Amilla Maldives
A reef that rings the entire island, with ladders off the overwater villas dropping straight onto it, inside the biosphere that holds Hanifaru Bay. The trade is the board basis: 2027 dates are sold bed and breakfast, so every dinner and every drink lands on your bill.
- Getting there
- 30–40 minSeaplane, or a flight and a boat
- Latest you can land
- 15:00Seaplanes fly in daylight only
- House reef
- 4 / 5Rings the island. Your villa decides your morning
- Villas
- 67220 to 2,500 sqm, every one with a pool
- Meals
- HB or B&BHalf board on 2026 dates, B&B on 2027
- From
- ₹488,400Two adults, four nights, seaplane and taxes in
Getting there
The seaplane has a hard daylight window at both ends. Your inbound flight has to be on the ground at Male before 15:00 for a same-day transfer, and your onward flight has to leave after 09:00. Miss either and you are buying a night in the capital.
Baggage on the seaplane is 20 kg checked and 5 kg hand. On the Dharavandhoo route it is 22 kg and 5 kg. Excess runs about US$6 a kilo, paid at the airport.
Both transfers for two adults already sit inside every figure on this page. Nothing for the seaplane is added at the resort.
The villas
| Villa | Size | Pool | Sleeps | How many |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water Pool VillaOver the lagoon. The entry villa, and the cheapest way onto the water. | 220 m² | 7.2 × 2 m | 3 adults, or 2 + 1 child | 10 |
| Lagoon Water Pool VillaMore inside space, a squarer pool, over the lagoon. | 220 m² | 4.7 × 4.2 m | 3 adults, or 2 + 2 children | 9 |
| Reef Water Pool VillaThe same villa, moved onto the reef. The ladder is the point. | 220 m² | 4.7 × 4.2 m | 3 adults, or 2 + 2 children | 23 |
| Beach Pool VillaOn the sand, and more than twice the footprint of a water villa. | 470 m² | 9.5 × 3.8 m | 3 adults, or 2 + 1 child | 6 |
| Two Bedroom Treetop Pool VillaRaised among the trees. Quoted by hand. | 250 m² | 9.5 × 3.8 m | 4 adults + 2 children | 5 |
| Family Water Pool VillaOver the water, laid out for a family. Quoted by hand. | 350 m² | 4.7 × 4.2 m | 4 adults, or 2 + 2 children | 2 |
| Two Bedroom Beach Pool VillaOn the sand, two bedrooms. Quoted by hand. | 530 m² | 10.3 × 2.9 m | 4 adults + 2 children | 4 |
| Four Bedroom Beach ResidenceQuoted by hand. | 920 m² | 11 × 5 m | 8 adults + 2 children | 6 |
| The Amilla EstateSix bedrooms. Quoted by hand. | 2,500 m² | 20 × 8 m | 12 adults + 2 children | 1 |
| The Great Beach ResidenceEight bedrooms, two pools. Quoted by hand. | 2,400 m² | Two 11 × 5 m | 16 adults + 4 children | 1 |
Every villa on this island has its own pool, and the smallest of them is 220 sqm. There is no entry-level compromise category here.
Four of these ten are on our booking dropdown. The two-bedroom villas, the family villa and all three residences are quoted by hand.
The counts are the column that decides your holiday. There are 23 Reef Water Pool Villas and only six Beach Pool Villas. If the ladder onto the reef is why you are coming, there is real inventory. If you want the 470 sqm on the sand, there are six on the whole island and they go early.
Water Pool and Lagoon Water Pool are the same 220 sqm laid out differently. The Water Pool Villa gives you 120 sqm of deck and a long narrow pool; the Lagoon gives you 30 sqm more indoors and a square one. Pick on whether you live inside or out.
Eating
Your rate covers
- Breakfast for two at Fresh, semi-buffet and à la carte
- Dinner for two on 2026 dates, which are half board
- The return shared seaplane for two, and every Maldivian tax
- Non-motorised water sports and snorkelling gear
Charged on top
- Lunch throughout, and dinner on 2027 dates
- All drinks, on every plan
- The spa, diving and every excursion
- In-villa dining, charged at full menu price
Eleven places to eat and drink
Fresh is the breakfast room, and breakfast is in every rate here. Feeling Koi is the signature Japanese room, sushi and sashimi. Barolo is Italian, grills and house pasta. East runs Indian, Chinese and Thai, which matters more to an Indian family than the brochure lets on.
Tessera is Arabian and built for sharing. Joe’s Pizza is made to order. The Emperor Beach Club does Maldivian food on the sand, and Mystique Garden cooks from the island’s own growing.
Three bars: Sunset Bar for champagne and gin with live music, Baa Bar for cocktails and a DJ, and The Cellar Door for wine and tastings.
How the plans actually work
The plan is bought for the whole villa and the whole stay. Everyone in the villa takes the same one, and you cannot buy it for single days. Unconsumed meals are not refunded.
