We have spend gorgeous 10 days beginning of November and despite the fact that the season just started, we had great sunny days and hardly no rain (2x 0,5 days)
From Male you get to Vakarafahli via the water planes (booth of Transmaledivian Airways to the right when you exit customs and baggage claim), mostly with 1-2 stops on the way, depending on volume of guests. The flight takes 30- 40 minutes and you get off at a ponton in front of a neighbouring island, where a dhoni awaits you for a 10minutes-ride to Vakarafahli.
The island is hard to beat if you are looking for a tranquile place to unwind. As such very quiet, with people who prefer to read, swim and snorkel rather than looking for entertainment. The big turquoise lagoon offers enough place for every guest to get his sunbed right at the beach with distance and some privacy to the neighbours.
We booked a beach bungalow and as usual did not regret it, as it offers not only the big shady terrace with daybed but also the little stretch of beach and green between the bungalow and your numbered sunbeds, whereas the water bungalows offer less outdoor space. So we were able to move out of the sun whenever necessary and enjoyed the various shades of the blue lagoon from morning to sunset in front of us.
The island is a great mix of casual lifestyle, neither the bungalows nor the bar, restaurants and leisure offers are too fancy, people (mostly Europeans ) come bare-foot and with shorts and T-shirts or for dinner. Women are well dressed with tunikas and some leisure dresses. Do not bother to bring shoes, you will not use them. No motorized sports are offered but snorkling , diving, SOP, canoeing, volleyball. There are also daily excursions such as whale shark snorkling, manta snorkling, fishing, etc.
The food is great, EXCELLENT in every respect, you sense the Italian influence (great pasta and pizza, but also great fish and superb quality of meat) and unfortunately you end up with eating more than planed as every day there is a new culinary hightlight you can not resist. The breakfast buffet offers cereals, egg station, bread of all kinds, pastry, jogurt, birchler muesli and delicious exotic fruit. Lunch and dinner offer pasta/noddle/ fish/meat stations plus salads, a variety of „first courses“ such as superb fish carpaccio, fish tatar, sushi and various arranged „spoons“ to taste.
The all-inclusive option is worth booking, as food is in general very expensive on all Maledivian islands (needs to be imported not only from Male but also from Singapore, Australia, etc.). Water is provided in the bugalows (2x a day refilled) and drinks are served at all meals starting from 10:00am in the morning, with a choice of coffee, tea and water for breakfast. The minibar with some sweets and coke, sprite, bitter lemon, etc.as well as the coffee provided in the room is against payment.
When we arrived we got 500ml water bottles in the bungalows. We calculated that this would make up an average of 400 bottles per day, a topic, I wanted to discuss with the manager. It was very positive that I had not to arrange for an appointment but Mr. Luca (operations /hotel manager) showed up 2 minutes after my wish was mentioned at the front desk. He informed me that water bottles just had been banned from the restaurant and water is now generated by their own drinking water treatment plant but that the remaining stock of bottles are used in the bungalow , where in the next weeks jars will be used instead. It is he aim of the present management to become a plastic-free, „green“ island and plastic straws as well as plastic cocktail sticks have already been banned.
I was impressed of the manager´s activities in that respect plus his efforts to dedicate time to a single guest. It also adds to this „familary“ aspect of Vakarufahli that Mr. Luca offers guests to join him snorkeling the house reef every morning at 07:30 am where you can be lucky and get a pass of a big manta, but definitely see baby sharks, a turtle and big swarm of fish.
Staff is wonderful, very attentive and kind. Sundays they offer a great dinner at the beach under the stars, and save neither effort nor culinary pleasures.
The only disappointment to us was the dive center of Prodivers. We registered there and I mentioned twice that it would be my 1.000th dive (after 27 years of diving and never thinking I will accomplish that number) and that it would be kind to go somewhere nice. When checking our logbooks the dive master saw the dives of our last holiday on a dive boat operating from Male and mentioned that they also go to some of the dive sites we visited on that dive cruise in the South Ari Atoll (which were all fantastic, each with its proper characteristics). I spent this dive on a grey, sandy, boring, empty reef with no corals and little fish apart from 2 moray eels and 2 lion fish (are you kidding me !). This is not what the Maldives have to offer and if they would have put more effort we would have taken more dives, but for 100 USD/person you can offer to a diver what I am coming all that long way for.
Summary: We have been to various islands already, some a bit more luxurious but where it was hardly possible to swim in the sea due to very low tides, some with a more attractive house-reef but just little white sandy beaches. So we consider Vakarufahli a great mixture: you do not miss a pool, as the sea is the biggest pool you may have, with white sand and hardly no corals (perfect for children and elderly), great food, a lot of privacy, easy casual life-style and very nice staff adding a personal touch to your holiday memories. A GREAT PLACE !
We are sure to come again!
