Canareef Resort Maldives
Addu Atoll · 271 villas along 4.5 km · The far south
The southernmost resort in the country, four and a half kilometres long, ten minutes by boat from Gan airport. There is no house reef. The diving is the reason to come, and the journey is the thing to plan around.
- Getting there
- Flight + boatVelana to Gan, then ten minutes
- Latest you can land
- 14:25Later and the connection is not guaranteed
- House reef
- 2 / 5None. Everything happens from a boat
- Villas
- 27176 to 97 m², three types, all on sand
- Meal plans
- ThreeHalf board, full board, all inclusive
- The island
- 4.5 km42 hectares. Buggies run around the clock
Location and transfers
Land at Velana after 14:25 and the afternoon connection is not guaranteed. A later arrival can mean a wait of six hours or more at the airport. After 22:00 a same-day transfer cannot be guaranteed at all, and a night in Malé or Hulhumalé is at your own expense. Flying home before 09:00 means the same in reverse: a flight up the evening before and a paid night in the capital. Send us your flights before you buy them.
The boat from Gan is free on some rates and charged on others. Ask us which yours is before you buy a flight into Gan, because it changes which of the two routings is actually cheaper.
Send your flight details two weeks before you travel, with any final amendment ten days out. That is longer notice than most resorts ask for, so do not leave it to the week before.
Baggage on the domestic flight is 20 kg checked and one piece of hand luggage up to 5 kg.
The villas
| Villa | Size | Pool | Sleeps | How many |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunrise VillaEastern side of the island, where swimming is not permitted. | 76 m² | None | 3 adults, or 2 adults and 1 child | 80 |
| Sunset Beach VillaWestern side, where swimming is allowed. | 76 m² | None | 3 adults, or 2 adults and 1 child | 71 |
| Premium Beach Villa with WhirlpoolWestern side. Enclosed outdoor area with a whirlpool for two. | 97 m² | Whirlpool | 4 adults, or 2 adults and 2 children | 120 |
Which side of the island you are on matters more here than which category you take. Swimming is permitted on the western, sunset side. The eastern, sunrise side faces the atoll’s outer barrier and swimming there is prohibited. So the cheapest room in the resort is on the side you cannot swim from, and the step across is small.
No villa has a private pool, and there are no overwater villas at all. The Premium Beach Villa has a whirlpool for two in an enclosed outdoor area, which is a different thing. Ask us for a photograph before you decide.
The Premium Beach Villa is also the one that comes with Keymaa. 120 of the 271 rooms are Premium, and those guests eat at Keymaa rather than Kilhi. See the meal plans below, because this catches people out.
The island is 4.5 km long across 42 hectares. Electric buggies run around the clock free of charge and bicycles are free too, but guests do report a walk of half an hour or more from the far villas, and buggies that are already full when they pass. If walking matters, say so when you book and we will get you a villa near the middle.
Meal plans
| Plan | What it covers | Still charged |
|---|---|---|
| Half board | Buffet breakfast and dinner at your villa category’s restaurant. | Lunch, every drink, all a la carte dining, excursions and diving. |
| Full board | All three buffet meals at your villa category’s restaurant. | Every drink, all a la carte dining, excursions and diving. |
| All inclusive | All three buffet meals, beer, house table wine in red, white and rosé, house-brand gin, vodka, rum, whisky, tequila and brandy, a selected cocktail and mocktail list, named soft drinks, packet fruit juices, tea and coffee at the all-inclusive outlets, snacks at Dhoni Bar between 16:30 and 17:30, and free bicycles. | Room service and the minibar, anything above house brands, all a la carte dining, excursions, diving and the snorkelling trips. |
Which restaurant you eat in is decided by your villa, not by your plan. Sunrise and Sunset guests eat at Kilhi. Premium Beach Villa guests eat at Keymaa. Everyone else gets one meal at Keymaa free and pays a supplement after that. On a three-night half board stay in a Sunrise or Sunset villa, that means every dinner at the same buffet.
Room service and the minibar are outside all inclusive, and it is the most common surprise on the folio here. The plan also stops at house brands, and the a la carte outlets are discounted rather than included.
Drinks are served one at a time, which catches out anyone used to carrying two back to a sunlounger. The juices are from packets. Water comes by the glass, plus two litre bottles a day in the villa, and further bottles are charged.
The all inclusive here rates 2 out of 5 on our all-inclusive ratings. Read what it covers before paying the step up. On an island you are not going to leave it can still be the right buy, but go in knowing where it stops.
Restaurants and bars
| Venue | What it is | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| KilhiWhere Sunrise and Sunset guests eat. No swimwear inside. | Main buffet. International, French, Maldivian and Sri Lankan | 07:30 – 10:00, 12:30 – 14:30, 19:00 – 21:30 |
| KeymaaWhere Premium Beach Villa guests eat. Others get one meal free, then pay a supplement. | Second buffet, international themed | Ask us for your dates |
| Meera Bar | Cocktails and a la carte | 24 hours |
| Dhoni Bar | Bar, with a DJ, Boduberu and crab races | 10:00 – 23:00 |
| Beach Bar | At the southern tip, by the snorkelling end | 09:00 – 18:00 |
Keymaa is where 120 of the 271 rooms eat, and its hours move. Ask us to pin them down for your dates, and book Kilhi for the nights you are not there.
