Need to know

Rooms

30 villas.

Rates

Low season, €2,400–€3,050; high season, €2,475–€3,160, including all meals, most drinks, transfers, welcome champagne and massage, exercise classes and laundry.

Check-out

10am, although this is flexible, subject to availability.

Facilities

Spa, fitness centre, free non-motorised watersports, excursions to neighbouring islands. In rooms: flatscreen TV, DVD player, iPod docking station, La Prairie beauty fridge. Villas all have private infinity pools and sunken outdoor double baths.

Poolside

Made from black Seychollois lava stone, the main communal infinity pool offers an ideal vantage point over the hotel’s long, white-sand beach.

Children

Little ones are welcome in the Ocean Front Villas, where free 24-hour babysitting is available.

Also

A seven-night minimum stay applies between 22 December and 6 January.

In the know

Our favourite rooms

With its stunning views over two different sections of the bay, Signature Villa 221 is the one to ask for. The Ocean Panoramic Villas have wonderful 180-degree vistas of waves and wiggling palm fronds.

Packing tips

Bring a snorkel. There’s a reef, teeming with the sort of primary-coloured sealife that you would normally only see in an aquarium, right in front of the hotel. Maia can also arrange scuba-diving excursions for an extra cost.

Food & drink

Hotel restaurant

Chef Oscar Torres knocks up exquisite Mediterranean cuisine with Asian and Creole influences – think stuffed baby squids with ratatouille and lobster, or porcini mushrooms with duck liver and black truffle terrine – in the open-sided Tec-Tec.

Dress code

Linen trousers for the men; floaty, Jade Jagger-esque dresses for the ladies.

Top table

Intimate tables are beneath a high ceiling dominated by an enormous hanging light. Or ask your private butler to set up a candlelit table for you on the beach, where you can feed each other foie gras by the light of the silvery moon.

Hotel bar

Enjoy cocktails on the bleached decking of the informal Sunset Pool Bar, while looking out over both the complex’s main pool and the Indian Ocean.

Smith card offer Members will receive a complimentary 75-minute Gentle Soul Massage.

If you're a member of Mr & Mrs Smith, you can get special privileges at every Smith hotel you book through us. Just show your Smith card at check-in to claim the offer featured on every hotel page (like the one above).

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Smith concierge

If you'd prefer to talk to someone, or don't want to book online, call our travel team on 1 866 610 3867. We guarantee you’ll get the best available rates, and we don’t charge a booking fee.

Maia Luxury Resort & Spa

Anse Louis, Mahé, Seychelles