, there was champagne in a bucket of ice, some fresh fruit and a congratulatory welcome card waiting for us on the kitchen bench.
The entire villa was bigger than my apartment. The emperor-sized bed (I didn’t even know it could come in emperor-sized) was massive! The bed looked out onto the back deck, over our private pool, and over the ocean. There was no kitchen sink since all food comes from the main dining area which meant we didn’t have to do any washing up.
It was spacious but still comfortable and felt cosy.
The huge bathroom had a bath tub that looked out towards the ocean. There was also an indoor shower on the other side of the bathroom.
In addition to the indoor shower, we also had two outdoor showers (a private shower on the front deck and one on the back deck) because you can’t have too many showers.
After giddily exploring our new digs, we were driven back by golf buggy to the main dining hall for a quick dinner. There’s buffet dinners every night of the week with a rotating theme – that night was Italian night (sorry I was too tired and hungry to take photos).
Day 1 – The next morning, we woke up to this…
The most beautiful view from the bed!
We then strolled to Baa Baa beach club, the main dining pavilion (1km from the villas) for breakfast. We were greeted by one of the servers who asked for our villa number and took our coffee orders. There were some tables outside right on the beach and we snagged one before the majority of people arrived.
There were plenty of tables in the open-air pavilion.
There were breakfast stations dotted around different parts of the pavilion. There was one stationed in the open-air offering breads, pastries and some ethnic cuisines.
There were so many pastries to choose from – freshly baked croissants, pain au chocolat, danishes, madeleines, muffins, banana bread and more.
There’s a different breakfast special every morning which I found out rotated between pancakes, waffles and crepes. The first morning was pancake day! The various toppings to the side included Nutella, maple syrup, jams, custards, fresh fruit, and whipped cream.
Freshly deep fried doughnuts were also being made. These were so fluffy and light!
Next to the bread toaster were crates of different varieties of bread, and there was also a separate stand for varieties of gluten free bread.
Next to the bread sat different jams as well as Pepe Saya butter.
I even found Vegemite which the Maldivians describe as ‘…a sick black Australian food spread’. Haha.
Inside, there was a station for hot foods where you could order eggs your way – poached, fried, boiled or scrambled.
There were the regular hot breakfast staples such as different sausages and bacon. I liked that they sat the greasy food on top of bread which assisted in soaking in all the fat.
In the middle, lay a cold breakfast station that had a selection of cured meats and salmon, bagels and condiments.
On the other side, there were raw vegetables that could be dipped into five various dips, with dressing and olive oil in case you just wanted to make a salad.
I was happy to know that we would never go hungry during breakfast. Apart from the food, we could also order coffee/tea, juice and anything from the drinks menu (if you wanted to start that early). After breakfast, we explored the resort facilities. The main pool was large with plenty of sun lounges and beach umbrellas on either side.
The two-storey entertainment complex has a bar on the ground floor where live music was played each night. The top floor has more lounge chairs and a view of the beach and resort. It’s also above the pool’s waterfall and swim-up bar.
Inside there’s a pool table, foosball table, pin ball machine and a few arcade games, as well as a theatre with movie projector and bean bags.
We headed to the beach and lay under one of the many beach umbrellas on some sun lounges.
I ordered my first mocktail (of plenty) on the beach. The Lemon Juleb – citrus, coconut flesh, mandarin, rose water and passionfruit muddled and served long. This ended up being my favourite mocktail on the island. It was fantastic having beach service.
Apart from the regular beach drink service, staff also bring around complimentary treats such as a drink of the day, fruit skewers and icy poles, as well as cold towels which were much appreciated.
The icy poles that day were kiwi fruit and blueberry. Very fruity and moreish.
After hours of doing not much at all on the beach, it was time to head back in for lunch. I can’t seem to find any photos of lunch as it was a much smaller food service than breakfast and dinner. I remember rice, some stews/curries and salads. There was also fresh fruit and some desserts which is the only photo I took.
We also ordered more drinks – Mr FPJ slowly working his way through some cocktails and me working my way through the mocktails. I had the Happy Hibiscus – housemade lemonade, hibiscus tea, blueberries, mint and sweetened agave syrup.
We enjoyed our complimentary 15 minute massages at the spa on the island. The massages came with welcome drinks (a wonderful cucumber mocktail) on the beach while we had our shoulder, neck and head massages on sun lounges underneath the shade of some umbrellas. I enjoyed it so much that I ended up booking in for a 1 hour massage in a few days time.
We decided it was time to walk back to our villa to enjoy the pool and ocean. I still can’t get over the gorgeous turquoise (or Maldivian blue as they like to call it) of the water. The photos do not do it justice – it was stunning and picture perfect.
