Diamonds Athuruga Maldives Resort & SPA

This island is the definition of paradise. Turquoise sea and white sands, with the most amazing house reef. We spent hours snorkelling and every day saw sharks, turtles and rays. We stayed in the water villas which were beautiful, with steps leading into the sea. The Water Villa restaurant has an amazing terrace which is perfect for watching the sunset with a cocktail. The food was delicious and the service outstanding. For me the real standout are the staff. They were, without exception, amazing, and a credit to the resort. We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary whilst we were there, and they made us with a cake, cooked us a special dinner, and decorated our room with flowers. It was truly memorable, and a day we will never forget. I always thought a trip to the Maldives would be a one off…after all there are hundreds of places I’d like to visit so why go to the same place twice. Athuruga has changed my mind, and I can’t wait to return.

The diving here is the best we have had in the Maldives - Manta’s, Sharks, Turtles and much more, the coral reefs is in a better condition than some other islands we have visited. Thank you to the iDive diving team to showing us the best places to dive. Snorkelling was also excellent - large sharks, turtles on the house reef and sharks visible from the jetty in the evening. Staff were very friendly and helpful across all teams, the boat team, dive team, restaurant including the chefs, water sports, cleaning, ground staff and guest services. Thank you!

Only been here two days, the food is not for me but I kinda guessed that before we arrived. The Junior suite is fantastic, the staff cannot be more helpful especially as we still have no luggage due to Emirates poor service. Everyone is going out of their way to help us. The snorkelling has been great and as an experienced snorkeler the reef guides have been great and we are looking forward to doing Whale Shark and Manta Ray tours. The guys in the restaurant have been great and the bar staff exceptional. Special mention to the reception staff who are trying to find my lost luggage. First time in Maldives and absolutely love it, shame about Emirates who have ruined it.

We've just returned from a 12 nights stay at Diamonds Athurgua. From the minute we stepped onto the island we were so impressed by our friendly, welcoming reception and that amazingly wonderful service followed throughout the rest of our holiday. We almost felt like part of a family and it spoke volumes that many of the guests had been returning to the island for many years and we could certainly see why. The service we received was above and beyond. It's impossible to mention all the staff who impressed us, but we need to make special mention of Sivan, Shakib and Danath, the beach bar staff who worked so hard to look after all the guests. They were so friendly, always smiling and super efficient at their job. The stand out member of staff for us was Mohammed in the main buffet restaurant. He was so friendly, efficient and amazingly good at his job. He definitely added to the enjoyment of our dining experience at Athuruga. The food the chefs prepared was just totally delicious. The variety, freshness, presentation and quality of the food was superb at every meal. We need to make special mention of chefs Titu and Malik. We were fortunate to be there on Easter Sunday and the special dinner that was organised under the stars on the beach was beyond anything we'd every experienced before. The entire presentation and array of food was out of this world. So much effort and work had been put into giving us the best possible dining experience, we were absolutely blown away by it. My husband dived every day and found the dive team to be incredibly professional and knowledgeable. His diving experience at Athuruga was superb. We both snorkelled on the most amazing reef and every day saw reef and nurse sharks, rays, turtles and the most wonderful array of varied and colourful reef fish. We also saw moray eels and octopus. We go to a different island in the Maldives every year and can honestly say that in recent years the reef at Athurgua was by far the best we've ever experienced. There were lots of excursions on offer including a manta and whale shark snorkelling experience, visits to other islands, sunset cruise, sunset fishing amongst others. The island itself is just stunningly beautiful. It suited us that it was not so big and although we were in a water villa and had use of the over water restaurant, we often ate in the buffet restaurant. There were bbqs and live cooking stations every day. Fresh fish was always on the menu and we would see the local fishermen off-loading their catch. The food was totally sublime. The manager of the resort was very much in evidence and the entire team on Athuruga, some of whom had been working there for many years, were just wonderful. We were so sad to leave, but took with us the most wonderful memories of a truly wonderful holiday. Thanks to all the team at Athuruga!

We were welcomed back to this beautiful island like we were old friends. The staff are all so friendly and helpful. In particular the chef Fernando went out of his way to cook me my favourite dishes even though they were not on the menu! He was so kind and his cooking is sensational! All the bar staff are attentive and make the effort to remember your favourite drinks - in particular Saju would have our drinks ready before we’d even ordered them! Amazing! There are so many great staff at this resort - the grill man who barbecued the fish in the stifling heat, the chef who made me a pancake each morning and Alif our waiter who would try and find us a good table. Also the entertainment team including Jada and Mathieu were lots of fun and really good at getting us up on the dance floor! The marine biologists (Miriam and Christian) were informative and knowledgeable. All in all it’s one of our favourite places in the world to visit.

Beautiful island, one side very hot and humid, the other side windier and cooler, nice contrast. Main restaurant very good , Muhsain (manager) looks after the guests very well, Vipin (bar manager) also very attentive to guests. Saba, Danath and Malaka in the bar are brilliant and add to your stay. Saba’s knowledge and ability to remember multiple orders and deal with lots at once is truly impressive plus his great sense of humour and ability to interact with guests, he’s such a great team member. Imran, who provided our house service is great asset to your staff. A few things need attention, there are only 2 toilets, one near the restaurant and one near the bar, not enough for the amount of guests. There could be day beds nearer the bar, such an open space and no where to soak up the sun other than near your beach bungalow or water villa. The water villa restaurant is a tad overpriced and compared to the main restaurant not quite up to standard, which is odd as this is supposed to be the a la carte option. Cocktail welcome evening, staff need to speak to guests, otherwise what’s the point?? We attended and were never acknowledged by the staff and we have visited several islands and had a more pleasant experience at such events. Tepinyaki restaurant extremely expensive & not included in the AI. This was disappointing, we have visited other islands where they’re has been a much better offer including your sister island Thudufushi where we enjoyed a better array of facilities during our stay. Overall though our stay, good reef and water activities, bar and restaurant made our holiday staff.