Maldives

Amilla Maldives

Price per night from$990.00

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (USD990.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Thoroughly modern Maldives

Setting

Blue blue Baa Atoll

Luxury resort Amilla shakes up Maldivian style like one of its poolside cocktails. Here, wooden floors and thatched roofs are swapped for gleaming white modern cuboids with private pools, as if Mies Van Der Rohe’s pavilion took a beach break. However, it’s retained all that’s sacred about an Indian Ocean getaway: incredible snorkelling and diving, sand-set relaxation and five-star food. Oh, and it has rather swish stilted treetops…

Smith Extra

Get this when you book through us:

A snorkelling excursion

Facilities

Photos Amilla Maldives facilities

Need to know

Rooms

67, including eight suites.

Check–Out

12 noon, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 2pm.

Prices

Double rooms from £1000.52 ($1,263), including tax at 27.6 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional resort fee of $6.00 per person per night on check-out.

More details

Rates usually include à la carte breakfast (US$45 a person).

Also

If you have a residence with a kitchen, or you’re simply feeling peckish, visit the Emperor General Store, which sells fresh fruit and vegetables, cakes, pastries and coffee.

At the hotel

Spa, private beaches, diving and watersports centre, tennis court, marina, Emperor General Store, beach volleyball, football pitch, pétanque, photography stduio, workshops at the Alchemy Bar, kids' club, teen games area, DVD library, free WiFi throughout. In rooms: indoor and outdoor slippers, plug adaptors, TV, Nespresso coffee machine with compostable Halo pods, tea-making kit, free bottled water, Bose sound-system, bicycles, beach bags and Lemongrass House bath products (Aesop in the Residences).

Our favourite rooms

Shaded from view by palm fronds and dressed in shades of aquamarine, gold and navy, the Maldives’ first luxury stilted treetop villa is a step above the rest (sorry); its private pool, hammock and barbecue make it a must-stay. Those eager to befriend the marine life should check in to a Reef Water Pool Villa, which has direct access to world-class snorkelling, alongside a freshwater pool and terrace with super sunset views.

Poolside

The huge, coconut-palm-fringed main pool is between the beach and the sociable Baazaar dining area and bar; it’s unheated, but the sun keeps it at swim-ready temperatures. An infinity edge overlooks the ocean, and loungers, bean-bags and dining tables are laid out along the sides. The pool menu’s by-the-glass wines, cocktails and comfort food can be brought straight to where you’re lounging. For secluded swims, each villa has a private infinity pool surrounded by huge day-beds. Or you could dip a toe in the ocean from the overwater villas or the beach.

Spa

Jaavu spa has an open-door policy; yoga lessons and sauna and steam-room sessions are free too. Be pampered in the lounge – with a herbal tea from the drinks trolley – or abscond to a wooden treatment pod (with either a sauna or steam room and a tea lounge). Unwind on the yoga and meditation pavilion afterwards.

Packing tips

You can rent a GoPro and scuba mask, but it’s cheaper to bring your own. Stash a UV-resistant top in your suitcase unless you want to look like you’re blushing all over.

Also

The resort has light alarms, ramps and beach and pool wheelchairs, and there are villas with accessible bathrooms.

Children

Children are welcome. The kids' club has a playground and pool, and the restaurants have kids' menus. Babysitting and baby-listening are available too. Most residences can fit an extra cot or bed.

Best for

Pre-schoolers to teens will thrill at the resort’s charms, but it’s best suited for swim-confident kids.

Recommended rooms

A Treetop is a magical place for a family stay; however, all two-bedroom villas have oodles of space to spread out in. The super-sized, eight-bedroom Beach Residence is a decadent space where a large family can sleep very comfortably.

Crèche

There’s no crèche on site, but your personal butler can arrange babysitting on request.

Activities

Onsite there are beautiful beaches to construct sandcastles on and a tennis court. Watersports cover everything from hobie cats and windsurfing to snorkelling and Bubblemaker scuba diving. The colourful kids club has a playground and a shallow pool, and there’s a lively programme of activities.

Swimming pool

The huge freeform pool is unheated, but the sun keeps it at bath-tub temperature. There’s a shallow ledge for kids to play on, swim nappies and arm bands are provided, and kids can ride inflatable flamingoes. The kids club has a supervised shallow pool.

