Adaaran Select Meedhupparu

Meedhupparu is a solid all-rounder of an island. They provide multiple options for both eating and drinking, with a good selection of varied food and drinks to choose from. The food ranges from “just alright” to “actually delicious” in quality. The house reef, while being on the smaller side, still boasts some beautiful corals and probably the most diverse fish life we have yet to come across.

Lodging

Choosing housing on Meedhupparu can be a bit confusing, as there are indeed many options, and it can be hard to distinguish the differences between them. We stayed in a beach villa (not deluxe), which is essentially the same as a deluxe beach villa in terms of size and amenities, but the deluxe beach villas have been more recently refurbished and feel “newer”. In terms of decor and amenities, we really didn’t have many complaints though - we had our lovely half-outdoor bathroom which we consider to be iconic for Maldivian lodging, comfy beds, and honestly plenty of space indoors. It is probably one of the more spacious beach villas we have stayed in on Maldives.

One small complaint is that the beds were actually twin beds pushed together. This is because, as the villas are not stand-alone, the right side (which we were staying in) have twin beds coming together as a double bed, and the left side actually has a regular king-sized bed. It didn’t bother us enough to ask for a room change, but we did find it a little strange to be in, essentially, twin beds in Maldives.  

The villas are all placed in these horseshoe-formations (link to map), which has its pros and cons. On the pro side, it actually provides for really neat usage of island space, giving a lot of privacy (as people won’t be walking right past your veranda), while still providing good views of the ocean. On the con side, if you’re placed at the “bottom” of the horseshoe - as we were - you’re more gonna be in a “jungle-villa” than a beach villa, because you really won’t be right on the beach. 

Food

Meedhupparu provides different options for eating, which we made good use of. 

The main restaurant, Jaafaiy, is large, but very smartly laid out. It was a first for us to see “free seating”, and we really liked that. There are several “wings” of tables, which makes it easy to find a secluded table if you, like us, prefer the less busy areas - but also choose a table closer to the buffet, if you’re so inclined. The waiter staff was quick and efficient in serving drinks at the tables, and as I’ve already mentioned, the food was buffet-style. The selection of food in the main restaurant was good, a few live cooking stations and a Sri Lankan corner every night. We must admit that the quality of the food wasn’t the best - there was nothing wrong with it, of course, but we weren’t really amazed either.

Our favorite restaurant on the island became the Indian one, Sufura. A much smaller, but also buffet-style restaurant with Indian food, provided a much more cozy time for eating absolutely delicious food. There were much fewer people there, and no need to make a reservation. A big recommendation from us, if you like some yummy tandoori chicken and freshly made garlic naan!

The island also has a Mediterranean a la carte restaurant, Thavaa, which is included in the all inclusive package, but does require a reservation. We ate here twice, and the food was also of much higher quality than the main buffet.

As a last mention, if you miss meal times or just prefer something a little different - Café Mass was always an option. You could get “snack”-food here all day long, such as small pizzas, fries, wraps and so on. The food was alright, and a good back-up option if you (like us) sometimes overslept for breakfast or just did not want the overwhelming experience of a buffet. It’s worth mentioning that it did take a while for food to arrive at your table, about 30 minutes from ordering, but hey - you’d get served all the things you could drink meanwhile, so it wasn’t too much of a bother, just a little something to factor in. 

The only thing we were really missing, food wise, on the island was probably the option to order actual snacks at the bars or Café Mass. While they did call it a “snack café”, all the options were actual food (burgers, pizzas etc.), and it would have been nice to be able to order some fresh fruit, toasted nuts, chips or cookies - as more of an actual snack-snack.

And at every food outlet, drinks were of course also served. The drink selection was good (one bar specifically had over 100 cocktail options), the cocktails delicious, and the bartenders were good at modifying to your tastes (they defaulted to a bit much alcohol for our taste, but asking them to make them “light” or even virgin was no issue at all). The biggest issue with the drinks was probably no iced coffee on the menu, which led to us having to ask/explain every time we wanted one - they were very accommodating in making it when we asked, but hey, maybe just add it to the menu? Maybe we’re strange here, but wanting an iced coffee on a tropical island seems fairly obvious to me.

