Cheval Blanc Randheli

Overview

Maldives is one of my favorite places in the world. There are more than 100 luxury 5-star resorts each on their own island. At the top of the list consistently is Cheval Blanc Randheli. I have had clients go here and they all rave about their experience, but have never visited myself until now. I can safely say it is a resort that I will compare all future resorts against. If it is in a price range that works for you, do not hesitate to go. It is my genuine opinion that it is worth the expense.

For those wondering if the long travel days from the US are worth it, we feel it is because you simply cannot find the service and the hard product anywhere else, in addition to the stunning beauty of the water and islands.

We stayed four nights here, after five nights at the Ritz-Carlton Fari Islands, and I wish we had stayed here longer. We chose to stay in the Island Villa, and selected villa #4 prior to arrival for the lagoon access. There are also overwater villa options, as well as overwater garden villa options. Villa selection is a big thing at Cheval Blanc so if you are going, make sure to do your research and reach out to the resort or your TA with your villa preference if you have one. We heard from their team that guests pick their villas as soon as the calendar opens because it is that competitive for the best ones. That is unsurprising as their guests are 57% return guests each year, and they certainly know which villas they like. We heard there are guests that stay here for multiple months at a time.

All of the villas, regardless of overwater or island placement, are exactly the same layout and size, though the island villas have a slightly larger pool. There are also two bedroom villas that have a separate full living space with two double beds, closet, and full bathroom.

Transfer

Transfer is by seaplane to Cheval Blanc, but there are two choices to do so, assuming you flew into Malé: the Cheval Blanc seaplane or Trans Maldivian Airways seaplane. You can also fly into the smaller Maafaru airport (typically only private jets) which is only a 25 minute speedboat ride to the resort.

The prices for the Cheval Blanc seaplane is $1910 each person and $1190 for Trans Maldivian. Thinking it has to be similar enough, we did Trans Maldivian. I would likely choose the Cheval Blanc option next time, but I would say it was about a 50/50 split amongst guests from what we can tell in terms of which plane they took based on which planes we saw arriving and departing. Our arrival flight was fine, but departure got quickly claustrophobic and we wished we chose the CB plane. Maybe we just didn’t notice it because of the anticipation on arrival.

Regardless of which option you select, a Cheval Blanc team member greets you at the airport. From there, they take care of everything and make the process so seamless. We were greeted, our bags were taken and checked in to the Trans Maldivian flight, and we jumped into a private large luxury vehicle with our Cheval Blanc staff member. During the drive, they take care of your check in process for the resort so once you arrive to Cheval Blanc, you are free to enjoy your trip. Once you arrive at the sea plane terminal, they take you to their large lounge. It is decorated consistent with their color palate with grays, whites, and accents of yellows. There are a variety of comfortable seating areas, as well as bathrooms with showers, Dyson hair dryers, and all the necessary amenities. They also have two rooms where you can lie down if you have a wait before your return flight home. They provide various foods and drinks while you wait for your seaplane.

My wife, in passing, mentioned that I was not interested in any snack as I seemed to be suffering from food poisoning (pretty sure it was a meal on our plane ride into MLE). On our arrival, our butler was able to have the doctor come to our villa within minutes of us being on the island. She did this so professionally and discretely, by showing us the clinic and pausing for me to ask to see the doctor so I could just not say something if I didn’t want to. When I said I would like to see the doctor, she said she had heard I might need to and called the doctor to come to our villa. I was given an IV with antibiotics and two liters of fluids and was literally fixed up within an hour. I was finally able to eat without issues for the first time in 6 days. They were beyond incredible and checked in throughout my stay to make sure I had fully recovered.

Once the seaplane arrived, you are escorted downstairs to the seaplane departure area. Because you are with Cheval Blanc, we were given seat priority before other guests traveling to other resorts on the Trans Maldivian flight. We also did not have to handle tickets at all, when other guests had to do so. We were also dropped off first at Cheval Blanc before stops at other resorts.

At Cheval Blanc, we were greeted by a huge team and whisked off with our butler on a golf cart. Our butler was beyond amazing and based on pre arrival paperwork, knew that we wanted our luggage unpacked. She was also able to press any clothes for you, as well as wash or dry clean three pieces of clothing per person, all complimentary. Three pieces being the theory that you want to wash the clothes you traveled in, but could of course could select any options. My wife’s dresses came back perfectly dry cleaned and pressed. They also took great care of my travel hoodie so I could wear it again on the way home!

Our entire coffee table was filled with welcome treats, all based on our pre arrival preferences. We had a variety of chocolate truffles, various pastries, and a cake for my wife’s birthday, which happened days before. We also had champagne on ice.

Villa

The villa is just incredible and beyond anything I’ve seen. I have included a video of the outside and inside because it really is difficult to explain and give it justice. It’s also even better in person than videos can show. The details and hard product are very well thought out and maintained.

