My Outrigger Konotta Review

For anyone considering a holiday at Konotta, my review has been published. Read it here!

This time we decided to try out Konotta because of the good feedback this island has received lately.

We made our booking with Paula at Magic of Maldives and received outstanding service and a good rate like always.

We were welcomed at the airport by a representative who made sure we made it to the domestic terminal promptly. It is just a few minutes walk from arrival at Velana airport.

The domestic flight took about one hour. When we landed at Kaadedhdhoo we were met by our lovely host Yasmin from Denmark who was allocated to us for the whole holiday. She drove us by a buggy to the nearby marina where we entered the boat. The boat trip took about 30 minutes to Konotta.

When we arrived at Konotta, we were stunned by the beauty of the island.

The island is packed with tall mature palms with a close fringing reef that goes all around the island. Beaches consist of fine pure aragonite, which is really soft and white. The reef drop off is really close, except in the water villa area where the lagoon is more extensive.

We arrived somewhat tired after a long journey. Our villa was ready upon arrival so we checked in there. We were allocated to a beautiful water villa with pool, and our host Yasmin showed us all the functions of the villa and informed us on general things about the resort.

Our sunset water villa with pool was really huge with high ceilings! There is a large living room, bedroom and bathroom with separate shower and WC.

The outside deck was the best part of the villa. The pool runs along the edge on the long side, and you have a wonderful view of the lagoon and the marine life swimming below. Watching stars from the pool in the night was maybe the best experience of the whole holiday.

The double daybed was set on a raised platform so the view from there was just as good, and there is also a hammock-net above the water.

Our room was kept clean and spotless throughout the whole holiday by our housekeeper Nadheem (thank you!)

From personal experience, many wonder about the bathroom amenities and the minibar items. The hair and skincare are all from Aromatheraphy Associates which is decent stuff. The minibar contains two items each of: Sprite, Fanta, Coke, Diet Coke, Schweppes Soda water, Heineken, Tiger beer, Perrier sparkling and Aqua Panna still water from Toscana. There are also chocolates: Bounty, Mars, Snickers and Kit Kat. It was all included in our all inclusive plan, but there are different all inclusive plans. There is also a wine fridge with bottles in the room.

There are three restaurants: Blue Salt (main restaurant), Nalah Rah and the Deck. You can have the Blue Salt menu on the Deck for dinner if you wish.

In addition to these options you can dine on the beach or in your villa.

The food in this resort is hands down the best food I’ve had in any resort in the country. We tried to eat in all the restaurants, and every single dish was really tasty and cooked to perfection. Even the in villa dining was fabulous, and all food is carried in an electrical heater so it was still really hot when it arrived. We are both quite picky when it comes to food, so if you are foodies like us; don’t hesitate to choose this resort.

Our absolutely favourites were:

For breakfast: The Eggs Benedict and the signature “Bird Cage”

For Lunch: The “Trio of burgers” and the “Konotta Burger”

For dinner: The Beef tenderloin at Nalah Rah which was so tender it almost melted in the mouth, and the “Surf and Turf” at Blue Salt; which was beef tenderloin and lobster together (again cooked to perfection).

Dessert: “7 Reasons to Love Chocolate” chocolate platter. The Blue Salt Cheese platter was also fab for anyone not up to sweets.

The bar is situated next to the pool and the beach with direct view of the lagoon and ocean. It was a nice place to enjoy a drink. The best cocktails were “Espresso Martini” and “After Eight” Everyone in the bar made really good drinks.

The pool was also very nice next to the lagoon and beach with a few cabanas around. Honestly we never tried it as we were either in our private pool or out swimming on the reef.

The house reef is wonderful. It runs all around the island (reef type 4), so you can start at any position and swim around and return to where you started.

There is lots of marine life, more large sharks than I have seen anywhere else. We spotted turtles and octopus every day. The resident school (more like swarm) of many hundred adult parrotfish was the greatest highlight.

There is also still quite a bit of corals, bud sadly like everywhere else in the country; it has suffered from bleaching after the great El Nino in 2016.

It seems like the reef will grow back very quickly. There are a lot of 1+ year Acropora colonies, and if you look more closely there are far more «baby» colonies from last coral spawning (1 inch encrusting base), in many places they are like 30-40 cm between them in average. When these get 1 year to grow, and become 4-5 inches they will really start covering the surface. There are also lots of 6-8 inch tabling corals on the north and east side of the island.

The really good thing is that these are really fast growing species, so there seem to be a bright future for this house reef.

The best part of the reef is in my opinion between the north side of the water villas and the arrival jetty. However, several people we talked to, prefer the south side.

All in all; we love the reef, and it is the best we have seen after the El Nino in 2016!

The dress code in the resort is barefoot chic. That means that except of swimming wear and vest tops in the restaurants, you can dress just as you like. This is one of the best things about the Maldives, and I am personally steering off any island with a stricter dress code.

The spa is large and nice. I had a deep and firm body massage with coconut oil, and my friend had a firm dry massage. The therapists had really strong hands! Afterwards we felt very relaxed and were ready to enjoy the rest of the day.

The hydro therapy pool is very large, it is said to be the largest in the country.

The service is one of the things that really make this resort stand out. The staff is so well trained, actually the best I have experienced anywhere in the world. They are truly “ladies and gentlemen, serving ladies and gentlemen” The service really feels genuine from the heart.

First of all I would especially like to thank two wonderful people.

Ladies first, so Yasmin; we are so happy that you were allocated as our host (guest service agent). You always looked after us to check if everything went smooth and that we were having a wonderful holiday. Nothing was any trouble, and you fixed anything from wrappings for my friend’s birthday gift to late checkout. The photo you made of our Konotta gang from Tripadvisor, from the Grand Konotta Villa is already hanging on the wall. Every time I look at it, I dream about the fantastic holiday we had at Konotta.

Niluka, The resort is so lucky to have you as their new F&B Service Manager. You have an eye for the smallest detail of perfection. You always make sure that your guests are having the best food and beverage they can possible have, and your service feels genuine and straight from the heart. I hope you will stay at the resort for a long time.

Chandana, Hussain, Precious, Ana, Na-Am and the bartenders Loi, Shafraz and Yahya; Thank you very much! I am sure that I have forgotten someone, so another thanks to the rest of you… What a team!

There is always room for improvements, but this time it will just be small things. The water villa jetty will soon need some repair, the same goes with some of the water villa roofs that will need some new thatch.

I really love the way you keep the island interior, you keep it natural and untouched. Walking on the path really gives you the jungle feeling. Adding some flowers, like hanging epiphyte orchids will give it an exclusive feeling, without disturbing the natural beauty too much.

All in all, Konotta has become my new favourite resort in the Maldives! There are so many new exciting properties in the Maldives popping up at the moment, and I always like to visit a new place. But I am strongly considering a return to Konotta next year if I can afford it instead. I have never returned to any resort in the Maldives, so I guess that says it all..