Amilla Maldives review: an unforgettable seven-night stay

Context

We had the pleasure of staying at Amilla for 7 nights this past September as our 20th (or 21st?) resort visit in the Maldives. Amilla is an island that we’ve considered visiting several times in the past (we even had a booking here during the pandemic ), but for one reason or another, we never actually made it. Thankfully we took the plunge this time as we really had an unforgettable holiday, and one that surely deserves a repeat visit soon!

Transfer

The Transfer - the transfer from Amilla was by far the best transfer in the Maldives so far. Not only did we have a very short wait, but Jason (Amilla GM) surprised with CIP service! Upon deplaning our aircraft I noticed that there was a private black right next to our plane as well as a velana representative right beside it holding a name tag that read “Mr. XXX”. In all of 5 seconds, we were whisked away to a private customs area. Customs was followed by a stay in a very luxurious, opulent, "VIP" lounge with a very nice breakfast spread and all sorts of drinks. The Amilla staff took care of everything from us - from getting us checked in to the seaplane and even picking up our luggage on the luggage belt. About an hour later we were transferred to Manta air seaplane lounge as soon as our seaplane was ready for an on time departure.

Rooms

The Rooms - we had originally booked a beach villa but due to low occupancy in the low season (I think it was around 20-30% on our arrival day), and some renovation work ongoing by the beach villa area, we were upgraded by Jason to a stunning, opulent, and amazing-beyond-words 8000 squarefoot 4 bedroom residence. If you have the budget and can swing a 4 bedroom residence, they are in my opinion located on the most beautiful beach amillla has to offer. We stayed in residence 708 and the lagoon area here is the best on the island - by a large bargin.

Stunning baby blue waters, soft sand, and very open views. We also had a chance to tour all the other rooms and the overall quality is fantastic. While the rooms are completely not Maldivian in the sense that they are very modern with no sign of thatch anywhere, they are totally stunning and provide some of the best hardware I've come across in Maldives. The treetop villas are very unique, and the beach villas (my favorite room category) are private, VERY well spaced out, and boasts pools that are larger than what most 4-6 bedroom villas at other 5* have on offer.

Food

The Food - Overall we found the food to be enjoyable although it is for the most part quite simple - nothing overly complex, which in my opinion is a good thing, as fancy food can become a bit much after a few days. I would say of the restaurants, feeling koi was our least favorite which I was surprised about as I had heard so many great things about FK from friends that visited Amilla 3-4 years ago. The sushi was good, but we had some dishes which left a lot to be desired, such as the branzino (rubbery) and some of the daily specials such as the octopus which were not good and overly salty. Barolo was our favorite one (really amazing pastas and totally delicious filet), and the paneer at east was hands down the best paneer I've had in my life… better than what I've had in India

The best part of the food at Amilla was the breakfast. Omg the breakfast spread… super impressive and my favorite breakfast in the Maldives to date. Even some other resorts such as Six Senses which claim to have a good breakfast cannot compare to the Amilla breakfast spread. Pastries = delicious, hot options = impeccable, plus there is an entire coconut area!! And a Maldivian corner which saves totally delightful Maldivian fish coconut curries which we had every morning. The pastry team working at the crepes station really deserves an accolade as the Nutella crepes with fresh Barries are just on a totally different level.

We also really enjoyed the dinner buffets, which are varied and the sushi selection there was definitely impressive and beautifully presented!

People

The People - they say that it is the people that make an island special. I think that I would be lying if I said that wasn’t part of what made our experience at Amilla so amazing, and ultimately what is drawing us back to return. I can say that I did not encounter a single staff member who felt unhappy and didn't seem to be happy to be at Amilla.

We had the pleasure to be hosted by Meryem, the most personable, friendly, down to earth, kind villa host I've come across in all my stays in the Maldives. Meryem is a true and absolute gem and a huge asset to Amilla IMO - her ability to foresee our needs, perfectly guess when we would be finished with dinner, and overall generosity was so impressive. I could literally go on for days but no words can describe how appreciative we were for Meryem’s dedication to providing us with the best possible experience. Thank you Meryem for making our holiday so special, and we cannot wait to hopefully see you again very soon:)

Another honorable mention goes out to the F&B Director, Mark. It was lovely seeing mark every day, biking around the island always with a Smile. Such a kind human who really goes above and beyond to make everyone’s experience at Amilla as memorable as can be.

