Anantara Dhigu

My first stay was at Anantara Dhigu Island where we received a fabulous welcome from the staff and a lovely cooling coconut to refresh us after our journey.

We flew via Dubai on Emirates and then it is around a 40-minute speedboat transfer from the airport, but you are met off the flight and taken to a lounge where you check in and they then escort you to the boats outside. Faultless arrival for us and we were on our way within 20 minutes. I was a bit anxious of the boat journey, but it was quick, and you were given water on board.

We were shown to our Beach Villas and our luggage followed on shortly after. I stayed in a Beach Villa (not sure if was Sunrise/Sunset). It was a lovely large villa with lots of space inside and a very comfy bed. An outside bathroom and a veranda with a day bed and table and chairs. Sheltered from direct view of the beach but you are only 5 metres away from the beach with sun loungers on for each villa. Bathrooms were enormous with a freestanding bath. The beach villas have a sofa bed for a third person and there is room to put in an extra child bed too.

There are 3 islands here - Veli, Dhigu and Naladu! My house was on Dhigu which is where children are welcome. Veli is adult only and Naladu only has 22 rooms but children can stay here. Naladu guests have access to the other islands but visitors to Dhigu or Veli cannot go to Naladu. We had a tour of most of the room types on the Islands and all were very tastefully decorated and the houses on Naladu definitely have the wow factor.

I did think before I went, I would love to be in one of the over the water villas but after visiting all the villas, my favourite was the beach villas. It was lovely to just wander out of the villa and you’re directly on the beach or within a couple of minutes’ walk from the amenities. Don’t get me wrong, the over the water villas are wonderful, but just a little further out.

There was a huge range of choice for breakfast in the Fushi Cafe, which does cater for everyone's taste. It had an egg menu, and these were cooked fresh for you. We had a lovely evening meal at Sea Fire & Salt and the sunset from here was amazing. We also ate at Origami Japanese Restaurant, which is located on Veli Island. You need to get a small boat over to Veli which takes around 3 minutes.

I had a fabulous massage at the spa and would recommend, set over the water and you can see the fish through a glass floor while having a massage. The staff are fabulous. The service and attention to detail from all the staff was amazing and we left as friends rather than as customer.

I would definitely return to Dhigu, even though it was a small island, it really was paradise.