Riu Palace Maldivas

Fantastic hotel and fantastic staff. We very much enjoyed everything apart from the DJ. He was always playing songs from the 70s and 80s even though the crowd was young in their 20s and 30th. We asked him several times to play new songs but he refused. Except the DJ, everything was perfect. Thank you.

It’s hard to talk about this place without sounding like I’m gushing. This was our second visit to the Maldives, and so far, our vacation at the Riu Palace has been our favorite. We had the opportunity to spend two weeks in a water villa, for which we are especially grateful. The villa was simply wonderful; I couldn’t imagine a better place for a peaceful, quiet, yet completely nature-filled getaway. The ocean in front of us was perfectly calm and dazzlingly blue, perfect for swimming, with no annoying reefs or seaweed. If we wanted to see fish, we just had to go a little further out, and there was nothing stopping us from doing so. Every staff member on the island treated us with their usual Maldivian warmth and utmost attention; we never had to wait for anything. A few names I must mention—though by no means an exhaustive list—of those we spoke with the most and who were the most attentive to us: Thanuka, Dasy, Bharaat, Chamika, Edi the chef, Ani the other chef, Nilan... (sorry if i spelling their names wrong) Thank you to them for always chatting with us and making these two weeks unforgettable. :)) The food was outstanding throughout; we really enjoyed the special themes, such as the BBQ or the shawarma pop-up. The specialty restaurants were also very good; I particularly liked their slightly more exclusive, elegant atmosphere. It was nice to see that the guests here also adhere to the dress code. We enjoyed the evening parties as well, though we would have been much happier with far fewer unfamiliar Russian songs. :) On the other hand, we really, really enjoyed the sunset DJ sets and the evening live music performances. They were all really, really good and of a high standard every single day. Thank you so much for these wonderful two weeks, we’ll definitely go back to this dream island in the near future. :)

We stayed at Riu Palace in the Maldives back in February 2026 and, based on our experience, it is certainly not a five-star hotel when it comes to customer service. The seaplane was cancelled on the day of departure after we had already paid $480 just two days earlier, and the way the refund has been handled since then has been disgraceful. We were told to apply by email once we returned to the UK, and despite numerous emails and forms, it took **three months to finally receive our refund. As of 18th May 2026, the money has now been paid, but only after a long, frustrating process. To make matters worse, we were asked to go to my partner’s bank to prove she has the account and to get the bank to produce a letter, which is an unreasonable demand for a refund that should have been straightforward. This is not the level of service you expect from a hotel that markets itself as luxury. Taking holidaymakers’ money easily but then stalling and making refunds extremely difficult is shocking. Please do not reply to this review, as your customer service has been absolutely shocking. Potential customers should read this carefully and decide for themselves whether they want to risk paying extra to a resort that makes getting money back so difficult.

This was our second visit to the Riu Palace Maldivas and it lived up to the expectations of the first visit.we had a beach level villa so that we could just step onto the whits sands and only a few more before your in the clear blue sue. The room is very spacious, an enormous shower, a bed big enough to fit three comfortably. Air con and a fan. Mini bar re stocked every day, and optics as well!! Beach towels, towels and linen changed every day. The room is cleaned every day, meticulously and a different towel animal left adorning the bed each day. We never really frequented the pool as the sea was too inviting and the snorkelling good with plenty of fish, some rays and baby reef sharks to be seen. The restaurant had so much variety and choices and flavours and spices were some of the best we have had in our travels. The chefs were always polite, friendly and very helpful. The waiting staff always made sure you were never without a drink,even to the point of after a couple of days they remembered your order and had it virtually waiting for you. The bar was well stocked and had a good selection of spirits, the staff were all very attentive, friendly and again after a few days remembered your favourite tipple and had it virtually on hand before you requested another. There are golf buggys around to ferry you from the Palace side to the Atoll and back, there is a small shop, quite pricey, but your a captive market so it will always be The hotel take care of you from the minute you land in Male, directing to your next part of the onward journey until the point they return you to Male for your homeward trek and everyone involved is so polite ,friendly and helpful, from the rep at male to the scuba caribe gents that ferry you over,the cleaning staff, reception and front of house, reastaurant staff, bar staff, even the maintainance and groundskèepers are all friendly and greet you enthusiastcly. @Riupalacemaldivas a massive thanks to you and all your staff for making our return visit as memorable , enjoyable and relaxed as the first was and a big shout out to pur Cleaner Chamera who was excellent and Desy and Samee for the attention to service and banter in the evenings at the bar Hope to see you guys again soon Simon and Claire

Great vacation, I liked everything, especially the bartenders by the pool, very tasty cocktails: Special mention palace bar team, THANUKA CHAMIKA DASUN BHARAT ANU DESY SAMEE AND SANJU Doing great job at you palace Maldives.best of the best ❤️