About Anantara Kihavah: what you need to know

Anantara Kihavah is a 5* luxury resort located in Baa Atoll, a short 30min seaplane flight north of Male.

With a total of 80 villas, it is, according to us, of perfect size and boosts one of the most beautiful island in the Maldives, as we'll talk about later in this review of Anantara Kihavah.

Opened in 2011, it got a big renovation of its villas in 2023, making them some of the most beautiful and smartly designed villas in the Maldives.

Without wasting any more time, let's get into our review of Anantara Kihavah with everything you need to know before visiting this amazing property.

Our villa at Anantara Kihavah

We visited Anantara Kihavah twice, once before the renovation, once after. Both time, we stayed in a beautiful sunset overwater villa with private pool (villa 225, which we highly recommend).

The villa at AK is unique. Indeed, the direct access to the pool from both the bedroom and the bathroom offers a very special experience and we're convinced you would love it as much as we did.

Our favorite part about the villa at Anantara Kihavah is the bathroom. We absolutely love the view you get on both the pool and the ocean when you are sitting in the glass-bottom bathtub. Simply incredible!

As for villa location, if you are going overwater, it will depend on your preferences. We like the sunset side a lot for obvious reasons, but if you are on the sunrise side, you have a quicker access to the reef. We'll talk more in details about the reef later in this review of Anantara Kihavah Maldives villas.

The island and its natural beauty

If Anantara Kihavah is often referred to as one of the best resorts in the Maldives, it is not just because the villas are nice. Many resorts have this as well.

For us, what makes this resort so special is the island. It is just 360° of pure beauty. There is not one corner of Anantara Kihavah that is not beautiful. And obviously, without the ugly seawalls or groynes that we hate so much.

The sand is perfect and the shades of blue are as dreamy as you can imagine. And even when checking a drone view of Anantara Kihavah, its quite perfect round shape makes it very aesthetic.

We have been more than 20 times to the Maldives, but not often have we seen an island more beautiful than this one. Some can compete, not many can beat it.

Our favorite part of the island would be in the area near the breakfast. There, the proximity between the palm trees and the crystal clear water, with just a thin layer of white sand in between make it absolutely perfect for some memorable photos.

The Reef: as beautiful as you may have heard!

Everytime we review a resort in the Maldives, one of our section always is about the house reef. After all, snorkeling (and diving) is a big reason why people visit the Maldives.

This Anantara Kihavah review is no exception.

And as you may already know, the house reef at Anantara Kihavah is absolutely amazing. Some resorts have 50-100m of nice snorkeling. Ananatara Kihavah has it all around the resort, 360°. And of course, we spent tens of hours snorkeling to check out the reef for you. We always want to be the best travel agents for the Maldives, and this goes through checking everything for our clients.

Is it the most beautiful reef in the Maldives? No. The corals are not as beautiful as you could see in the south, near Park Hyatt or Ayada for instance. But for the fish life, it is absolutely amazing, with millions of fish everywhere. Make sure to check our snorkeling video of Anantara Kihavah to see what it looks like!

The dining options: do not miss out on SEA!

Let's continue this review of Anantara Kihavah with its food outlets.

The food is really good overall at Anantara Kihavah. It is not a 10/10, but a decent 8/10 in average, which is very solid, in combination with all other key strengths of this resort.

But, if you want a 10/10 experience, you absolutely have to try Sea, the famous underwater restaurant of Anantara Kihavah. The design of the restaurant and the view on its surrounding healthy (and super fishy) reef really make the experience spectacular.

Note that you can have breakfast, lunch or dinner in this restaurant. Our recommendation, ideally, would be to try 2 experiences, one during day time (breakfast or lunch) and one during dinner. The atmosphere is really different, and, having had the chance to try both, it's very hard to say which one we preferred.

In any case, our review of Anantara Kihava's Sea restaurant is excellent and you should make sure not to miss it.

Anantara Kihavah's 5* service

We always tell our clients that you could be in the most beautiful place on earth, you could still have a bad experience if the service is not good.

This is why, for this review of Anantara Kihavah, we of course need to speak about how good the service is.

As in many other ultra luxury resorts in the Maldives, your villa comes with a super attentive private buttler who will do everything for you. You want to book a spa session? Just message your buttler on WhatsApp, and he will take care of this for you. You want to organise a sunset cruise? You know what to do!

Outside the excellent service of your private buttler, you'll also be able to enjoy attentive, friendly and professional staff everywhere around the island. Wether it is at restaurants, by the pool, at the gym, at the dive center,... The quality of the team at Anantara Kihavah is excellent and this is why we are always taking the safe option by recommending Anantara Kihavah to our guests. We've never had any negative feedback from our guests after their stay in this amazing resort.

Anantara Kihavah's Spa

Let's finish this review of Anantara Kihavah with its spa. Because, yes, you HAVE TO try it!

The spa at Anantara Kihavah is overwater and one of the most beautiful we've ever seen (in the Maldives, but also everywhere else in the world).

The spa treatment rooms are absolutely beautiful and we particularly love the outside area that you can enjoy anytime (even if you do not have a spa treatment). Two small pools are available there, a cold one, and a hot one. You'll also find a sauna if you're not already hot enough.

Conclusion: YES, we love Anantara Kihavah...and so will you!

As you managed to understand going through our review of Anantara Kihavah, this resort has it all.

It is a very solid 9.5/10 in average and it matches most people' criteria. You like snorkeling? It's perfect for you. You want a beautiful island? You'd hardly find better. You like good food? You won't be disappointed. You want a newly refurbished villa? They are perfect! Service is important to make your experience memorable? The team at Anantara Kihavah will make sure you spend the trip of a lifetime.

If you want to know more about the resort or get a quote with our very competitive rates, do not hesitate to contact us and we'll be more than happy to assist you.