Island, sandbank and reef

The Island - Amilla is not the prettiest island I’ve been to if we are discussing beaches and lagoons and water colors - but any small amount of research can point in the same direction. We are still in the Maldives so it of course it is nice and better than so many beaches in other destinations, but if we compare it to some of the stunning stretches of blue that other Maldivian properties offer, the lagoons here cannot compare. HOWEVER, the lushess, low density, and overall greenery of the island is beyond impeccable and deserves some accolades. It is wonderful that so much of Amilla remains totally undeveloped and a total jungle (compare this to the fake islands popping up in north Malé for comparison). You really get the castaway feel.

Sandbank Picnic - once we a week, Amilla host a free (!!) picnic for the entire resort to a nearby public sand bank. The picnic boasts a totally glorious setup with a beautiful bar (free flowing alcohol!!), fruit skewers and some light bites. They also set up some tents for sun protection and bring some comfy bean bags. It is beyond astounding to me that all of this at no extra charge. How many resorts are there in the Maldives that offer a free (!!!) sand bank trip for the entire resort? I have yet to find one. And not only that… but other resorts would charge upwards of 500 dollars for an excursion that offers a similar experience for just 2 people. This is just one example of how impeccably run this property is.

The Reef - the reef encircles the entire island and is quite a good reef - although the coral is in a very poor state (I would say worse than at other reefs I've snorkeled), I had amazing luck with sea life spotting (dolphins, manta rays, sharks, good fish soup), more so than at any other reef. Seeing a manta ray on the reef was totally amazing, and something that will most likely never happen again! Of all the reefs I've snorkeled (if we exclude the special sightings), I think this one ranks in the middle 50 (much better than the likes of Rangali and Vakkaru but cannot be compared to Ayada, Amari, Six senses, Cocoa, etc).

Areas of improvement

1. My biggest feedback for Amilla is to please do a lagoon cleanup. The lagoon in front of sunset water villas and lagoon villas is full of coral rubble! There is really dead coral everywhere, to the point that the color of the water in this particular section looks very dark and not exactly the color you would expect from a Maldivian lagoon. I would urge Jason & team to do a very nice lagoon cleanup here to remove all the dead, algae covered pieces of coral so that the lagoon looks more pleasing to the eye, and is also more comfortable to walk on without water shoes. Several other resorts have been engaging in such activities and it would only make Amilla even better than what it already is. In current state, I would not book a lagoon water villa for this reason - you really don’t get the lagoon views that you would otherwise get at other islands.

2. The seafood night set menu dinner = very bad. Ambiance was mass market/sad, music was far too loud, and the quality of the food was very poor. By far the worst dinner we had at Amilla, and tbh one of the more disappointing dinners we’ve had at a 5* property in the Maldives. The team was beyond apologetic about this when I informed my butler and tried to make it up to us

3. Not necessarily an area of improvement but more of a callout … if top tier beaches and shimmering lagoons are on your list of top requirements, this is not the island for you. Amilla has many strengths are outlined in my reviews, however unfortunately this is not one. If you can compromise with that then this is a great island, but if you’re looking for picture perfect lagoon, you won’t find that here so important to go in with that expectation!

4. If I could provide one suggestion to the rooms (residences especially), it would be to add more trees, plants and flowers between the pool areas residences. The green separation walls are, in a way, very stark and give the outdoor area a very “concrete-like” feel that could easily be avoided if there were more foliage between them to hide said walls. I think that the same can be said about the beach villas. Also, the brown coloring of the residences could use a refresh as the color just looks very 1970s (I think these rooms used to be white which looked a lot better).

5. Some of the sandbags around the island are starting to turn green because of algae buildup which is not amazing to see— I think it is best to replace these older sand bags with new sand bags that are less impactful to the eye.

Final verdict

Thank you Amilla for a totally unforgettable holiday. We are already talking about a return visit which means A LOT since we have only re visited one resort in the Maldives so far….