Meals

Baazaar has five restaurants, including a pizza parlour, so fussy eaters will be appeased. Themed evenings are held three times a week at he Emperor Beach Club; for the sophisticated little Smiths, Feeling Koi serves traditional Japanese cuisine, including fresh sushi and sashami. All restaurants welcome kids and will be happy to assist where they can. 

Babysitting

Babysitting is $20 an hour, per child (excluding tax). It can be booked two hours in advance.

No need to pack

Leave the monitors at home, and there are plenty of toys, board games, craft materials and books, but to make kids feel truly at home in the residence bring a few treasured items.

Also

A baby-listening service is available. If you’ve left an essential item at home or want to plan a child-friendly day out, talk to your butler – they’ll be brimming with ideas and tips.

Sustainability efforts

Lots of produce is grown on the island, from the leaves for your herbal tea to much of the kitchen's veg. There are solar-powered lights illuminating the island at night; chickens are kept in grand surroundings (aptly named Cluckingham Palace), there's a mushroom hut, a banana and papaya plantation, and a coconut-processing centre, plus a waste facility, all on-site.

Food and Drink

Photos Amilla Maldives food and drink

Top Table

Staff can rustle up a romantic setup on the beach: bespoke dishes, candles, gently lapping waves… It’s swoon-worthy stuff. Otherwise, order food to your residence and watch multi-hued sunsets from your terrace.

Dress Code

Beach belle by day, island goddess by night. A linen suit for Mr Smith to wear at sundown.

Hotel restaurant

The punnily named Feeling Koi serves sharing plates dishes focusing on modern Japanese cuisine with a Latin twist. The over-water terrace gets a little dark after sundown, but it’s romantic nonetheless; the adventurous should sample the tipples in the Sake library. East showcases the best of southern India, Barolo imports all the Italian flavours you'll need (and for everything else, there's Joe's Pizza) and the Emperor Beach Club is exactly where to head after a round of volleyball on the sand. At every restaurant, there are lots of options for every dietary requirement, from vegan and vegetarian to paleo and keto. 

Hotel bar

Feeling Koi has a rooftop bar, where cocktails are served up just in time for sunset views. The Cellar Door has a whole lotta bottle, 8,000 to be exact. Keep your villa stocked with a globetrotting selection of bottles – or a case – or stay for a curated wine tasting accompanied by artisanal cheeses. Baa Baa Bar may give you a nursery-rhyme earworm, but it's worth it for the DJ-soundtracked sundowners on the sand.

Last orders

Breakfast is from 7am–11am, lunch from 12 noon to 3pm, and the general store café closes at 7pm. Feeling Koi is open daily from 7.30pm–11pm. Drinks are served till midnight.

Room service

Staff will bring sushi platters, choice meat and fish and decadent desserts to your villa for a barbecue.

Location

Photos Amilla Maldives location
Address
Amilla Maldives
Finolhas Baa Atoll
Maldives
20275
Maldives

You need a transfer to reach this hotel. For approximate costs, see location information

Amilla Maldives is spread out over Finolhas, one of many private islands scattered through the Baa Atoll, a tranquil, turquoise Unesco Biosphere Reserve.

Planes

You’ll need to hop on a seaplane from international hub Malé’s international airport. It’s roughly a 30-minute flight to the resort, with return prices starting from US$650 an adult (US$390 a child). Alternatively, book a connecting flight to Dharavandoo airport, from where you can get picked up by speedboat (a 10-minute ride). Guests must send their arrival information to the hotel five days ahead of arrival.

Other

A weather-dependent speedboat service from Malé is also in operation.

Worth getting out of bed for

The photogenic sights of the Baa Atoll’s Unesco-protected biosphere – psychedelic lacy coral formations, curious turtles and balletic fish shoals – will rouse you from your sunlounger. Choose from snorkelling or diving, and request a half- or full-day excursion to Hanifaru Bay to spy whale sharks and manta rays. You can complete your Padi course, or see bioluminescent brilliance on a guided night dive. Hop on a jet-ski, windsurfing board or hobie cat for breath-taking above-water fun, or head out into open water on the resort’s boat for a fishing trip. Back on land, wine-tasting sessions, genteel tennis matches and spa spoiling will pass the time. However, a stay here isn’t about doing things, per se: poolside lounging and sunbathing on the powder-soft beach is wholly encouraged.