The ceilings are really high so just make the entire place feel so large and airy. That is in addition to the floor to ceiling windows in much of the villa. There are rotating panels that can close the villa into three separate spaces: the living room, bedroom, and bathroom areas. The closet can also be closed with pocket doors that we didn’t even notice until toward the end of the trip because they blend in so well.

There is an iPad that controls pretty much everything in the villa. You can open or close shades for any window, turn lights off and on, turn on DND, and even unlock the door so you can let someone in from anywhere (there was a manual lock as well for when you want it actually locked). The iPad also controlled TVs, music over the speaker system, and a bunch of other stuff I’m probably forgetting about.

It is a very large villa that opens to a large living room with two large couches, a coffee table, and a television. There are also two separate bar areas which have a variety of snacks as well as a mini fridge filled with items you have mentioned in your pre arrival paperwork you enjoy. Almost all the items were complimentary other than alcohol and an eye mask. I said I liked chocolate pre arrival and there was chocolate in the fridge every day for me!

Right after the main entry, before you get to the living room, hidden in the walls are two separate spaces. One side is the butler’s kitchen that the butler enters from outside. She left us treats and waters in the full size fridge. There is also a microwave and a full assortment of plates, cups, silverware etc. The second space on the other side is a pool half bathroom. This also has a door directly outside to the pool and beach area. Inside there were pool/beach towels, flip flops for each of us, and our snorkeling gear already waiting for us properly sized based on pre arrival questions. It is so nice to not have to think about getting your snorkel gear when you arrive, they really do think about everything, large to small.

The living room leads to the bedroom area which includes an amazing large window seating nook. My wife often used this area to read since it looked out on our amazing outside area/beach. The television in the bedroom pops out of the coffee table as needed, but hides away so you can get a full view of outside from bed.

The main bathroom area is again very large with the same high ceilings. There are two separate long vanities with makeup stations, as well as a large bathtub and shower. A separate wash room off to the side has the toilet and a sink.

There are endless doors that lead outside, including three in the bathroom. One leads to the pool area, the other to one of the outdoor showers. The outdoor shower off the bathroom being the more private one, the other off the pool bathroom is clearly just to rinse off any sand.

The bathroom comes with two robes for each person, in their particular sizes (another pre arrival question), which again is a nice touch. There is the heavier terry cloth robe and a thinner robe. Another one of my favorite touches are note pads in the shape of the island (and in the Cheval Blanc yellow).

Behind the bedroom is the dressing area/closet. It is a very large area with shelving, hanging space, drawers and armoires. It also had a makeup table. In here, you again find another complimentary slide on shoe for walking around the villa that are in addition to the slippers for night time. Unfortunately my feet are far too wide to use these, but my wife said hers were comfortable.

From the living room’s sliding glass door, on the opposite side from the ocean, you have a grassy area with a pavilion and a large table. There is a sink area for the butler to use. We used this area to eat brunch several days, it really was a nice feature.

While clients have been upgraded in their rooms before, we wanted to ensure we had the island villa, so booked that option and are very happy we did so. We loved all the features of the island villa and would definitely book it again.

Island Villa Private Beach

Due to the size and amazingness of the outdoor area, I wanted to make a separate subheading for it. So in addition to the pavilion with the table and the two outdoor showers, you also have a huge outdoor area that is very well appointed with everything you could want. The pool itself is very large, the biggest I have seen at any resort for a private pool. Then we had an outdoor furniture seating area next to the pool. In addition to that, we had a hammock, two sets of lounge chairs, and a large swing type seat. All of the seating was very comfortable. The lounge chairs were very cushy and had easily adjustable umbrellas, which I far prefer over the type that don’t move. The best part of course is the beach is mere feet from your villa and no matter where you stand in the villa, you see the most beautiful blue ocean water. Even looking back at the villa, you get an amazing reflection of the water to enjoy.

Overwater Villa

I was able to see an overwater villa as well and they are just as incredible so you really cannot go wrong with any options. There are of course some villas that have more privacy than others, but all are beautiful. The Garden Overwater Villas have the same table pavilion behind the villa as the Island Villas have.

The Ocean

While I am sure I sound repetitive, but the ocean was really incredible. It is hard to put into words how the blues and turquoise color of the water looks. Photos simply do not do it justice. We would often take a photo and think it looked really nice, but then look out at the water and be stunned by how it looked in person versus the photos. The water is also so calm and the clearest water I have ever seen no matter how far out we went. Since we are in the shoulder season, the water was technically more choppy than normal according to staff, which is honestly hard to imagine it being more calm.

