Kuredu Resort & Spa: A Luxury Universe for Honeymooners and Kids
Maldives – always used to be a synonym for a romantic and glamorous vacation geared to newly weds and couples. Kuredu Resort now has a new concept aimed at families and offers a great combination of luxury and relaxation. The family friendly resort has special facilities and features, so bringing infants and children is not a problem at all. It’s an unbelievable concept, but it’s true.
Kuredu Resort is located in the Lhaviyani Atoll, 145 kilometres north of the main international airport and 35-minutes by a scenic ride in a seaplane. With such astounding views of one of the world’s most distinct seascapes, the Maldives are worth a special review. On my way to the island, I gaze down from the small window at the small dots of emerald islands andsparkling whitesand completely surrounded by the deep blue ocean – it is indeed a breathtaking sight.
When we first arrived to our resort, were greeted by a local Maldive performance. Drummers performed a traditional music while we had our own private check-in and were offered a glass of fresh ice tea and luscious wet towels. What could be better to come to after a long journey?
We were then escorted to the Jacuzzi Beach Villa. On our walk over there, our host Maria explained to us why this island is truly unique and not a typical island for the Maldives. One of the reasons is because Kuredu is the second largest island-hotel in the Maldives (the resort is about 1,800 meters long by 325 meters wide and has approximately 3.5 kilometers of beach). Utilizing the vast land on the island to its fullest, the management has built a six-hole pitch and putt golf course, a tennis and badminton court, and a FIFA approved football field on the island.
But the most important thing – the hotel is trying to stay “green” as much as possible. As the fresh water is the main concern in the Maldives, the island has built their own water bottling plant and produces between 55,000-60,000 liters of bottled drinking water every month for Kuredu and it’s neighboring island.
The resort also has its own garden and greenhouse on the island and a team of gardeners who carefully tend to the Orchid House, which has over 5,200 pots of 26 varieties of orchids. They also grow fresh fruit and vegetables, including delicious papaya and bananas and the chef even has its own spice garden.
Even though we were amazed by all these facilities and what they had to offer, we came with a twenty-two-month-old child and we were more interested in kids’ playgrounds and facilities. In this respect, we were not disappointed! One of the most exciting things we saw was a large, comfortable brand-new playground with an open-air section and an air-conditioned playroom.
One of the most spectacular features of this resort and our vacation was exploring the coral reef right outside the resort. Just two steps from our villa, we could observe large sea turtles swimming in the crystal clear waters. More than a hundred of these creatures have their home in Kuredu. Along with the many turtles, we saw plenty of young sharks. The locals call the north part of island “sharks kindergarten” because this region of the water is very shallow and is the ultimate place for newborn sharks and baby rays. We could see them every day and even had the opportunity to swim with them.
Kuredu Resort is a very popular place today and can be reached within 35 minutes from the main international airport in the Maldives, but it wasn’t always this way. Can you imagine how the first tourists travelled to this island? It took at least three to four hours and up to six hours in some cases due to bad weather conditions! Getting to the island in this manner wasn’t too long ago, in 1988. This was the year when Kuredu welcomed its first tourists.
Kuredu was the first resort that was developed in the Lhaviyani Atoll and people were very sceptical that a resort could be so successful being so far from Male. It was actually quite challenging because boat transfers could take many hours due to delays and the conditions of the water. But now with the use of seaplanes, this journey has become fast, safe and even attractive.
One of the Kuredu owners is Lars Petre, who’s originally from Scandinavia. He has spent more than 30 years of his life promoting the Maldives as a tourist destination. He was the first person who started developing Kuredu.
Over 30 years ago, Lars was working for a Scandinavian tour operator and was vacationing in Sri Lanka when he decided to visit a new and exotic place at the time – the Maldives. As a tourist in 1985, he was fascinated by the beauty of these small islands and decided to promote them in his home country. After two years, Lars decided to go back to the Maldives came to Kuredu, which was just a camping site for divers at the time. Soon afterwards, the development of Kuredu began with the construction of the first 150 bungalows.
Today Kuredu has 387 rooms and bungalows. Guests can choose from a variety of accommodation options, including: the Private Pool Villas (which are hidden in the lush gardens), the Private Pool Villa Double, the Sangu Water Villas and the Sangu Honeymoon Suite, the Jacuzzi Beach Villas, the Beach Villas, the Beach Bungalows and the Garden Bungalows.
The hotel is very cleverly divided into three different sections. There are actually three different almost independent resorts that guests can choose from. The options include: the Sangu Resort (adult guests only), the “O” Resort (guests from 12 years of age are allowed to stay here), and the main resort in the middle of the island that is devoted to families with infants and children.
We find our favorite feature of this family-friendly resort to be the kid’s heaven, which is a newly opened playground directly sitting on white sand with plenty of entertainment options (including traditional swings and slides and an evening cinema).
Every guest can easily visit all the parts of the resort and enjoy the same amount of sea and sun. But the Sangu pool and restaurant are reserved only for adults due to extra privacy and quietness while the “O Resort” and it’s pool and restaurant is suitable for children from the age of 12 years and above.
Because we came here with a small child, we spent most of the time in the main part of the island, where we were splashing in the ocean or in the pool, making sandcastles and enjoying all the simple pleasures of being together as a family. In the evening, an on-site nanny watched our child while we enjoyed a relaxing dinner under the stars…
Now we can tell you for sure from our experience – that you can easily have luxury and relaxation on a vacation even with a small child – it’s no longer a dream, but a reality on Kuredu!
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Written by Irina Golubeva
I still remember my first trip. It was to London. I fell in love with this city the moment I saw it. Just - "click", and my heartbeat quickened. I was chosen by it. Red and funny double-decker buses, serious black cabs, the gorgeous Buckingham palace... That's it! I am your admirer forever! From that moment I have visited many places and have been to many countries. Traveling became my passion. My long lasting love, which I hope will never end.
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