Dusit Thani: A Larger Maldives Gem with Plenty to See & Do

We left the Park Hyatt Maldives, our first of three resorts this trip, at 12:30 pm on Saturday and arrived at Dusit Thani at 5:30 pm, so it really took most of the day to transfer between the resorts by seaplane. The Dusit Thani lounge at the airport is very upscale, comfortable, and beautifully decorated with warm woods and island fabrics. It’s one of the nicer lounges to hang out in, but we were happy to board the seaplane. Of course, the pilots were barefoot, and, as always, it was an adventure getting to the resort.

The Maldives has the largest fleet of twin otter seaplanes in the world!

There is an incredible number of fish at Dusit and the many tropical fish we all love were out in full force: huge schools of Moorish idols, Sweetlips, butterflyfish, and Bohar snappers. Surgeonfish, clownfish, parrotfish, rock cod, and more were also busy doing their thing on the reef. It’s good the large colorful parrot fish are a friendly bunch as those teeth are intimidating, and they are a constant presence pooping out the sand as they swim by unbothered. They are critical to the health of the reef! I’m not sure what it is about us and Titan triggerfish, but we saw quite a few on the Dusit reef—unless it was just one fish that took a liking to us! We also saw several black tip—a couple that were good size—and three turtles.

We swam around the island daily. It's an aquarium at the "drop off" area.

While swimming out from our overwater villa, we had fair current most of the way around the drop-off until we left the second jetty going clockwise and swam towards the residence. From there, it was a stronger current all the way back to our villa, which was number 212. We had requested 202 but ended up further down the jetty, but it was fine as 212 and the villa to the left have a bigger separation, which opens up the view a bit more than other rooms along the jetty. The smaller numbers closer to 202 are best though as the blazing red sunset is directly in front.

The overwater jetty, which was fabulous for sunsets!

We really loved the room. The white louvered doors and white interior mixed with the darker wood ceiling gave it a Floridian feel. It was quite a massive room, bathroom, and deck and it felt fresh and modern with a similar ambiance to Amilla. The room also had a sofa to sit on and watch TV or take in the views. We really loved the large deck with lounge chairs, table, and chairs and a large, round two-person chair with pillows that made it comfortable to lay in. The infinity pool in the overwater villas was medium size, larger than our first stop at Park Hyatt. The resort infinity pool between the Sand Bar and Sea Grill was huge and nicely located for sunset photos.

Our lovely overwater villa

We were at Sea Grill the second night in Dusit and enjoyed the meal after spending happy hour in the laid-back open-air Sand Bar. Drinks are $8 instead of $16, but like everywhere else in the Maldives, it still adds up. We enjoyed the Sand Bar and it is the place to hang out and catch the gorgeous sunset. At the well-located over-the-water Sea Grill, we had seafood ceviche and chicken salad appetizers that were delicious and tuna steak and sirloin beef for our main course which were both very good as well. My husband had a cheesecake for dessert and I had my usual assortment of colorful sorbets. We loved the seating along the water and the waiter was super friendly.

Chess, anyone? Located near the Sand Bar

The island interior is really lush with mature vegetation and, with the low lighting and warm tropical breeze, it is so incredibly magical to ride bikes around in the evening, which we did quite a bit. It is one of the prettiest islands at night we have been to. The island is large without continuous sandy beach areas except in front of the Market restaurant and in front of the beach villas, where it is soft and powdery. We do think the lack of sea walls in the water or sand bags is admirable given so many islands have one or the other. They do have a very small amount of sea walls in select places but they are on the island itself and not out in the water so you barely notice them.

Riding bikes back to our overwater villa after dinner

There are a lot of activities at Dusit Thani to keep one busy and I can see the appeal for both families and couples. In my opinion, the beauty and attraction of Dusit is the marine life and also biking along the paths in the island interior. It is not a traditional “barefoot” island, which are known for enjoying walks all along the beach/around the circular island, but it has a lot to offer and we loved our time there. There is a cinema, manta ray and whale shark excursions, diving, sunset cruises, etc. They also have a complimentary crystal bowl sound bath experience in the spa, which relaxes and rejuvenates you as you lay on the floor for an hour and meditate. We also enjoyed kayaking and wanted to paddleboard but they only had one paddleboard at the time. It is always fun to paddleboard around the islands.

The gorgeous Davarana Spa set in the lush interior, with treatment rooms in the treetops!

The back of house tour was interesting and a must-do! They also offer a chef garden tour. Nothing is wasted and everything is recycled—all leftover food goes in a compost machine, glass is recycled for building purposes, cans are separated and crushed into a block, plastics are compressed as well and recycled, and 300,000 liters of water is desalinated each day! It costs $1.20 per 1,000 liters. The island gets a very small amount of energy from solar, and very two years they replace the thatched roofs. We also learned that they have an engraving machine as well as a seamstress, a woodworking shop, a mechanical shop, and more, all of which are self-contained so these islands operate like clockwork. It made us appreciate everything behind the scenes!

Relaxation at its finest!

There are 300 or so staff on the island; many of the Maldive islands have have a one to one ratio or even higher. I always find it amazing how little you actually see staff or even other guests except at meals in the Maldives, but everyone was attentive, friendly, and kind!

We highly recommend Dusit Thani for a most pleasant stay in the dreamy Maldives. A seaplane ride will take you from Male international airport to Dusit in 30 minutes. We always land in Male in the morning to have a full first day on our island and we leave late at night to maximize our stay. If you arrive later in the afternoon or evening, there are hotels in Male you can stay at before flying out in the morning.

For more inspiration and insider recommendations, visit our Maldives page.