Honest review
SAii Lagoon is nothing like postcard Maldives — and that is the point: a fashionable, easy-going, modern place 15 minutes by boat from Male, part of the CROSSROADS project — nine islands, Hard Rock next door and the first marina in the Maldives, with 30 berths.
The marina feels like a European port town, in places even Venice: canals, colourful restaurant houses from Chinese to the Indian Kebab & Kurry, an amphitheatre with evening shows and Ministry of Crab, where crabs are served from 500 grams up to two kilos. A boat runs there five times a day, the trip takes five minutes, and an evening stroll along the waterfront at sunset is a pleasure in itself.
The water villas surprised me: graphic dark bathroom finishes, the bathtub standing right in the room with a panorama of the ocean, a lamp shaped like a hat — you walk in and the mood is set. On the terrace, a freshwater pool with wide steps and handrails, and a hammock; the villas are set well apart. On the beach villas, privacy is built with banks of sand: you neither see nor hear your neighbours, even though the greenery is still young.
Now the honest part. The resort has no house reef of its own — snorkelling here means boat excursions. And at weekends Male residents come to the marina for the day: they don't use the resorts' grounds, but the waterfront can get crowded.
Who it suits: families — girls read the boho room design as a princess's house — young couples, and anyone who wants a living Maldives with music and a nightclub. I am here for the second time now, and I can see how the island has grown up and come into its own.
First-hand experience of the Maldives Expert team — we have been here ourselves
Video review