Back at our villa, we could not have asked for a better afternoon to enjoy the sunshine and water. We were very lucky that it stayed this way for our entire visit (staff told us that just the week before we arrived, it was pouring down with rain).
We spent many hours in the pool or ocean (there’s a ladder from the deck into the ocean if you don’t want to jump in), laying on our sun lounges, reading books, and staring out at that beautiful view.
The carefully positioned white privacy screen slats allowed us to enjoy the views in peace (though we were quite lucky that we had no neighbours on either side of us). I think this is because we were there in December which off-peak season.
Our package included two dinners at the other restaurants on the island other than the main dining hall. On our second night, our host booked us into the more upmarket Asian restaurant, Kanusan.
The 8pm reservation meant that it was going to be a late dinner for us (it was completely booked for the early time slots). At 8pm, our table wasn’t yet ready so we were asked to sit near the bar and have some drinks. Our table was meant to be by the water, but as it was already very dark outside with plenty of tables indoors, we opted for an indoor table instead.
As it was our honeymoon, we had a special menu created for us titled ‘Love Me Tender.’
There were two choices per course so we each ordered the alternating dishes so we could try both. Dinner started off with steamed pork buns which was more bun than filling.
The peking duck pancakes came pre-rolled. I liked the pancakes which were soft and seemed fresh. However there were a lot of spring onions stuffed into each roll with only a tiny sliver of duck.
The crispy fried squid was a much larger entree and we enjoyed the lightly salted squid tossed with lime in the salad.
A small bowl of pho bo (beef pho) came next. The broth didn’t have the depth or complexity of a Vietnamese pho but it did have a nice spicy kick at the end.
The first of the mains was the barramundi with Thai basil and peppercorn. Unfortunately, the fish was obviously not fresh as it was still frozen and raw in the middle. We left this aside and told our waitress when plates were being cleared. We also received sides of green beans and tofu.
The roasted lamb chops were a much tastier main – well cooked and still pink in the middle. The accompanying mushroom and pepper sauce was delicious.
At this point, the chef came out to our table to apologise for the under-cooked fish. We were offered a different dessert to what was printed on the menu to make up for it. We received a huge tub filled with ice and an assortment of desserts – mango pudding, chocolate mousse cake, sheep’s milk yoghurt tarts, fruit skewers and fried chocolate fingers. We were happy with the personal apology and extra dessert. The chef then asked how long we were staying for and to come by The Fish Shack (on the other end of the island) for lunch in the next few days as he would be working there, and he’d cook us a perfect fish. That was really thoughtful.
The nightlife at Finolhu includes a nightly live band, dancing and drinking at the bar. If you’re partial to hookah, there are several set up outside for an additional cost.
Day 2 – For breakfast the next morning, we noticed there were a few different options to the previous morning.
There were plenty of yoghurts to choose from.
And a couple of different pastries.
It was waffle day and I couldn’t resist trying one which was freshly made right in front of me.
I added maple syrup, Nutella and whipped cream on my waffles and enjoyed this at a table on the beach. The waffle was so soft yet crispy on the outside. I was tempted to go back and order a second waffle, but opted to get something savoury instead.
I ordered eggs benedict with ham at the egg counter. The eggs were beautifully poached and you can’t beat the view of the sunrise.
As with the previous day, we found some sun lounges under an umbrella on the beach to read and relax. Mocktails and cocktails were ordered. I had the Berry Lime Tea – a herbal infusion with fresh lime, vanilla and berries.
There’s a more limited assortment of food available for lunch but the staples are rice, curry, some sort of stewed meat, vegetables, salad, and cold meats.
Of course we ordered more drinks with our lunch.
There’s also always dessert and fresh fruit. I had a choux pastry filled with custard, a mini cheesecake and some fruit.
During the lunch time service, the resort provides some entertainment such as this variety showman who juggles, plays with fire and more.
We also spotted a mermaid swimming and sitting by the pool. Turns out she’s from the UK and working in the Maldives.
In the late afternoon, we booked ourselves into a sunset cruise and dolphin watching. We climbed to the top floor of the boat to get the best view and were lucky to see a few dolphins swimming beside us and ahead of us.
For dinner that night, on top of the usual foods, there was a selection of roasted meats available with various gravies and sauces.
There was a different selection of breads – some foccacia, ciabatta and olive bread.
There was a whole table filled with desserts which changed each night.
I was excited to try the tiramisu dome but was disappointed as it was filled with a sour-like cream, perhaps too much mascarpone.
So that this post isn’t too long, I’ll continue the next half of our stay at Finolhu Maldives in Part 2…
Finolhu
Kanufushi Island Baa Atoll
Maldives
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