Embudu Village

Embudu village really was an incredible holiday. Very friendly staff. Greeted on arrival by Govinda (after a long flight and then a short 15-30 min speedboat transfer from Velana airport.) Thanks and to all the shop staff. Food. Incredible selection in Indian, Sri Lankan, western food. Can’t fault any of the food on offer. Service was excellent (thanks to Raju- appreciated your kindness) Bar available (if that’s your thing but good for being sociable) has a table tennis table, dj on Sundays and the odd live performer. Also a small football area to play football and a badminton court. Rooms. Stayed in the normal bungalow. Number 99. Cleaned daily although I requested that it wasn’t necessary as I’m a tidy person. Clean towels, 2 bottles of water and coffee, tea topped up daily. (One negative of this room- through the night loud noise of coconuts dropping on the roof- can’t be helped right just unlucky location) Air con was great and included, no extra charge. The island is 100m x 200m so you can walk the perimeter in 15-20 mins or side to side in 2/3 mins. Does get a mosquito fogging but not sure how regularly. Small negative is a very small amount of bottles etc washing up at shore. Could be cleaned with a quick perimeter sweep daily (mentioned this to the staff) All rooms are within 20m to the shore and some are more private than others. Sunbeds, cushion layer for them available. And the odd sun parasol if you need shade. There’s a dive school on the island that do scuba and snorkelling trips. Many thanks to Ben and Michelle for the time you took to explain the islands best spots for snorkelling to me. And also the stingray city trip. That was really good! I strongly recommend doing this. There’s also a seated area over the sea next to the bar. Two jetty’s, one in particular (the one you arrive on) is illuminated at night and has a few benches. Really nice for a romantic evening watching the fish and sharks that may or may not appear. Had such an incredible holiday here. And the best memories of my life (but that’s a different story) Summarised. If you want the charm of a small island then don’t hesitate to book this. If you want the 5 star experience then maybe not.

My family and I went to Embudu Village and had the absolute best time! So many fun opportunities and activities for us to do. Thanks to the diving school team who took us out to Stingray City, where we swam with stingrays and reef sharks and on the Turtle snorkelling too, (the coolest experience ever). The resort was very well maintained, delicious buffet styled food and every night is a different cuisine. Personally my favourites where Mongolian night, Western night and Italian night but they where all so delicious. The staff where so friendly and kind a special thanks to Ravindra , our very kind and funny sever for meal times and Ali our room cleaner who came everyday to clean the room for us. Any where on the island is so beautiful , our room was 5 steps to the beach , they had a badminton court where we played volley ball badminton and more, the bartenders where very friendly and by the end of our stay they had practically known our drink orders. Embudu Village is defiantly one to remember and we truly thank you guys for being so kind corruptive and caring! We will definitely be coming back! Thank You So Much!!!

Our 13 nights at Embudu Village to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary were everything we’d hope they would be; ultra relaxing, slow paced and peaceful on a small, authentic island with 5 star staff and excellent food. All of the staff were engaged, hard working, polite and helpful. The whole place was immaculately clean and tidy, including the beach and garden areas which were raked every single day by the hard working gardeners. We would particularly like to mention the following members of staff: Rasheed for his general management and accommodating approach in booking us the perfect room based on our request for peace and close proximity to the beach. Azad, our room attendant, for his beautiful floral arrangement on our bed and for the cake and fruit bowl (we hope you’re enjoying your holiday!). Also for keeping our room tidy and clean! Vishnu, our hard working waiter in the restaurant - always immaculately presented, smiling and happy to chat. All of the bar staff, particularly Sanny and Nalin. Both excellent ambassadors for the island who go out of their way to make guests feel welcome and at home. Nothing was too much trouble. I was also lucky to receive a massage from the lovely Lissy at the relaxing spa - the best massage I’ve ever had! From what we saw, all beach bungalows were well positioned due to the small size of the island. Everything was within a few minutes walk, so room choice basically boils down to whether you want to be in the shade of the trees or closer to the beach. Our room appeared to have been recently white washed inside. It was bright airy and perfectly suited the natural feel of the island. The air conditioning was excellent and the shower powerful. The fridge was very handy to store cold drinks. Contrary to other reviews, we found the bed extremely comfortable and we enjoyed excellent sleep each night. It just goes to show that mattress firmness is an issue of personal choice. Outside the room there were two comfortable chairs, a table and racking to hang towels, snorkelling gear etc. There were plenty of sun-beds available which you could move to your favoured position. Most people sought out the natural shade provided by the abundant palm and other trees which surround the island. The mattresses are removed and stacked each night but they were plentiful and we never struggled to get a bed for the day. We spent our days sunbathing, reading and snorkelling on the excellent living coral reef that surrounds most of the island. We always felt safe and relied on the professional advice from the staff at the dive centre. We booked a snorkelling trip with them to ‘Stingray City’. We really enjoyed this and were amazed by the experience of swimming with Nurse Sharks and Stingrays. This resort is graded as 3*, presumably due to the lack of a pool and other ‘luxuries’ that 5* resorts might provide. They say ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ and, based on what we were seeking, Embudu provided us with a 5* holiday and experience. Many thanks to you all for making our holiday so special. We hope to see you again in the near future.

We stayed in this paradise for 12 days. It was a wonderful holiday. Enchanting place surrounded by nature. Very attentive and helpful staff. Special thanks to Hossain at the restaurant, thoughtful, kind and Attentive. He immediately noticed the change in my mood when we learned we were stuck and every day he welcomed us with a beautiful smile and a word of comfort. Thank you, I hope to come back

We stayed at elliahdhoo before but it was fully booked, Embudu was alot cheaper, we liked the reviews so booked. Yes the more expensive location had some nice touches, but Embudu has a nice small vibe. The staff were happy smiling and good. The food was good. The accommodation perhaps a little dated, but pleasant. The reef was good and stingray city, well that was an experience, so glad we did it. Yes may be slightly better at more expensive resort, but we were very happy and will be a hard choice next time we go, as we were not dissatisfied with Embudu. Hoosain was our waiter and a very nice young man