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Airport Lounge Review: Conrad Rangali Island Lounge, Male, Maldives

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Our first trip to the Maldives left us in the Male airport for only a few minutes before flying to Rangali Island on Trans Maldivian Airlines. This time around, however, we had about an hour to kill and spent it in the Conrad’s airport lounge.  I was excited to visit since we missed it last time.  This post reviews the lounge!

The Conrad airport lounge.

For a bit of background, almost everyone visiting the Conrad Rangali Island will fly into Male and then transfer to a sea plane to fly to Rangali Island. Some times the transfer is immediate; other times its longer. For those longer waits, the Conrad opened a lounge in Male’s Transmaldivian Airlines Terminal. All guests staying at the Conrad are welcome, but only on arrival. There is no access to this lounge when departing.

Land at the Conrad Rangali Island.

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Dinner in the Maldives’ First Wine Cellar

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The Conrad Rangali Island is home to the Maldives’ first, and largest, wine cellar. Located 2 meters underground, the Conrad’s wine cellar holds 18,000 bottles of wine, including a first vintage Krug Clos d’Ambonnay (1995) and a bottle of 1990 Methuselah Cristal, costing more than $50,000 USD. It also holds a table seating 10 guests, and its absolutely stunning.

The table in the Wine Cellar.

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Fifteen Tips for Visiting the Hilton Conrad Rangali Island, Maldives

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Dan and I returned to Rangali Island in the Maldives in November. We, again, stayed at the Hilton Conrad Rangali Island (and we rebooked for a third trip this upcoming November!). Since this was our second stay, I compiled 15 tips that I think many people visiting Rangali would want to know prior to visiting. These are not necessarily “budget” tips, but tips to make your trip more enjoyable!

Maldives!

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An Aegean Cruise From Çesme, Turkey!

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When we visited Turkey last summer (July 2023), I really wanted to visit the proper Turkish Riviera. We seriously looked at the towns Bodrum, Kos, Alaçati, Çesme, and Izmir, and choose  Izmir, even though its not the real Turkish Riviera, due to its proximity to the airport and Ephesus historical site and reasonable price. We also needed Marriott nights, and Izmir has a lovely Marriott. I was fine with our decision but wanted to experience the Turkish Rivera, at least for a day. Enter a boat tour from Çesme and an afternoon strolling the town. This article details our experience. In brief, Çesme is a cute tourist town and the boat showed us gorgeous coast, but I am not sure I would squeeze a Çesme day into an Izmir itinerary again – it deserves its own couple days!

Çesme. This reminded me a lot of Rhodes, Greece (which is quite close by).

ÇESME, TURKEY

Çesme, apparently meaning “fountain”, is a small Turkish town on the Aegean sea at the tip of the Çesme peninsula. The name Çesme also refers to the greater Çesme area and includes the popular destination town of Alaçati.  Çesme is a favored holiday destination with Turks, is slowly becoming more well-known with the international crowd, and can get quite crowded in the summer. Numerous tourist lodging options crowd the area, with a modern highway connecting the town of Çesme to Izmir, the closest big city and international airport.  In terms of a destination, Çesme is a very cute little town and enjoys gorgeous views of the Aegean. One could easily waste away a few days enjoying the sun and sea.

A ship statue in Çesme. Everything seems to have a nautical theme here.

For tourist purposes, Çesme is most famous for its Ottoman old town and its ruined castle, of which the walls are fairly well preserved. Tourists can visit both on foot in a couple hours. The real point of Çesme is to relax and enjoy the day.

Welcome to Çesme!

We got to Çesme by taking an Uber (yes, the American app) from our hotel in Izmir. The ride took about 45 minutes. We took a taxi coming back, as we could not find an Uber. Alternatively, a bus runs regularly between Çesme and Izmir (we probably should have taken this but were lazy).

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Hotel Review: Izmir Marriott Hotel

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Dan and I stayed at the Izmir, Turkey Marriott hotel for four nights in July 2023. We choose the Izmir Marriott over some other properties because the hotel looked nice online, was reasonably priced, and offered a rooftop pool and lounge, plus our trip was concentrated more on sightseeing than beach/pooling so the beaches surrounding Izmir did not appeal to us on this trip. This post reviews our stay in the Izmir Marriott, which we really enjoyed!

View from the Izmir Marriott’s Executive Lounge patio, which is just above the hotel’s main entrance.

THE IZMIR MARRIOTT & ITS LOCALE

Opened in 2021, the Izmir Marriott is a modern property located on the waterfront in central Izmir. Hotel guests can walk to numerous restaurants, shops and sites of interest, including the Kemeraltı Bazaar (that we toured) and Konak pier, from the hotel. The Marriott in Izmir is comprised of 8 floors, in addition to a usable rooftop and basement Turkish bath and spa.  During our stay, the clientele was mostly foreigners, including many Americans. The majority of the staff spoke good English, and we received a very warm welcome on arrival.

View of the surrounding area from the Marriott entrance.

The first floor and entrance of the Izmir Marriott is smartly decorated and holds the checkin area, as well as a coffee bar and the waterfront Lima restaurant, where a large breakfast is served daily, in addition to lunch and dinner. Guest rooms largely comprise the remaining seven floors. The Marriott’s fabulous spa is located in the basement level, and the main hotel pool and a late night bar and restaurant occupy the rooftop.

OUR ROOM AT THE IZMIR MARRIOTT

We booked a standard King room with a City View with cash at the Izmir Marriott, which only cost about $145 USD in July 2023. We also requested a  Suite Night Award (“SNA”) upgrade for all four nights that we had available due to our Marriott Platinum status, which we actually received (yay!).  In light of the SNA upgrade, we stayed in a Corner King City View suite, which offered both city and (partial) sea views.  As you can see in the below pictures, our the room is located on front left corner of the hotel and opened into a small hallway, with the bathroom on the left and a closet area on the right. At the end of the small hallway, the room expanded to include a very comfortable, and American style, King size bed, a  work desk, a small kitchenette area, including a fully stocked mini bar (for pay) and a coffee and tea maker, safe, hairdryer, a very chic chair overlooking the partial sea view, and a couch and small table on the opposite side of the room. The main selling point of this suite were the curved floor to ceiling windows on each corner, which was really very cool. We loved opening the curtains and watching the city go about its day, especially in the early morning and at sunset.

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