Ayada Maldives

Ayada may not be the newest, most beautiful, or cheapest resort in the Maldives, but it's undoubtedly one of the best we've ever been to. This is, of course, due to the beautiful Gaaf Dhaal Atoll, but also, and perhaps above all, to the staff. It's been a long time since we've encountered such a dedicated team, who truly went above and beyond to make our stay exceptional. Mr. Simon, the general manager, was everywhere and always there. In the evening, over dinner, he found time to chat with almost everyone. It was even a thrill to see him handing over suitcases at the dock. The Butler service was also a very pleasant experience. Ours was the head butler, Zeeshan Haider, and as you might expect, he was incredibly helpful. We also recommend the team at the diving center; they were professional, helpful, and extremely kind. The food was also excellent. Our favorite restaurant is Kai.

Our 7 night honeymoon at Ayada Maldives last April was out of this world! We had the most incredible time, before even leaving I was already planning when we can come back. From the moment we arrived, Zee welcomed us and was our go-to person! I couldn’t thank him enough for everything he did and made our trip so memorable - from planning our dinners every night to fun activities to do & everything in between I couldn’t fault anything at all! Food at Ayada was amazing also, the fire show on the beach & teppanyaki was defiantly the stand out for us. So many options and having the all-inclusive option was so worth it I wouldn’t do it any other way. We cannot wait to come back again soon, thank you again Ayada Maldives!!!

We came here for our honeymoon, 10/10 experience. The resort is beyond beautiful with amazing food and activities, but the staff truly makes the difference. They work so hard to ensure everything is seamless and stress-free. If you want a 5-star stay where you feel genuinely looked after, this is the place!

Ayada Maldives is amazing! We had a great stay in our beautiful ocean villa, with great snorkeling and swimming. Our butler, Nihad, was exceptional and he helped us with all of our reservations and accommodated anything we needed. We loved the breakfast selection, and one of my favorite experiences was dinner at Mizu. Our chefs, Waou and Felix, were so entertaining and truly made this amazing meal into a super fun night. We also enjoyed our Indonesian cooking class with chef Rexy, who was very kind and expert.

We had the most amazing stay at Ayada Maldives for our honeymoon. From the moment we arrived, the experience felt special and incredibly well thought out. While Ayada is a little difficult to reach, requiring a domestic flight from Malé followed by a speedboat, the resort handled all the logistics so seamlessly both ways that it felt completely hassle-free. Everything was organised perfectly, allowing us to relax and enjoy the journey without any stress. Our butler, Bev, was absolutely outstanding and made a huge difference to our stay. He was incredibly responsive, attentive, and nothing was ever too much trouble. From arranging dinner reservations to ensuring we had everything we needed in our villa, he took care of every detail and made us feel so well looked after. The marine life around the resort is incredible. My husband went scuba diving and had an amazing experience, seeing rays, sharks, and lots of beautiful fish. We also snorkelled the house reef several times, and it was hands down the best snorkelling we’ve ever done. The sea life was so vibrant, and we loved how easily accessible it was, right outside our villa. We stayed in an overwater ocean villa, which was such a unique and memorable experience. The room was very clean, well maintained, and offered stunning views with direct access to the sea. While the décor is slightly more traditional and a bit dated, it did add a rustic charm and everything felt comfortable and seamless throughout our stay. One of the unexpected highlights was having bikes to cycle around the resort. It was such a fun and relaxing way to get around and explore the island, and it almost became an activity in itself. As a vegan and vegetarian couple, the food was truly one of the biggest highlights of our stay and honestly made the experience even more incredible. The chefs went above and beyond to cater to our dietary requirements, and the level of care, creativity, and quality was outstanding. Every meal was delicious, thoughtfully prepared, and tailored exactly to what we wanted. A huge thank you to Chef Tulsi, Chef Risman, Chef Manoj Asanka, and the pastry chef, Buddika, who even surprised us with incredible vegan desserts. You would never think you were on a secluded island with the amount of variety and abundance they were able to provide. The overall resort is beautiful, with a stunning pool, incredible beach and lovely restaurants. While it would have been nice to have more pools and a slightly more social vibe in the evenings, the resort did offer excellent evening entertainment, which was always well done and enjoyable. Overall, Ayada Maldives was a fantastic resort for us. From the service and food to the marine life and setting, it was a truly unforgettable experience.

