They had fab vegitarian food at Lily Beach when I was there at Christmas. I'm not a veggie but i had a vegitarian curry and rice every day for lunch. i would never have dreamed they would be so good. My favourite was a green bean and potato, but the cauliflower, carrott and bean was good too.

I could be wrong but i though the water bungalows on the Island were detatched. I however would not call them 'true' water bungalows as they are actually built on the edge of the beach and only the sun deck is over water.

The standard rooms were lovely - I though the locaation of the water bungalows was not great - they are fairly near the incinerator. I'm not sure they are worth the extra cost.

We loved Lily Beach - it is vary casual (i hardly wore shoes the whole tome i was there as even the restaurant and main bar have a sand flooe so heeled shoes are a waste of time. We loved it so much we have book to go back next December.

Thanks for the information about the food at the resort. The holiday company we are thinking of booking with have just got back to us to say they are unable to incorporate Lily beach as part of our twin centre holiday. They can offer Reethi or others including
Veligandu
Meeru Village
Kuredu
Taj Coral
Hilton Maldives
(I am assuming some of these could be well out of our budget!). Since Lily beach seems such a popular choice on this forum I will do some shopping around with other companies to see what they can offer. Having booked holidays last minute in the past I thought that I was well ahead of things by looking around now for Feb 06, but I am fast realising that this is by no means too early!

We were due to go to Reethi Beach last week but due to the Tsunami the resort was closed, we did look at the other hotels you mentioned but with the exception of the Hilton Maldives (a lot dearer) none of the others looked as good to us.
If you havent already seen it there website is http://www.reethibeach.com/
There are also some good photos and reviews on the net that people have posted.

Hi Charsean
Just had a read of your post, I have been to both Islands and would say that they are both great in there own way, Reethi is much bigger than Lily and Reethi has half board residents staying so you would have to pay extra for the use of the other restaurants and bars, I would also say that the snorkeling is easier at Lily Beach, Don't get me wrong both Islands are wonderful I just prefer Lily Beach, it has this laid back approach, nothing is a bother, you do as little or as much as you like.
Just got back from our third visit to Lily Beach and will post a full report soon.

Regards

Joe

Hi Joe,

Glad to here you're back safely and hope you had another great holiday at lily beach.

we have amended our flights when we return in December - the emirates flight back from Dubai to london that we wanted had actually sold out of discounted tickets so instead we are flying both ways direct with Srilankan airlines. It also cost us £250 less which is a bit of a result !

looking forward to reading your report.

tracy

I am hoping to visit Lily Beach for the first time next year. Is it possible to book your holiday direct with the resort & which is the best (cheapest!) way of getting to Male? All replies appreciated. Ta.

I did try this when we looked to go back this Christmas and emailed the resort to ask for their rates. I got a reply back within 24 hours saying they did not book in advance for independant travellers - if I wanted to check back a month before my proposed visit they could see if they had room and could quote me. You may get the same answer. I even priced the flight to male which were £990 each, so not cheap.

When we were there last Christmas we found out that the room rate was $260 per day (that all inclusive for 2 people).

To be honest, when you have to add in the cost of the seaplane transfer as well you may as well book a packeage. If you want it to be more flexible, book a package with a scheduled airline, as mostly they fly to Male every day so you can tailor how many days you want to be on the island for.

Thanks very much for the swift reply and information. Like someone else on this forum, my wife and I are looking at either Lily Beach or Reethi Beach for our next visit. We have just got back from Ranveli, which isn't too far from Lily Beach and is where we boarded the seaplane for our return to Male. It looked lovely from a distance. We visited Laguna Beach in March 2004 and had a great time there. Both Reethi & Lily have been recommended to us so decisions, decisions! I will take your advice though and opt for the package deal. I just thought from the experiences of some forum members there might be a cheaper way of doing the bookings yourself. Anyway, now to find the holiday operators!

Thanks again for the advice.

We've now decided to try Lily Beach next year so just a small request: does anyone know which is the cheapest / best operator to book a package deal to Lily Beach with?

Thanks

We got a good deal with H&J

(might be worth checking out to see if Eclipse offer it in their Tropical brochure as they are the same group as H&J - First Choice- and a good 10% cheaper - sorry haven't got their brochure and the website is down at the mo so I can't check for you!)

Thanks TAH-M, I'll check that out tomorrow.

Lily Beach is not in the Eclipse Brochure.

Operators that go to Lily beach include

Airtours
Thompsons
Hayes and Jarvis
Airtours (mytravel)
Thomas Cook

Last year we went with Mytravel and for exactly the same two weeks this year we are actually paying less and going with a scheduled airline (sri-lankan) rather than on a cramped charter plane - we booked with Thompsons Worldwide.

Not sure if this is of any help Flashman but we have booked to go to Lily Beach with Hayes and Jarvis through an independent travel agents. They are called Leisuretime Holiday Club and are based in Kent (08750-60-60-70). They are ABTA bonded and I have used them a few times with no complaints. They gave me 10% off the brochure price. When I booked last August I couldn't find a better deal but that maybe different now. Travel agents like to compete with each other so another company may well price match or better.

Good Luck in your search

Sandra

Thank you "Cynical is my middle name" & "micmacmob" for your help. I'll try your recommendations. At the moment it is difficult to get any quotes for next March with it being 11 months away. Looking forward to the holiday already!!

Hi flashman
assuming you have got the time, try contacting Lily beach direct by e-mail and get a quote for your stay or try Crown tours based in Male, they specialize in maldivian stay's, all available on the internet, if it's too much trouble I suggest H&J or Thompson worlwide.

Regards

Joe

Hi Flashman, We booked with Thomas Cook to Lily Beach. Got a very good deal.

Julie

Thank you englandfan & joe3400 for your replies. I will hopefully get a good deal now when I book. I will post here with my findings.

Thanks again to all responders.

Just to let you know Flashman that you can also find Lily Beach in the virgin brochure. I tried to book with them last year for this years holiday but they were all ready fully booked and that was 10 months before we wanted to go away. They have a very good website that might be worth having a look at.

Sandra