Riveli Retreat Mathiveri

Your home is an oasis! Thank you for hosting us and for giving us such a relaxing experience. Thank you for your wonderful hospitality. We’ve loved visiting you in your beautiful home and can’t wait to come back. Our stay in this beautiful vacation home was a dream. The local food was so fresh, the views from the nearby beach ️ were stunning, and the house had everything we could ever have wished for. Thank you so much! We will definitely come back

When we arrived at the port, we were welcomed and picked up. In the accommodation we got towels and very delicious drinks. The owner Farhad showed us the room with the phrase "feel like home". This motto ran through the whole holiday. Farhad was always available to answer any questions we had and always had a smile on his face. He can always be found in the accommodation and is open for a short chat, a little fun or for any questions. A special highlight was the manta tour and snorkeling on the reef. This tour starting from the hotel is highly recommended. This is possible alone or in a small group without experiencing huge tourist crowds. A wonderful experience. Also ask about the shark feeding at the harbor or the blue glowing plankton on the beach. The Riveli staff are always willing to help, love their island, live it and are happy to show it. The island itself and its locals are absolutely courteous, friendly and open. Just walk through the streets, ask, try and experience. The Riveli and its employees are an absolute insider tip for everyone who wants to get to know the real Maldives and their wonderful people away from the huge tourist crowds. It was one of our nicest experiences.

We stayed at Riveli for a week, it was like at home. Great food, great position, in front of sea, and very very kindness by the staff. Specially I want to thank Matey and Shohag for their friendship and profesionality. We really recommend it. Daniele and Alessia

Room was simple but very clean, air condition worked perfectly, stuff is friendly. For extremely good price it is located on the beachfront and ambient is very relaxing. We really enjoyed our stay.. Whole small island is quite nice, locals are friendly and there are no crowds of tourists.

Having stayed only in Tourist Islands over the last 15 years maybe 15/20 including Halaveli, Moofushi, Grand Centara and Soneva Fushi I had an opportunity to visit a local island as my wife had to return to the UK after a week at Haliveli due commitments. I had been recommended Riveli Retreats and the island of Mathiveri from a Maldivian working on one of the tourist islands. After all the luxury of the other islands I was looking forward to enjoying the local culture and island life without the pomp and ceremony associated with our usual trips. Riveli Retreats is owned by two brothers. One of the brothers looks after the guest house by the name of Faruhadh. He arranged a speed boat from Haliveli and met me on the boat at trip that took a comfortable 35 minutes to Mathiveri. He then offered me a tour of the small island on his motorcycle which was very kind and interesting. My room looks was spacious, clean and comfortable with a lovely view through the palm trees onto the beach. I had the bed and breakfast option and was offered any choice of breakfast I could think of and this was extended to dinner on 5 occasions. The flexibility to request meals such as fish curry or Lobster was available as it was a quiet period but I’m sure they would always go out of there way to oblige if they could. The chef was Shohag who was enthusiastic and very good considering he had to replace the normal chef taken I’ll at short notice. My whole stay was enjoyable and I met lovely helpful interesting people with a genuine kindness and it left me with nothing but good memories. All the rooms are good but naturally the sea view rooms at a premium. The excursions are numerous and relatively inexpensive. There are a number of grocery shops selling essentials and fresh fruit. A few restaurants open all day one in particular I enjoyed called Second Home. ( order before you arrive if possible) . They will make anything or just surprise you. It was very good. I checked out other guest houses but one seemed as good. I will definitely be back here sooner than later as there were signs of too many new guest houses being built and a large hotel that will surely spoil this unspoilt island in years to come. In the mean time I can’t recommend it enough. Everything will be arranged for you at minimum cost from the boat transfer or sea plane to the dreaded PCR at the little hospital next door.