Nika Island Resort

The worst vacation I ever had was with the management team at the resort. While the staff were friendly, the overall experience was very disappointing. Firstly, the welcoming and reception process was terrible. When I arrived at my room, I found that even the most basic necessities were not provided. For instance, I had to buy my own toiletries, including a toothbrush, from the shop. Additionally, everything incurred extra charges, including water, which was surprising. It felt like they viewed all the guests as nothing more than sources of money. I would not recommend this resort to anyone, especially considering that the management team was from Italy.

Sweet: The island is simply stunning. Lush vegetation, amazing reef all around with turtles, sharks, mantas and an infinite variety of colourful fishes. We stayed in 3 very different rooms. Lowest category one (on check-out day) called the Flower room, was basic and a bit dark, but had everything you needed, was clean and comfortable. More like a European hotel room than a resort room, but did the trick. The garden room again simple and clean, but brighter and with an outdoor area and outdoor shower. Best one (obviously!) the deluxe beach villa. Massive villa with a living room, a gigantic bathroom (indoor and outdoor showers), an even bigger bedroom and your very own private beach. Beautiful room - if you go, please do pay a bit more to have it, it just makes your holiday so much better! Bitter: 1. Staff and management first of all. The resort is run with a European approach to things, which is far, very far, from the expected Maldivian hospitality. The team doesn't seem to communicate well, younger staff is reprimanded or contradicted in front of guests. The general manager (at least I think he was, as he never introduced to us!) only speaks to Italians. They all rely on WhatsApp to communicate, which is fine, but the info should be accurate (instead of often changing) and above all, shouldn’t substitute human interaction. Please note the above doesn’t refer to our waiter, the barmen and the chef, who despite inputs from the top, were always helpful, professional and delightful. 2. Food (and approach to it) is mainly Italian, with very little local food. Vegetarians and vegans are an inconvenience and are expected to eat pizza, pasta, rice (with vegetables) and salad every day. On buffet days, it was fine - you'll find something to eat, but when there was a set menu, you had to go and ask for another option which was always pasta or rice (curry) anyway. I would have expected them to approach the request and sort it out for me (come up with valid options), as it happened in other resorts in the Maldives. To be fair, I certainly can’t say I didn’t enjoy the food, as it was all good quality and well cooked, but the repetitiveness of options for vegetarians and the approach to the special request were appalling. 3. All inclusive – with too many restrictions for my liking. Their documentation only lists as not included fresh fruit juices and premium brand of spirits. When you arrive, you are told that certain cocktails are included, others (some pretty common and popular ones) aren’t (no premium brands in them!). Only 1 type of wine (1 white, 1 red, 1 sparkling). Smoothies were charged at $12 each plus 26% of taxes… An all-inclusive should definitely only exclude very expensive brands, in my opinion. 4. Smoking policy – you can smoke everywhere. During the aperitivo (whilst you are eating food!!), in the bar, around the resort… I found it incredibly rude and not inline with present times. 5. Excursions – No point in putting your name down on the sheet or request them in advance. The only way to go on excursion is to nag the rep, making sure they know you want to go and hope they don’t reach numbers with bigger groups of Russian or Italian guests, as it means they might go without you even realising it was an option. Very messy system and in all honesty, 60% of the offer is probably not worth the hassle, as you get to see enough fauna by snorkelling around the island. Overall, I sadly wouldn’t visit the resort again, purely because of service. The place is stunning and would be so much better with a different management.

The Maldives how they used to be! Authentic experience as we first visited this island in 1997 and repeating 17 times. We will repeat fir sure. Good diving team, good service, clean and helpful in every question or matters we had. Excursions good too!

We are frequent travellers to Maldives and recently spent a blissful week at Nika Island for the first time. And it was incredible… First, let’s start with the accommodation (we are a couple with their 17 year old daughter) – we booked the deluxe family beach villa (No 4) which is wonderfully rustic, very comfortable and so very peaceful… We had 2 rooms, 2 bathrooms (the master bathroom with an additional outdoor show was just amazing!) and a large living room (The only drawback perhaps could be the seating space in the living room is not one in which you can laze or lounge…but that’s really not where we spent any time.) The most amazing part is the private stretch of beach we had…truly luxurious to have that! Deck chairs, loungers, swing, hammock and an outdoor hot tub with soft silvery sand and gorgeous water and an amazing reef to swim to just 10 meters or so away. After 3 days here we moved to the family water villa (No 41) which also had 2 bedrooms—stunning sense of open space where had beautiful views of the water from our bed..so bright and nice. This is smaller compared to the beach villa but still very spacious for 3 of us…lovely! The only drawback is you can hear the soft hum of machines/ or some industrial noise from the local island right across, and the seating in the living room is very inadequate. The reef access from this water villa was wonderful. The Food was fantastic!! We were on a Full Board Plan...decent breakfast, incredibly sumptuous lunch (buffet and live pasta / seafood stations) and lovely elegant dinners which you could choose from a set menu...when the weather is good you are seated in a lovely outdoor beach setting. They also offered complimentary snacks from 7pm onwards at the sunset beach…really thoughtful and we enjoyed that immensely. The island was gorgeous: small, green and surrounded by an incredible house reef which so easy to access right off the beach. Whilst snorkelling off the beach, we saw large sting and eagle rays, sharks, turtles, an incredible array of fish and beautiful coral forests and even 1 eel and a lionfish…truly a marine paradise! (My very frequent exploration of the island’s reef led me to the belief that the best coral formations and snorkelling experiences were opposite Beach villas 6/7 ; Water Villa 37/36 and across the water sports centre close to the first beach villa.) The gym is small but functions well for holiday maintenance workouts, complimentary sunrise yoga sessions were so rejuvenating and the spa was truly blissful. A drawback is there is no swimming pool (except for the one in the spa which can only be used with treatments)..But then again...you’re in the Maldives…with the best possible natural pool of shallow turquoise water to swim in all around! The excursions organised by the dive centre were only available if more than 4-6 guests signed on – hence we were unable to go for the snorkelling-with-nurse sharks one. The dive centre organised a local house reef excursion at a concessional rate of 30 dollars, but it was disappointing- my own independent trips were far more satisfying and I advise you to skip this. Finally…the service!! Truly an amazing team of people who are warm and friendly and ensure you are well taken care of…The staff at the reception (Stalin and the others who names I’m sorry I forgot), the coffee shop/Bar (Sashi, Ajit), the housekeeping staff (Moosa and Ali and others) that tirelessly cleaned up with a smile, the staff ,chef and especially the sous Chef (Suresh -he was just so incredible – made special dishes for my wife who is a vegetarian) at the resturant, the dive centre team (Nicole) and of course the guest relations officers (Anna looked after us so very well and really ensured our stay was perfect! Luca and Stefano were always smiling and polite). The resort has a lovely casual, barefoot ethos—and one feels at home right away… I strongly recommend this island to anyone who wants to experience paradise in a peaceful and almost-homely manner. I only wish we had stayed at least 2 weeks…

We spent 7 amazing nights on this island for our honeymoon two years ago. I only have good words because we had such a great time. The island is very quiet, you can dive and snorkel, there was a Spa, a restaurant and 2 bars. We loved the aperitivo, the food, the themed nights and the people who worked there were very nice. We booked the overwater bungalow and we couldn’t recommend it more, very private with a little glass floor and a solarium at the top. I would definitely recommend to anyone who is looking to relax and have an unforgettable honeymoon.