
A bath in the spa setting
Javvu Spa is set back in the jungle; its page lists the sauna, the steam room and the Tranquillity Pool, on the shore, as complimentary.
On a big, green island in Baa Atoll, all 67 villas and residences have a private pool, the reef runs right round the shore and Hanifaru Bay’s manta rays are 15 minutes away by speedboat.
A week here, month by monthAmilla suits families who want dinners they can book through their personal butler, the katheeb, with Google's lowest seller from $1,050 for a night for 2 adults. Couples seeking an adults-only island may prefer another stay.
Official site Read the island mapDoes it suit you?
5 pairs of hotels, and the guide tells you whether this one suits you.
For snorkelling I would ask for the villa with stairs from its deck to the reef: 130 m² indoors, 90 m² outside and a separate indoor living area.
In the calendar read on 12 October 2026, the week of 2–8 November 2026 has 7 nights at $1,050 each. The highest night shown is 18 April 2027, at $4,618.
On the 2026 half-board or full-board plans, premium menu items may cost extra; in-villa dining is excluded, and drinks are charged separately unless you buy a beverage package.
Under the 2026 plans, dinner at Feeling Koi is excluded from half board and full board, but guests receive 50% off its menu prices. Everyone in the villa takes the same plan; an extra bed-and-breakfast night is allowed if arrival or departure prevents dinner.
Finolhas is about 1.5 km long and still mostly trees, with a 3 km track looping through them: from the air, an oval of palm crowns ringed in white sand, the water villas strung along jetties off one end. Villas start at 100 m² indoors. The Reef Water Pool Villas, 130 m², stand over the house reef, and guests write of snorkelling straight off the deck; the Beach Pool Villa has 220 m²; the Treetop villas are raised into the canopy. The Great Beach Residence has 8 bedrooms and 2 pools in 1,090 m² indoors; a private chef there costs extra.
On the house reef guests describe turtles, eagle rays and reef sharks; Hanifaru Bay, where the resort gives May to October as the manta-ray season, is 15 minutes away by speedboat. At Feeling Koi, the Japanese restaurant on its jetty, nurse sharks often turn up at dinner, the resort’s marine guide says. Each villa has its katheeb, a butler who answers on WhatsApp and books dinners and excursions. 3 villas are adapted for wheelchair users, every restaurant has a ramp, and the seaplane crew can help a guest aboard with a sling. The kids’ club takes ages 4 to 12, which is the other side of the choice: a guest writing in January 2026 noted lots of families, and several in 2025 and 2026 write that the villas, for all their space, have some years on them.
Lumina Guide 2027
Gives more than the other hotels of its place and price range.
Amilla, in Baa Atoll, is made of villas and large residences, each with a private pool and at least 100 m² indoors, with 3 categories adapted for guests with reduced mobility.
How Lumi are awardedGuests
335 reviews read: the location pleases more than 9 guests in 10 who mention it, the staff and service 9 in 10. Too few voices on breakfast so far (15) to say more.
Critics
Ours (exceptional)
You sleep on the reef, on the lagoon or up among the trees; the residences run to 8 bedrooms, Javvu Spa has 10 treatment pods, a sauna and a steam room, and dinner is a choice of East, Barolo, Koi and more.
What we found reading the hotel’s own pages, one thing at a time.
Baa Atoll is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve; the villas stand over the reef, over the lagoon and on land. The resort’s site cites Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia, which voted the house reef among the Maldives’ 10 best.
A jungle island with villas in the treetops, a football pitch where guests play the staff and a hen house guests know as Cluckingham Palace. 3 villas are adapted for wheelchair users.
10 categories, each with a private pool, from the Water Pool Villa, 100 m² indoors, to the 8-bedroom Great Beach Residence. Decks and gardens add 80 to 1,650 m².
7 restaurants, among them East for Asian cooking, Barolo for Italian and Feeling Koi for Japanese. Half board and full board are served at the restaurants that are open, Feeling Koi apart, where they give 50% off.
