HaleiwaFlyer

Did you ever research Niyama Maldives, and wanted to know if its worth going to? Much apologies for the late report, but it is finally here! I went from HNL-SFO-IST-MLE. Niyama was on my radar for surfing 3 years ago before they advertised surfing options, thus it was on the surfing bucket list. I finally had vacation time to do it, and pulled the trigger. I spent 14 days total, 8 days in the ocean water villa, and 6 days in the beach villa to try both out. Niyama qualifies for 4th night stay with CITI Prestige (win!!). So here is what I learned from this trip:

1)learn how to operate an emergency exit door
2)do not dry out your hard drive if it gets wet, as a wet hard drive is easier to recover data from compared to the dried out mineral encased electric components. They were able to recover my hard drive completely even being submerged in the ocean for 6 hours, and 5 days before I could get it to the shop.
3)I would go back to Niyama in a heart beat!


Started with the SFO-IST Turkish Airline Business Class flight, and was my first time ever on Turkish. They made me a repeat customer for my recent trip to Romania. Food was delicious, and the lie-flat seats were comfortable for long flights. The IST-MLE leg also had the same seats, and service.







Welcome drinks! I got the lemonade this time!



Comfortable seat arranged in 2x2x2. I have only sat on the left hand side of the plane, and you can see Atolls when approaching MLE; great photo opportunities! Thus I would recommend a left sided window seat.



Love the dinner set up with the candles.



Pumpkin soup with arrangement of appetizers



The beef was well made; not overcooked, and flavorful!



I have always sat on the left hand side of planes going to Maldives, and I would recommend it as you can see Atolls. I would recommend the left window seat.



After landing in Male, they have a host from Niyama that meets you, and takes you to the arrival lounge to wait for your SeaPlane. Depending on your arrival time, you may have to wait couple of hours. When you book a Maldives Trip, the seaplane last departure is 3:30PM. If you arrive after this, you will have to stay overnight.



Super cold AC! Ok food selection, but decent beverage selection with strong coffee to shake the jet lag out!



Niyama uses the blue seaplanes, not the general red ones you see!



Time for the seaplane ride!



Flying over Male



Amazing Atolls along the way.



Arrival Jetty! Welcome to Niyama!

I'll go through some photos of both the Ocean and Beach Villa. Having stayed at the Ocean Villa (Sunrise), Ocean Villa (Sunset), and Beach Villa; I would recommend the Beach Villa. They are all different, and the Beach Villa is no less luxurious than the Ocean Villa. I would argue it is a better designed room (architecturally) than the ocean villa, and also has direct access to the beach. Not to mention, an amazing swing! If you were to choose the ocean villa, go with the sunrise as it has an unobstructed view. The sunset ocean villa has a rock jetty in the way, which is a sore sight for a Maldivian holiday.



My favorite photo for Niyama, this is my Instagram logo! Everyone gets a bike to use during their stay, and this is the bike path from the Ocean Villas.



Sunrise Ocean Villa





Beach Villa: I love the swing they have, and as you can see, a direct access to the beach.





This is the view from the beach right outside the beach villa.



Biking around!

As for restaurants, Niyama offers 7 different ones: Nest (asian), Epicure (breakfast, general restaurant with changing themes), Tribal (African), Edge (modern, Michelin Star equivalent), Deep Six (underwater bar-has lunch), Blu (breakfast, and Blu themed dinner), and a sandwich/ice cream shop! Even being there for 2 weeks, I didn't get tired of the food. I was pleasantly suprised everything was very good. If you do the all inclusive package, they give you a 120 dollar credit towards dinner.



Going upstairs at Nest (The Treehouse).



Next, bridge to treehouse.



The next also has Hibachi grill nights, and is apparently super popular. Coming from Hawaii, the food was good, but the show put on by the chef was pretty amazing. Puts any high end Hibachi grill in Hawaii to shame.





This is BLU, used for breakfast, and also ala-carte dinner. I had curry hairy crab tasting menu, and it was delicious. I had a table directly on the beach, and blue candle light.



Tribal: African themed restaurant. Amazing delicious food on everything I tried.



Desert at Tribal: Mix of coffee ice cream, chocolate, and panna cotta.



This is Edge, the Michelin Star equivalent restaurant. The experience is amazing as that you have to take a boat from the island to the restaurant, as the restaurant is its own island. Deep Six, the underwater bar is located adjacent to here also. Only downfall is that Edge only offers two menus (Lobster and non Lobster tasting menu). I did both with wine pairing (same wines), and both were really good. I actually did the non lobster dinner menu twice during my stay as it was memorable.





Both used smoke to infuse the dish, and succeeded.



Lobster salad



Lobster medallions!



This is the bar next to Edge where you can get some sunset happy hour going!



Speaking of which, a sunset Negroni! Cheers



In conclusion:

Cost: 550 USD for Beach Villas, 800-920 for Ocean Villas. I know they talked about raising the price, so most likely more expensive now. Citi Prestige did cover 2 nights free for me.

Location: 45 minute seaplane ride from MLE. It is set up as two islands interconnected by a bridge: Play and Chill.

Rooms: Still modern and new when I went, but starting to show its age. If you look at my YouTube channel, you'll see the walkthrough videos of both the Ocean and Beach Villa. I liked the Beach Villa alot more, and you can always do a couple days in each. If you do get the ocean villa, get the sunrise one as the sunrises are spectacular. You will most likely be somewhere on the island watching sunset, and not your room as they have amazing sunset vintage points throughout the island. Thus the ocean villa sunset is kind of a waste (plus a rock jetty in the way of photos facing the sunset villas).

