The Westin Maldives Miriandhoo Resort
A real house reef you can swim to from the beach, on an island that runs an hour ahead of Male to buy you daylight. The beach entry is shelly and the overwater ladder is vertical, so this is not a resort you snorkel from your deck. Everything operational, in one page.
- Getting there
- 30 minSeaplane. 112 km from Male.
- Latest you can land
- 15:25Seaplanes fly in daylight only
- House reef
- From the beachReal reef. Not from the villa deck.
- Villas
- 6940 on land, 29 over water
- Meal plans
- FiveBed and breakfast to premium all inclusive
- Island time
- GMT+6One hour ahead of Male
Location and transfers
Luggage is tighter than your airline's. The seaplane allows 20 kg checked and 5 kg hand luggage per person. The domestic flight allows 25 kg checked and 3 kg hand. Anything over is charged at the airport and paid there.
The resort keeps its own clock, GMT+6. That is one hour ahead of Male and of the rest of the Maldives, and it is deliberate: it shifts an hour of daylight into your evening. Set your watch on arrival, and remember your departure transfer runs on island time while your flight runs on Male time.
Check-in is 15:00 and check-out 12:00. There is a Westin Executive Lounge at the seaplane terminal and an airport counter, C17.
The villas
| Villa | Size | Sleeps | How many |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beach Villa PoolNo third bed and no extra bed. Only three on the island. | 140 m² | 2 adults and 1 infant | 3 |
| Family Beach Villa PoolTwin beds. The smallest villa that takes two children. | 140 m² | 2 adults and 2 children, or 3 adults | 6 |
| Deluxe Beach Villa PoolThe largest category on the island, so the easiest to get. | 164 m² | 2 adults and 2 children, or 3 adults | 24 |
| Family Deluxe Beach Villa PoolAs the Deluxe, with twin beds instead of a king. | 164 m² | 2 adults and 2 children, or 3 adults | 4 |
| Overwater Villa PoolOver the lagoon. Ladder access to the water, not steps. | 194 m² | 2 adults and 2 children, or 3 adults | 25 |
| Heavenly Overwater Villa PoolSame footprint as the Overwater, better positioned. Only four. | 194 m² | 2 adults and 2 children, or 3 adults | 4 |
| 2-Bedroom Beach Villa PoolOne king and two twins across two bedrooms. | 297 m² | 4 adults and 2 children, or 5 adults | 2 |
| 2-Bedroom Heavenly Beach Residence PoolThe largest on the island, and there is exactly one. | 508 m² | 4 adults and 2 children, or 6 adults | 1 |
Every villa on the island has its own pool. There is no non-pool category here, which is unusual and worth knowing when you compare against Baa Atoll neighbours.
Forty villas are on land and twenty-nine are over the water. The eight categories sum to 69, which matches the resort's own total.
The entry Beach Villa Pool takes two adults and an infant only. No third bed, no extra bed, and there are three of them. If you are three adults or a family, you are looking at the Deluxe or a Family category from the start.
The resort publishes a single total area per villa rather than an indoor and outdoor split, so the figures above are total footprint.
Meal plans
| Plan | What it covers | Still charged |
|---|---|---|
| Bed & breakfast | Buffet breakfast at Island Kitchen. Tea, coffee and island water. | Every other meal, all other drinks, minibar, in-villa breakfast. |
| Half board | Breakfast, plus dinner at Island Kitchen, Hawker or The Pearl. | Lunch, all drinks, minibar. The Pearl once per stay only. |
| Full board | Breakfast, lunch and dinner across Island Kitchen, Hawker and The Pearl. | All drinks, minibar. The Pearl every fifth night only. |
| All inclusive | All three meals, plus the all-inclusive drinks list by the glass in the restaurants and bars, and the minibar restocked once daily. | Premium spirits and wines, destination dining, in-villa dining, the Sunset Bar menu. The Pearl once every third day. |
| Premium all inclusive | The widest dining and drinks list, The Pearl every day, in-villa dining and breakfast, one destination dinner per stay, and a full minibar. | Special events. Alcohol at special events. |
The Pearl is an allowance, not a door you walk through. On half board you get it once in the whole stay, on full board every fifth night, on all inclusive every third day. Only premium all inclusive opens it daily. This is the single most misread thing about the resort and it is where the arrival disappointment happens.
Everyone in the villa has to be on the same plan, for the whole stay. Plans can be upgraded but never downgraded, and a meal missed is not credited back.
BBQ theme nights at Hawker sit outside every plan and carry a supplement, as do destination dining, in-villa dining below premium all inclusive, and special events.