They do have rock barriers at various points near the shore, which are used to keep the water calm, but honestly really started to blend in when you see how beautiful the view is on a daily basis. They’re also great for quick snorkeling and are usually surrounded by a variety of fish. It’s not noteworthy snorkeling, but still nice for a quick snorkel. We also saw a small squid near the barriers once.

Moving Around the Resort

Like many Maldives resorts, you are given bikes, or can walk, or get a ride from your butler. It is a small enough island that walking is definitely an option, but most people biked or got rides. We never had to wait long for our butler when we messaged for a ride. She was also incredibly prompt when we had things scheduled and we knew she would ring our villa bell within seconds of the clock switching to the minute she said she would be there.

Service

Service is really where Cheval Blanc excels, it is where luxury hotels really separate the good from the great. Much of the staff, including the new GM that started the same week we were there, come from Aman background or other ultra luxury properties. I was actually really interested to see my thoughts on service because I have seen a few comments in chubbytravel or various blogs suggesting that Cheval Blanc can be stuffy, but that was far from our experience. In fact, it was the exact opposite of our experience. For instance, I have heard that nice clothes are required for dinners or walking around, but that is not the case. Really you can wear what you want, within reason, as is the same at most luxury resorts. I wore shorts each evening with a button down short-sleeve shirt. We saw guests in much more casual attire everywhere and some much more dressed up than us. Whatever you want to wear works here.

Every single point of contact with a staff member was great. They were all very friendly, engaging (if the guest wanted to engage), available, accommodating, proactive, and capable. There are guests of all types, from all over the world and you could see the staff seamlessly adjust from person to person, following the guest’s lead.

Our butler was the best butler we have had at a resort. We ended up calling her more than I thought, just because she was that incredible and anticipated our needs, without being intrusive. I never felt like she was around too much, but we had everything we needed whenever we needed it.

For instance, one evening I put clothes in a laundry bag for our complimentary 3 pieces, but forgot to mention it before heading to dinner. When I texted her minutes into dinner, she had already found it. She was about to text us if we were ready for them to be laundered, because she was proactive but didn’t want to assume without us confirming. Everything arrived back clean, pressed, and smelling amazing.

When unpacking, the closet looked like a boutique store, everything placed perfectly folded or hung up, and beautifully placed.

Each day, the resort brings pastries or other treats to the villa for you to try, and they cater it to your preferences.

Several evenings, while at dinner, our butler set up the bathtub and added candles and beautiful flowers in different designs.

On our anniversary, we returned to a beautiful set up with desserts and small gifts. She set up a huge “happy anniversary” lighted sign display on the floor, along with a very elaborate shell and bead design on the table telling us happy anniversary.

Our butler knew my wife likes taking photos before dinner in our nicer dinner clothes instead of bathing suits, so always volunteered to take them for us and even brought us to some perfect photo spots. On top of being a great butler, she also had a great eye for backdrops and angles to get great shots.

The rest of the team were just as amazing. For example, the first evening we arrived, the chef came out to help me select the best food option given my food poisoning issue. He personally went through multiple options to ensure I was happy but also had something I could eat that wouldn’t aggravate the issue further. He made me a very nice pasta dish off menu that was made with ingredients gentle for my stomach, but still delicious.

There are many more examples of amazing service, whether at breakfast with the pastry chef, the massage therapist at the spa, or the snorkeling guide. They even create these cool sand art displays both at the villa pathway entrance and by your villa front door in the evenings. For our anniversary, it was an elaborate sand display of a couple with the sand man proposing, though the sand man had a full head of hair (I do not). I joked about this, not at all seriously since I don’t care about my lack of hair, and they made the sand man bald next time. Amazing.

Spa

While I am not normally a spa goer, my wife likes to get massages. We decided to do a couples massage, and I am so glad we did. It’s a great way to use your $150 Virtuoso credit if you book through a Virtuoso TA.

The spa is on a separate island which involves taking a traditional boat from the main island. It is a very short ride and the island itself is beautiful. The views from the island are incredible and the island itself is very peaceful.

Our butler encouraged us to go an hour early to use the complimentary private thermal treatments. We decided to check it out and it really was worth it. You were given an entire villa that had a changing area, showers, then a steam room, sauna, and a cold plunge pool. After finishing the steam portion, our massage therapists came and led us to the room where we had our massages. We both commented it was the best massage we have ever had. After the massage, they take you to their spa lounge for tea, which is a pavilion overlooking a very large infinity pool and the ocean.

We were told it was great snorkeling there, which you are free to use even without a spa treatment, but we did not do so since we had just done a snorkeling excursion.

Kids

Cheval Blanc really kept kids in mind for their kid’s club which begins at age 3. They do lots of activities like sand castle building, mini Olympics, kids golf on the putting green, hopscotch, cooking class, surfing at the simulator, and jewelry making!

