This is my review of the best Maldives Family Beach Villa – The St Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort. How I wish I were back in paradise again! But reality beckons, sigh.
For a TLDR version, watch the above for the highlights video of our stay at Maldives’ finest address, St Regis Maldives Vommuli @ Dhaalu Atoll.
Table of Contents
Best Maldives Family Beach Villa – St Regis Maldives Vommuli Two-Bedroom Family Villa Review
First things first, it ain’t the finest address for no reason; it is St Regis after all so you CAN expect the best.
The St Regis Maldives Welcome Lounge & Bentley Pick Up
Once we arrived at the airport, we were picked up by our arrival butler and whisked off to their Welcome Lounge. Refreshments were served and the kids had toys; it was wonderful to wait in a comfortable air-conditioned lounge for our seaplane. For families with young kids like ours, they don’t use the Bentley for safety reasons. I know you can see that we took the Bentley but that’s just because the van broke down. So yup, what a coincidence and great footage for the video nonetheless haha!
Entrance to the St Regis Maldives Welcome Lounge
Inside the Welcome Lounge
Freshen up before your seaplane flight
Joshie & Lauren entertained with toys
Walk up to the Trans-Maldivian Sea Plane
Due to the family van breaking down on our way back, they offered to drive us back in the Bentley.
The St Regis Maldives Vommuli Architecture
The first thing that captures your attention while you approach the St Regis Maldives Vommuli on the seaplane, would be its exquisite architecture. Designed by Singapore-based WOW architects (Singapore rocks!), the entire resort is built with great consideration for its natural surroundings, including a large house reef. The overall design is very thoughtful and incorporates elements of local culture and marine life. For example, the Whale Bar, as its name suggests, is shaped to resemble a whale, the Library a giant conch shell, the Iridium Spa a lobster, and the villas shaped like traditional Maldivian dhoni boats.
Awesome drone shots captured by Papa Ray using his DJI Mavic Pro Platinum, gotta be stealth as droning is NOT allowed at the St Regis Maldives Vommuli.
The Bespoke St Regis Butler Service
Before we even arrived, we were shown a welcome video on an Ipad of our dedicated St Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort butler at the welcome lounge. Ella was wonderful, thoughtful and very attentive to our needs. Be it dietary, or buggy rides to the restaurant, or anything else short of criminal activities, I’m sure our butler would have acceded to our requests.
St Regis Maldives Family Beach Villa Room Review
This was where we stayed for 4 nights. The room is fully Ipad-controlled, so you turn on your lights, AC, blinds, TV etc all via the Ipad. There are remote controls of course but who uses them when you can do it all via the Ipad? There’s a small infinity pool on the deck, but our kids preferred the sand and sea, accessible directly from our own private outdoor terrace. There is another bedroom and bathroom on the second floor but we didn’t use it at all since the first floor was spacious enough. Thank God the bed was HUGE, and an infant cot was available! We absolutely love the huge marble bathroom and changing room. Toiletries were very generous. And the kids got individualized goodie bags of toys and gifts, a very nice gesture indeed!
Various payable and complimentary treats
The very spacious first-storey bedroom
The outdoor terrace and infinity pool
The bath tub, shower, vanity area and separate changing room. Absolutely in love with the luxurious marble interior.
There is a separate entrance and stairway to the second floor, perfect even for 2 families to share 1 villa
The 2nd-storey bedroom area
2nd-storey vanity area, bath tub, shower and powder room
2nd-storey outdoor terrace
The very thoughtful gifts for our kids
The customary arrival shot of our kiddos. If you notice the blue artwork in the background, it’s made with shards of old timber panels to create an image of the Maldivian horizon. The ceiling lamp is inspired from the Maldivian Dhoni. Cool eh?
A close-up on the above-mentioned intricate artwork and another ceiling lamp made from material resembling clam shells.
St Regis Maldives Vommuli Iridium Spa
We tried the Iridium Signature Touch treatment and we both loved the part where they rubbed a warm sand bundle dipped in coconut oil over our backs. That was so, so good. I think I fell asleep after that. If money weren’t limited, I would do it. Every. Single. Day.
The Iridium Spa and the viewing holes on deck
Walking to the private treatment rooms
Head on to the expansive Blue Hole Pool, the largest hydrotherapy pool in the Maldives
Very pleased after the spa treatment.
St Regis Maldives Family Beach Villa – Breakfast
The St Regis Maldives Vommuli breakfast buffet deserves an entire section dedicated to it. It is that amazing! I’d let the photos do the talking for this too.