Children under twelve eat from the children’s menu at no charge across the outlets. Ask us to confirm this against your dates before you rely on it.
Restaurants and bars
| Venue | What it is | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Island Kitchen | All-day international, buffet and set menu | 07:30 – 22:30 daily |
| Hawker | Asian street food, live kitchen | 12:00 – 15:00, 19:00 – 22:30 |
| The PearlClosed Mondays. | Japanese, including kaiseki | 18:30 – 22:30, Tuesday to Sunday |
| Sunset Bar | Cocktails and tapas | 18:00 – 00:00 daily |
| Beach Bar | Drinks and casual food | 11:00 – 22:30 daily |
The Pearl closes on Mondays. On a short stay, if your one Pearl allowance falls on a Monday you simply lose it, so ask the resort to book it on arrival rather than leaving it to the night you fancy it.
Hawker and The Pearl both need advance reservations. Room service runs alongside, on its own menu.
The water
The lagoon and the reef are different things here
There is a genuine house reef and it wraps the island, which is not true of every Baa Atoll resort. Guests reach it by a short swim from the beach and report octopus, eagle rays, blacktip sharks, turtles and Napoleon wrasse.
The beach entry is the catch. The shoreline is shelly and rocky underfoot and the water can be choppy on the tide, so you swim out past the break before it settles. Reef shoes are genuinely useful here and most guests wish they had brought them.
The resort does not publish how far out the drop-off sits. We have asked.
You cannot snorkel properly from an overwater villa
Entry from the overwater decks is by a vertical ladder, which means you cannot put fins on before you get in. Independent reviewers are blunt that proper snorkelling from the villa is not possible.
If the water is why you are coming, take a beach category and walk in, rather than paying more for a deck you cannot swim from.
Diving is AQUA Dive & Watersports Centre, a PADI 5 Star Dive Resort. Hanifaru Bay, the manta and whale shark aggregation site, is 18 km away and the trip is run by the resort. The season is roughly June to October.
Who it suits
Children and safety
- There is no published minimum age for an overwater villa. Several Baa Atoll resorts do impose one and agents often assume it applies here. The Westin publishes none. We ask the resort in writing on every family booking rather than assume either way.
- The Westin Family Kids Club takes four to twelve. A grouper-shaped building with an indoor playroom, an outdoor playground and a shallow pool. The resort does not publish its opening hours, so we confirm them for your dates.
- Under-fours need an adult with them. They are welcome, but not in the club unsupervised. Babysitting is available on the island and we arrange it before you travel rather than on arrival.
- Under-fifteens must be supervised in the fitness studio. The gym runs around the clock, but not unaccompanied for teenagers.
- Check the life vests before you rely on them. Guests have reported in-villa vests in poor condition with failing zips. If you are travelling with children who will be in the water, ask the watersports centre for fitted vests rather than using what is in the villa.
On the island
- Island time
- GMT+6One hour ahead of Male, for an extra hour of evening daylight
- Dive centre
- AQUAPADI 5 Star Dive Resort
- Spa
- Heavenly SpaOverwater treatment rooms, by appointment
- Fitness
- 24 hoursWestin WORKOUT, with sauna and steam
- Check in and out
- 15:00 / 12:00Island time, not Male time
- Kids club
- Ages 4 to 12Westin Family Kids Club
Things we would rather you heard from us
- The beach is shelly, not soft. This is the most consistent thing guests say about the island. The reef is the reward for it, but nobody should arrive expecting to wade in barefoot off powder sand.
- The Pearl is rationed on every plan but the top one. Once per stay on half board, every fifth night on full board, every third day on all inclusive. Guests on all inclusive expecting unlimited Japanese are the ones who complain, and they have a point.
- The buffet repeats. Island Kitchen is the default for most meals and guests on longer stays say the offer changes little day to day, and leans Western and Chinese rather than Maldivian.
- Restaurants need booking early. Hawker and The Pearl both take reservations and both fill. Book on arrival for the whole stay, not the night before.
- Hanifaru Bay is a season, not a facility. Roughly June to October. Come in February and the mantas are simply not aggregating, whatever the brochure photograph shows.
- You earn no Bonvoy points on this booking. The rate we sell is outside the loyalty programme. If points matter more to you than price, book direct and tell us so, and we will say so plainly rather than let you find out at check-out.
Shall we price it for you?
Tell us your dates, who is travelling and which airport you fly from. We will put the villa, the transfer and every Maldivian tax inside one figure, check your flight against the seaplane window, and tell you which meal plan is worth the step up for the way you actually eat. We reply within 24 hours.