LVIS Boutique Hotel is a great place to stay if you’re in The Maldives. We’d recommend it for a couple who doesn’t want luxury, but wants a nice middle of the road place to stay for a few days – that won’t break the budget.
Located south of the Asian subcontinent, the Maldives archipelago is a major romantic destination for international visitors.
And it’s not difficult to see why.
With roughly 1,200 paradise islands, some populated with world-renowned resorts, the Maldives offers enough holiday activities to fill dozens of brochures.
Here’s a review of one of the many hotels in Malé City, the LVIS Boutique Hotel.
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We stayed at the LVIS Boutique Hotel during a transfer on our way to do a scuba diving liveaboard. (You can read our Emperor Leo liveaboard review here.)
Hotel LVIS Boutique is one of the two Hotel LVIS franchise in the Maldives. The other hotel, LVIS Blancura, is on a private island by Dharavandhoo Thila and Hanifaru Bay. You can arrange both property bookings into one travel holiday package.
Contact them using the information at the end of this post if you have any questions.
LVIS Boutique Hotel Location
Malé International Airport (MLE) is on Hulhulé Island and separated from Malé City Island. To get to the city center, you simply take a cheap water taxi that costs $1 USD one-way or 15 Maldivian Rufiyaa.
(If you have a Priority Pass and have some time, the airport has a small but useful Wellness airport lounge that you can use. You can stay for two hours maximum.)
LVIS Boutique Hotel is located about a 10-minute taxi ride from the ferry terminal on the Malé City pier. With a room reservation, pick up and drop off from this ferry terminal is included.
Ask them to coordinate your transportation to and from the hotel when you book.
LVIS Boutique Hotel Booking
You can book one of the eight rooms from booking.com.
Friendly Staff
Besides the nice room itself, the number one selling point of the LVIS Boutique Hotel is the super friendly staff. As a team, brothers Lisham, Lishan, Visham, and Isham work very hard to make sure that your stay is enjoyable.
They will go above and beyond to serve you, smiling the entire time.
We arrived in the hotel with heavy diving equipment and bags. The staff who, no insult intended, weren’t exactly hulking men, insisted on carrying our 60+lb bags three levels up to our room, through the narrow hallway’s, bends, and staircase.
Their friendly service was incredible and they deserve a mention.
Room Layout
First thing’s first.
When we booked this place, we didn’t realize until about a week before we went that the hotel is called “LVIS.” Rather, we didn’t pronounce it, we just said “We are staying at the L-V-I-S Hotel.”
About a week before, Michael pronounced the acronym itself and was worried that we were going to get ourselves into an Elvis Presley-themed rock ‘n roll disaster.
That was not the case. This hotel is pretty nice and has nothing to do with the King of Rock ‘n Roll.
We still haven’t figured out what the LVIS acronym means.
Beds are comfortable and are different for each of the eight rooms here.
Our room was on the third floor. It was roughly 300 square feet (28 m2), and consisted of a king-size bed, bathroom, a small work station, TV stand, and cabinet.
It also had a mini fridge and safe deposit box.
The room was clean and the AC worked perfectly, which is important in the heat and humidity here. There were windows on two sides of our room, which brightened up the place.
The bathroom area looked like there was an attempt to make it look classier than it was with granite countertops and a designer washbasin. The plastic shower curtain with a cartoon marine theme didn’t quite jive with the ambiance of the room itself.
It was also far too short to separate the wet area from the rest of the bathroom. The bathroom wasn’t fancy – but we didn’t care. It was clean and functional.
What more could we need, really?
Hotel Amenities
LVIS Hotel offers free pick up/drop off
LVIS Boutique Hotel provides free pick up and drop off at the Ferry Terminal, which connects you to the Maldives International Airport. Arrange this directly with them prior to your arrival.
And of course mention your preference to be dropped off while you’re checking in. A taxi ride costs around $5 to the LVIS Boutique Hotel from the Ferry terminal.
Free Parking at LVIS Hotel
There is very limited parking in the alleys and streets nearby. So if you’re renting a car, consider that. Driving a car in Malé City (or anywhere in the Maldives) is not recommended and you definitely do not need one.
Free Breakfast
You’ll get a western-style continental breakfast with your stay. The chef prepared a typical western breakfast: scrambled eggs, toast, and fried hot dogs.
When we requested a vegetarian option, it didn’t occur to them to substitute the hot dogs, but there are plenty of other options to eat.
There’s also fresh fruit and cereal, as well as juice and water.
Free Wi-Fi
LVIS Boutique Hotel has free Wi-Fi; however, it didn’t reach our upper third floor room. It is password protected, and it is a fairly fast connection, considering the location.
Don’t expect to be able to watch Netflix over the connection, but for general Web browsing and checking email, it is fine.
Luggage storage
Luggage storage is free if you need some place to keep your bags after checking out. There is no special room for the bags and they are kept in the lobby.
There is staff in the lobby at all times to safeguard your belongings.
Things to consider at LVIS Hotel
- LVIS Boutique hotel is a very small property, with only eight air-conditioned rooms. Although it has the word “boutique” in the name, it is not fancy. There does seem to be an effort to push it in that direction though.
- The small and narrow road next to the hotel is sometimes loud. There is an apartment building directly across from the hotel. You might be able to hear what the kids are watching on TV next door. That said, we were out all day and found it sensibly quiet at night.
- The Maldives is a Muslim majority country, with the traditional call to prayers observed throughout the country. Expect to hear it during your stay in the country, including an early one around 4:30 AM.
- Keep in mind that alcohol is illegal in the Maldives, with the exception of some resorts and liveaboard yachts. You won’t be able to buy it legally anywhere int he country, including the LVIS Boutique Hotel.
At a glance
LVIS Boutique Hotel
Jahaaméuguri Gualhi
Malé City 20274
The Maldives
Phone: +960 766-3223
Email: reservations@lvishotels.com
Reserve here
Check out other places we’ve stayed: Accommodations around the world.
For More on The Maldives: When we travel, we use Lonely Planet
in addition to all of the other research we do. We really do love these books and have a shelf full of them! By clicking the image and buying a book at the Amazon.com link below, we get a small referral fee at no additional cost to you.
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Halef moved from Indonesia to the US nearly two decades ago to go to college here. He hasn’t looked back. He’s been to over forty countries and doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He’s a Landscape Architect in Atlanta, GA.
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