With a Dubai friend in tow, I landed at the Cinnamon Hakuraa Huraa resort, 150 kilometers south of the capital, Malé. Like all resorts, the hotel is on a private island that boasts overwater bungalows, a restaurant, bar, spa, and tours. Like most resorts here, meals and drinks are included in the cost of the room.
Cinnamon was on the lower end of the price spectrum, costing me $356 USD per night. While not super budget-friendly, it was a lot cheaper than the other resorts. For example, the Park Hyatt was $850 USD per night, the Taj was $1,050 USD, the W was $1,300 USD, St. Regis was $1,600 USD, and the Four Seasons was a whopping $2,000 USD per night!
Unless you learn how to use points and miles, a visit here can be prohibitively expensive.
As I was itching for an overdue vacation and work detox, my visit was just what the doctor ordered: a tropical island with limited Internet and a friend whose job it was to keep me from working.
I spent my days trying not to get a sunburn on the beach, reading books (I highly recommend The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell), drinking wine, stuffing my face, and then retiring for more reading or a movie.
Life on the island was easy. In the resort bubble, you don’t have to worry about getting around, meals, or what to do.
It was a vacation.
The staff was super friendly, they knew how to make a good drink, and there was always food around. Meals were buffet style (unless you paid extra for the romantic crab restaurant or the lunchtime cooking class, which I did. See the awesome meal I cooked in the picture below).
Taking advantage of some of the hotel’s tours, we went dolphin watching (so many dolphins!), snorkeled each day, and visited a couple of the nearby islands.
Since resorts in the country are geared toward families or couples, there were few solo travelers or non-couples outside the dive resorts. My friend and I were the only non-couple on the island.
I found there wasn’t a lot of guest interaction but since everyone there was on vacation, I wasn’t too surprised.
After four days, my friend and I were both a bit ready to move on. I can only take vacation life for a few days before I get bored. The high life was the relaxing opulence that I thought it would be, but I was itching to see the real Maldives, to experience life on the local islands, and to talk to a few locals.
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