A small review about the rest at the Nika Island Resort 5 * hotel in the Maldives, we will tell you about all the pros and cons that any vacationer can meet. If you have any questions, ask in the comments, and now a little story about a piece of paradise on Earth.
The trip was planned in advance, back in August, but we went to rest only in November.
About holidays in the Maldives
The sea, the sun, no excursions, a minimum of people around. In general - "sealing". And, of course, it is a great opportunity to swim with a mask (snorkeling), so initially we were looking for a place where there are fish, corals, clean and warm water. This narrowed the range of their search, taking into account the travel time.
Egypt was rejected by our tourists, due to their unwillingness to become the main characters of news feeds in the "Incidents" headings. And in other places on the Planet it was either cold or very expensive.
At the family council, despite the considerable price, it was decided - rest in the Maldives. We went without children and did the right thing, because this resort is “for two”. Of course, they missed the children and all that, but spending a week together on the island ...
Which hotel to choose?
This time they decided to refuse the services of the travel agency. There has been too much news lately about bankrupt firms. A search on the Internet, as expected, showed that according to the "Egyptian price tag" it would be unrealistic to rest in the Maldives.
Alexey and his wife, for various reasons, crossed out one hotel after another from the initial list of their wishes, and as a result, Nika 5 stars in the Maldives came to the finish of a kind of casting. The last "nail" in his favor was the availability of a 20% discount, which the hotel offered on its website.
Booked a hotel through booking, Nika Island Resort →
The topics of flight and the peculiarities of passing customs control at Male airport will be skipped in this article.
You may need information about prices for air tickets by month:
Airport transfer, meeting
The undoubted advantages of the Nika hotel include a clear organization of the meeting at the Male airport. A continuous flow of people from those who arrived poured into the crowds of those who met and it might seem that in this chaos it is simply unrealistic to meet with someone.
But the hotel employee with a sign in his hands was hard to miss. He stood out with some kind of super activity and managed, hanging over the fence, to show it to everyone who arrived.
Having pulled out the people he needed from the flow of passengers, he, picking up his suitcases, went to the air taxi counter, where, independently, without the participation of our tourists, he checked them in for the flight, checked in their luggage and handed them boarding passes.
Next - loading into a minibus and a trip around the runway to the lounge. There is a wet towel, soft drinks, free Wi-Fi. And literally right there - boarding a seaplane. The wait lasted only 10 minutes, no more.
Accommodation at Nika Island Resort
The hotel has several types of accommodation:
- water pitchfork;
- beach villa;
- deluxe beach villa;
- garden villa.
We rented a villa on the beach. How is it different from a deluxe beach villa? The lack of a second shower (outdoors) and a smaller area of the villa itself. Well, they are located on different sides of the island. Sunrise, so to speak, and sunset.
On the Internet there are reviews of tourists about a vacation in the Maldives in a particular hotel, who write that they were cramped in the villa. Well, probably, they all live in their homeland in apartments of 300 sq.m. and more, and on vacation they always book a presidential suite ... For us, the area of the villa (for two) seemed more than sufficient.
Strongly criticizing the garden of the villa (as is done on some sites) is not worth it. They, of course, do not have their own outlet to the sea, tk. they are in the center of the island, but they have an undoubted huge plus - this is the price.
And their residents can buy on the so-called. "Public beaches" on the island. But these beaches (there are two of them), this is not Yalta-1982, in terms of the number of people. It's almost always empty!
We cannot comment on the water villas, because were not there. But these villas at the time of arrival were almost completely filled, i.e. there is a demand for them.
Another interesting point. The hotel does not have villas with numbers 13 and 17. There is no 13th villa for obvious reasons, but there is no 17th one, since in Italy it is not a lucky number (the hotel owner is an Italian).
- New Year on the Islands, cost →
Private beach by the hotel
When checking in, in the advertising brochure, and before that on the hotel's website, we read about the delights of relaxing with a private beach, separated by a breakwater from other villas.
But, barely settling into the villa on the day of arrival and going to the beach, we had a shock from what we saw and a dumb question: there is a beach, and where is the sea? There was a strong ebb. To enter the sea, of course, it was possible and even to dive into the water just above the knee - it is also possible.
And then - for a very long time to go with the same result. In general, at low tide, you need to swim to the edge of the reef - there will be depth. At high tide, the water rose by almost a meter and it was really possible to swim on your “private beach”.
Maldives weather
The weather during our arrival at the Nika Island Resort showed its full range of diversity. For a week of rest in the Maldives, it somehow rained for a day and a half in a row! But there were whole days without a drop from the sky. Change of seasons, as the locals said.
Sea
The sea in the Maldives is just super! For him it was possible to forgive the amount of the cost of the rest. But, due to the ebb and flow, there is a need to go far from the coast to swim. So, there is nothing to do there without special shoes! You really need either closed fins or sneakers with a rubberized sole.
Otherwise, you can get very shredded on corals. Well, about snorkeling - we got what we wanted. After all, he is considered one of the best in the world in the Maldives! Fish and other animals on the house reef were available: sharks, rays, moray eels and small snakes.
