We had the opportunity to spend 6 nights at Cora Cora on our last trip to the Maldives. Cora Cora recently took over an old property, Loama, and did a light refresh on the resort to add color and natural wood accents throughout. Located in one of the most hotel-rich atolls in the Maldives, Cora Cora has a beautiful island with some areas of improvement. Read on to learn what to expect on your trip to Cora Cora. 

Location: 5/5

Cora Cora is located in Raa Atoll, one of the busiest atolls in the Maldives, filled with wonderful hotels, incredible diving and beautiful experiences on land and sea. Cora Cora is a new brand that took over a property that previously existed on this natural island and they did minimal renovations to the grounds so the property is lush, tropical and feels very natural. 

The island is small and surrounded by white sand beaches. There are many beautiful swimming areas around the island, particularly outside the overwater villas and the beach villas on the arrival jetty side. 

Lobby & Check in experience: 4/5

Lobby and check-in in the Maldives begins at Velana International Airport where you are typically greeted by a hotel representative and taken to the seaplane terminal to await the journey. We were coming from a different hotel and our previous hotel representative assisted us in locating the agent from Cora Cora. Once we were checked into our seaplane flight, the Cora Cora agent took us to the bus that took us to the seaplane terminal. Cora Cora does not offer the luxury transfer to the seaplane terminal or access to a private lounge, but once we arrived at the terminal, we did have access to the small shared lounge area with A/C, water and soft drinks and some snacks. Our wait was approximately one hour before we headed to board the seaplane.

Cora Cora is located a 50 minute flight from Malé via seaplane and it’s an incredibly scenic flight. Along the way, you fly over Baa and Raa atolls where you see dozens of hotels from the sky. It’s a beautiful flight and you may stop at other properties along the way to Cora Cora, which we never mind as it’s a fun excuse to see other hotels. 

When you arrive at Cora Cora, you pull up right to the dock and are greeted by hotel staff with a boombox playing music, a floral necklace and cold towels. You are taken to the lobby to check in in groups with a cold beverage and then taken to your room via buggy.  When we checked in, the concept of a “freedom coach” was explained to us as someone from the staff who guides you through your journey during your stay and assists with anything you need. Shortly after, we were told to book restaurants and reservations via their app, so I would recommend relying heavily on the app versus the freedom coaches as they’re not quite a butler nor a concierge.  

Along the way to the room, we were given a small tour of the island to get our bearings and then shown to the room. 

Rooms: 3.5/5

We had the opportunity to try 3 different room types on property so we will detail them below and provide our recommendations.

Beach Pool Suite 

The first room type we checked into was the Beach Pool Suite. The suite is approximately 1600 square feet spread out across a living room bungalow, bedroom bungalow, outdoor bathroom, pool deck and beach area. 

The room has a private gated entrance that leads to two separate bungalows connected by a walkway. The bungalow on the left is set up as a living room with a sofa, chair, TV, large dining table and minibar storage area along the back wall.  The space is interesting as it feels like it’s focused more for a family, though there is only 1 bed in the suite. 

The bungalow with the bedroom has a king bed facing the view, a small seating area, desk and an entirely outdoor bathroom. There are two closets in the bedroom, including a safe, though there is no minibar in this room. The bathroom is entirely outside and includes a his and hers vanity, bathtub, enclosed shower, enclosed toilet and an outdoor waterfall shower. It’s worth noting there is no fan in the bathroom so it can be quite hot and there are many mosquitos in the morning and evening in particular.

The patio area is the highlight of the suite, with a large infinity pool, seating area and 4 chaise loungers. The beach access is beautiful and easy, with pristine swimming water just off the patio area. We spent most of our time enjoying the lagoon, versus the pool since the water was so beautiful, warm and clear.

The pros of this villa were the space and the access to the lagoon. The living room was a nice place to organize and hang out, thanks to it having double the AC power as the bedroom. The cons of this villa were the location directly across from the staff sporting area and cafeteria. Unfortunately, it was quite noisy at all hours and often smelled like cooked onions. It also lacked some maintenance, which was a trend across the property. Doors never quite sealed shut and the air conditioning did not work in the bedroom until we called and had it fixed (which happened in every room).

Duplex Lagoon Pool Villa

After the Beach Pool Suite, we checked into one of the premiere overwater villas on property and we really liked the layout and location of the villa. The duplex villa is at the end of the jetty (there are only 2 of them) and there are two floors across 1,600 square feet. 

