FOUR SEASONS LANDAA GIRAAVARU | MALDIVES

If you have the money for it, you can enjoy a wonderful vacation in this resort. Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru offers a multitude of things to do, see, and taste and staff that conduct themselves excellently.

Four Seasons Landaa is the first of a series of luxury resorts that I have had a complete tour of. I was impressed right after stepping out of the airport. Like most luxury resorts it has its own lounge at the airport where the guests can enjoy not being crammed together with everyone else, as well as tea, coffee, chilled drinks, a TV, comfortable sofas, a bit of privacy, and even a breakfast if your flight is in the morning.

Landaa Giraavaru offers luxury and lots of greenery on a gorgeous island, but nevertheless keeps the classic resort style.

Once we arrived at the resort, were were sat down in a spacious reception area and given a fresh coconut with a flower and a nicely scented moist tissue. After a bit of small talk we set out on a tour of the resort.

First they took us to the children’s club, which is most luxury resorts have. It was spacious and there were many activities to occupy the children for the entire duration of their stay. There was a decently sized pool with a slide and various climbing frames. The club organizes various activities for children, from games to workshops to cooking lessons.

Then we visited the resort’s garden, where a single man takes care of thousands of lilies. Those are then distributed all around the resort and the villas.

We took a buggy to the baths, which are partly on land and party in villas on stilts out on the water. I liked that the resort is very Ayurveda-orientated. You can consult with a doctor, who will tell you what type of person you are, and you can then use that information to pick appropriate food in restaurants, for example, using little symbols next to each meal on the menu. There are also massages and yoga. A pleasant ooooommmmmm permeates he baths. I would have liked to do a bit of yoga, I’ve been having a lot of fun with that lately, but sadly there wasn’t time

I was amused by a pair of interesting deck chairs shaped like mummy sarcophagi. You just lie down, fold your arms, and relax.

The baths over the water are gorgeous, situated in 4 separate villas where the respective procedures are performed. There was a pool on a terrace that I really liked which gave you a view of the sea, and some massage beds where you lie down and watch fish swimming in the sea below you through a hole in the floor.

Next we took a tour of the villas. First we went to the ones on the beach, but I’m going to talk about those later because I was given one and I almost cried with joy!

The villas on the water each had a terrace with a net over the water and some deck chairs and place to get in and out of the water. They were beautiful but nowhere near as much as the one I got.

 

Landaa boasts a wonderful bar on the western beach called Blu. Take one look at the pictures and you’ll get why it’s called that. The combination of various shades of blue and white and the big, airy space is stunning. The jingling of little bits of metal hanging on strings makes the impression even stronger and the sight of a shining white beach makes it complete. I could sit there all day and drink iced tea, but sadly I didn’t have time for that. We carried on to the sea center. No matter, we’d be back for dinner. 🙂

The marine center is gigantic and consists of two buildings connected together. The walls are covered with all kinds of information about the local sea fauna and flora. There’s a children’s area as well, where kids can learn some interesting things and take a look at and even touch some sea creatures, such as starfish and sea cucumbers. There’s a lot of tanks with various kinds of small fish.

They have some turtles as well that wouldn’t survive on their own in the wilderness. Usually because they’d eaten some plastic and become bloated, so now they can’t even submerge at all and can only swim on the surface. One was even blind and both of them were missing a limb. The resort is going to be taking care of the turtles for quite a few years yet. I really felt sorry for them.

By the pier a short way away from the sea center there’s Al Barakat, an Arabic-style restaurant that makes you feel like you’re in the far east. Bongs, typical architecture and furniture, and lots and lots of little lanterns everywhere. I liked those most of all.

I walked in and wow, I had to take a picture of that. Up the stairs and wow, that’s even better, time for another picture. Onto the terrace and the same thing again. I spent fifteen minutes there snapping pictures. They had to come get me so we could continue.

And then there was the touching moment in my villa. In front of it were my initials in a circle. I open the blue gate and there it is, a huge villa with a giant swimming pool next to it and an elevated platform of some sort. I went inside and my eyes teared up. I was telling myself that it can’t be true, that this can’t be happening to me. I had to take a short break to calm down and wipe the tears of joy from my eyes before I could rejoin the group.

I saw the others out and I had to test everything out right away. I found two bottles of a local soft drink and a welcome letter in the bedroom. There was an incredibly soft bed with a beautiful canopy. Outside there was a hammock, which I immediately took advantage of, and a path out onto the beach with more deck chairs and a parasol.

In the evening I changed into my evening dress and was driven in the buggy to the Blu restaurant. I had sashimi as an appetizer and peppered pork tenderloin with mashed potatoes arranged in the shape of croquettes for the main course. The taste was different than the Czech croquettes that I’m used to, though. 🙂 For desert I had a ball of tiramisu with bits of jelly and chocolate, decorated by a sliver of gold. At that point I was stuffed, so I made my way to the water bar and watched as the sharks were being fed.

After coming back from the bar I changed into my swimsuit and went to enjoy that mega swimming pool. I swam around a bit to burn all those calories I stuffed myself with, then I went to the beach to have a bit of a job and actually ended up dancing by myself while listening to the song Happy. Had anyone seen me, they’d have thought I’d gone completely loopy. 🙂 To finish off the evening, I lay down at the top of the elevated platform and enjoyed the view of the sea and the stars.

I felt very happy when I finally got into the softest bed I’ve ever been in at around 2 AM and fell asleep while listening to the sound of waves coming in through the open window.

In the morning we had a buffet breakfast and once again I had to have a bit of everything.

Before noon we took a boat out for a bit of snorkelling and then visited a small deserted island, where a private picnic had been prepared for us. The little island was lovely and I really enjoyed the experience of having lunch there!

 

I spent the last afternoon on the beach, where you’re given a glass of refreshing chilled water and a water spray can. Every once in a while someone passed through carrying something delicious. I discovered my new favourite juice there, mango juice with mint and honey. Wonderfully refreshing, I love it! Ten minutes later a different waiter came distributing ice cream. I could get used to being pampered like that.

Finally I returned to the villa, splashed around in the pool one last time, packed my luggage, changed into my travel clothes, and hopped on a plane back home… Too bad I don’t have a villa like this in Male, that would be a better way of living. Landaa Giraavaru is truly amazing!