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4.0
#20 of 27 small hotels in Maafushi Island
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Value
White Shell Island Hotel is located at Maafushi Island, near the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport. By speed boat it takes 30 minutes scenic ride to Maafushi Island. Daily ferries are also available from Male' to Maafushi. It takes 1.5 hours to reach Maafushi by ferry. The ticket price is $3 per person per trip. White Shell Island Hotel is a small private hotel at Maafushi Island.
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
Masala Street (inside White Shell Hotel): The entrance looks very fancy but when you step in, it's a kind of a let down where they have a plain room with tables and chairs put together. As this restaurant is attached to White Shell Island Hotel and Spa, their menu prices are all in USD, as is the case with all such other restaurants in Maafushi Island that are tied with a hotel. On the other hand, it seems that stand alone restaurants charge in MVR. A major negative is that they charge a 4% fee on the Bill of you pay by card, which doesn't apply if you pay by cash. The moment we told that we don't have USD and were about to walk out, the person said it's ok that we pay by card and he'll waive off the 4% fee. LOL! We had ordered Veg. Kadhai and Rotis (because their tandoor wasn't operational, so we couldn't have had naan) and were pleasantly surprised by the taste. It was very much like typical Indian taste. The rotis were phulka and served piping hot adding to the good experience. We would visit again, just for the taste.
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Date of stay: November 2022Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Great small 3 star hotel. Close to Bikini Beach/Ferry port/Shops/Restaurants. Clean simple rooms with A/C. Light local breakfast from 07:30. The hotel will arrange airport pick up/ drop off if you let them know in advance on WhatsApp (50$ return). Daily cleaning. Good choice over all. Some rooms have a balcony (very small) Expect some noice from constrution work all over Maafushi.
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Date of stay: October 2023Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Very clean hotel and extremely helpful and friendly staff. The room didn't have a seaview but it didn't bother us at all, as we hardly stayed in it. Everyday someone came to clean the room, make the beds and change all the towells.
We had breakfast in the hotel. The choice wasn't the greatest but it was enagh to chose from.
The hotel offerd a selection of trips. We went to a luxury island for a day and snorkeling. We all enjoyed it a lot.
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Date of stay: January 2020Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
I stayed at the WhiteShell Island Hotel & Spa in Maafushi, Maldives in October 2023 for 2 nights, and I had a terrible experience.
When I arrived at the hotel, I was not given a welcome drink, even though this was promised during booking.
My room was basic and clean, but it was missing some essential toiletries, such as hand soap, toothpaste, and a toothbrush. I had to go out and buy these myself.
The bathroom was also very basic, and there was no shower curtain, so the floor would always get wet when I showered.
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Date of stay: October 2023Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We are a couple. Our stay was 4 nights in this hotel. Love this place! It is amazing- perfect service, positive team, delicious food & clean rooms. Additional value- welcome drink, many packages for trips, welcome meeting at the port.
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Date of stay: August 2019
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
As the watershell reservation came with free breakfast and wifi, all paid for upfront, we could relax on the amount of USD we needed to carry with us in person. We stayed there for 3 nights and 4 days, travelled with another couple who are good friends and discovered that travelling as a small group to an exotic destination can be a lot of fun and value for money. The staff came to pick us up at the ferry terminal and helped us with our luggage. We spent the first day discovering what to do and did snorkelling on the second day and scuba diving to banana reef and big reef on the third day.
The property is very close to the beach area and as such the island is small and very walkable. Azure blue skies, sunny weather, ample breakfast and courteous younger staff make up for the relatively less communicative frontdesk. The hotel offers free geared cycles and one of the cycles is a 3-in-1 tandem variant in pink that we used a lot since once of us did not know how to cycle. Think their cycles could do with a bit of servicing though as we found out. The lobby has a decent selection of novels that make for an interesting read should you choose to lie in bed the whole day. wifi seems restricted to upto 2 devices per room. Housecleaning of the rooms happens twice a day. The beach area of whiteshell also serves as an area for serving candle-lit dinner buffets by the beachside and at 10$ all incl / head is very affordable for the spread. On the days that whiteshell does not offer the buffet, one can just hop over to the neighboring arena lodge for the similar priced 10USD dinner buffet. Though we found the whiteshell buffet far more delicious. Overall, had a great time and would love to be back again.