Upon entering the lower floor, there is an enclosed bathroom that features a his and hers closet, bathtub, his and hers vanity, enclosed shower and toilet room. The rest of the lower level contains the stairs as well as a living room and patio. The living room has a small sofa, minibar, TV and the doors to the exterior. The patio features a dinette, pool lounger, infinity pool with a sunset view and two chaise loungers.

The upstairs features a king bed, two separate desk stations and a lovely L-shaped sofa facing the view. There is a small half bath and closet behind the bed. 

The pros of this room type are plenty- the view is great, it is more private, and there is a lovely sunset view from the pool. We love being overwater thanks to no mosquitoes or bugs and it is frequently more breezy and cooler. The cons of the room are similar maintenance issues and do note that the room is the farthest point of the jetty so if you require assistance getting to the main area and restaurants, you could be waiting a long time for a buggy. 

Beach Pool Villa

The final two nights, we stayed in a Beach Pool Villa which we really preferred over the Beach Suite for a few reasons. While not as spacious as the suite at 830 square feet, the room felt a bit more refreshed with key cards, versus the physical key in the Beach Suite, as well as a logical room layout with a king bed, desk area, mini bar and partially indoor bathroom. The bathroom has an interior his and hers vanity, making it much more comfortable to brush teeth, get ready and stay organized. The closets are in the bathroom as well. The exterior features a waterfall shower and tub. There is a toilet room that is outdoors, but has no fan so unfortunately gets very hot and stuffy. 

The exterior is comfortable with a dinette, seating area and infinity edge pool. The villa has excellent access to the beach and lagoon directly from the patio. 

The pros of this room are the interior his and hers vanities as well as the pristine beach access. The cons of this room type are that they are not very private as people came through our entrance onto our back patio constantly to access the beach as well as the exterior bathroom not having a fan. 

Some things that apply to all the rooms are the toiletries and minibar. Regardless of your room type and level of room versus suite, the amenities and minibar remain the same. The toiletries are nice, Cora Cora branded sustainable containers with shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion as well as some amenities like vanity kits and similar items. They are missing bug repellent in the room so definitely pack bug spray if you book a beach villa in particular. 

The minibar is very small and is refilled once a day. There are small sized sodas, a mini set of chocolate bars and water, coffee and tea. There is also a small bottle of white wine and a bottle of red wine as well as 2 beers. If you want to have your minibar restocked, you do have to pay for the items. This is one of the weaker minibars we have experienced at an all-inclusive in the Maldives and we do feel they could increase the snack offerings at a minimum given the all-inclusive nature of the hotel. 

If you are looking at different room types to book, we would recommend booking an overwater room, even without a pool, to get the best locations, most logical room layouts and the quiet, serene Maldives experience most people are looking for.

Service: 3.5/5

Cora Cora has an interesting service model centered around the idea of “freedom time”. They use this mantra as a way to let guests know it’s their time to do what they want, when they want and relax on vacation. This flexibility and freedom also translates into the staff, who have more access to facilities and experiences on property than any of the other hotels we have stayed at in the past. Staff can access a variety of guest areas like coffee shops, restaurants and they even have a staff-only party at Lagoon Hub once a week. This freedom is an incredible experience for staff and does allow for a more open guest-staff relationship, but it does come with some drawbacks. The service can be very laissez-faire and often forgetful as staff are frequently chatting over coffee or hanging out rather than servicing guests’ needs. Those drawbacks can lead to negative experiences for guests and absolutely negative perceptions of staff members who may be seen at “not their best” by guests.

In terms of service experiences, we did have a lot of positive experiences, particularly at Acquapazza. The staff there are friendly, usually efficient and provide good recommendations based on what guests are looking for. The leadership at that restaurant cares deeply about providing an elevated experience for guests and that does show. They consistently told guests that if there is something they want off menu, they would be happy to accommodate.

Cora Cora provides housekeeping once per day for non-suites and twice per day for suites. The housekeeping was one of the low points in all of our rooms as the rooms were not thoroughly cleaned and sand was typically swept onto the rugs on the floor rather than collected and disposed of. Curtains were typically haphazardly closed and glassware was not cleaned or removed from the rooms. While we would typically chalk this up to one or two housekeepers, we stayed in 3 separate rooms and this was a trend. Similarly, public areas like the gym were never cleaned as the same equipment was lying in the same places around the gym every day of our stay and the same handprints were on every mirror and door for 6 days. Housekeeping is certainly an area of concern as in the post-COVID world, many people are much more conscious of cleanliness and bacteria-removal. If they were not going to clean the gym, they should at the very least offer bacterial wipes for guests to use.

