TRAVEL: Niyama Resort by Per Aquum*

Niyama resort is located on an idyllic island in the Southwestern Atoll of Dhaalu, approximately forty minutes by seaplane from Malé. This resort balances the tranquillity of the Maldives with a sense of fun. I picked Niyama Resort because it is the home of the world’s first underwater night club which sounded absolutely incredible and I definitely made the right decision.

 I’m always really nervous about booking holidays because you’re never quite sure as to whether or not the hotel actually looks anything like it does on the website – if you’ve seen The Inbetweeners Movie you’ll know what I mean. Fortunately, the rooms look exactly how they do on the website and the beach studios are all secluded. The beds are unbelievably comfortable and there’s nothing like waking up in the morning and simply pressing a button to open the curtains and looking straight out into the ocean. The bathrooms were all so luxurious with huge bathtubs for two with an ocean view and an outdoor shower and toilet above the sea. All the rooms on the beach have a lovely deck area with furniture and the sea is literally two metres away so a morning swim is a must. I read a lot of favourable reviews of Niyama by Per Aquum prior to booking and I found my experience to be just as wonderful as other people have described.

I hate it when you get back to your hotel room at night and there’s absolutely nothing for you to do. Thankfully, there is a wide selection of television channels and movies available to watch and loads of great music stored in a brilliant Bose stereo sound system. The rooms have everything that you could ever need, including a popcorn machine! The drinks and snacks in the rooms are complimentary and restocked daily. With the wide array of activities available and the beautiful setting, I doubt you’ll want to spend much time in your room though!

I was pleased to find that the food and drink prices at Niyama Resort were actually affordable unlike the other resorts that I’ve stayed at. The place to eat is undoubtedly ‘Tribal’. All the dishes here are incredibly tasty and I even got to meet the head chef who was so friendly and catered to all our needs. Don’t worry if you’re a vegetarian, just let the restaurant staff know and they’ll make sure that you still get the best food possible. The restaurant has a lovely setting with camp fires dotted around you could almost be in the wild. The menu is rather adventurous with ostrich, warthog and springbok on offer but I much preferred the wonderful steaks.

Subsix lies six metres below water level and there are even Nintendo-Wiis and a Xbox 360 inside! Words cannot even begin to describe how amazing this underwater night club is and I would definitely give Niyama a visit for this club alone! The music is great with international DJs working on the island.

The LIME Spa is open 24/7 which is absolutely fantastic as it means you can pop in whenever you want and don’t have to worry about structuring your spa dates into your day plan. They offer a wonderful range of treatments and the products are amazing. You get the same therapists for every treatment so you really get to know the staff.

Make sure to take advantage of the free water activities, like stand-up paddle boarding and the snorkelling trips to the house reef where you can see some incredible underwater life, as well as the scuba dives offered by the on-site scuba centre. There is also the opportunity to do some water skiing, canoeing, jet skiing, parasailing and seabobbing, all of which are perfectly safe for you and your family. With all the activities available, I felt that we had a perfect mix of experiences and relaxation.

The customer service at the resort is impeccable and all the staff on the island are incredibly helpful and friendly. They met my every need with an enthusiastic attitude and a genuine willingness to help.  Some may say that the staff are a little over-attentive, but personally, I’d much rather this than a team of people unwilling to help solve any problems that I might have. All the guests at Niyama are treated like royalty, so this would be the perfect Honeymoon location.

The only thing that really bothered me about this resort is that there were a lot of mosquitos. I wish I had been better prepped for this beforehand as I could’ve saved myself a lot of bites so if you’re planning to visit Niyama, make sure that you’re kitted out with insect repellent and the rest. The resident doctor was very helpful and fixed me up with something to soothe the itching but it would’ve been better to avoid the mosquitos altogether.

This was absolutely the best holiday that I have ever been on combining relaxation with play and I would highly recommend it for everyone. It is evident that this would be a stunning location for a Honeymoon, but I didn’t visit it for this reason and I still found it to be an amazing place. If you’re planning on visiting the Maldives then Niyama by Per Aquum is the place to stay!