Javvu Spa, in the jungle: treatment pods, a sauna, a steam room, the Tranquillity Pool on the shore and an open-air gym under a banyan tree. The price list the site links is from 2024.
Big enough to feel empty: guests cycle everywhere and write of having the island to themselves. The sea has rules: a safety briefing before you swim or snorkel, no swimming after dark and, the FAQ says, no lifeguard.
A badge is an experience travellers look for, that is really here and that few hotels in the guide have.
Here: manta rays at Hanifaru Bay, 15 minutes by boat, from June to November.
Stated by amilla.com. 16 hotels of 335 hold it.
Every hotel with this badgeWhat do Amilla Maldives Resort’s guests say? They write it in their reviews, even those who only came for a drink or dinner: we read every one and tell the 5 things that matter, from the location to the bill.
9 in 10 guests who mention it are happy with it. Guests write about the house reef, where they see turtles, rays and reef sharks, and about being close to Hanifaru Bay and its manta rays.
9 in 10 guests who mention it are happy with it. Guests like the space of the villas and the private pool; several write about the Treetop villas, up among the trees.
9 in 10 guests who mention it are happy with it. Guests keep returning to the katheeb, the butler assigned to each villa, who answers on WhatsApp and books dinners and excursions; many thank theirs by name.
Breakfast is at Fresh, from 7am: a buffet and, alongside it, dishes ordered from the menu.
The meal plan is chosen for the whole villa and the whole stay; the seaplane, $850 per adult return plus taxes and service, and the drinks packages are paid for separately.
| What | Score out of 10 | Guests who mention it | Happy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Location | 8.9 | 95 | 94% |
| Room | 8.0 | 75 | 85% |
| Staff and service | 8.5 | 163 | 90% |
| Breakfast | 7.9 | 15 | 87% |
| Price | – | 22 | 41% |
The scores come from 335 Google reviews with text, left from 27 May 2015 to 9 September 2026. The other hotels are the ones weighed for a stay in the Maldives: for each we read its latest 500 Google reviews with text, or all of them where there are fewer, as of 1 October 2026. The score is the average of what they say, from 0 if they speak of it very badly to 10 if they speak of it very well. Where only a few mention something, the score stays close to the guide’s average: a handful of voices does not make a reputation.
The hotels we weigh it against in the Maldives:
Price: for two on the night of 2 November 2026, from $1,050 (seen on Google Hotels on 12 October 2026).
The lowest seller on Google showed $1,050 a night for 2 adults in early November 2026, against $2,272 from 24 December to 10 January 2027. I would start with November for the lower prices, then check the same dates again before booking.
| Period | Dollars a night |
|---|---|
| 13 October to 23 December 2026 | 1,050–1,276 |
| 24 Dec 2026–10 Jan 2027 | 2,272 every night |
| 11 January to 10 April 2027 | 1,224–1,495 |
| 11 April to 30 April 2027 | 2,003–2,402 |
| 1 May to 5 September 2027 | 1,694–2,022 |
The lowest price any seller showed on Google Hotels for one night searched alone, for 2 adults, read on 12 October 2026; no room or meal plan is specified. Isolated highs: $4,618 on 18 April and $4,236 on 18 May 2027; the calendar stops on 5 September 2027. Booked as 7 nights from 16 November 2026, the lowest seller Google listed that day asked $1,042 a night.
Niyama suits a stay between 2 connected islands, with a sandy lagoon and an outer reef reached by boat. For families considering a large residence, InterContinental Maamunagau is another island of pool villas and residences reached by seaplane.
| Hotel | A night, from |
|---|---|
| Amilla Maldives Resort | $1,050 |
| Niyama | $966 |
| InterContinental Maldives | $1,326 |
Lowest one-night price for 2 adults in 16–22 November 2026, read on Google on 12 October 2026; room and meal plan unspecified.
Three villa interiors, the spa area and fish above coral. Angelfish Travel and SimplyMaldives are agencies, and their tours retain that attribution. Creative Travel Guru’s film was shot in June 2021 and published in 2023. Each film shows its own moment rather than certifying present conditions or inclusions.
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Javvu Spa is set back in the jungle; its page lists the sauna, the steam room and the Tranquillity Pool, on the shore, as complimentary.

