OBLU XPERIENCE Ailafushi - All Inclusive with Free Transfers

We've spent a week on the island, in the end of December including Christmas. This was a very good time to visit the resort, as there are a number of festive activities including Santa's visit and presents for kids, Christmas dinner and lunch and some other singing and dancing events. Get a beach villa, as it is closer to restaurant and bar area, has its own beach and small terrace and safer for kids. Very important, villas on north-west side of the island are much better - the beach is bigger, wider, has less sharp corals and most importantly - almost no waves and wind. Other sides of the island are much more windy and the beaches are shallow and surrounded by wave splitters. Villas 415-430 are the best places on the island. Resort is quite new (built in 2022), so everything is looking great, staff is making sure that everything is clean and well-maintained, beaches are all nice and sharp corals are being removed from the sand almost daily. Villas are also looking great, cleaned daily, if needed. The AC is very quiet and keeps the villa as cool as you'd like it to without blowing directly to your neck. Wi-Fi is relatively ok, streaming is blocked, but video calling works effortlessly. Restaurant is spacious, so even though the resort was full we always found a place to sit. Choice of meals is pretty big, separate sections for Indian and International cuisine + an Asian corner with dishes from Maldives, Indonesia, China, etc. Choice of desserts is pretty big as well. Bar area is surprisingly nice, with great pool, big set of sun beds (never had to search for a free one) and a small beach. Bar is serving drinks and cocktails, and you can ask for a cocktails even if it's not on the list of free ones. During evenings the bar area is the usual place for events, live music and overall buzz. Shout to an excellent live band, you are amazing :)! Thanks a ton to all the staff of the hotel and yes, cannot recommend OBLU enough, great holiday!

Included drinks are however pretty lackluster - only 2 types of beer (tasting almost the same), red rose and white house wine (not good unfortunately), some juices and canned drinks. Breakfasts were a bit the same, but lunches and dinners had a daily variety of things. Coral reef is non-existent, only a bit of dead corals here and there, quite few baby sharks and an occasional stingrays. There is a "river" on the island with some fishes, but nothing amazing or worth taking your mask with you. Shops on the island are very expensive, so make sure you take ALL the things with you. 50 USD for a bottle of sun protection is ridiculous.