Guraidhoo Palm Inn

I was invited by the owner Jaleel to come and experience his guesthouse and the island and I was glad to have done so. Jaleel & his team were always on hand to attend to the needs of myself & the other guests. Always offering refreshments and checking if there was anything they could do for us. The property is just a short walk from the harbour and the beach areas! The room was spacious and equipped with both a celling fan and AC. My room was on the top floor so the balcony opened up to a view over the island roof tops and beyond. The restaurant is on the the 3rd floor with an area also giving views over the rooftops and if you take a few steps further, upwards! you will find yourself on their large roof terrace with an amazing 360 view of the island. The island itself has a good number of what I would call Café Bistros, some serving purely local cuisine and others catering to international tastes also. Additionally, the island has a large number of convenience stores as well as dive centres, one of which, 'Divepoint' is also owned by Jaleel so guests can benefit from packaged scuba deals as well as guest dive rates. Overall, I had a wonderful experience on Guraidhoo. The island is currently undergoing shoreline reclamation which means there is a very large open sandy area circling Guraidhoo and it will take sometime for this to be completed and for a more natural shoreline to be restored. Unfortunately part of this reclamation has resulted in the formerly clean & picturesque uninhabited picnic island being left in a bad state as well as the bridge being destroyed! I only hope they bring this back to its original beauty! All things said, Guraidhoo is only a short transfer by boat and you can enjoy a Maldives holiday on a budget surrounded by amazing people and beautiful crystal warm waters.