Balinese, Thai and hot-stone massages and Dhivehi beys, the Maldivian herbal treatments, in 10 pods by the spa’s own count. The price list the site links is from 2024.

Dinner from 6.30 to 10pm on a jetty of its own, where nurse sharks often gather, says the resort’s marine guide. Meal plans give 50% off here.

Lunch on the sand from 12.30 to 3.30pm, at one of 3 restaurants open at midday, with Tessera and Joe’s Pizza.
The kids’ club takes children aged 4 to 12; those aged 3 and under need a parent, a guardian or a babysitter. Source: amilla.com
Amilla is 35 minutes from Malé by seaplane, which flies only in daylight, for international flights landing before 3.30pm. The return seaplane costs $850 per adult and $450 per child before taxes and service, according to the resort’s site. Later arrivals take a domestic flight and a speedboat.
All 67 villas and residences have a private pool, in 10 categories from the Water Pool Villa, 100 m² indoors, to the 8-bedroom Great Beach Residence. 2 adults and 2 children fit in a Lagoon, a Reef, a Family Water Pool or a Two-Bedroom Treetop villa.
Half board and full board cover food only: drinks are charged as ordered unless you add a drinks package, which covers its holder alone. At Feeling Koi the plans give 50% off the menu.










| Transfer | 35 minutes by seaplane from Malé; $850 per adult and $450 per child return, before taxes and service |
|---|
The seaplane flies only in daylight, for international flights landing before 3.30pm; later arrivals take a 20-minute domestic flight to Dharavandhoo and a 10-minute speedboat. Luggage is 20 kg checked and 5 kg by hand. A guest writing in January 2026 advises expecting about $2,200 for the transfer for 2.
Hanifaru Bay is about 8 km away, 15 minutes by speedboat.
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Recommended for you
Start at Fresh with the semi-buffet and à la carte dishes, complimentary for guests in every villa and residence.
Take a beach cruiser around the island loop, with the jungle canopy overhead and glimpses of beaches along the way.
Play on one of the 2 tennis courts; the resident coach helps beginners and experienced players sharpen their skills.
Rinse off in the seaside showers and settle into the Tranquillity Pool beside the ocean.
Water views accompany homemade pasta and vegetables from the organic garden.
Google score read on 5 October 2026.
We read the 335 Google reviews with a text, written between 27 May 2015 and 9 September 2026. Service comes up most, and with it the katheeb, often thanked by name.
From the resort’s Google listing, August and September 2026: a honeymoon, half board, the reef outside the villa and the butler.
The couple praises seaplane assistance, their Katheeb, restaurants and reef activities. Sightings and surprises during their stay are not guaranteed offer inclusions.
The guest likes food and island but criticises half-board flexibility, lunchtime closures and pressured service. Their account does not replace the 2026 board document.
The review praises the reef outside the villa and the butler, while describing email errors and small mistakes corrected after reporting. These remain incidents from that stay.
Prices, hours and offers as they stood on 5 October 2026.
Google Hotels, on 5 October 2026, showed Priceline at USD 1,050 a night for 2 adults and no children, taxes and fees included, for 16–19 November 2026: USD 3,149 for the 3 nights, on a base rate of USD 884. Agoda stood at USD 1,065 a night and USD 3,195 for the stay, on a base of USD 890. Neither named the villa or the meal plan, or said whether the seaplane was included. Google’s calendar of single nights, read the same day, showed $1,090 for 16 November 2026, $1,525 for 11 January 2027 and $1,527 for 1 April 2027.
By month, the lowest night that calendar returned for 2 adults was $1,090 in November and December 2026, $1,525 from January to March 2027, $1,527 in April, $1,497 in May and June, $1,776 in July and $1,569 in August. Those are the cheapest nights, and the calendar does not say whether taxes are in them. From 24 December to 10 January every night stood between $2,272 and $3,134, and from 30 August 2027 the calendar had no price yet.
The seaplane from Malé, flown by Manta Air, takes 35 minutes; arriving guests wait in Amilla’s lounge at the seaplane terminal, and describe a short speedboat ride from where the plane lands. The return fare is $850 per adult and $450 per child before taxes and service; under-twos fly free, without a seat of their own, and the page does not say up to what age the child fare applies. The seaplane flies only in daylight, for international flights landing before 3.30pm (3pm in an answer on the same page). Later arrivals take a 20-minute domestic flight to Dharavandhoo and a 10-minute speedboat, or 15 minutes by the 2026 fact sheet; no fare is printed for that route. Luggage: 20 kg checked and 5 kg by hand, then $5 a kilogram plus 17% tax.
