If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.
Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD974.03), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.
Style
All-inclusive sea world
Setting
South Ari Atoll
Explore
Constance Moofushi in the Maldives has ‘honeymoon’ stamped all over it, thanks to its golden beach, romantic villas and brilliant food. Generous all-inclusive rates, a party feel and the tune-delivering DJ will have you tossing your wallet into the sea and tearing up your passport.
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A bottle of wine and a fruit basket. Lucky GoldSmiths also get a bottle of champagne
110 villas.
12 noon, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 2pm.
Double rooms from £973.83 ($1,200), including tax at 23.2 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional government tax of $6.00 per person per night on check-out.
The hotel’s generous all-inclusive Cristal Package means meals, drinks and some activities are covered. Return hotel transfers are from US$480 for adults; from US$240 for under-12s.
Here's an incentive to tie the knot if we ever heard one: honeymooners get 50 per cent off one spa treatment during their stay. We'd book an Enchanting Wave massage – a knee-weakeningly dreamy 75-minute full-body ritual that combines reiki, tai chi, Hawaiian lomi lomi and esalen massage – immediately. During your treatment, ask to have the shutters of your room left open, so you can hear the waves purr and smell the sea breeze.
Big beach, beach volleyball, outdoor swimming pool, spa with eight treatment rooms and a yoga pavilion; gym, entertainment lounge with pool tables and cards, free WiFi throughout. In rooms: TV, DVD player, minibar, bathrobes, slippers, Constance bath products.
Torn between beach and overwater? Opt for Water Villas 30–35, which are at the beginning of the jetty, with easy access to the beach on one side and the Indian Ocean on the other. Beach bums will go gaga for Beach Villas 17–25, which overlook the yawning white beach and put beach volleyball and Totem Bar on your doorstep. If it’s privacy you’re after, book Senior Water Villa 78 or 79, which are both secluded at the very end of the jetty; if sunset views are your thing, go for a Water Villa with an odd number between 101 and 137, or a Senior Water Villa with an even number between 50 and 78.
Constance Moofushi's knee-weakeningly lovely pool is curved to mirror the shape of the beach, resulting in spectacular views from all sunbeds. Tucked away close to the spa, this peaceful spot has sunloungers scattered on the surrounding wooden deck and beach below. Try and bag one of the sunbeds on the platform accessed by the walkway over the pool for uninterrupted Indian Ocean views (you won't be complaining, wherever you end up). If 'swimming' (flopping around) brings on the munchies, Totem Bar next door serves lunchtime snacks and drinks.
Shoes you can dance in (on a wooden dance floor) for late nights at Manta Bar. Mr/Ms Smith might want to put a diamond ring in their pocket, so as to be prepared.
Smokers, rejoice: free cigarettes are served individually from the humidor.
Welcome. Babysitting can be arranged upon request (speak to staff when you check in); cots (free) and extra beds (free for under-7s; US$200 for ages 7-12s; US$400 for those 13-and-up) can be added to Beach Villas, Water Villas and Senior Water Villas.
At Manta: a table on the overwater deck, so you can spy on the jewel-coloured fishes and bullet-grey reef sharks darting beneath you. At Alizee: nab a candlelit table on the shore and scrunch the sherbet-soft sand between your toes while you eat.
Island ghoul (white, soft and flowing) for candlelit dinners at Alizee; well-heeled beach bum for casual Manta.
Manta Restaurant has a carpet of sand, a mobile seashell sculpture strung from its ceiling and belt-popping buffets: expect daily-changing themes at dinner (Mexican Mondays, Mediterranean Tuesdays, Indian and Sri Lankan Wednesdays and so on) with a bewildering array of delicious dishes. (The friendly sommelier will help pair your choices with the best grapey blend.) Alizee is smaller and more romantic, with wave-side tables set right on the beach and a precise, tempting à la carte menu: scallops with Serrano ham and buttered leeks and the Maldivian spiced reef fish caught our eye. Don't turn your back on the grilled lobster (an extra US$40, but more than worth it). Stay for seven nights, and rates cover one dinner for two at Alizee (two dinners, if you stay longer); the Cristal package includes all meals at Manta and as many lunches at Totem as you can fit in.
Toast your holiday at the relaxed Totem bar, which wouldn’t look out of place on a hippy beach in Goa. (We love the tree-trunk tables.) Over at Manta Bar, DJ Sanjeewa will keep you dancing under the disco ball until the early hours. Stay refreshed with a Moofushi Nasta Lemonade (home-made lemon and ginger marmalade with bourbon, fresh mint and cucumber) or an ice-cold tropical bellini.
Totem refreshes guests from 10am until 11.30pm; Manta Bar stays open until 12.30am. Alizee stops serving at 10pm; Manta keeps plating up until 10.30pm.
None, but the all-inclusive concept means you won’t go hungry. Make the most of your free minibar, which is stocked with crisps, chocolate, beer, soft drinks and wine, and replenished daily. Free afternoon tea and pancakes are served by the pool daily.
You need a transfer to reach this hotel. For approximate costs, see location information
Constance Moofushi occupies its own private island in the South Ari Atoll, an easy half-hour flight from Malé.
Fly into Malé International Airport, where you’ll be met by hotel staff and whisked away to Constance’s seaplane lounge to take the 30-minute seaplane transfer to the hotel. The seaplanes only operate in daylight hours (between 6am and 4pm). From November 2017 to January 2019, return hotel transfers cost US$540 for adults (12 and over) and US$350 for 2–11s; rates include tax. Infants can travel for free, as long as they're on someone's lap.
Constance Moofushi goes out of its way to entertain guests, offering free windsurfing, kayaking, pedal boating and snorkelling excursions (equipment included). For an extra cost, you can set off in a dhoni and be dropped off at your own private island for a full or half day, go on a sunset cruise, seek out dolphins on a speedboat, visit a local village, go night fishing, hire a private boat or embark on a diving trip. If you’ve befriended fellow guests, hang out in the entertainment lounge together and play cards and pool. Overindulged at Manta and the bar? Get active with some beach volleyball, or unwind with a couples’ treatment in the spa. If you get a case of island fever, hop on a boat to sister property Constance Halaveli for dinner. The boat trip and dinner are chargeable, but it’s a great way to glimpse another island.
Have a meal at Jahaz, the restaurant at sister hotel Constance Halaveli. Dinner is a generous buffet, with different themes each night. Your other dining options at Halaveli include 10-table Meeru for delicious dinners of grilled meat or fish, and romantic Jing – located half-way down the overwater jetty – which serves adventurous fusion food in a stunning turquoise and dark-wood dining room.
Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this beachy hotel in the South Ari Atoll and dusted the sand from their clothes, a full account of their luxury seaside break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside Constance Moofushi in the Maldives…
Think Maldives getaways mean a hefty price tag, minimal contact with other humans and speaking in hushed tones at dinner? Think again. Constance Moofushi brings a new spin to island escapes, thanks to its generous all-inclusive rates, lively resident DJ, party feel and effortlessly brilliant staff. If you want the classic honeymooner’s hideaway, of course you’ll still find it here: the villas – pick from beach or overwater – are romantic and sexy, the big beach is dazzling, the spa treatments are excellent and the food and wine are amazing. But if you’re the kind of guest that likes to chat to your barman, befriend your neighbours at dinner and wear out your heels cutting shapes beneath a glittering disco ball, you’ll thrive here.