Dress is casual across the island, though swimwear is not allowed inside the main restaurant.
The water
Why we rate the reef 2 out of 5
There are coral patches at the southern tip near the Beach Bar, and how good they are depends on the sea that day. Everything else is a boat ride.
Swimming is permitted on the western, sunset side only. The eastern, sunrise side is the atoll’s outer barrier and swimming there is prohibited.
The sunset side is sandy and no more than a couple of metres deep a long way out. Lovely to swim in, close to empty for snorkelling.
Anything better than that is a charged boat trip, and the resort says so too. If snorkelling from the beach is why you are going to the Maldives, this is the wrong island and we will name you better ones without arguing.
Canareef does not have a house reef within a comfortable or swimmable distance from the resort. For a more rewarding snorkelling experience, guests would need to take a boat excursion to nearby reefs, which is available at an additional charge.Munaz Maharoof, General Manager, Canareef Resort Maldives
The diving is the reason to come
Addu holds more than twenty-five dive sites and the coral down here is among the healthiest in the country, on an atoll that is not worked the way the central ones are.
The British Loyalty is a WWII tanker you can swim inside. Maa Kandu is a manta cleaning station. Tiger Shark Point, Gan Kandu, Vilingili Kandu, Kuda Kandu and a large underwater cave at Bodu Hoholha are on the same list.
The dive centre is Diverland, run with Werner Lau, and it is an SSI centre rather than PADI. Bring your certification accordingly.
Tell us which sites you want and we will have the boat times and the day's programme before you book.
Who it suits
✓Yes
- You dive.More than twenty-five sites, a wreck you can swim inside, and a manta cleaning station.
- You want a long beach and quiet.Four and a half kilometres of it across 42 hectares, and it is rarely busy.
- You can fly into Gan.Colombo connects directly, which takes the Malé leg and the domestic flight out of the journey.
✕No
- You came to snorkel from the beach.There is no house reef. The good snorkelling is a boat ride, and it is charged.
- You want an overwater villa.All three categories are on the sand. There is not one overwater room on the island.
- You are landing at Velana in the late afternoon.After 14:25 the connection south is not guaranteed, and the wait can run to six hours.
Children and safety
- There are no overwater villas, so no age rule and no waiver. Every room is on the sand with its own beach access and an enclosed backyard. On most Maldivian islands a family with young children is pushed towards one small beach category. That problem does not exist here, and for a family it is the quiet advantage of the place.
- Swimming is prohibited on the eastern side of the island. That is the sunrise side, facing the atoll’s outer barrier. With children it is the single most important thing to know about villa location, and it is the reason we would not put a family in a Sunrise Villa.
- The kids’ club takes young children, and the age it starts at moves. Tell us how old your children are and we will pin down the age range and the hours for your dates before you book, rather than have you find out at check-in.
- Nothing is programmed for teenagers. There is no teen club here, and babysitting has to be arranged ahead rather than asked for on arrival. Tell us early if you need either.
- A doctor lives on the island. That matters more here than at a resort twenty minutes from Malé. Addu is a long way south, and having a doctor resident rather than on call is part of what you are buying with the distance.
On the island
- Doctor
- On the islandResident, not on call from elsewhere
- Island time
- Malé timeGMT+5, thirty minutes behind India
- Dive centre
- SSIDiverland, run with Werner Lau
- Getting around
- BuggiesFree and around the clock. Bicycles too
- Wifi and signal
- ComplimentaryVillas and outlets. Dhiraagu and Ooredoo both reach
- Power
- UK sockets220 to 240 volts. Bring an adaptor
Things we would rather you heard from us
- There is no house reef. If snorkelling from the beach is the point of the holiday, this is the wrong island and we will name you better ones without arguing. If you dive, very little in the country beats Addu for what it is.
- The cheapest villa is on the side you cannot swim from. Sunrise Villas sit on the eastern, barrier side, where swimming is prohibited. Sunset Beach Villas and Premium Beach Villas are on the western side. The step between them is small, and it is the first thing we would spend money on here.
- Your villa decides your restaurant. Keymaa is for Premium Beach Villa guests. Everyone else gets one meal there free and pays a supplement afterwards. On a short half board stay in a Sunrise or Sunset villa, that means every dinner at the same buffet, and guests on long stays say it repeats.
- It is a very long island, and the buggies fill up. Four and a half kilometres. The electric buggies are free and run around the clock, but guests report walks of half an hour from the far villas and buggies already full when they pass. The scale is real. Ask for a central villa if that would bother you.
- Getting here is the trade. This is the far south and the journey is the thing guests mention most. A domestic flight, a boat, a two-week notice period for flight details, and a connection that is not guaranteed if you land after 14:25. None of that is a reason to avoid Addu. It is a reason to book the flights with us rather than around us.
- The buffet repeats on a long stay. Three or four nights and you will not notice. Canareef sells two-week stays, and guests on those say the food comes round again. If you are staying a week or more, take all inclusive so the bars and Meera give you somewhere else to go.
Shall we price it for you?
Tell us your dates, your villa and which airport you can fly into. We will price it both ways, Gan and Malé, so you can see what the routing is worth, check your flight against the 14:25 connection, and tell you whether your rate carries the Gan boat free or charged. We reply within 24 hours.