The property does not have butlers, but they do have front desk agents that they have dubbed “freedom coaches”. They are not assigned to you, but rather manage a whatsapp texting line to direct your requests to various teams. There is a bit of a disconnect on what their purpose is at check in, so just know going in that they are a convenient tool to request things from but will not go above and beyond for you specifically as they are not assigned butlers. The whatsapp texting line and the app are great service features for the property and provide an easy way for guests to make reservations, book events and more. The app was the most intuitive way for us to manage our time and we really liked that. You can download the app prior to your stay, which we recommend.

Dining: 4/5

There are a few dining options available at Cora Cora and everything is included in the all-inclusive plan. Here is the breakdown of the available options:

Tazaa

Tazaa is the all-day dining restaurant on property and features a buffet breakfast and a la carte lunch. While they are open for dinner usually, it was not open during our stay, except for the seafood buffet night. 

The breakfast has a variety of options as well as a made to order egg station. They serve coffee, mimosas, juice and more. The breakfast was good overall and had a good variety.

Lunch is a bit of a catchall, with dishes ranging from club sandwiches to curries and offers something for everyone. We did try their lunch, but preferred Acquapazza’s fresh flavors.

Acquapazza

Acquapazza was by far our favorite outlet on property thanks to the location and fresh food options. They are open to lunch and dinner and apparently book out days in advance during high season so we highly recommend pre-booking this. It’s an Italian menu with salads, pastas, pizzas and appetizers like prosciutto and cantaloupe. 

Dinner features the same appetizers and some additional entrees like meat dishes and seafood. The service at Acquapazza was by far the best of the restaurant options so we very much enjoyed our meals here.

Ginger Moon

Ginger Moon is the asian cuisine restaurant on property and has a stunning setting directly facing the sunset. Unfortunately, the restaurant is not open before sunset as it is only open for dinner and does not offer a bar service and that is a huge miss for the hotel. We did come here for dinner when they opened and the food is very good and focused on Southeast Asian dishes. We did not know what many of the dishes were and found the staff unwilling to provide recommendations so we took some guesses and did enjoy the vast majority of the dishes, including our personal favorite, Nasi Goreng. 

Teien

Teien is the sushi restaurant on property and is actually inside the buffet restaurant, where they have the made-to-order station in the morning. It is only open for dinner and while the menu shows that it used to have a larger menu with real entrees (the pages are now glued together but I saw cod on there), they now only serve sushi and satay. The stay was ok, but we preferred to stick with the sushi. The sushi was good – not super creative – but it was light and good overall. 

Private Dinner

We did have the chance to test out a brand new offering they have, which is the treehouse dinner. It was a fantastic experience enjoying a romantic setting above the treeline with direct view of the sunset. The food and service was excellent and we highly recommend this experience.

My Coffee

My Coffee is the all-day coffee shop and to-go spot on property. They make excellent coffee drinks and also offer juice shots like immunity boosters and more. They also have a few pastries, sandwiches that you can order to go and gelato that is homemade. All the coffee is roasted in Malé and it is very tasty. Similar to LUX, they are very passionate about coffee. 

Overall, the dining experiences we had were good.  The wine list is extensive and they do serve by the glass only on a complimentary basis. The cocktail list is lacking creativity, serving only the standard pina coladas, tequila sunrise and the likes, whereas the mocktail list is excellent so we ultimately asked for a mocktail with gin in it. They did inform us that they are working on a new beverage menu in the coming months so please comment below if you experienced a better menu! Until they fix their menu, know that you can order other drinks like Aperol Spritz, they’re just not listed anywhere.

They are sorely lacking a separate bar and sunset spot and it seems like such a missed opportunity to not leverage Ginger Moon to offer guests a beautiful sunset experience on the island. There is only one true bar on property at Acquapazza that services the beach and pool area. Other than the pool bar, you do not have access to any other bars to hang out, relax and watch the sunset or shows. They do have a DJ on some evenings in the lobby, which is nice but the bar is limited so you have to go to the Acquapazza bar for a cocktail.