Half board is a three-course dinner at any open restaurant, and full board adds a two-course lunch. Both exclude Feeling Koi and the weekly themed dinners, which instead carry a US$100 per adult credit against the bill.
Plans run 14:00 on arrival to noon on departure, so the last lunch is charged. Premium items on any menu can carry a supplement.
Children to 11.99 eat free on their parents’ plan, and their drinks are complimentary too. Upgrading the plan once you are on the island is allowed.
The water
Why we rate it 4 out of 5
The reef rings the whole island, which is rarer than it sounds and is the reason repeat Maldives travellers pick this one. Turtles, eagle rays and four species of shark are routine here rather than lucky.
The best water is off the overwater reef villas, where a ladder off your own deck puts you on the reef without a boat. That is also why this is a 4 and not a 5: the morning you get depends on which villa you book, and a beach villa and a reef villa are two different holidays on the same island.
The beach entry is separately good for children. Easy, sandy, no coral underfoot.
There is a natural blue hole a short boat ride out, and it is the one excursion we would book before you arrive.
What runs in the water
Hanifaru Bay sits in this atoll, the largest manta aggregation in the world. It is snorkel-only, ranger-managed and capped by permit each day, so between May and November it books out. Ask on arrival, not on day three.
Non-motorised water sports and snorkelling equipment are complimentary and available whenever you want them, which on a bed and breakfast island is a real saving.
Kayaks, paddleboards and windsurf equipment are free, and for certified sailors so is a catamaran. Everything with an engine is charged.
House reef snorkelling has a minimum age of 12 and the resort wants competent swimmers on it. Younger children go on the guided trips with a parent.
Who it suits
What you pay
What the price is built on
Two adults, four nights, the villa, the meal plan shown on the dropdown, the return shared seaplane, and every Maldivian tax including the green tax. Indian TCS is the one thing outside the figure.
Four nights is the length this rate is built on. It is also the right answer: a seaplane island with a daylight window spends most of the arrival day in transit, so three nights here is really two.
Ways to pay less
Travel in 2027 rather than this year. Four nights in a Water Pool Villa in May, June or September 2027 comes to ₹488,400, which is less than the same villa this October. That is the early bird doing the work.
Take the Water Pool Villa rather than the Lagoon. Same 220 sqm, and the difference buys several dinners.
Stayed here before? Say so. Returning guests get 5 per cent off the villa, and on 2027 stays a private Blue Hole snorkel and 20 per cent off the spa. It does not stack with this year’s offer, so we price both and tell you which wins.
Priced by hand
The two-bedroom villas, the Family Water Pool Villa and all three residences.
The festive fortnight, 24 December to 10 January, which carries a five-night minimum and compulsory gala supplements.
Anything beyond two people in the villa. Children under four are free, four to eleven carry a nightly charge with meals from the kids’ menu, and twelve and over pay an adult rate. Green tax and a seaplane seat apply from two years old.
Dates that close
2026 travel has to be booked by 30 September 2026. 2027 travel by 30 October 2026. Both are booking deadlines rather than travel dates.
Cancellation moves with the season. Low season is free to 15 days out. High and shoulder want payment 31 days ahead, half charged from 30 to 22 days, the full stay inside 21.
Wedding and anniversary benefits need proof at the time of booking: the wedding within six months before arrival, the anniversary within 30 days either side.
Things we would rather you heard from us
- On 2027 dates, dinner is not in the price. The 2026 bands carry half board and the 2027 bands do not, which is a wider swing than most villa upgrades. Four nights means four dinners across eleven venues with a real spread between the cheapest and the dearest, plus every drink on any plan. Ask us to price the half board supplement against your 2027 dates before you decide, rather than after two dinners.
- Feeling Koi sits outside every meal plan. So do the weekly themed dinners. On a half or full board plan you get a US$100 per adult credit towards the bill rather than a covered meal, and on bed and breakfast you pay the menu. If the signature room is why you are coming, budget for it separately.
- Which villa you book decides your reef. The ladder onto the reef belongs to the overwater reef villas. From a beach villa the same island gives you a sandy, easy, child-friendly entry and a different holiday. Neither is wrong, but they are not the same trip, and we would rather you chose than discovered.
- There is no published weekly rota. The resort updates its programme in its own guest app week by week, so what runs depends on the days you are there. Tell us which trips matter and we will get them priced and, where they book out, requested before you land.
- The daylight window is unforgiving. Before 15:00 at Velana on the way in, after 09:00 on the way out. Indian flight schedules put a lot of people on the wrong side of that, and the fix is either the Dharavandhoo route or a night in the capital. Send us your flight numbers and we will tell you which before you book.
Shall we price it for you?
Tell us your dates, your villa and who is travelling. We will come back with a transfer-inclusive costing, whichever of the two current offers is worth more to you, and an honest read on whether the half board upgrade earns its place.