The playroom area, called Le Carrousel, was really amazing. Right outside they have an outdoor trampoline, a net tree, slide and climbing wall. They also have a shallow pool, water slides (which I was jealous of) and in insane number of toys and games.

They are not only open during day, but also evenings for parents wanting to enjoy dinner without the kids. In evenings they have activities like open air movie night, disco nights, and ghost crab hunting.

Babysitting services also available, which were pretty reasonable at, I think, $35/hour.

They also have a teen area, that is also open to adults, that is essentially a game room with foosball, pool, video games, etc.

Activities

Cheval Blanc has a variety of activities, as well as the ability to charter various boats. We went on a snorkeling trip that was absolutely great. We took a 25-minute boat ride to a close island where a reef was located. We were provided our own snorkel guide who went along with just us and pointed out some things to look at. There were only three people on the trip which was my expectation based on reviews I read, and each person (or family) gets their own guide. They also provided snacks on the way back.

The snorkel gear was your snorkel gear from your room and was high quality where no one had to fix their mask once, which seems to be a common issue at other resorts we’ve been to. They cleaned and defogged them before we got to the reef, and the masks were perfectly clear the entire time.

On the island, they also have a surf simulator, and a bunch of water sports options including seabobs, jet skis, hydrofoils, and a lot more. There is also paddle ball and tennis on a separate island with complimentary transfer. They of course have standard complimentary kayak, stand up paddle board, etc.

Food

Cheval Blanc has an incredible complimentary breakfast. There is a small buffet area which is really meant to be used if in a hurry, or if you want extra pastries, because everything can be ordered in their extensive menu. This menu is pages and pages long and includes everything from crepes to waffles, pancakes to pastries, and smoothies and yogurt.

Every day, the pastry chef brought out a signature huge pastry of the day to each table, which was by far our favorite part. One day was a croissant that was a play on lemon meringue pie that will live in my dreams.

The nice thing that Cheval Blanc does is that you can get “breakfast” any time of the day, literally all day. You can also get it either at the restaurant, which is beautiful, or in your villa. They are super flexible with it, so much so that our butler told us that many people grab food before going to the gym or snorkel trips and then go back for their full breakfast later.

When we had our snorkel trip, our butler brought us to the restaurant for a smaller breakfast, that still included the pastry of the day, then we had the actual meal after we returned, when we were less rushed. Really if we wanted to, we could have eaten two full meals and that would have been totally acceptable.

Another nice part of the menu is that it is for guests all over the world and is not limited to American breakfast options. In fact, it includes many options we would consider lunch, such as dim sum, fried rice, hummus, dosa, or a charcuterie board. Great for second breakfast!

For dinners, they have five options, but the menu at one place is extremely extensive and covers many cuisines, so you do not feel limited. They also had two specialty nights while we were there: a Santorini night and then an Indian Ocean night. They were both beautifully set up and included performances and/or music. The food was all very good regardless of the restaurant. Also, the restaurants themselves are beautiful, each one is completely different, but just as nice.

While there are additional transfer costs, you can go to other resorts to visit or for dinner. We did not think it was necessary for us, but nice to have the option for longer stays. We looked into visiting Soneva Jani, but decided to stay at Cheval Blanc.

Private Island

I was incredibly lucky to be able to walk through the private island property as well. They don’t publish photos or videos because they want to retain the exclusivity of the island for guests that visit it. Unfortunately, I can’t share any photos publicly, but I will say it is incredible and well worth it if this is something you might consider.

The main villa is 2,200 square meters (more than 23,600 square feet) and can fit 12 people comfortably in accommodations. It has ocean views from both sides or in some cases, three sides depending on the room. The staff at the private island will literally make anything you want happen if at all possible.

The private island has lots of entertainment space, a private, fully-equipped gym, and a private spa room, and even a grand piano. There is a lot of outdoor space as well, including a private 25-meter-long pool. There is also a separate guest villa.

You of course also have access to everything at the main resort as well.

Conclusion

I am really just genuinely blown away by our stay here and am now a huge fan of this resort. We will definitely be one of those return guests that make up the majority of their reservations. If you have hesitations about going to this resort, I truly believe you will find them to be not an issue once you’re here. It really is incredible. If you worry about the distance, there are several great airline options with comfortable business or first-class products: Qatar, Etihad, and Emirates. Every person we talked to or heard talking about the property said the same, they could not believe how incredible it was being here. While we love the Maldives in general, I can say that this resort was just different than anything else we’ve experienced. It felt like the perfect level of luxury, peacefulness, beauty, activity, and genuine warmth of service from everyone we met. I was not sure we would find the warmth of the service, but the staff really were so incredible and friendly anywhere we went at the resort. Our butler even checked on us in WhatsApp to make sure we got home safely. We can’t wait to return.