Transfer

We had originally booked with domestic flight and speedboat transfer, but upon arrival in Velana International Airport, we were told that we had gotten a free upgrade to outbound seaplane transfer. As always, this was seamless for us, as guests. After walking up to the stand in the airport and “checking in” with your island resort, they literally handle everything from there; there were (apparently) some hiccups with our seaplane booking, but we did not have to lift a finger to fix it. It is honestly one of the things that make Maldives so appealing: You’re just in good hands from the moment you clear customs in the airport, until you skip back out again.

The seaplane ride was beautiful, as expected. One of our suitcases were too heavy and would be sent on the next seaplane instead; a small annoyance, but nothing we were too bothered about, as it was sent directly to our room and, well, we’re big advocates for aviation safety and totally understand that it could not be included on our seaplane. All good!

On the way home, we went via our originally scheduled plan, a speedboat from the resort to a local airport island (name?), and then a very short domestic flight from there to Malé/Velana International Airport. Honestly, while not as charming or unique as a seaplane, it was a very nice experience too. There is just something about seeing a very small plane operation “pretending” to be a real plane - from sitting in the gate with 20-30 other guests, all going on the same airplane, to getting served drinks and snacks on a plane-ride that was almost too short to have time to actually drink or eat anything. And honestly - the views from a domestic flight ain’t bad either! We really enjoyed our domestic transfer option. 

House reef & Snorkeling

The snorkeling at the house reef of Meedhupparu was quite good! There is, as with almost any Maldivian island, a rich and teeming marine-life happening just underneath the surface. The island also boasts some pretty wide and clean beaches, allowing for also just lounging in the water, without having to go out on the reef to enjoy the crystal clear blue waters.

We found that the best snorkeling was to actually head out on the north jetty, and jump straight in on the reef. You can then swim in either direction - depending on the current that day, usually - and enjoy some pretty spectacular sights. While we have seen better in terms of coral diversity, we were extremely lucky when it came to spotting actual marine-life: We saw a few turtles on different days, a bunch of spotted eagle rays on most days, and even devil rays on the house reef when we went for a sunrise swim one day. There were surprisingly few sharks, but we did see a few black-tipped baby sharks hanging about.

You can also snorkel on the shallow lagoon on the other side of the island - while its not interesting for long, we do wanna recommend going at least once, as there are some pretty spectacular coral-formations. It looks like a haunted forest from above - beautiful.

We wouldn’t really recommend snorkeling on the other side of the wave-breakers on the south side of the island; it was a very, very long swim out, and honestly, the views were better on the north side anyway.

Do be mindful that this island gets some pretty strong currents - there are also signs warning of this all over the island - so if you decide to snorkel on the edge of where the water gets deep (where the most life is), please, please remember to wear fins! It’s absolutely no fun to struggle against a current. We didn’t have trouble with it, as we usually planned to swim with the current and then over the corals when we got tired (remember to check the tides - you don’t want to have to swim in over corals in low tide). Once, we did go against the current, and while doable, it was not relaxing - even with fins on - so, yeah, take caution.

All in all, we’d say the reef was actually quite good - and, to our surprise, not many of the guests were snorkeling, so even though there wasn’t the biggest stretch to snorkel on (at least where it was “the best”), the reef never felt even remotely crowded. 

Excursions

We went on the dolphin cruise, which was included in our stay, and we also went ahead and booked an extra excursion for seeing and swimming with manta rays (and turtles). Both went absolutely smoothly! 

For our dolphin cruise, we requested to go in the morning (as that’s when dolphins are usually most active), which was accommodated for us. We went out, saw a bunch of spinner dolphins doing their thing, and were back “home” before lunch. We enjoyed some time lounging in the sun, enjoying the seabreeze and the various other island resorts whizzing by us. It was a 2-3 hour boat ride, which is a pretty good deal for an “included” excursion, in our opinion.