The best resort I've been to. We spent there 1.5 weeks this November and it was wonderful. We had beach villa with pool room - it was spacious and offered a lot of privacy due to secluded garden (with a pool) which also offered direct access to the beach. One of the important reasons we picked this resort was spectacular house reef (we snorkel). It's easily available from the beach and has amazing coral quality and variety (despite several bleaching events in Maldives over last 10 years) and it shows strong regrowth. Fish life was a bit less impressive than in e.g. Havodda, but still it was very good (with a lot of reef sharks). Another highlight of the resort was food - the dinner buffet is probably the best we've experienced with virtually each theme dinner offering some delicious meals. Apart from that there are several a'la carte restaurants of which I strongly recommend Ocean Breeze - it's overwater and offers sunset views over the ocean - great for romantic dinner.

Special thanks to Miss Oyku Coban for her interests and helpful behaviours. She cooked delicious foods and also serves good. Thanks a lot to her intersets. Merkhat Toktiyev also helped us during our stay whenever we wanted. He is nice and hardworking employee.

Amazing property, large and beautiful, staff and service is superb. Special thanks to our butler Abdul and waiter. They have amazing medical services on site. We gave 4 stars due to the food which is an important aspect for us, we only visited the buffet restaurants which were the ones included in the all inclusive package. There was variety of foods and every day there was a different theme but mostly all tasted bland, meat, chicken and fish all tasted boiled, specially beef (I couldn’t have beef any time regardless the preparation) the chicken and beef had different sauces and stuff but always tasted boiled, some days I went hungry. The grilled meats mostly overcooked, dry and hard to chew. I tied everything and would leave it on the plate after the first bite. I had to eat pizza or pasta. Deserts were terrible most of the time, except the gulab that was superb. One day they had mango slices which I loved it. Drinks were good and bar Zero Degree had nice options for snacks. It seemed that buffet is tailored for Chinese guests but I have tried better Chinese food in Alaska. Breakfast was good, fresh juice is prepared for you. If the food is important for you then it’s not the place for you, a la carte restaurants maybe better but I can’t say. Beds were extremely hard, only downside to the rooms, otherwise rooms were very nice and spacious. Facilities are good, everything is beautifully placed, there is a tennis court, volleyball court, play station, pool table, table tennis. The spa was extremely nice, thank you to my therapist Sri from Bali. We are divers and usually do 10-12 dives in the resorts in Maldives but we acknowledge that not everybody does that so this part didn’t influence our review at all. If you are a diver and plan on diving, don’t go to this resort, the diving ops are terrible, it could be great but I don’t know why it was awful. The dive center staff are nice and friendly but it doesn’t translate to a good experience. They won’t take you to any good spots, I read a review about this before going but did not listen and man I was so disappointed. I don’t know if it’s the captain or what but no channel dives, no current dives. If you are interested in the Tiger sharks in Fuvamulah, you better go to the local Island because apparently, none of the resorts in the area will take you there despite being only 2h on speed boat. Probably less than that. You would have to pay 3000 dollars and be gone for 2 days to book a boat. It’s such a shame because the contrary is if you are only interested in snorkeling, this is the most beautiful house reef I ever encountered in Maldives, except it’s lack in clownfish LOL. Lots of fish, healthy hard coral, sharks, turtles, eagle rays. If this is the house reef, I cannot imagine how many great dive sites are out there. We went to Fun thila, nice but I would have stayed snorkeling in the house reef, also the turtle place, the house reef is 10 times better than that. They say there is no manta point in the Atoll, I think they meant to say, they hadn’t found the manta points because they are not investigating enough. Always excuses were depending on weather, they never guarantee a dive site, they will take you to the whatever they want with the newbies. We decided after 2 dives that it wasn’t worth it. This place is definitely not tailored to divers. Go to Villamendhoo instead. I highly recommend Ayada if you are going on honeymoon, romantic, family travel with kids, kind won’t get bored here, amazing snorkeling in the house reef. Not for scuba diving or if you’re a picky eater.