Velassaru is a beautiful, naturally lush island resort just about 20 minutes by speedboat from Malé, making it one of the easiest Maldives stays for tight arrival and departure schedules. It delivers the classic turquoise lagoon and soft-sand vibe in a relaxed, walkable setting, with strong dining and standout beachfront and pool areas. We had a lovely stay here so read on to find out everything you need to know about Velassaru.

Location: 4/5

Velassaru’s location is one of its biggest strengths: it sits on a small, naturally lush island just about 20 minutes by speedboat from Malé, which makes transfers easy even with late-night arrivals or early departures. Despite being so close to the airport, it feels worlds away once you arrive, with a walkable perimeter of soft sand and calm, clear lagoon waters that wrap the island and create a relaxed, secluded atmosphere.

The proximity, while being a great strength, is also a weakness in that you do have a view of the industrial island of Malé that is in direct view of the water bungalows and half of the island. Since it is 20 minutes away by speedboat, you do see that industrial landfill fairly well from the water bungalows. That being said, half of the island does not have this view and faces out to a beautiful blue lagoon with nothing but small dotted islands far away.

Lobby & Check in experience: 4/5

Lobby and check-in in the Maldives starts the moment you arrive at Velana International Airport. Once you arrive and exit the arrivals area, you are greeted by a hotel representative. Velassaru is part of Versa Hospitality, and due to their recent acquisition, they do have an arrivals lounge while you wait for the boat ride. We had about a 25-minute wait in the lounge where they have coffee, water, and juices. It’s air-conditioned, and it’s a lovely place to wait. It’s also extremely rare for hotels to have this arrivals lounge for boat hotels.

Once the boat was ready, we boarded the standard boat and headed towards Velassaru, which is only about 20 minutes away. We did receive water and a cold towel on the boat. Once we arrived on the dock, there was an underwhelming arrival with just a few staff members and not a particularly interesting arrival. Many hotels have bodu beru drums and a wonderful welcome with staff clapping and excited that you’re there. That was a disappointing experience given our experiences at other properties. We were brought to the lobby for check-in, where we did receive a fresh juice and a cold towel. Our check-in was relatively quick, and we were walked to our beach pool villa by a staff member. A note about this experience is that they don’t do buggies or buggy service to the beach villas. Depending on where the beach villa is located, it is quite a walk. Keep that in mind when booking a beach villa. Once we were in the room, the front desk agent was very quick to depart and did not inform us about any of the features of the room, including that the back door locks automatically upon exiting, which we later experienced when we forgot our room key in the room. The overall experience was somewhat underwhelming but fairly standard, and we were checked in fairly quickly. The real benefit to Velassaru is its proximity to the airport, and it did start us off on an interesting foot, understanding that this hotel was much more self-service than full service.

Rooms: 3.5/5

Velassaru features a number of different room types, starting from standard rooms that do not have direct beach access, all the way up through water villas. We were able to try a beach pool villa as well as a water villa without a pool.

The standard room category at Velassaru is primarily in unfavorable locations. They are semi-detached buildings where there are multiple rooms attached to the same structure with access from the walkways outside. That makes the standard rooms pretty non-private, and they also typically back up to staff areas, which can get quite loud depending on the time of day or where your location is.

The beach pool villas are quite nice. They are fairly spacious rooms. Right when you walk into the room, there is a king bed with a standard desk located behind it. The bathroom is located behind the villa, and it’s actually quite beautiful. There’s a lot of lush foliage, thanks to the age of the property, and the shower itself is absolutely gorgeous. There’s a free-standing tub as well as double vanities with L’Occitane products. There’s also a fan located in the bathroom, which is fantastic because it does get quite hot during the day. It’s nice to be able to move the air around as well as keep bugs away. The toilet and shower are also technically located outside with a private door.

The pool on the beach pool villa faces the beach front. They are very nice little plunge pools. There’s a day bed as well as a small seating area, and there are two chaise lounges located on the beach that are connected to your villa. The sand is very soft, and the water is very accessible from your villa, so it’s great if you want to swim directly from the villa. The inside of the villa itself is a bit dark, as there is not a ton of lighting and there’s a lot of dark wood located inside, but it does have a day bed as well as a mini bar. The coffee and tea are complementary, as is the water, but all the other items are chargeable unless you’re on the Velassaru indulgence plan.

