Review of Holiday Cottage Thoddoo, Maldives 3*

My mom and I stayed at the Holiday Cottage for two nights and cannot recommend it highly enough. The team of brothers who own the place arranged for our transport to and from Thoddoo by speedboat, being sure to communicate with our hotel on Male and getting us back to the airport on time for our outgoing flight. They had fresh coconut water and papaya waiting for us on arrival and walked us to the tourist beach the first day after giving us snorkeling equipment to borrow. Their attention to detail and hospitality is beyond belief from flowers on the bed at arrival to a new bottle of water and beach towels each day to providing tea or coffee midday at request. The beds are very comfortable and the outdoor bathroom and shower were also great to experience. We dined in at the guesthouse for all of our meals and the food was delicious, especially the tuna pancake for breakfast and the fish curry! The guesthouse provides the opportunity to take excursions or do other activities to keep you busy. Since our stay was short, we chose to do the agricultural tour one evening and really enjoyed it. Two of the brothers had us hop on the back of their mopeds and they zipped us around the island to check out their family farming plots. We learned so much about the Maldivian people and their farming industry — definitely recommend spending the time to do this tour if you stay here! Outside of Holiday Cottage, Thoddoo is a great place to visit. The tourist beach never felt overly crowded and was an easy 10-15 minute walk away. There is a great reef to do snorkeling right off the beach and we even managed to see a sea turtle while we were there! We had read a lot about mosquitoes being a problem on the island but were surprised to not be bothered by them much while here; Holiday Cottage stocks a supply of bug spray at the front desk if needed as well. We definitely felt safe walking around the island to check out the village, drink a coconut by the harbor (bring a few dollars along and you can sit at the local cafe), and meet some of the locals. Everyone we encountered was very friendly and the kids on the island always smiled and waved when we passed. Hearing the morning and evening prayers from the local mosque was a beautiful way to start and end each day of our visit. Holiday Cottage deserves the five star rating it currently has and we would not hesitate to recommend a stay here to anyone!