I ARRIVE in Malé bleary-eyed and half-dreaming, the air already thick with tropical warmth. The journey to Milaidhoo begins long before arrival; it begins when the plane dips below the clouds and the world dissolves into turquoise. From above, the first shimmer of the atoll appears like a mirage, and already I can feel something loosening and the sea calling.
At the airport, a smiling member of the Milaidhoo team is waiting. Our luggage vanishes with quiet efficiency, as though the island itself is intent on lifting the weight before we even arrive. Within moments, we’re gliding towards the seaplane terminal, ushered into Milaidhoo’s private lounge with soft light, cool towels, and chilled juice. Through the window, seaplanes rise and fall like mechanical dragonflies – the black cabs of the Maldivian sky.
Milaidhoo beach and beach villas
Milaidhoo Over Water Villa
The thrill of the seaplane journey feels like a rite of passage, a prelude to the island itself. Our luggage reappears, tagged and ready, as we board the tiny Manta Airways aircraft. Earplugs in, propellers spinning, we lift into a living mosaic of blues – aquamarine, cerulean, sapphire – a palette of colours I didn’t know existed. Coral reefs lace through the Indian Ocean like long, silky ribbons and islands scattered like emerald jewels.
The barefoot pilot hums softly to himself, and thirty minutes drift by like seconds. We land beside a floating platform, a kind of oceanic bus stop, where Milaidhoo’s sleek white chariot boat is waiting. As our bags are exchanged raft-to-boat, we’re handed Aqua di Parma-infused towels – the island’s quiet signature scent. Within 10 minutes, we’re curving through the lagoon, the water impossibly clear, and then we are there: blinking into the sunlight.
Milaidhoo Compass Bar
“No shoes,” they tell us, and it’s not an instruction but a philosophy. Shoes are surrendered upon arrival and forgotten until departure. Milaidhoo is designed for quiet awe: every curve, every path, every pool, shaped with soft edges and natural flow, and the number of photos could have prepared me for this.
Set within the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of Baa Atoll – one of the Maldives’ most treasured corners and one of the world’s most vital marine sanctuaries – Milaidhoo is small enough to walk around in eight minutes, yet it feels infinite. Family-run, Maldivian-owned, and deeply rooted in its own style, it holds a rare authenticity. Fifty villas, each one angled towards the horizon, half hovering above the lagoon and half cradled by the beach.
Milaidhoo Batheli Restaurant
My water villa floats above the lagoon like a private reverie; its front and back gardens are made entirely of ocean. Inside, everything also orients outward – bed, bathtub, and desk all gently aligned with the blue. A soft blend of wood, linen, and light floods the space, and even the smallest details tell a story. There’s a ‘privacy coconut’ in place of a door sign, fabric-wrapped wires, and that subtle drift of Aqua di Parma woven so deeply into the island’s DNA that I will never be able to forget it.
Outside, a huge circular deck equipped with an infinity pool, sun loungers, shaded areas, and direct access to the sea. The bathroom alone could rival a spa: floor-to-ceiling windows and an enormous bathtub designed for floating.
One afternoon, I return to find it filled with bubbles and petals – an unspoken kindness from Ahmmadey, my assigned butler, who somehow knows what I need before I do: champagne, pistachio cookies, and peace. At Milaidhoo, service feels like intuition and life here is designed to be effortless.
Milaidhoo Batheli Restaurant
At the Serenity Spa, the island seems to breathe with you. Built above water, it carries the flow of the sea beneath its floors – a reminder that everything here moves at nature’s tempo. My therapist, Aruna, melts away every trace of travel fatigue with a ‘weary traveller’ massage, and later Emilie, the resident energy healer, invites me into a quiet Reiki session that feels deeply personal and quietly transformative – releasing tension I didn’t know I held.
Then something entirely new: the LYMA Laser facial, the first of its kind in the Maldives. It’s where science meets relaxation – a ritual that is completely pain-free yet leaves my skin not simply smoother, but visibly lifted from within. Treatments at Milaidhoo are precise yet unhurried, and I leave feeling like I’m floating on the clouds.
Days here are measured by light, beginning before sunrise with yoga classes (sometimes on a private sandbank) followed by breakfast at Ocean Restaurant: a ritual of ginger shots, tropical fruit, and champagne. Afternoons drift by at Compass Bar and evenings unfold under a blanket of stars. At Ba’theli, the islands signature fine-dining restaurant, housed within three wooden dhonis, dinner becomes a Maldivian story told and shared through flavour and love for the Maldives.
Manta Ray at Milaidhoo
By the second day on Milaidhoo, I had lost track of time, and by the third, I stopped caring. I spend hours snorkelling through the house reef where parrotfish shimmer like confetti and blacktip sharks drift in the shallow currents. Rikki, the island’s marine biologist, tells stories of rescued turtles and manta migrations at Hanifaru Bay. Later, I find myself in the water swimming belly-to-belly with about 30 manta rays, their vast wings sweeping through the current in a silent grace.
On my final morning, I rise early to swim and catch the sunrise. The sea lies still, a mirror of lilac and gold, and I can’t tell where the sky ends and the ocean begins. Floating there, weightless, I realise that paradise isn’t always a place you find – sometimes it’s something that finds you.
When it’s time to leave, I cry the kind of tears that come only when a place has entered your bloodstream. Milaidhoo doesn’t need an introduction or even a filter. It is enough simply to be here. Team sunrise or team sunset, both find what they’re looking for, because here, paradise doesn’t just exist. It’s alive.
by Penny Clements