Lobster and Alaskan Crab Omelette, Butternut Pumpkin Puree, Oscietra Caviar, Fennel Cress
Duck Foie Gras Terrines, Morel Fricassee, Fried Quail Egg, Walnut Brioche, Spiced Orange Marmalade, Gold Leaf
Warm Apple Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream
Belgian Waffle with Choice of Topping, Whipped Cream Strawberries, Eucalyptus Honey, Banana or Chocolate Sauce
Buttermilk Pancakes, Banana, Roasted Hazelnuts, Chocolate Sauce
Saba Shiso Yaki – Grilled Reef Fish, Japanese Rice, Soy Sauce, Pickled Ginger, Pickled Plum, Wakami Seaweed
Eggs Benedict – English Muffins Topped with Belgian Ham, Two Poached Eggs Gratinated with Hollandaise Sauce
Maldivian Style Eggs Benedict – English Muffins Topped with Marinated Sliced Yellowfin Tuna, Hollandaise Infused Coconut Curry, Soft-shell Crab Tempura
100gr Beef Ribeye with Two Fried Eggs, Avocado, Rocket Leaves
Sashimi & Sushi – Assorted Sashimi and Sushi Plate, Japanese Pickles
There were many more dishes we didn’t get to try! Too much food, too little tummy space! These were just selections from their ala-carte breakfast menu, and does not include the actual buffet spread!
St Regis Maldives Family Beach Villa – Island Food and Drinks
Having 3 young kiddos around meant our choices were pretty limited, so, unfortunately, we didn’t get to dine or wine at the Whale Bar. We ate at Alba and Orientale most of the time cos we’re Asian with kids. Stereotype alert. Food was fresh and delightful. You can drop by the Decanter, where the staff would be happy to show you their finest collection of wines and a vintage from 1755 priced at US$33,333.
The Decanter and the most expensive bottle of wine in the entire Maldives.
St Regis Maldives Family Beach Villa – Vommuli House Kids Club
The St Regis Maldives Vommuli seems to be targeted at families with young children seeing how their Kids Club is so huge and well-equipped; there’s even a Kids Kitchen! There’s a full timetable of activities all day long for kids 5 years and above to enjoy, and for younger kids and babies, there are experienced and responsible babysitters if you need some couple time alone.
The humungous Kids Club, Kids’ Kitchen and outdoor playground.
St Regis Maldives Family Beach Villa Island Life
With 3 kids, we didn’t want to leave them at the Kids Club or babysitters for too long, so we didn’t get to explore the house reef. We did enjoy a sunset dolphin cruise and Joshie had fun handling the Captain’s Wheel. There’s a retreat area where you can practise anti-gravity yoga, a Library where you can indulge in reading activities, a tennis court and fully-equipped gym. Which, we didn’t use at all. All we did, was really just laze around our awesome beachfront family villa and take strolls around the island with our 3 kiddos. Away from our usual stressful city life and thoroughly soak up the relaxing atmosphere of island life. Sigh!
Onboard the dolphin cruise, kids were more interested in steering the Captain’s wheel
The separate club area for teenagers and young adults
The Library for really old adults
Kids having sand play
Spent some couple time cycling around the island
And this marks the end of our 4-days in paradise. Indeed, we’re so very blessed.
We. Must. Go. Back. Again!
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For official details and prices @ St Regis Maldives Vommuli, check HERE.
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2 Comments
Jon
Going there in a couple months for my honeymoon! Any suggestions you can make? Thanks!
Jolene Liow
Wow! Congrats and awesome choice! Well, go early for the breakfast and eat as much as you can haha! They have quite a few excursions, we didn’t get to explore their house reef but heard it’s good. The dolphin cruise was a little underwhelming for us but it depends on luck, the waters were choppy that day so we only managed to see a few jumps and the dolphins left; if possible choose to go on a calm day and the dolphins will come out to play. And you’d need to get used to a butler service as everything on the island requires your butler to coordinate/arrange, including restaurant reservations, excursions, even buggy to and fro the dining venues, unless you’re ok cycling around, which you should be since yours is a honeymoon sans kids. Food-wise, it was ok, we dined at the Orientale most of the time, cos we’re too Asian. And cos we have 3 young kids, we ordered room service a lot. If you’re going for the spa treatment, try the Signature, it was really good. The overall journey to the St Regis Maldives Vommuli was quite long, there’s a 45 mins seaplane on top of our international flight there, so just take note of that. Good thing the seaplane pulls up directly to the resort, hope you thoroughly enjoy your honeymoon!!!