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The 2026 fact sheet counts 67 in 10 categories, all with a private pool. Over the water: 10 Water Pool Villas (100 m² indoors), 9 Lagoon Water Pool and 23 Reef Water Pool Villas (130 m² each) and 2 Family Water Pool Villas (180 m²). On land: 6 Beach Pool Villas (220 m²), 5 Two-Bedroom Treetop Pool Villas (170 m²) and 4 Two-Bedroom Beach Pool Villas (235 m²). The residences: 6 Four-Bedroom Beach Residences (630 m², with an 11-metre freshwater pool), The Amilla Estate (900 m²) and The Great Beach Residence (1,090 m²). Decks and gardens come on top. For how many may sleep there, the fact sheet is also the newest source (file of 8 June 2026, read on 15 October 2026): up to 2 adults and 2 children or 4 adults in the Family Water Pool Villa and the Treetop, 8 adults and 2 children in a Four-Bedroom Beach Residence, 12 and 2 in The Amilla Estate, 16 and 4 in The Great Beach Residence.
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The resort’s 2026 accessibility sheet names 3 adapted villas: a Lagoon Water Pool Villa, a Reef Water Pool Villa and a Two-Bedroom Beach Pool Villa. They have a ramp to the door, a bed more than 60 cm high, a washbasin a wheelchair fits under and rails by the toilet; a shower chair, a transfer board and a pool hoist (main pool, Lagoon and Reef villas) come on request. The restaurants are at ground level with ramps, and there are beach and floating wheelchairs and a portable hearing loop. At Malé the seaplane crew can help a guest aboard with a sling. Amilla is IncluCare-certified as a resort; the adapted villas are those 3.
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Javvu Spa is open from 9am to 8pm, with the last appointment at 7pm. The spa’s page lists the sauna, the steam room, the Tranquillity Pool and group yoga as complimentary, and private classes are charged; a guest writing in February 2026 found the sauna by appointment, with one hour free. It counts 10 treatment pods, where the 2026 fact sheet has 8 massage pods and a light-therapy room. There are gyms too, and a 3 km track round the island. The price list the site links is from 2024: a Balinese massage at $155 for 60 minutes and $195 for 90, before 10% service and TGST, 17% for tourism since 1 July 2025 (MIRA, read on 15 October 2026). It charges 100% for a cancellation less than 4 hours ahead, and asks guests to arrive 15 to 30 minutes early and under-16s to come with an adult. A guest writing in November 2025 found the prices reasonable; one writing in September 2026 quotes $200 to $300 for a massage. The pages read give neither the spa’s floor area nor a day pass for visitors staying elsewhere.
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Breakfast at Fresh is in every rate. Half board adds a 3-course dinner, full board a 2-course lunch as well, at whichever restaurants are open; Feeling Koi is outside both, with 50% off its menu. Premium dishes carry a supplement, in-villa dining (Home Delivery) is charged in full and an uneaten meal is not refunded. The whole villa takes the same plan, which cannot be bought for individual days; if arrival or departure timing prevents the half-board meal, one additional night may be booked on bed and breakfast. The plan runs from 2pm on arrival day to noon on departure day. Drinks packages are sold on top of a plan and cover a set list; children aged 11 and under drink free. The 2026 sheet prints no prices, only that they include taxes and service. The site’s FAQ describes a Dine Around All Inclusive with drinks and minibar, free meals up to age 4 and reduced plans from 5 to 12, which the 2026 sheet does not list; it also ends breakfast at 10.30am, where the fact sheet gives 7–11am.
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2, both to be booked by 31 October 2026. The Getaway: 30% off a villa or 40% off a residence for stays to 23 December 2026, with breakfast, half-board dinner (Feeling Koi excluded) and 25% off the return seaplane. The Early Bird 2027: 45% off stays of at least 4 nights between 11 January and 19 December 2027, with breakfast and 10% off the return seaplane. The Festive offer closed to bookings on 30 September.
