Honest review
A completely different Maldives: instead of silence and seclusion — music, movement and a marina that feels more like a European port town than an atoll. Hard Rock stands in the Emboodhoo lagoon on South Male Atoll and is part of Crossroads — a cluster of islands linked by bridges, with SAii Lagoon next door and a shared marina.
Getting there is easy: around 15 minutes by speedboat from Male. This is not our first visit to Crossroads — and each time you can see how much it has grown in and greened up.
The marina is the heart of the cluster. In the evenings there is music, small restaurants, shisha lounges and bars, an amphitheatre with shows, an ice-cream parlour and even a nightclub. Ministry of Crab serves crabs from 500 grams to two kilos, and giant prawns; on a number of plans Hard Rock guests get a 50-dollar-per-person deposit here and discounts on drinks. Canals, brightly coloured houses — the mood is closer to Venice than to the Maldives, and an evening stroll here is a pleasure in its own right.
The resort plays its rock theme honestly: you can run your own playlist in the room, ask for a guitar, and — for purists — put on Crosley vinyl.
An honest minus: at weekends locals come to the marina for the day — they don’t enter the resort’s grounds, but the marina itself can get crowded.
Who it’s for: families, groups of friends and anyone who gets bored of a classic quiet island by day three. People keep coming back here — and we understand why.
First-hand experience of the Maldives Expert team — we have been here ourselves
Video review