Food/Beverage: They got me hooked on San Pellegrino! The food is delicious, and they do a great job on the taste profile on dishes. With different restaurants, you don't have to worry about ordering the same dish. My favorite was Tribal and Edge. With the all inclusive package, they give you a 120 USD credit towards dinner, and most tasting menus are around 120-180 USD. A bottle of San Pellegrino runs 12 USD to give you an idea. The breakfast is included in your room, is similar everyday, but is an amazing spread. I didn't get tired of it in 2 weeks, and actually missed the fresh juices they made everyday.

Customer Service: You have your own assigned Butler, and they go out of their way to look after you. For example, I was surfing between my transition of Ocean to Beach Villa. He actually packed everything for me, and took everything to the beach villa with care. That way I didn't have to be bothered while surfing. Everyone is super friendly, and will help you.

Wifi: Super fast. Don't worry about your Instagram account. I was able to post my YouTube videos.

Reef/Amenities: They have a marine biologist on the island who is trying to revive local reefs. They have a reef growing project where you can snorkel. Not the best house reef, but lots of fish. They have nearby reefs for snorkel tours where you can see turtles, tuna, sharks, and everything else. Unfortunately, the reef is already bleached. Snorkel tours were around 70 USD; I did a private snorkel tour due to timing, and the marine biologist was awesome explaining the local fish and coral issues. I wouldn't recommend the private tour as it was close to 300 USD; just do the group one.

Surf: I surfed the house break everyday almost. Its a fun left with barreling potential. Easy walk and paddle back. They have surf guides, but you have to let them know in advance if you want photos or not. Otherwise, they won't shoot photos for you if they don't know. Ricardo just left, so I am not sure who is there now. They are all friendly. Crowd wise, I had plenty of solo sessions, otherwise 2-3 people.

SeaPlane Crash: After an amazing trip, the seaplane crashed on its landing at MLE. Maldivian Airlines did reimburse me full for everything I lost in 4 months. They were great in the handling of the situation, and rebooked my Turkish Business Class flight to Cathay Pacific Business Class back to SFO, and paid for my United Business Class flight back to HNL. I would recommend keeping your passport in a small waterproof bag, and with you, learn how to operate the exit door also, stay buckled at all times, and stay awake during the landing. The crash landing didn't phase me from going back to Maldives.

Here is a link to the crash:
https://maldivesindependent.com/soci...e-crash-132911

I would go back again, and would highly recommend Niyama to surfers, and non surfers.

Hope you guys enjoyed it, and subscribe to my YouTube channel if you want!

Thanks.

miuk

Wow, glad to hear everything ended up all right! Not something you read in a trip report.

rapidex

Great trip report. Bragging rights for the lounge then, "The plane crash I was in"^. Looks like a great resort, young rapidex would like that for his scuba diving.

extramileage

Nice report and great photos.

How was the level of the surfing? Beg OK/Intermediate/Advanced Only?

Now you can add "Been in a sea plane crash and lived to make a trip report about it!" to your resume! (kidding aside, glad you are safe and they took good care of you)

HaleiwaFlyer

It is a phenomenal resort, and the managers are trying their best to keep the same level of service. I didn't scuba dive out there, but if you need more information, I can get you in contact with their previous surf guide who also scuba dives. Just send me a message.

HaleiwaFlyer

Definitely a life experience to see the wing hit the water, and a little voice saying, "Oh boy, here we go." I will say this though, a lap seat belt does hold you in the seat, even upside down. I even held onto my camera gimbal throughout the entire crash. .

The surf directly outside of the resort is a left hander, and is an intermediate. Great place for beginners to learn with a longboard in the inside section as its gentle. The only issue is the rip current when you get back into the stairs, and also they have couple of boulders to navigate. The reef is user friendly (unlike Fiji and Indo), and not super shallow. Gabriel Medina and couple other pro surfers have already come by, and the word is out now. I would go before it gets too crowded. I didn't surf the other breaks as the house break was working perfectly when I was there (got 2 days of overhead, and rest of the time head-shoulder high). Couple of windy days.

roadwarrier

Glad it did not end up being worse, but some sage advice for those fools who do not bother with paying attention to Safety briefings.

injian

What a spectacular ending to your TR ... did not see that coming. Glad to hear you are ok and happy to see that the airline reimbursed you for losses incurred.

Amazing pictures - what camera did you use and what app was used for enhancements?

HaleiwaFlyer

farbster

Nice report! Thanks for taking the time. Those Sony cameras are really nice! I love mine.

iluvdoco

Thanks for confirming that Citi 4NF works with Niyama! Did you travel solo? And if so, was the Maldives boring for a solo traveler, i.e. overrun with honeymooners?

thestallion123

Nicely written TR. I'm glad that you were fine after plane crash and the incident didn't impact you decision to go back to Maldives in the future.

HaleiwaFlyer

I went solo, and never felt awkward. I surfed almost everyday for the 14 nights, and there was always something to do be it snorkeling, surfing, chocolate factory, yoga, gym, or running. During breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I never felt out of place even as a solo traveler.

HaleiwaFlyer

Thanks! Maldives is such a special place, and I am at peace that if my time comes, it comes. That is the most liberating feeling in that you are peace with death.