Patina Maldives 

We had a fabulous first stay of 5 nights at Patina Maldives, which was greatly enhanced by the exceptional efforts made by Choris Rusdiana and her colleagues (Ahu, Aiman, Moona, Monty, Roni, Ripee, Jessica and others). On our first night, we enjoyed a very special dinner with Choris and friends on the beach, with delectable Asian food from Wok Society, including the very special Peking Duck. (Thank you, Aiman!) Every meal brought new surprises, such as a Maldivian breakfast feast, a full English breakfast, an Asian breakfast, Indian Dosa and other specialities we might not have tried on our own. Everything was delicious, and we usually had to skip lunch because we’d eaten so well at breakfast. The array of food available at Portico was amazing, and everything was fresh and beautifully presented. You would need a good couple of weeks to sample your way through everything, and then you’d need to buy a new wardrobe! We enjoyed dinner at Farine (with an off-menu request for seafood pasta with Alfredo sauce that was happily catered for), Fari Beach Club for delicious sashimi, and a magnificent sunset “castaway dinner” on a floating platform in the lagoon in front of Portico on our last night. Many thanks to Anjil for taking beautiful photographs of our castaway dinner, creating everlasting memories of a special evening. Our essentialist Jalaal handled our various requests promptly and with good humour. My husband had a somatic massage by the visiting doctor, and I enjoyed a relaxing and therapeutic Japanese Watsu treatment in the spa pool exclusively used for that purpose. We visited the neighbouring Ritz-Carlton Maldives for a couple of lunches with friends and enjoyed the Eau Bar’s offerings in particular. Our beach pool villa was very spacious, stylish, comfortable, clean and quiet, with full privacy from the neighbouring villas provided by dense foliage. Thank you to Jailam, our room attendant, for keeping everything so immaculate. Patina is on a larger island than many other resort islands, and we enjoyed exploring it on bike and seeing the artwork. We loved every minute of our stay and very much hope we can return next year for a longer visit. Huge gratitude to Choris and Ahu in particular for making our first visit so special and memorable. 🫶