Offers are for new bookings, per villa or residence per night at standard occupancy and subject to availability; taxes, service and fees are added, and blackout dates and minimum stays may apply. They do not combine with one another, except with the honeymoon and anniversary offer: from 4 nights, Champagne and a turndown; from 7, a surprise excursion, a dinner on the beach and 30 minutes added to a spa treatment. Credits have no cash value and cannot pay for the room, taxes or fees; groups of 10 villas or more are quoted apart.
In the Four-Bedroom Beach Residences and The Great Beach Residence, a stay of more than 7 days brings a bar set up on arrival, a minibar of soft drinks refilled daily and one barbecue dinner on the beach, drinks excluded. A private chef costs extra.
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The kids’ club takes children from 4 to 12; those of 3 and under come with a parent, a guardian or a babysitter, at $20+ per child an hour. The resort gives a safety briefing before you swim or snorkel, allows no swimming at night and says there is no lifeguard on duty; Hanifaru Bay is 15 minutes away by speedboat, and its mantas gather only when tide and moon are right. In the 335 Google reviews with a text, written between 27 May 2015 and 9 September 2026, guests dwell above all on the house reef, the katheeb assigned to each villa and the space of the villas. In March and April 2026, 3 guests wrote of itchy rashes they put down to caterpillars on the island; 2 reviews of late May 2026 met none, and one adds that the staff called it seasonal and under control.
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2, as the Maldives’ tax authority, MIRA, lists them: the tourism goods and services tax (TGST), 17% since 1 July 2025, and the Green Tax, $12 per person per day at a resort since 1 January 2025, with under-twos exempt. Google’s 3-night prices for 16–19 November include taxes and fees; its calendar of single nights does not say. The resort’s offers and seaplane fare are quoted before taxes and service. The same 10% service and 17% TGST are added to the prices on the spa’s 2024 list.
The offers on sale on 5 October 2026 cover stays to 23 December 2026 and from 11 January to 19 December 2027; the Festive offer for the days between had closed. Google’s calendar had a price for every night from 16 November 2026 to 2 June 2027, and for a few nights after that until 29 August. The resort’s FAQ calls the Maldives a year-round destination: November to April has the clearest skies; May to October, the wetter monsoon, is the season for manta rays at Hanifaru Bay. The pages read give no programme or price for a New Year’s Eve gala at the end of 2026.
Amilla is a resort of villas and residences on Finolhas island in Baa Atoll, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve; Google lists it as a 5-star hotel. The 2026 fact sheet counts 67 villas and residences in 10 categories on an island about 1.5 km long and 800 m wide, 23.5 hectares; the site’s FAQ gives 1.2 km by 800 metres. On renovation and noise there are 2 guests: one, in May 2025, wrote that a villa was being renovated; another, in the sunset room of villa 207 in spring 2025, noted a lot of seaplanes arriving and leaving, and was told the landing might be moved. For weddings, the pages read give no current capacity or fee; nor do they list a golf package.
Use the island’s beach cruisers for getting around; the resort provides them free of charge.

Every villa with a pool, between beach and lagoon

A compact island, between reef and shared activities

A speedboat beach holiday with different ways to reach the sea

A reef within reach of the villa, with a livelier evening.

The far north, a private pool and 7 dining venues.

Space and greenery in the northern Maldives, with a journey to allow for.

A pool villa close to the airport, with outlook and meals to choose.

Ritz-Carlton Maldives suits couples and families who want a contemporary villa, a private pool and days divided between the spa and restaurants. Budget for meals, treatments and the speedboat when the chosen rate excludes them; reef snorkelling also involves guided boat trips.

Couples and groups choosing between beach and overwater duplex. Transfer prices unspecified; minibar and spa have separate costs

Couples and families wanting meals and activities with explicit terms. Category-specific access; transfers and supplements separate from room quote

Beach, garden or overwater: choose the room first, then the board and transfer.

The Nautilus Maldives suits guests seeking a spacious house, a butler and meals that follow their own rhythm on a small Baa island. Privacy comes at a substantial cost, and transfers, spa and experiences need separate reading from the house rate.
This guide is written with Lumina, the marketing system for hotels.