There’s a lot of opportunity at Cora Cora to uplevel their dining experiences and provide an excellent all-inclusive experience that feels creative, fresh and non-repetitive. That being said, Acquapazza is a winner in terms of the direction we hope they go.

Facilities: 4/5

For a small island, they do have some great amenities available to guests throughout their stay. We will walk you through all the available facilities and what to expect on the property.

Dutch Onion Museum

Let’s start with the most unique feature, which is the onsite museum. The museum is a collection of items found both on the island and across the different islands in the Maldives. They have both a huge archive and a large display of items onsite. There are daily tours you can request (not currently in the app but ask at the front desk). It’s very cool and unique to experience Maldivian culture as well as the items discovered from traders and sailors who passed through the Maldives hundreds of years ago.

MOKSHA Spa

The spa is located next to the fitness center and features three single overwater massage rooms as well as one couples overwater suite with viewing glass under the massage bed, which is a nice touch. The spa operates a sunset yoga class a few days a week on the jetty, which was a lovely experience, though the yoga instructor did not show up for one of the mornings so be sure to confirm the night before. Guests staying over 4 nights receive one 45-minute massage, which we feel could be extended to a full 60 to maximize value for the experience you’ve paid for. We did get to try the 45-minute treatment and it was a good massage overall. 

Fitness Center

The fitness center is sizable with a wall of treadmills, bikes and ellipticals, as well as a variety of weight machines and a small free weights area. It is centrally located and does have a good mix of what you would expect from a resort gym. We spent our mornings here and never felt it was overly crowded. While they lacked cleanliness, there is a restroom to wash your hands in the building.

Main pool & beach

There is one pool on property that faces the beach and sits between Tazaa and Acquapazza. There is an upper pool area with a few sunbeds surrounding it as well as the lower pool with seating near Acquapazza and chaise lounges along the sides and front of the pool. Pool service is done from Acquapazza, the main bar. The beach area has a number of chaise lounges as well and has great access to the lagoon. 

The pool area was primarily frequented by families so it was not the most quiet or relaxing area to hang out so we do recommend booking a room with a pool if you are on a romantic vacation.

Water sports & activities

There is a watersports center located near the fitness center that offers complimentary non-motorized sports like kayaking, paddle boarding and snorkeling sets. They also offer paid activities like scuba diving, jetskis and excursions. 

Guests who spent 4+ nights do also get a sunset cruise run by the water sports center. The sunset cruise was extremely disappointing – they forewent the traditional dhoni boat and put us on the dive boat and took us just offshore and didn’t move beyond that. Typically, sunset cruises run around the island or at least venture out and move around, but this vessel did not do that and we spoke to other guests who went on different evenings and experienced the same thing. We hope in the future they offer guests either a better experience or start charging for it to make it worth the trip. That being said, they do offer beer or champagne as well as some delicious fried treats as a snack.

Classes

Through the app, guests can sign up for some free activities like a pizza-making class or a sushi-making class. These classes are more like demonstrations and they last only about 15 minutes. It was fun to see how food is made so it was worth attending. If it’s a rainy day or you are looking for reprieve from the sun, I would recommend it. Similarly, you can sign up for yoga or a sound meditation and that was very nice. 

While missing some of the 5-star add-ons that similar priced properties have in their all-inclusive package, such as complimentary snorkeling trips or complimentary scuba diving, the facilities they do have are nice and up to date, including the gym and spa as well as the main pool area. 

Style: 4/5

Cora Cora took over the property and did a light refresh in most areas and stripped the old furniture to bring out the natural wood tones in the beds, dressers, desks and other features of the rooms. They are still working through a lot of updates like changing the roofs, which was just starting when we visited. While the stripped furniture is a huge step up from the dark furnishings that existed at Loama resort before, they did add some cartoonish paintings on the overwater bungalows, clashing with the nice beach-chic style of the furnishings. The style is very colorful, playful and bright with pops of bright reds and pinks throughout the resort. 

Overall: 4/5

Overall, Cora Cora has a beautiful location, calm lagoon and a lot of positive experiences from up-to-date facilities to the exceptional coffee. There are a lot of options in the Maldives and we do hope that the steep competition helps bring the service and maintenance of the property up to value of the price tag they are selling rooms for. If you have booked this property, our tips for the best stay are to book pre-book your restaurant bookings, especially for Acquapazza and be sure to take advantage of the activities like Yoga and sound meditation by signing up through the app in advance as the small group classes do fill up quickly.