Mala Boutique Inn

We stayed at the Mala boutique inn (also known as Sunset beach inn Dhangeti) for 14 days in July 2022. Before arrival we had very good communication via mail with Hassan who provided us with a good deal including two rooms for 14 nights, breakfast all days, lunch, and dinner as well as Airport transfer by Speedboat and the following five tours • Whale shark snorkeling trip • Manta snorkeling trip • Coral reef garden snorkeling • Turtle snorkeling trip • Sandbank picnic + Snorkeling Arrival: Upon arrival in the airport at Male we were well received. There was a bit waiting time for the speed boat which turned out to be the local ‘ferry’ to the island. The boat tour took about two and a half hours even though we were informed it would be one and a half hours – but the weather was not too good with wind and rain which might have been the reason for the longer tour. Arriving at the harbor at Dhangeti we were taken to the hotel where we were welcomed with a glass of juice and practical information. The hotel: The hotel (or more accurate bed and breakfast) is located at a nice spot on the Island. We had two connected rooms which was both spacious and nicely cleaned when we arrived. The staff was always friendly and did their very best to assist us. The cleaning of the rooms including shifting towels (both for the bathrooms and beach) and bed linen was not done automatically but when asked for they would clean and change as requested. There is a nice ‘roof-terrasse’ where you can enjoy the view to the beach or find shadow under. We used both opportunities for a game of cards or similar before going out for dinner The breakfast was served at tables directly on the beach right outside the hotel. More than once we were lucky to enjoy the sights of baby sharks hunting on very shallow water a couple of meters from the water edge. The breakfast itself was the most disappointing thing about the hotel. Every day the same thing: slices of toasted bread, a very thin beaten and fried egg, a cold sausage, marmalade, butter, and some fresh fruit served with coffee/tea and a glass of Sunkist juice (see photo). Some variations would have been very nice. Lunch and dinner which was served at one of the three restaurants on the Island was very nice and the variety on the menu was plentiful. The days we did not have lunch and dinner included in our package we had it at the other two restaurants, but the menu cards are similar on all three of them The Island: Dhangeti is located so that boat trips to see e.g., manta ray and whale shark are not that long. The island is still relatively local with few tourists and an authentic atmosphere but unfortunately, bigger hotels are being built now which will do a lot of damage for the experience since it is our clear impression that the capacity for more tourists on the small island is not there. The bikini beach is very beautiful with amazing water, fantastic sand and was not crowded at all. However, the very few sunbeds a

We traveled 4 adults and had 2 conecting rooms, whitch was perferct, the rooms looked clean when we got there, and was a nice size. However after a few days we had fungus growing throug the door of one of the rooms, and water coming under the other door whenever it rained. The rooms where only cleaned when we asked for it, and it seamed like there where some language bariers, and the staff didn't always understood our requests (example took it 3 times asking before we got any handsoap in one of the rooms. But we also requested for a new mattres because the one we had was rock solid, and that task was fixed when we came back from the beach) The breakfast was really bad. It was three pieces of toast bread, a sousage, an egg/omlet and some packeges of jam and butter all of the food were rarely warm at all, and tasted like it had been sitting out for a while. It wasn't really appitacing to eat. We all however loved the view from there we ate breackfast, it was right by the ocean, and we could often see baby blacktip sharks having their breackfast aswell , witch was quiet an expirience. We also had good use of the rooftop tarrace, where there was a view over the ocean and a table where we played lots of games we had brought with us. The hotel is placed nicely in the middle of the Island, so you never have to walk that far to get to the beach, the harbor or the resturants.