If you are new to researching the Maldives, you may not know that there are 1190 tiny islands that make up the Maldives. A large majority of the resorts in the Maldives are on their own island - including where we stayed: The Pullman Resort.
I'll talk more about why I find this an important factor to consider later, but first I want to walk you through what you can expect from this blog post!
Even if you don't plan on staying at this particular resort I think you will find some beneficial observations to consider when looking into other resorts!
All right, let's jump right in!
As I spoke about in my other Maldives blog post {Maldives: Your Questions Answered} we found a great deal for the Pullman Resort Maldives through a third party site: Luxury Escapes.
At the time of booking (February 2020) the Pullman Resort had only been open for about 6 months. I think this is why we found such an awesome deal, to grow their clientele to get reviews for their new resort.
We were meant to go in March 2020 but due to the pandemic we weren't able to travel. In a nutshell, they didn't do refunds but we could rebook for a later date. We ended up rebooking for early March 2021!
Pullman Resort had just opened back up and technically was only operating for a total of 12 months by the time we arrived.
You could tell everything was brand new! The hotel, restaurant, snorkeling equipment, etc. - everything in perfect condition! The fact we could enjoy a brand new resort for a discounted price through Luxury Escapes felt like such a score!
By the time you are reading this, I'm not sure what the sale will be or if there will even be one, but nevertheless I hope this blog helps you book the perfect getaway!
Below I have listed anything that stuck out to me, PROS or CONS.
I think this will help anyone who not only needs a recommendation for a notable place to stay but also to give you some information on traveling to the Maldives in general that can help you plan your trip altogether! :)
• TRANSPORTATION:
Since a majority of the resorts are not based on the main island where the Maldives international airport is (Malé), you will need to organize a plane or boat (or in our case both) to your resort. With our package this was included, which was super beneficial since we didn't have to do any of the organization. All we needed was to tell the resort when our plane landed in Malé.
From there, someone from the resort met us upon landing, and they had scheduled us a smaller plane to another island, and then a 15 minute boat ride to our final destination.
PRO: Transportation was sorted for us
PRO: Our resort sorted out a airport lounge while we waited for our next flight
PRO: Both arriving and departing we had a designated helper to assist with our baggage, handling our covid paperwork, getting our boarding passes, etc.
CON: We didn't realize we would lose so much time waiting in a layover for another small flight
When planning our trip we thought we would arrive around 4pm but we only ended up arriving around 8pm - and we got lucky because the last small flight only had us to drop off, usually during peak season they stop at a couple of islands, which could have taken hours longer.
This also affected our stay leaving the island - we needed to leave the island several hours before our flight so we could be early to the small domestic flight so we could be 2 hours early for our International flight.
• ALL INCLUSIVE
The Pullman Resort considers themselves as THE MOST GENEROUS ALL INCLUSIVE RESORT IN THE MALDIVES, and I don't think they're exaggerating!
We were blown away by everything that was included in our 5 night stay! Of course all the food and drinks were included (shots, cocktails, beer, milkshakes, coffee, tea, wine, juices, smoothies, kombucha and more). But we also got a sunset cruise, unlimited use of their snorkeling gear, stand up paddle boards and a choice between a 60 minute couple's massage or a 30 minute jetski rental. They also had different exercise classes to choose from, a golf simulator, gym, private karaoke room, game room and more!
They also restock your mini fridge which is fully stocked with water, juices, sodas and alcohol twice a day and they refresh the snacks twice a day (all included).
CON: Bikes for getting around the island were not included which I found sort of strange since it was such a small expense - $10 a day
* That being said, I do want to note that it isn't a must as they do have golf carts that go around the island every 15 minutes or so.
HONEYMOON "PERK" - they provide champagne and a decorated bed in celebration of your honeymoon. This was a bit underwhelming in comparison to other resorts that usually provide free upgrades or a private dinner, etc but nonetheless it adds to the honeymoon excitement!
• ACTIVITIES
As I briefly mentioned above, there was so much included with our stay at the Pullman Resort so it made it enjoyable to be on the same island the whole stay.
We also had 3 swimming pools to enjoy (in addition to your own if you have a villa that includes a personal pool) and there were a couple of really cool snorkeling areas right on the island!
They also have things like scuba diving and other excursions available for an additional fee.
When researching the Maldives, I read that people recommend island hopping from resort to resort, but I didn't find the need to at all when staying at the Pullman Resort. I think that's where the size of the island, the activities, and the amount of restaurants play a big part. If your resort doesn't have much to offer you may find yourself spending a bit more to transit from island to island to get a more out of your trip.
