Zerotwonine

Hi Christiane,

Thank you for your email and your welcome note that was waiting for us at the resort, we really appreciated it.

The hotel is breathtakingly good, especially when one is looking for absolute quiet and privacy. Top service, extremely friendly personnel, the water villa that we had was pure luxury ($1,400 per night is fair). The spa was also excellent, with top notch massages and treatments.

Water sports are a bit less exciting as there is no wind or waves. For divers the island is good, but it is not the best place on the Maldives due to cloudy visibility. But the diving centre is very sophisticated with diving teachers of all nationalities. Snorkelling is perfect at the in-house reef, which was only 30 to 50 metres away from my hut, I saw reef sharks and manta rays while snorkelling.

A British man said that he has already visited the Maldives 15 times and that he liked the Shang-ri La the best. The food in the three different restaurants is also good, but if you do not have half-board, then it is expensive and not worth it - approximately $100 per person for a three course meal, drink prices were high but ok, $6 for 0,75 San Pellegrino and $12 for a Gin Tonic, $85 for a 0,75 bottle of Sancerre, $150 for Roederer.

Breakfast buffet was top class. According to the German manager, occupancy is continuously increasing (it was 50% at that time), many Japanese, Russians, Germans and Australians.

Next week, Prince Charles and Camilla are staying on the island. The hotel management is for the most part German, 20 Germans and many locals from the neighbouring islands.

I would recommend to stay at least 7 to 10 nights because you need at least two to three days to get used to being so close to the equator with its intense sun and hot temperatures. The journey to the hotel is through the transfer to Gan which is also relatively long. It was not boring either, every day there are optional programmes on offer for anyone who would like to experience different things (bike tours, sailing tours, introduction to diving, beach soccer, boat trips, snorkelling, movie nights, etc)

I would immediately recommend Villingili for people that are looking an especially luxury retreat or who are planning a honeymoon. Maybe 029 could come up with a package.

Thank you again!

Nick