Angaga Island Resort & Spa

Beautiful! 😍 We had half board, and both breakfast and dinner were fresh and tasty. The servers were attentive and really kind. I stuck to cooked or packaged food and avoided open bowls of pre-cut fruit, and my stomach was fine the whole stay. At breakfast, I’d have liked options such as oatmeal and nuts. It would also be nice to see healthier snacks and more variety on the main bar menu. I’m not keen on jams, spreads, and sauces left in big open bowls. Smaller servings that get replaced as they run out would feel fresher. Still, everything we ate was very good.

The house reef was the highlight for me. We went snorkeling several times a day and saw black and white tipped sharks, sting rays, eagle rays, turtles, loads of fish, and even an octopus. Our room was on the sunset side, and the sunsets were fantastic. We stayed in one of the older overwater bungalows, which I thought was great. The newer ones seem farther from the restaurants, though they do have a sunset bar. Our room was cleaned twice daily, and Firat gave us wonderful service in the restaurant. The buffet had lots of choice and was good. Even with high occupancy, we barely noticed the other guests, and there were always plenty of tables when we went for dinner. We also did two snorkeling excursions, a manta ray trip, and a spa visit, and I’d recommend them all. The team answering our questions while booking was responsive and helpful. The only stressful part was the seaplane back to Male, which was more than an hour late. Luckily, the resort arranged special help to speed things up once we landed, and the seaplane team met us and took us straight to the airport so we could make our flight home. We’re so glad we chose Angaga. It exceeded our expectations.

The staff are very friendly, and the island has lovely fish and a beautiful reef. My villa had no beach in front of it, just a cliff, and the beach elsewhere also needs work. The villas are a bit dated and could use renovation. It looks like they’re trying to improve things, though. I may come back in two years if the villas and beach have had some renovations.

The spa was the one place that felt up to the standard I’d expect across the resort. It has very good facilities, and the massages were excellent. Most staff were also warm and welcoming, particularly at the main restaurant, reception, and dive center. The bar teams were an exception. Food had decent variety, and I appreciated the effort to reuse ingredients creatively, such as making salads from previous meals. Some things could be better: the ice cream tasted artificial, the meat could be more tender, the croissants lacked flavor, and mango should be served daily when it’s in season in the Maldives. The rest of the property feels around 30 years old and only partly renovated, apart from some newer overwater bungalows. Facilities are dated and poorly maintained. By today’s standards, I don’t think this is a four-star resort, and the price doesn’t compare well with other Maldivian resorts in the same category. I’m an EHL Hotel Business School graduate and have worked in several luxury hotels, including resorts in the Maldives, so this feedback comes from my experience of hospitality standards. There’s a generator running around the clock in the center of the small island. Its constant hum carries to the bungalows and beaches, including at night when you’d hope to hear the waves. Staff dining and operational areas are also close to guest areas, and unpleasant smells linger in several places. Fresh water isn’t complimentary with meals. The paid water comes in single-use PET bottles, which seems inconsistent with sustainability at a Maldives resort. The rooms need attention too: mattresses are very old and extremely hard, and the provided sur-mattresses smelled musty, as if they’d been stored poorly. Furniture and fittings look more than 20 years old, while walls show visible wear. The beach loungers are old, narrow, and uncomfortable, with mattresses only around 2 cm thick. Bar service was poor, tables were dirty, staff had very limited English, and even simple drinks took a long time. Manta and whale shark excursions went to areas in front of other resorts, more than an hour away by boat. Guests joked that it would have been cheaper to stay nearer those sites instead of paying for long, expensive trips. We paid USD 450 for a three-hour private boat, which felt excessive for the service. We were lucky to see a whale shark, and that made the day memorable, but the price still seemed disproportionate. The souvenir shop also offered questionable value for money. Angaga Island Resort has potential because of its location and staff. Without a major renovation, better sustainability practices, and more consistent service, though, I don’t think it justifies its four-star positioning or its prices.