Water villa

Small secluded island feel

Good food (HB or AI)

Optional perks:

Seaplane ride

High chance of seeing whale sharks on an excursion (if we decide to book one)

After careful research and planning, Mirihi hit all of these requirements.  I relied a lot on Tripadvisor, and Mirihi was one of the top rated resorts, with 5 star reviews.

I will break down my review of Mirihi into sections.

Room

Mirihi has 6 beach villas and 30 water villas for the same cost (which is shocking since water villas usually cost more.  Why would anyone choose a beach villa in this case?!) and 1 water suite and 2 beach suites.  We had a water villa #23.  The villas past #26 would offer a sunrise view and probably slightly better snorkeling.  This set of villas are on the far end of the island so it does take some time to walk the jetty and get to the restaurant and lobby on the other side of the island.  I didn't mind because it was a really peaceful and beautiful walk through the palm trees and soft sand.  While I don't think the room is as impressive as most 5 star luxury resorts in the Maldives, it was a very traditional, clean, and updated.  The AC and ceiling fan was great in the room and much needed after being out in the beating sun.  The bed was large and comfortable and facing the floor to ceiling window doors that open up to the balcony.  The balcony had 2 sun chairs and a table.  There is also a wooden dryer rack which was great to hang our swimsuits to dry.  The deck also led to a glass door to the shower and bathroom.  You could have a view of the ocean while you took a shower.

Food

Mirihi gets rave reviews on their food.  When your paying such a premium room rate you hope the quality of food also meets those standards and Mirihi does not fail.  When I booked they only offered Half Board, which includes a buffet breakfast and dinner.  So everyday we went for a late breakfast, about an hour before it ends, and early dinner, arriving when dinner started at 7pm.  At the end of breakfast we casually took a bowl of fruit back to our room and had mid-day snacks we brought in our luggage.  Breakfast was similar every morning with a few rotating dishes.  I loved the variety of fresh fruit juices and exotic fruits.  They have stations for made to order eggs, even omelettes, waffles or pancakes, and french toast.  Mirihi has a weekly rotating buffet dinner menu every 2 weeks.  They included Asian, Mediterranean, Seafood, Maldivian, East meets West, South American, Italian, All Time Classics, Oriental and BBQ Night.  They have so many food stations all over the dining room.  In my four days, I got to experience South American, BBQ, Asian, and Mediterranean Night.  Our favorite was BBQ Night where you pick your meat and they grill it for you.  The huge tiger prawns, steak, grilled squid, and lamb chops were delicious.  We kept going back for more.  Surprisingly our least favorite was Asian Night which had a huge sushi display.  I love sushi and was excited and skeptical if they would do a good job.  To my disappointment their sushi was terrible.  I honestly think they didn't even use sushi rice.  It tasted like plain rice, no glutinous or glossy texture.  Maybe sushi rice is hard to import into the islands, if so, then they should not try to make sushi.  Otherwise, their sashimi was good.  Unfortunately, the day we left was going to be Seafood Night and I think Maldivian Night would have been nice to try too.  One thing I did not like was the breakfast would provide you unlimited water and juices but at dinner they did not even offer free water.  On the first night I asked for water and received bottled water which we had to pay for.  So the next few nights we ordered fruit smoothies, cocktails, and beer just so I didn't have to decline getting a drink when asked (even though they refilled 2 free bottles of water in our room every night).  We also did not pay extra for the restaurants and special dining.

cereal and add-ons

Assorted cheese and yogurt

Cold Cuts

Fresh fruit juices

Made to order eggs, french toast, and pancakes

Hot buffet

Pastries

Fresh bread

Huge selection of fresh fruit

BBQ night

BBQ night

BBQ night

BBQ night

South American night

South American night

Asian night

Asian night

Asian night

Mediterranean night

Mediterranean night

different dessert setup every night

House Reef

Located in the South Ari Atoll, Mirihi has one of the best house reefs in the Maldives.  You can easily snorkel right off your villa or the beach and see a huge variety of sea life and coral.  Although, most of the coral here is bleached.  During our stay we saw a lot of different types of colorful fish, squid, sea turtle, and manta rays!  We swam up close to the turtle as it just stayed in place looking for food nearby.  We saw manta rays while we took a night stroll along the beach and also in the morning while we ate breakfast.  I'm sure the diving would have been amazing but we were completely satisfied with snorkeling for free and with such ease from our villa.

Activities

Miriri provides complimentary non-motorized watersports.  We were able to rent snorkeling equipment, kayaks, stand up paddles, and windsurf gear.  There are also some activities and daily events on the island, free and paid.  They had free morning yoga everyday.  We tried it once and were the only couple there that day.  They offer a variety of excursions you can book and have some of the best diving.



Departure

If you are celebrating a special occasion, let them know!  When I filled out a form when we arrived I included my wedding anniversary date which was 3 days after we leave. On our last night they set up the bed with flower petal decoration and a chocolate cake to celebrate our upcoming anniversary.

We had an evening flight from Male to Singapore.  To accommodate us, they set us up with the latest connecting seaplane (around 3pm).  They allowed us a late check-out so we were able to slowly enjoy our last breakfast and have a quick snorkel and shower before we packed up, left our luggage outside our room, and walked to the front desk for check out.  They gave us drinks and chocolate while we waited for our seaplane.  After arriving at Male, the same staff greeted us and led us to the on-site lounge.  He offered us drinks and small desserts while we wait til we were ready to leave for our flight.