• RESTAURANTS:
Gal and I have different opinions on the food: I thought the food was pretty good, but he loved it, and he's the foodie in the relationship so I would take his word over mine haha!
Pullman Resort has 3 restaurants total, which only later in the trip did I value so much more.
On their site it shows 6 restaurants which is sort of confusing because in reality they only have 3 which act as a restaurant and 2 that are more of a bar with tapas and hookah. Why they show 6 is because 2 of the restaurants change names at night because they change cuisines, and then they include the bars as restaurants.
It had the main restaurant (Melange) which was a buffet style breakfast, lunch and dinner which has more than I can even share in this blog post. You will be blown away by the selections (check my YouTube vlog).
Then there is a health conscious breakfast spot (Sol Rising) where they literally count your calories for you, weigh your food, the full 9 yards - a dream for anyone health-conscious. We didn't personally eat here because the food was just TOO healthy (for example, as the dessert, they had listed one small square of dark chocolate...)
In the same area, Sol Rising changes to a lunch and dinner spot (now called Souq). For lunch it has an Italian menu, and at night it is a Turkish/Mediterranean cuisine menu.
All lunch and dinner spots have 80 international wines to choose from - included!
Lastly you have the choice to book at a veggie garden for dinner (Phat Chameleon) where everything on the menu is freshly grown straight from their garden, which you actually dine in the middle of! It's a super beautiful space and the food really surprised us (especially the bread)! It is completely vegetarian, which usually isn't our vibe, but we really enjoyed it! The chef is so talented, and the dishes were not only tasty but also looked exquisite!
Then you have two bar areas (The Hub and Saffron Affair) which also have tapas, hookah and more fast food.
PRO: Since it is an all inclusive resort, you literally don't have to bring money anywhere, and you also don't have to wait for the bill! I loved this because in-between activities we could just pop in, grab a bite and leave with no time wasted! Tip also is already included in your nightly rate so you don't have to worry about that either!
• THINGS TO CONSIDER:
Size of the island - I think this is important to note because I LOVED the island size the Pullman Resort was on, and only after looking at other resorts after our trip I noticed that other resorts that were competitively priced were much smaller.
I would have never known this prior to going because the photos online look so similar to one another, and without having personally observed the islands for myself I don't think I would have been able to make the distinction right off the bat.
Why I loved the Pullman Resort so much was because it had JUST the right amount of space, activities and restaurants. In a 5 night stay, the Pullman Resort was able to provide enough options for us to eat at a new dinner spot 3 of the nights and then for the last 2 nights we could go back and enjoy those which were our favorites.
Even extending to a 7 night trip I believe this would still be exciting.
Also with the beach areas, they had so many areas around the island where you could tan, swim and snorkel that even though the activities were the same, it felt different because we were enjoying a new area of the island. This was also great because they had so many beach areas for guests to choose from, there was no beach spots that felt crowded at all... each area actually felt like a private beach!
Imagine a small resort where everyone was around one or two beaches the resort had, and there were limited areas to see because of the island size... vs at this resort everything was big enough to feel like you had space to explore, mingle or have your privacy.
Honestly you will have a great time no matter the size, BUT if you are having trouble narrowing down the resorts I would really consider this point. I wish I could better put into words why I found this so important, but hopefully you get what I mean.
Location of your villa - there are overwater villas and beach villas, meaning they are on the island as opposed to overwater. For the overwater villa, you can choose between staying on the sun rise or the sun set side - not a major difference (we were on sunrise side).
That said, there are other things to consider, like the distance of where your villa is located in terms of where all the action is on the resort. We stayed in room 501 and it was perfect because their golf cart service that takes you around the island came around quite often, but we heard from other people staying on the beach (as opposed to overwater) that the golf carts take forever to get to their side because it's further from all the restaurants and where all the action is.
Although this wouldn't make or break your trip, it is something easy to avoid when planning ahead!
Amount of time in the Maldives - We booked for 5 nights and it felt just short of perfect timing. I think if we were to rebook we would stay for 7 nights, the reason being is that 5 FULL days is perfect. And in order to get 5 full days, you need to book an extra night since the day you land is practically gone (with all the traveling) and then add an extra night towards the end of your trip because the "last day" ends up being a half day due to check out and travel.
I hope you found this blog post insightful! I took as many questions from my DMs as I could remember and added a few thoughts that I felt may be helpful.
If you have any questions that were not answered in this blog post {or in my resort review} please feel free to send me a DM or email - I really enjoy helping you guys plan your trips and your questions in return help me get a better idea of what I should share on my blog!
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