Someone wrote in a review that a snake was seen near a reservoir inside the island. In the first days after arrival, we carefully looked at our feet, going to the restaurant, so that, inadvertently, not to step on something like that. Then we talked to the local staff. They laughed for a long time, and said that if they had such a delicacy on the island, there would be a fight for it: who would eat it. In general, no snakes were observed there.
But on the ground there were: rabbits (what will happen if they are of different sexes?), Herons (many), flying foxes (few), guinea fowls, a large parrot (one, at the restaurant), cats, some other birds, geckos.
Tan and sun
It is there, even when it seems that it is not. You can "burn out" through cloudy weather if you do not use sunscreen very quickly. It's better to swim in a T-shirt too. Yes, it sticks. Yes, swimming is uncomfortable. But, otherwise - the shoulders turn red very quickly. We took with us sunscreens with protection factors: 20 and 50. So, 50 left all, and 20 even remained.
Shopping on the island
This big word in shops on the island means the possibility of buying: magnets, cigarettes, snorkel masks, fins, sunblock / sunscreen, aromatic soap, sweets and some other trifle. You can also have a custom-made shirt.
Food at Nika Hotel
For the entire time of his presence on the island, a table is assigned to the tourist. There will be a tag (shell) with the villa number on it. There will also be one waiter for the entire period.
In fine weather for dinner, tables can be taken out from under the canopy. Food cannot be called monotonous: constantly, something new is being served. It's hard to stay hungry.
But for lunch, it is better not to stay too long - they can eat all the most delicious. For dinner, as a rule, a pre-order system is adopted: during lunch you need to indicate your ration for the evening meal, filling out a special card, or voice your choice to your waiter.
About tourists from Russia.The hotel is actively sold by the leading tour operators of our country and works with private tourists, so it is difficult to expect the absence of fellow countrymen in this hotel. So, if a tourist categorically needs solitude from the Russian speech, he needs to choose another hotel.
Tuxedos and evening gowns should be left at home. Shorts with a T-shirt are the daily style. Shoes are optional. For dinner - a shirt with short sleeves and breeches (or shorts) below the knee. This is not a rule, there simply must be some minimum standards of decency. Although, they will be allowed for dinner, of course, in short shorts.
Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes in the Maldives cause a lot of inconvenience! Sprays were found in the room, including mosquito repellents. Such a little white balloon, with blue inscriptions and a blue cap.
It's hard to make a mistake - all these creatures against which he acts are painted on it. On the advice of the local staff, we sprayed the perimeter of the front and back doors before bed.
They also tried to plug our native "fumitox" into the socket, but given the height of the ceilings in the room, it was like an elephant was shot. To tell the truth, mosquitoes did not gnaw us at night. But on the so-called "private beach" they obviously sat in ambush and waited, no privacy!
Spraying over the bushes with the "blue thing" did not help. Mosquitoes on the island are small, when he sits on a victim, he is not felt and bites calmly. But then a blister of such size swells! And this blister still itches so much ...! Moreover, these were just mosquitoes, not sand flies.
Here the main thing is not to get lost. It is necessary to say at the reception or in the room-fight that mosquitoes are not friends forever and therefore there is no desire to see them. In response, they will say at what time it is necessary to disappear from the beach, and a specially trained person dressed in a "chemical kit" will come with a sprinkler of some substance against all mosquitoes. After his visit, you can almost forget about mosquitoes for two days.
Review of the stay at Nika hotel in the Maldives
On the day of departure, we sat on the pier and waited for the seaplane, which was to take us to Male. I didn't want to leave. The weather was frowning. The wind gradually increased and it began to rain.
The plane did not arrive at the appointed time. Another couple from Russia was waiting for the plane, but they had a flight from Male, about an hour later. The excitement began at sea and among those waiting.
Both that, and another with each passing minute intensified. Finally, a seaplane appeared. He dashingly splashed down, and two barefoot pilots asked to load. None of them was in a hurry.
The passengers sat down, the plane took off. He was 40 minutes late. The salon was half empty. The pilot looked into the cabin and said that he would now fly into another hotel, pick up more tourists and then fly to Male.
We started to get nervous because check-in for the flight from Male to Moscow has already begun. Due to bad weather, the pilot was unable to splash down immediately. Circled. Then - the time to load two couples from Italy and their luggage into the cabin. While the plane flew to Male, the check-in time for the flight to Moscow was over.
After splashdown, we were met by a representative of the hotel. He was as calm as a boa constrictor. He took us from the pier to the minibus and offered to rest a little after the flight from the island while the luggage was delivered to the place. To our question, what to do now, tk. the plane was supposed to leave in 15 minutes, he smiled and said that he would not fly anywhere. Wait!
And so it turned out. None of the passengers were already at the check-in counters, but the scoreboards were still burning. They were turned off immediately after the already printed boarding passes were issued to us. And the stewardess' hatch was closed right after we got on board.
This is how the rest at the beautiful Nika hotel in the Maldives turned out. By the way, the luggage from Male to Moscow also arrived.
Should you go to rest at this hotel? Definitely worth it.