We were also able to stay in a water villa without a pool. These villas are beautiful and significantly brighter than the beach pool villas. The room is also quite spacious. It features the king bed with the same desk setup as the beach pool villa, but there’s also a small sofa and chair located in the main living space with floor-to-ceiling windows with some obstructions that face out to the beautiful lagoon view. Between the bedroom and the bathroom is a small dressing area with a vanity, as well as a bathroom with a standing soaking tub, a shower, and a toilet room and double vanities. The patio does not feature an outdoor shower, but it does have a nice circular daybed as well as two chaise lounges and direct access to the lagoon.

Overall, the rooms are quite nice and can be a great value if you get a good price. They do lock down the body washes and some of the products, which I do find to be quite a three-star experience. That being said, L’Occitane products are phenomenal, and the rooms are well equipped.

Service: 3.5/5

In general, the service at Velassaru is very self-serve. You do not have an assigned front desk agent, which is quite standard in the Maldives for four-star and above properties, especially at this price point. We found it interesting that this property chose instead to have you come to the front desk or call if you needed something. Even when you did call, the service was quite slow or unwilling to provide what you are asking for. Housekeeping was also extremely inconsistent. While I do come twice a day, they often forgot to leave items behind or forgot to refill water. Even if you had just one sip of water left in the bottle, they would leave it there and not replace it. Dining service was also somewhat underwhelming. We found it very difficult to get beverages, even when you’re not paying for them. They were quite slow or just did not come around often. Often, we saw staff members on their cell phones and not engaging with guests.

There were some great staff members, for example, at the bar and a few at the specialty restaurants that did try to provide an elevated service experience, which we definitely appreciated.

Dining: 4/5

Velassaru offers a number of different meal plans, including:

• breakfast only
• half board
• full board
• the Velassaru indulgence plan

One thing to note is that a meal plan can be a very good value because prices on the menu seem to be priced for the all-inclusive audience. Meaning they are extremely expensive for what you’re getting. For example, wine prices for very standard bottles of wine that cost between $5 and $7 ranged from around $12 to $17 per glass. The good news is all the prices did include the tax and service charge, which does keep the cost a bit lower than several of the comparable properties. The Velassaru indulgence plan does allow you access to all of the specialty restaurants, while the lower meal plans only provide access to the buffet restaurant. If you’re only staying at Velassaru for a few nights, the breakfast-only or half-board plan may be totally fine, particularly if the half-board plan is included in the cost of the booking, as then you can decide if you would like to visit the specialty restaurants.

The buffet restaurant had a very good breakfast. There were a lot of options including excellent omelets, really good pastries, and a fruit station with green juice. There were a lot of things that were not available readily at the actual buffet, but if you asked for them, such as a dosa, they would make an exception and make it for you. If you did want something, be sure to ask. They do not offer champagne or sparkling wine included in their buffet breakfast unless you are on the Velassaru Indulgence Plan. The dinner buffet was slightly more limited. They did have a few selections, but it seemed to be fairly carb-heavy, such as pastas, rice dishes, or the like. They did have a grill station where you could get a grilled chicken or a fish, but they were often quite bland and lacked sauces.

The specialty restaurants were quite a bit more impressive. For example, we were able to try the Japanese restaurant, Sora, which offered pretty good sushi as well as a very delicious cod dish that was included on the Velassaru Indulgence Plan. The Japanese restaurant also does feature a teppanyaki table, which is an interesting option if you would like to pay a small supplement on top of your plan.

We also had the opportunity to try Sand Restaurant, which is located next to the Japanese restaurant and features a variety of fish and steak options. We did like the food here, but we preferred the Japanese restaurant. What we did love about Sand Restaurant was that we had the opportunity to sit out on the pier, which was a beautiful experience. They do have several pergolas around that are just for two. If you’re looking for a somewhat romantic dinner, this is a good option without paying the price of a private dinner.

There was a Mediterranean restaurant, Etesian, as well; however, we never saw anybody eat at the Mediterranean restaurant a single time we walked by. I would stick with Sand Restaurant and the Japanese for dinner.

The lunch option is an a la carte option, Turquoise. The a la carte restaurant essentially pulls different dishes available at the specialty restaurants for dinner and makes them available during lunch. They also have pizzas, as well as different sandwiches (though I would not recommend the club sandwich), salads, etc. We did enjoy lunch at Turquoise every day because the menu was fairly extensive and the food was pretty good.

