Overwater villas are an iconic part of the Maldives and the Waldorf Astoria’s don’t disappoint. While I stayed in a beach villa during my stay at the Waldorf Astoria Maldives, I did get a chance to tour an overwater villa.
The Waldorf Astoria Maldives overwater villas located at opposite ends of the island and are pretty much identical to the beach villas in terms of layout. The difference is that these water villas are built entirely on stilts and feature unobstructed ocean views.
I toured villa 721, which was on the east side of the resort.
- Waldorf Astoria Maldives overwater villa exterior
- Waldorf Astoria Maldives overwater villa interior
- Waldorf Astoria Maldives overwater villa infinity pool
- The Stella Maris villa and private island
- Upgrading to the overwater villa
- Waldorf Astoria Maldives overwater villa video tour
- Other stories about my trip to the Maldives
Waldorf Astoria Maldives overwater villa exterior
The overwater villas at Waldorf Astoria Maldives are pretty stunning. The villa exterior is pretty unassuming and offers plenty of privacy if you want to lounge around the deck (which has its own infinity pool).
When you walk in through the gate, you’re immediately met with incredible ocean views. The overwater villas lack the lush greenery of the beach villas, but it makes up with endless ocean views. It probably also means you’re ingesting fewer pesticides.
I didn’t encounter a single bug during my stay in the beach villa, which I was grateful for. One morning, I noticed a grey cloud in the distance among the trees that resembled the smoke monster on Lost. My personal concierge informed it was probably a cloud of pesticides. Somehow, I didn’t find that thought comforting at all.
Waldorf Astoria Maldives overwater villa interior
Inside the overwater villa, the layout was the same as the beach villa’s. The exception, of course, was that this particular villa came with two Queen beds as opposed to one King. You choose either configuration during booking.
The seating area had the same wicker chairs facing the glass doors overlooking the pool. The same bar with free coffee and tea provisions lined the wall next to the door. On the opposite end was the desk and in-room tablet.
Another feature that’s unique to the overwater villas? The glass floor by the closet area. As I was photographing the room, the concierge pointed out a starfish mosaic at the bottom. She explained that every overwater villa at the Waldorf Astoria Maldives had a glass floor – each with a unique mosaic design visible below it. What a nice detail!
Overwater villa bathroom
The overwater villa had the same layout as the beach villa. The bathroom was right past the closet-lined hallway, with the walk-in shower and fancy toilet to the left.
To the right was a bathtub overlooking the deck.
Outdoor shower and private deck
Across from the tub was a glass door leading to the outdoor shower. The outdoor shower had a separate door accessible from the pool deck.
The overwater villa feltsmaller than the beach villa. According to the Waldorf Astoria Maldives website, the beach villa clocks in at 2,518 sqft while the overwater starts at 3,153 sqft. The overwater villa interior still felt slightly smaller to me and my sense is that most of the higher square footage can be attributed to the outdoor space.
Waldorf Astoria Maldives overwater villa infinity pool
Up ahead was the covered outdoor seating area featuring a swing bed and two wicker chairs. Beyond that was a sundeck with two loungers.
The sundeck was also outfitted with two hammock floors, which you may be familiar with from every Instagram photo ever taken in the Maldives. I don’t care how securely they’re attached to the frame, I could not relax in these things.
If you do fall, the water underneath is only about a foot deep, at most. There is also a ladder providing direct access to the ocean. I couldn’t see any fish in the area, but that’s not surprising considering we were on the north end of the island. The only fish I ever observed swam on the South end.
All of this might change once the resort settles in. Remember: The entire resort was built from the ground up three years ago. Most of the sealife probably disappeared during construction and as one staff member said, “The fish haven’t found us yet.”
The infinity poll had two built-in loungers with a table in between, just like the beach villa did.
There was yet another swing bed on the opposite end of the pool, with two tables and accompanying chairs in between.
The Stella Maris villa and private island
In addition to overwater villas with 1 – 3 bedrooms, the Waldorf Astoria Maldives also has a private island and freestanding Stella Maris Ocean Villa. During my visit, both the freestanding villa and private island were still under construction.
I drove by the Stella Maris villa while jet skiing and thought, “I can’t imagine this looking presentable any time soon.” Well, it looks like they got it together pretty fast. I follow Brian Kelly on Instagram and he recently stayed in this room, which looked incredible. It’s basically a McMansion on stilts, clocking in at 5,767 sqft, with a massive pool and bbq station.
The only way to get to these stand-alone villas is by boat, which I feel like would get tedious. In any case, it looks incredible and is bookable for around $5,000 per night.
Upgrading to the overwater villa
Upgrading to an overwater villa at the Waldorf Astoria Maldives will set you back over $400 per night. Not worth it in my opinion, but as I’ve shared before, the $200 upgrade to the Reef villa might be. It’s the same kind of room, except the villa is on land while the pool is overwater.
With everything at this resort costing an arm and two legs, I would recommend putting that $400 towards a nice meal (i.e. sandwich) or a trip to the spa (for a dry towel).
Waldorf Astoria Maldives overwater villa video tour
That being said, the overwater villas at the Waldorf Astoria Maldives are pretty stunning and if you can score an upgrade, you’ll be very happy. See below for a video tour of overwater villa.
Other stories about my trip to the Maldives
- How I booked a $21,200 Maldives trip for $1,686
- Etihad business class Lounge Dulles (IAD) review
- Etihad business class Washington to Abu Dhabi
- Etihad business class lounge Abu Dhabi review
- Etihad Business Class review: A320 Abu Dhabi to Male
- Waldorf Astoria Maldives boat transfer
- Waldorf Astoria Maldives review
- Waldorf Astoria Maldives beach villa review
Who is “ Brian on Instagram”. I wouldn’t mind seeing the pictures of that villa.
Sorry! I meant Brian Kelly (TPG).
This review has so much bias and false data in it I really hope no one takes you seriously. First off fix your typo: “the overwater villa clocks in at 2,518 sqft while the overwater villa starts at 3,153 sqft.”, you probably meant the beach villa.
Secondly, you have some kind of depth perception problem because the water is at least 3 feet deep while standing not “a foot at most” (that’s 12 whole inches FYI). The overwater villa is enormous and definitely feels bigger than the beach villa and clearly the numbers show that, get new glasses please.
You most likely stayed there over the weekend on free night certificates and couldn’t get any upgrades to any of the overwater villas so you’re bias butthurt ass kicks in with the “NOT WORTH PAYING THE MONEY TO UPGRADE TO AN OVERWATER VILLA TO GET GORGEOUS VIEWS OF THE OCEAN!” because you simply want to have an as-cheap-as-possible-or-close-to-free-stay as you can. If people want to pay the upgrade supplement let them pay, they can clearly afford it.
Hey John, not sure if you’re aware, but this is a points blog. All of us want to travel as cheap as possible and paying $400+ for a room upgrade isn’t on most people’s to-do list. But if “they” want to pay extra for a view of the ocean that they can also have in the free beach villa by walking ten extra steps, they can.
RE being “butthurt” that I didn’t get an upgrade: I preferred the beach villa, so that’s nonsense. Have a nice day and maybe channel your outrage at something that actually matters. Or take a vacation. The Maldives is nice.