Kagi Maldives Review

When staying in a luxury hotel its my opinion that your stay begins before you even board a plane.

It begins once you book and the hotel receives your booking.

Thankfully we had a good start, as we were contacted immediately by Kagi. We booked via booking.com, which I feel sometimes hotels do not treat you the same as if you had booked direct.

Despite that Kagi concierge confirmed our booking immediately and asked for further information so they could ensure our arrival would be smooth. We provided our flight details and they confirmed our transfers would be included.

If you have not stayed in the Maldives before, there are no direct flights to your island hotel, all flights go into Male (Velana International Airport) and then you need to get a sea plane to the island your hotel is on. You can elect to get a speedboat but it might take unto three hours depending on how far south your hotel is. Our flight landed during daylight hours so we were able on arrival to get to a sea plane.

Check out our guide on how to get to the Maldives if you want a deeper dive into this.

The Arrival

As mentioned before Kagi had arranged our sea plan transfer so when we landed at Velana we were met by a concierge who helped us with our bags and transfer to the domestic airport so we could get our sea plane. Again for those who have not been to the Maldives before its likely this is part of a larger trip and you are flying long haul so you have a lot of luggage. I am a serial over packer so my luggage is always overweight when taking a seaplane. The limit is approx 20kg so be prepared to pay excess luggage.

Staying at Kagi gives you access to use Transmaldivian’s Lounge, which is quite comfortable while you wait to take your sea plane. I am not a big fan of seaplanes, I find the whole experience very nerving but I was not prepared for what I was about to experience. When you fly into Kagi, you do not fly directly to the resort, they drop you five minutes out and take you the rest of the way by speedboat. Kagi made the choice to have pick ups and drop offs away from the resort due to the noise. However the changeover from the plane happens on a very small floating piece of wood. Yes this is no exaggeration, the plane lands in the middle of the ocean, you get off the plane onto what feels like driftwood, trying to balance yourself to then get onto a speedboat. Honestly its a horrible experience and not very luxury. We previously stayed at the Constance Moofushi who have their own Jetty, the experience does not compare.

Granted when you finally arrive at Kagi it improves from there!

The Hotel

The hotel is very nice and looks just like the pictures, which might seem like a silly thing to say. However there are many hotels out there, that are very good at taking pictures and when you arrive you are disappointed. Kagi is not that, its visually beautiful. Upon checking in you have your very own concierge who is assigned to you for the duration of your stay and they take very good care of you.

Rooms

We stayed in Lagoon Pool Villa, which is a must atleast once if you visit the Maldives. The rooms are very nice and incredibly spacious. The pictures actually do not do it justice. I spent most of the time on the terrace as its also very spacious and of course is directly in the Lagoon, so you can literally walk down into the Lagoon and go for a swim. The water is very shallow, so for those who might not be strong swimmers, there’s nothing to worry about. Our room was located close to the beach, so you could actually swim to the beach and back to your room, which was just incredible. The outdoor shower is also a very nice feature. The floating breakfast is a must during your stay, which comes delivered to your private pool. We didn’t pay for our floating breakfast as we had it given to us a gesture of goodwill due to something that went wrong during our trip. I won’t mention it, as it really wasn’t a big deal, so it was very nice of them to make that gesture. However when you stay in the Lagoon Pool Villa and pay all inclusive, the floating breakfast should honestly come included.

This is generally a pet peeve of mine at All Inclusive Hotels, when they have added on charges or when certain things are not included. Is it really All Inclusive if you still have to pay for things.

The one negative and one thing to improve on the rooms, is that AC needs to be cooler. Our room was boiling, to the point we had to call out maintenance who said this was the coldest the room could go. We live in the UK, so we know cold, this was not cool or cold. It made so unbearable, we had to ask for a fan. Please have this sorted out, its terrible. The other consideration is to place a bowl to wash your feet on the terrace. After you’ve been in the ocean and climbed up the steps, your feet can be dirty and you need something to wash them off. 

Food

Kagi has a few different restaurants, which is always great for variety. The main restaurant Noo-Faru serves buffet style food, with different options each day. I would say the food here is just OK. Nothing special and on some occasions not great. I was a bit disappointed as I would expect better from a luxury hotel. Saying that any time we had something made for us from one of the stations like noodles or an omelette it was great, so not quite sure why there is such a difference. The other restaurants that need to be booked, seem to always be booked up despite never seeming to be that busy. Kagi only allow you to eat once at one of the A La Carte Restaurants for every 3 nights of your stay. I’m really not a fan of these type of restrictions because you are denying people an opportunity to experience all that a hotel has to offer. We were only able to eat at Ke-Un because of this, so we were very disappointed as this was the best food we experienced while being at Kagi. The difference in food quality and taste between Noo-Faru and Ke-Un is too wide and it should not be so apparent in my opinion. We also had food at the Banni Spa Corner and Ufaa Snack Bar and both very different. Ufaa was not very good and Baani was good the first time we ate there and then not great the second time. I had read a previous review from someone on Tripadvisor who described the food as inconsistent, I would agree. The food experience I must say really lets down the whole Kagi experience. My wife and I are foodies, so I would say our standard is quite high, so if you consider yourself one, be prepared.

Service

The service here is very good. There is a genuine feeling that everyone is there to make your stay special and help you in whatever way they can. The only constructive criticism I would say is that the staff do not seem very experienced in luxury hotels and to really elevate this, they should try and bring in staff who have worked at other luxury hotels. There is also a feeling that the hotel tasks staff with upselling. It felt like we were always being encouraged to book things that cost money, private dining experiences, massages etc. Its not great feeling when you know someone is trying to sell you on additional services, especially when you are trying to enjoy your meal. It costs alot of money to get to the Maldives, so the last thing you want to do is spend even more money once you get there.

Overall 

Kagi is a great hotel and honestly its worth the experience. A few tweaks here and there and they will be 10/10. I would come back here just for the rooms and the ambience, so if you are considering this hotel - go for it! They tend to have some good offers now and then, so keep and eye out.