Some other tips about the island in general:
1. New places to stay are sprouting up everyday and mushrooming all over this island. While one side of the island is a picturesque the other part of maafushi is littered with construction debris. 2. If you wake up early morning to catch the the sunrise and go to the south eastern part of the island, you may catch sight of 10-20 local women clad head to toe in black local attire making a dash to the sea to possibly take a dip in the ocean before the sun rises. 3. While USD is gladly accepted on the island, no change is given back. Its nice to carry to exchange about a 50$ in MVR. You can do so upon arrival at the airport itself. 4. While the folks who arrange snorkeling and scuba will have a water proof camera, if possible take one with you if you plan to click any snaps near or in the water. Also a usb stick to copy photos from them. In one instance of snorkeling, the guy holding the camera kept pressing the wrong button and we came off with just one or two pics of the trip. 5. Contrary to what we read & expected, on the beach side of mafushi, we did spot a couple of instances where ladies took their tops off and tanned themselves through the afternoon whilst lying on their tummies. Nobody seemed to bother them. 6. The beach side of mafushi has a lot of corals and pointy things in the water that can make wading out to the shallow waters and getting back a ouch here and there thing. if possible, get a pair of aqua shoes for the beach. in one instance, a guy snorkelling in shallow waters came upon broken pieces of a white porcelain plate from the beach waterfront area. 7. Carry a good sunscreen if you plan on lazing around the beach or lying in a hammock and reading all day. The sun can get very hot in the afternoon and can cause a really bad burn which will itch, go red, get itchy at night and take a while to go away. 8. If you carry a pair of swimming glasses, you'll be able to see a lot of small fish in the beach waterfront area thats common to arena and whiteshell waterfront properties. 9. You will need to time your return to male with the ferry timings which can be a task if not factored in your initial itinerary. Plan B is to hire a speedboat that comes for 150$ /ride and seats upto 10 pax and covers the 2.5 hr ferry journey in 30-45 mins depending on the sea conditions. if you take a speedboat, it drops you straight to the airport. As the number of pax on a trip increases the per head cost goes down with a small rise in the total fare. we eventually we ended up paying 25$/pax for a fully loaded speedboat carrying 10 pax from mafushi to male. 10. While staff on the properties are courteous, expect delays of 30 mins upto an hour in food and service. During our stay, when we were hungry, we chose going for the all inclusive dinner buffet available in the evenings. If you are not feeling like having a full meal, you can instead try the fruit stalls in the area close to the where the ferry terminal for arrival /departure is situated.
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Date of stay: January 2015
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:Room 502 has a AC that takes time to cool.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This hotel is very poor. I stay in the hotel for four night. Do not have restaurant, do not have bar. The reception is very basic. I understand that is a low budget hotel but ... My opinion is very negative for this hotel.
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Date of stay: November 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
My partner and I had a lovely time at the White Shell hotel and spa. Its a nice new clean guest house, located a little away from the beach. We had a tiny balcony with a nice view of the sea. The breakfast was nice, a little buffet with local and continental breakfast. The breakfast here was a lot nicer than the other whiteshell place. We stayed for 3 nights, perhaps one more night would have been perfect).
We used Maafushi Island as a base to travel to other islands, as the island is very small and the beach is tiny and sectioned off from locals (you can only where a bikini on the sectioned off beach). You are not able to purchase or drink alcohol on this island as it is strict Muslim and locals live here.
We made two day trips, one to Fihalohi Island - a resort Island, simply stunning with the most magnificent snorkelling (You can also purchase alcohol there).
The other to Picnic Island, an uninhabited Island, true paradise.
Be aware that day trips can be expensive (range from US$50 - 100) but we saved lots on the accommodation so could splurge on the day trips.
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Date of stay: April 2014
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:Top level, room with a balcony and view of the ocean
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We stayed in 3 different hotels in Maafushi. This one was the worst.
When we arrived at the hotel, during the check-in, the reception asked us to pay an extra $18 in cash. We had paid the hotel by credit card on Agoda already. So we checked our Agoda invoice and it said that we had to pay only 7 euros in cash. But the receptionist was extremely aggressive with us. We said that it was a very bad business practice. This was blackmail. There are taking advantage of the tourists.
Also the room is very small and the beach of Maafushi is one of the worst of the Maldives. Maafushi is an island of scammers (speed boats, restaurants, excursions)...
Please do not support those scammers.
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Date of stay: September 2017
Value
Rooms
Service
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Generally our stay in White Shell was OK. We had the best room - 503, with "the sea view". The rooms on the ground have not a good view. Big minus for the breakfasts! Everyday the same food: only eggs, toasts and flakes. Even no cheese. Monothony. The staff at the reception is friendly and tried to take care at their quests.The restaurant staff (especially at breakfast) is always looking lazy, lack of knowledge of english and no higienic. We could notice that their start to lear to give a good service. Food and the beach restaurant is not worth the price. We had to wait about 40 min for the meal. The waiter has not understand an english order. Much much better food is at the neighbour Arena Beach restaurant - delicious, nice plates, friendly and professional staff, very good service. The biggest fake at White Shell are their pictures on the Internet. Now the good things- hotel is really clean, has stunning privet beach with free sunbeds, kajaks, towels and wifi. The staff always quickly responding for our e-mails. We feld safety at the hotel.
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Date of stay: February 2015Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
There are more places to choose from in the Maafushi Island area.
PRICE RANGE
RM 217 - RM 541 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
LOCATION
MaldivesKaafu AtollSouth Male AtollMaafushi Island
NUMBER OF ROOMS
13
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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