The Hard Rock Hotel is great. Clean, with natural beauty, and cheerful staff. The only hiccup is when we got there, late in the day, the dining options seemed to be limited, and the hotel app, was kinda clunky, with restaurant bookings. I was frustrated. We had not eaten since before noon and we were not too happy about the general lack of immediate food. Every restaurant seemed to require reservations, and the app was, as I said, clunky. I walked to reception and kindly asked if we could order a Red Cross emergency food drop by helicopter outside our bungalow. The nice guy there got us in at the Hard Rock restaurant without reservations. It all turned out well and we were soon happy. Everything else at the hotel afterwards was great, when we got into the swing of things. It’s a really nice place indeed.
If you have a midnight flight out from Male, consider visiting the city of Male in the late afternoon. Yes, the city is a dump, but it does have its own little charm. The people there are really great. I had motorcyclists stop in the middle of the road for fear they would ruin a picture I was taking. Extremely nice people indeed. Walk around the fish and vegetable market and pick up some snacks. Overall it was worth the quick visit. There is also a mosque made of coral in Male. Worth a look. We couldn’t go in because it was some sort of Muslim holiday or something. We took a taxi from the airport to town and another taxi back again. We had fun with this little excursion.