first stay in Maledives, first time snorkeling, we loved it. We actually stayed in May 2009. The house reef is amazing, at least we never saw anything comparable, so many hundreds of fish, swarms of fish, all colors, jjst beautiful, turtles, small reef sharks. Lots of hermit crabs! At sunset, lietrally thousands come out from hiding in the shade all day, and the beach is covered with them. Little creepy at first! But cute! service was ok, food was ok, and we were half board, ended up spending a lot extra because of this, would go full board or all inclusive net time. Dinner on the beach was a great experience, as was the dolphin cruise. Our favorite thing to do was simply relax in our loungers under some shady bushes in front of the ocean, and read a book, play backgammon and then go snorkeling together. come back, dry off, drink a beer from the minibar, repeat until dinner time. The bar area was cosy, and we played some pool with some other young travellers that had the room next to ours. really enjoyed Helengeli, just remember its very simple place, if you want 5 star, water bungalow, go somewhere else. The spa was great too we enjoyed the couples massages very much from the young Bali women. Go there! It's wonderful!

The island is very small (800metre long) and very quiet. It is run by Swiss owners and is very popular with divers but would also suit those who want to snorkel and to have a quiet relaxing getaway. On arrival we were met by Manfred the manager who is very helpful and hospitable. We were then greeted with a refreshing cold towel and drink, check in was quick and efficient. Note that Helengeli is an extra hour ahead of Male which gives you an extra hour of daylight in the evening. Each of the beach bungalows are in pairs and very close to the sea. All the accommodation buildings are located facing the beaches where you can bring your own sunbed, unlike other islands where a side has the beach and the other almost nothing. Only rooms n. 29-38 haven’t beach available (see my pitcures). The sand bank on the island website was washed away recently, but in June-July a part of this resurfaces.
Rooms are big enough but quite basic. Air conditioning work well, rooms are cleaned well twice a day.
The house reef is beautiful with 6 exit points around all accessible sides of the island and offers a wide range of fish to see. You can see sharks from time to time and always turtles, eagle ray, sting rays and all the smaller fish. There are currents sometimes so you need to be cautious but nothing really dangerous.
Food is more limited than the larger islands. The food is buffet style with not a wide selection of both cold salad dishes and hot dished which usually included 2-3 meat dishes each evening (chicken, fish, beef or pork) along with rice, pasta, potatoes and vegetables. There were always a soup available as well as a selection of desserts including fresh fruit and ice cream. Nice touch was the beach BBQ (usually one evening a week) weather permitting. The drinks from soft drinks, alcohol or cocktails are very reasonable compared to other resorts. Drink prices were: beer=5,50$, soda water=4,20$, mineral water (1,5l)=4,20$, cocktails=11$. Note that a 10% service charge is automatically added to purchase of bar snacks and drinks. Wireless internet is available in the bar area at $5 for 1h.
At Helengeli there is nothing much to do other than dive, snorkel and relax, which was exactly what we wanted, if you want bright lights, nightlife, entertainment then go somewhere else.

This was my 4th trip to the Maldives (the others being - Bathala, Filitheyo, Reethi Beach - shout if you want to know more about those :0)).

Helengeli is a very special island - it is a rare treat to find an island that has not been filled with activities, technology, state of the art 'shiny' furnishings etc... and for that it is special. It is run by Swiss owners, and this clearly shines through (they also run Mirihi - an island that I will one day get to). The staff are some of the most relaxed and at ease I have ever come accross, whilst being extremely friendly and very helpful.

the housereef is good, with several exit points around all accessible sides of the island.

the dive centre staff are great - special note for Siegi, who was quite new to this particular island, an excellent instructor allowing us enough freedom to enjoy our experience whilst staying very safe (and he never got bored of all our questions :0))

food was always good and varied - do not let the 'buffet' style comments put you off, most islands are buffet, and this one was very good.

no real downside to this island - BUT, if you are looking for 5 star surroundings and attractions do not come here. It is for those looking for a more naturally beautiful and quiet island (no blaring music / daytime or evening etc).

I have never returned to the same island twice, but will be doing so for my honeymoon this coming July (we enjoyed it so much), followed by a week at Soneva Gilli.

I must comment that I use a small independant holiday company to organise my Maldives trips - they are extremely honest and will listen to what you like / dislike and point you to islands you will enjoy (having visited them themselves) - I cannot rate 'No News, No Shoes Ltd' highly enough for their service. If you are interested, contact them and ask to speak to Christine.

We stayed here for 2 nights as part of an offer made by our honeymoon hotel. Apparently this is common practice in Maldives to free up rooms on resorts. We took the opportunity to try it out as we were there for 14 nights.

The resort caters for German tourists on the whole so the staff struggled a little when communicating to us in English.

There is little to do but snorkel and unfortunately it was very stormy so we were stuck in doors playing scrabble or darts!

The way back to the room was a mission itself. There is no lighting from the 'common room' to the guest rooms so we asked a staff member to guide us with a flash light.

There are no televisions in the room so when there was a storm brewing outdoors all you could do was play board games or sleep. The rooms were very, very basic and ants and beetles always managed to creep their way into the rooms despite the doors being closed"

The food is quite varied and the staff were amazing and friendly.

I would recommend this place to snorkellers as I heard there is a lot to be explored but otherwise I would have to say there are plenty of other resorts such as the one we booked that were of much higher quality.

The resort advertises itself as 3-4* but I would rate is as 3* at a push. Not my cup of tea.