Reviews

Photos Amilla Maldives reviews
Holly Tuppen

Anonymous review

By Holly Tuppen, Eco editor

Shortly after landing in the Maldives, the line between reality and fantasy turns a little hazy. Despite hopeful pretensions of seamlessly slotting into this extravagant tropical resort, Mr Smith and I fail to stay cool and composed.

The first squeal of excitement comes on boarding our seaplane bound for Baa Atoll, home to Amilla, several hundred kilometres south of Malé. The second, soaring over the turquoise Indian Ocean, dotted with islands and reefs. The third, arriving to a reception of fresh pineapple juice and jasmine-infused cold towels. Then again, two minutes later, on spotting a turtle drifting alongside the jetty.

All overexcitable beings perform best when minded by someone more responsible; luckily, Amilla offers just that. Sophia, our katheeba (butler), whisks us across the island to our new home: a vast Two-Bedroom Beach House (number 41) with beach access and a private pool. Our bags are already in situ, snorkelling gear is at the ready, champagne chills on ice and Sophia hands Mr Smith a card, saying to be in touch with anything we need. 

Accommodation at Amilla Fushi is more Bondi Beach than Bali-chic: beachside and overwater villas are stark white cubes with concrete floors, shiny wooden cabinets, wicker coffee tables and LED lights. Splashes of softness come courtesy of aquamarine fabrics and vibrant upholstery; for the tech geeks, there are iPads and docks, fridges (one for wine; one for everything else), Nespresso machines, vast TVs and Bose sound systems.

Our bathroom alone feels larger than our London flat. Beyond the cool of the villa, a terrace looks out over a private freshwater pool, outdoor shower, palm trees, hammocks, sun loungers and white, sea-lapped sand. Befuddled by jet lag, we struggle to know where to start, and end up running towards the sea, armed with snorkels and champagne. 

The Baa Atoll is a Unesco World Biosphere Reserve, so Amilla's house reef offers top-notch marine life. Just 20 yards into the bath-like water, we’re paddling into to an underwater kaleidoscope. Coral-crunching parrot fish turn a blind eye to clown fish, whilst a shifty looking lion fish lurks in shadows. A couple of eagle rays pop into view, before a wall of silver sprats darts towards us, chased by a focused-looking tuna. 

Once we hit the stilts of the honeymoon villas (potentially more eye-opening snorkelling territory) we head back. Nibbles and room service menus await us at the villa but we decide to ‘go public’, and wander along the beach to the dining area. Once the shock of finding what is essentially a food court (complete with iPad menus) on a Maldivian island subsides, we embrace the choice: Malaysian noodle bar, steak house, pizzeria or fish ’n’ chips? I only just resist a Wagyu burger for a refreshing sashimi platter; Mr Smith tucks into fresh-as-can-be Maldivian reef fish, with a crisp feta salad and truffle-oil fries. 

The Baazaar – the island’s social hub – makes Amilla unique. Whereas other resorts emphasise privacy, here you can mix with fellow guests as much or as little as you like. After lunch, we crash out on beanbags around the huge infinity pool and look on with bewilderment as young lovers pose on inflatable flamingos, selfie sticks at the ready. A DJ fires up some gentle house music and a Havaiana-clad waiter presents us with the cocktail of the day.   

Sun-kissed and slightly light-headed from potent mojitos, we saunter to the Javvu spa, a vast social space with a gym and hammam overlooking the sea. There’s free yoga and each guest gets a daily on-the-house treatment. After our couple’s massage, Mr Smith becomes quite the convert; we establish a brilliantly extravagant mid-afternoon spa routine throughout our stay. 

Dinner at Barolo is worth dressing up for. G&Ts at sunset merge into wine-pairing by moonlight, as we sit in the bar and the restaurant, which are both set on stilts over the water. We devour crab omelette, snapper, spiced tuna, lavender-infused duck, and raspberry soufflé – all a notch above the food bazaar’s offer.

The next morning, we head to the watersports centre to burn off the breakfast buffet. Although banana boats, jet skis and the ilk are on offer, such brash pursuits seem incongruous, given what lives below. Instead, we opt for a gentle sea kayak. The peace of gliding over the reef, gazing through crystalline water to the underwater wildlife, is only broken by a seaplane landing offshore. Suitcases, jeans and the real world flash into view, and I realise that 24 hours already feels like a lifetime away. 

 

 

Book now

Price per night from $990.00