There are two bars on property. There is Chill Bar, which is a fabulous sunset bar that is a great spot to watch the sunset and have a beverage. Beverages are included on the Velassaru indulgence plan or paid a la carte. We loved having an Aperol Spritz and watching the sun go down directly in the view. Fen bar is essentially the lobby bar that’s open all day and into the evening. They do have live music once a week during the management cocktail party and later that evening. That was a very nice place to enjoy a nightcap. Note that they do charge for water outside of meal times. If you are not on the Velassaru Indulgence plan, water is $3 for a small bottle or $4 for a large bottle, so just keep that in mind for your booking.

Overall, we felt the dining was fairly basic, but everything was pretty good all around. We did like the a la carte restaurants for dinner significantly more than the buffet due to the available options at the a la carte restaurants for dinner specifically. They do offer a $49 per person unlimited wine and beer option at the buffet restaurant. While you do have to chase people down, that can be a good value if you’re willing to constantly reach out to the waiters that are running around the restaurant. I would recommend the Velassaru indulgence plan if you do drink alcohol or prefer a la carte dining because it gives you significantly more options than doing the breakfast or half board plan.

Facilities: 3.5/5

The biggest highlight of Velassaru is the beautiful beachfront and the pool. These areas are absolutely stunning and picturesque around the island. The beach access is beautiful, mostly calm water around most of the island, and it’s perfectly swimmable most of the time. There is no consistent pool service, so if you are looking for drinks, most of the time you have to go up to Fen Bar to get it, but sometimes there is a bartender that comes around the pool.

There is a spa at Velassaru as well. The prices are fairly reasonable across the board, and they’re constantly running promos. We did have a nice experience. The facilities are quite dated, so while they do have a pool, steam, and sauna, it is good to know that it’s included with spa treatments. I would not pay extra if you weren’t doing a spa treatment to access those facilities.

There is a very well-equipped gym as well as a Pilates room on property. The Pilates room is only accessible with paid classes, but the gym has very nice equipment and does serve most purposes for a hotel gym. They also have a tennis court. It is very popular and constantly in use. It’s a great place if you do want to do an early morning tennis, and it is complimentary to access.

Once a week there’s a management cocktail party with complimentary sangria and a few beverages as well as some snacks. There is live music on that evening during the management cocktail party as well as in the evening. The band was fantastic. Excellent singers, and they are local to Malé and they are permanent for Velassaru. That’s a great experience if you like to enjoy live music.

We were surprised to learn from the staff that Velassaru does not have a great house reef that is accessible to guests. They do, however, offer a number of excursions to reefs in the area where you can snorkel with turtles and other more lively reefs. That is one thing to note if you are looking for a house reef.

Overall, the facilities were absolutely sufficient for a really nice day in the Maldives. They are just a bit dated, and the lack of a house reef does bring the score down a little bit. The beach and the pool area are the main highlights on property and provide absolutely stunning long days of sun, beautiful sand and wonderful sea to really experience the true Maldives, just 20 minutes from Malé.

Style: 4/5

We were blown away by the quality of the structures: this property is quite a bit older than the newer hotels in the Maldives that do tend to build with slightly lower quality construction in this price point. The villas and all of the main spaces have beautiful and strong structures, beautiful artistry of the wood. You can really tell the quality of the actual construction itself. The style was fairly consistent across the board. There is some comfortable seating, but they do seem to lack a little bit of a refinement in the style across the spaces on property. This island is super laid-back, from the service to the fact that you don’t need to wear shoes anywhere you go on property. From that perspective, it’s a very relaxing and stress-free stay.

Overall: 3.8/5

Overall, this property is a wonderful stop in the Maldives, particularly if you do have an early flight out of Malé or are arriving late. It’s a great option to spend a few days between hotels to start or end your trip. If you are looking for a longer stay at Velassaru, I would highly encourage the Velassaru Indulgence Plan because of the flexibility with the a la carte dining when all of the dishes are as expensive as they are. If you’re looking for a laid-back, very self-serve property without a ton of fuss, this is a great option for you. We absolutely loved the beaches, loved the pool, and we loved the fact that this is one of the few natural islands close to Malé that does have a beautiful hotel on it. If you’re looking to book Velassaru or any other property in the Maldives, be sure to reach out to us at team@voyagerguru.com.