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. These are 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 overwater villa 721, which was on the east side of the resort.
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When you walk in, you’re immediately met with incredible ocean views. The Waldorf Astoria’s overwater villas lack the lush greenery of the beach villas but that probably also means you’re ingesting fewer pesticides.
I didn’t encounter a single bug during my stay in the beach villa which was fine and all, until one morning when I noticed a grey cloud in the distance among the trees that resembled the smoke monster on Lost. The fact that it was pesticides was not a comforting thought.
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 had one of these glass floors, 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.
The bathtub overlooking the deck was to the right.
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.
It felt to me like the overwater villa was smaller 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.
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 water villas, dubbed the 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.
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