Gili Lankanfushi Maldives

Wonderful barefoot luxury resort about a half hour speed boat ride from Male. Beautiful room, waters, amazing staff, and excellent food. A real gem.

My wife and I came to Gili from America with the intention of making it a once in a lifetime trip. After our 6 night stay, we changed our mind to coming here once every year. The food is incredible unless you are gluten free then I recommend you give notice ahead of time or else it will be hard to adjust to your needs. The hospitality was top tier, came as guests left as family. Waking up with the views in one of the Crusoe Residences reminds you how surreal the island is every morning. I am 6’4 230lbs and hate flying but somehow Gili Lankanfushi made a 15 hour flight worth it.

My wife and I have just returned from six nights at Gili, and what a wonderful experience we had! There are so many positives that can be mentioned but just a few: - only a short boat ride from Male. - amazing staff who can't do enough to make the holiday special. Special shout out to our Miss Friday, Shaany. - a very special "castaway" experience. Even though the overwater villas are designed to look "weathered" they are spacious, very well maintained with high quality furniture, mattresses and pillows. Very comfortable. - exceptional food at every meal, and one of the best wine selections I've seen anywhere. Amazing considering the isolation of the Maldives. - plenty of sea life around the villas. We decided to spend a little more and book a villa with its own pool. We'll definitely do that again next time we visit, but all the villas are over water and the surrounding ocean is a great place to swim. We can't wait to go back.

I can’t say enough good things. Staff - amazingly gracious. Food - off the charts 5 star. Accommodations - the exact reprieve I needed. Beautiful and spotless.

Gili offers the best experience you can imagine in the Maldives, especially in the all-important food and drink side of a stay. The setting is great, with an unpretentious beauty to the island and accommodation. The overwater rooms are very spacious and stylish, well equipped and with a unique feel. While it is not really practical to do a lot of swimming off most of them, the beach is very attractive and near to the bar and restaurants. The house reef is easy to reach by swimming or with a very short boatride to No (now restored to One) Palm Island, and offers wonderful sealife. The food offering is easily the best we have found in the Maldives, in terms of quality and choice. Instead of many multiple restaurants, the focus is on various themed evenings in the beach and overwater restaurants, plus an amazing Japanese restaurant on the other side of the island. In each, you will find the tastiest and most interesting food. The breakfasts are amazing. Full credit to Exec Chef Hari and his outstanding team, also the terrific servers such as Sanjay and Shantu: they all wanted you to have a wonderful time. We also had two superb wine experiences/tastings (the sommeliers Rohan and Rahman are interesting, enthusiastic and generous). The charming Director of Operations Florian was ever-present, ensuring that everyone was having the best experience. The true spirit of Gili is in the lovely staff, always smiling and friendly and creating the best atmosphere. That is most true of our Ms Friday Shaany who once again combined the efficient and spontaneously considerate skills of a top GEM/butler with a great sense of humour and fun. Outstanding!