The manta- and turtle-sighting was a 3-4 hour boat ride-around, where we first went to look for turtles. When going in the water, we had two guides with us: One who was taking the lead and served as a “spotter”, and one who was bringing in the rear and making sure no one got left behind. One of the guides also had a lifesaver with them, so if you get tired or otherwise need something during the snorkel, you can always go to him. The “lead” guide was extremely adept at spotting any interesting marine-life, and also took turns filming with different guests underwater cameras, if they wanted it. Seeing the locals - our guides - in the water is almost an experience in itself - you’d think they’re half fish, considering how long they can hold their breath and how adept they generally are in the water. On this excursion, we went in the water three times - once to see the turtles, and twice to see the manta rays. It was an incredible experience, and we felt very safe all the way through - I generally have my hesitations about dropping into deep water in the middle of the ocean, but it was honestly a very good and safe experience. Oh, and as an added bonus, we actually saw dolphins on this excursion, too! We didn’t go in with them in the water, as that’s not what we were there for, but you know - nice.

Overall island feel

We really enjoyed our time on this island. It definitely had a lot of things going for it; the pool-bar should get a special shout-out, and sitting in the pool with a view of the ocean just never gets old. The reef felt alive, the food was good - not great - and everyone was friendly, yet not overly talkative. And the passion fruit ice cream was absolutely magnificent. If you’re looking for a good “first island”, this might be it. It was definitely a place where all the parts were good, but none of it stood out as being particularly amazing (for a Maldivian resort standard, that is). Thinking back to other islands, they have each had something that made them stand out for us - but this one was actually pretty solid all around, yet, no one part was particularly amazing. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and again, if you’re looking for a good start to “dip your toes in the water” of Maldivian travel - if you do not yet know which parts are a priority to you - this could be a really good place to start. Once you know that you care extra much about the reef, or the food, or which island size you might prefer, you can start to tailor your experience more towards those types of islands. Until then: Meedhupparu has a little bit of everything, without any particular focus on one thing. 

Something you may not often consider, but is actually really nice, is that everyone on the island seemed to be on the same “all inclusive” plan. This means that there were no annoying bracelets or having to sign for everything you get at the bar or restaurants - only if you choose something really specific that costs extra. Don’t get me wrong, there were certainly options for add-ons, but they were - in our opinion - clearly advertised as “extras”. It wasn't like on some resorts, where you go to look at the menu and only 20% of it is actually included in your “all inclusive”. Everything that you’d expect, and then some, was included - and, again, there was no obvious “tiering” or differentiating between the different guests. We really appreciated that!

One small note to add here though, is that the water villas on the island is actually sold as a separate resort; this means that some parts of the island is technically fenced off, and you can’t go out to the water villas if you’re not a guest there. It wasn’t something we really noticed, but when talking about classification of different guests, it does bear mentioning.

As expected on a resort, you don’t get to choose the exact location of your room, on the island. So, we were placed in a room with about a 10-minute walk to the “main” area of the island (snorkeling, pool, restaurant, bars); and this might not seem like much, but when you’re on Maldives, one of the beautiful things - for us - is essentially being within an arm's reach of everything all the time. But a 10-minute walk, while not much once or twice, quickly stacks up if you have to go back and forth everytime you want to change activity (if you forget your book, sunscreen, snorkel - you name it - that’s 20 minutes!). To mitigate this, we started planning more and carrying a bag with us everywhere with a lot of stuff in it - and is it a big problem? Not necessarily, but for us, it did put a damper on some of the Maldives magic. Being able to leave the room with nothing but your sunglasses (not even shoes are needed here!) is a certain type of feeling that we just didn’t have here. If you’re lucky with your room placement, this will not be an issue for you, but - alas - it was for us. 

On the plus side, when we did have to walk, the paths were always extremely well kept, groomed daily and well lit at night. It’s so nice to be able to walk around barefoot without being afraid to stumble upon something sharp or gross.

Our tips

The following are our best tips to get the best of times at Meedhupparu, particularly.

• Book a table at Thaava as soon as possible after arrival; it’s quite popular and will fill up fairly quickly, so if you have a shorter stay and want to make sure to try it, make sure you book it early.

• If you walk out on the jetty to jump in the water (for snorkeling), remember to bring flip-flops: The darker surface of the jetty can get real hot on your bare feet! 

• Bring a small light-colored tote-bag or similar to carry your stuff around the island, if you happen to get a villa that’s a bit more secluded, so that you don’t have to carry everything in a hot, dark backpack.