Visiting Six Senses Laamu in the Maldives is a dream come true. I was inspired to add a trip to the Maldives to my ultimate destinations list after seeing the jaw-dropping pictures and hearing friends tell tales of truly spectacular vacations. Given the hype, the Maldives has received over the last several years (and the cost), I had exceedingly high expectations for my trip. However, from day one, our stay at Six Senses Laamu exceeded all of my expectations. It’s the perfect place to relax.
Six Senses Laamu is in the central atoll of the Maldives. The pristine clear blue water surrounding the island is the perfect temperature for snorkeling and swimming. The white sand beaches invite you to relax and let all your troubles wash away.
In this post, you will find many helpful hints and things to know before you go to the Maldives. Check out the table of contents for a snapshot of what is in this detailed post.
There are many resort choices in the Maldives
I was so excited about our trip. I started obsessively scouring the internet for where we should stay. It’s insane how many luxury resort options are available in the Maldives. At last count, the Maldives has over 150 resorts. To narrow the field, we started looking at indulgent luxury hotels with overwater bungalows (who isn’t) that are close to surf breaks (for my husband).
Why we choose Six Senses Laamu
After looking at our options, we chose Six Senses Laamu for several reasons:
- The hotel is gorgeous.
- The overwater bungalows are amazing!!
- There are many surf breaks accessible through Tropicsurf.
- The Six Senses brand has a stellar reputation for service.
- There are tons of activities, should you choose to partake, and
- Six Senses Laamu prides itself on casual, yet unmatched luxury.
You don’t have to take my word for it, though. This video from Six Senses Laamu showcases the island.
It’s easy to see why Six Senses Laamu consistently ranks on the lists of best places to stay in the Maldives.
Six Senses Laamu insider tips for your stay
Tips for booking your stay
- Six Senses Laamu often offers significant discounts by booking a few months in advance.
- Try to book a package that includes some activities. Our package included a massage per person. You’re in a remote location, and the pricing reflects the fact you are a captive audience. The price of the excursions can give you sticker shock, especially after you add in 23% tax and tip.
- Book an overwater sunrise villa! They are spectacular.
Activity and dining tips
- If you plan to surf all week, contact Tropicsurf to see if there is a surf package.
- Sign up for the half board meal plan that includes breakfast and dinner. It is more economical, and you don’t get a bill (unless your order excluded items like alcohol or Kobe beef) after every meal.
- A few weeks before your trip, book a spa appointment and restaurant reservations to avoid any unavailability issues. Restaurants like Leaf (book the stargazers table) and ZEN (book a table near the railing on cushions) are only open a few days a week and are the most popular on the island.
- Visit the ice cream lady frequently at Ice for free ice cream, sorbet, and gelato.
Getting to Malé and clearing customs
- Contact the hotel before booking your international flight to find out if your arrival time requires you to stay in Malé for the night or, preferably, if you can get a transfer flight or boat ride to your hotel the same day you land in Malé.
- You are not permitted to import items into the Maldives, such as idols of worship, alcohol, or pork products. Click here for the list of things not allowed in the Maldives.
- Be prepared to have your bags searched upon arrival in Malé.
- At the Malé International Airport, there is a claim check office that may store some of your prohibited items such as idols of worship and alcohol.
Transfers and flight information
- To get to Six Senses Laamu you will need to take a flight from Malé to Kandaloo Airport and then a boat ride to the island. Both are included in the transfer price.
- The cost of the transfers to/from Malé to the Kandaloo Airport is a separate fee. Once you sign up for the transfers through Six Senses Laamu, the hotel will book the roundtrip transfers for you.
- Seaplanes and smaller transfer flights have surfboard restrictions. Check with the airline to make sure the size of your board does not exceed the maximum limit.
- Seaplanes do not fly after 4:00 p.m. However, non-seaplanes, which fly to Six Senses Laamu, operate during more extended hours.
Getting to the Maldives
Don’t be fooled; getting to paradise takes some work. But the reward is worth the effort. There are only a few ways to reach the Maldives from the United States. The most popular routes from the west coast fly through Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Qatar, or Sri Lanka. From the east coast, most people fly into London or France with a layover in the Middle East.
We took a more creative route by spending a week in India before heading to the Maldives.
Arriving at Malé International Airport
Once in Malé, the capital, your bags are scanned to make sure you did not bring in any forbidden items into the country, such as idols of worship, alcohol, or pork.
The Malé officials confiscated the Ganesh we were given in India and, in return, gave us a claim check ticket. When we returned to the airport, we retrieved the confiscated Ganesh at the claim check office. You could throw quite a party with the amount of alcohol in that office. All in all, the process was easy.
When booking your trip, I would suggest skipping a layover in Malé and head straight to your hotel to start relaxing in your luxurious villa immediately!
Getting to Six Senses Laamu from Malé
After clearing customs, a hotel representative will meet and direct you to the private airport lounge. The lounge is adequate and has Wi-Fi, but nothing special. A couple of the other hotels have a separate lounge for their guests. Get comfortable in the airport lounge. You might be there for a few hours waiting for your domestic flight to depart.
The domestic flight to Laamu’s Kadhdhoo Airport is about 50 minutes, and the plane will likely be a mid-size commercial prop plane. A Six Senses Laamu representative (GEM) will greet you upon arrival and escort you to the Six Senses Laamu boat for a 15-20 minute ride to the island.
First impressions of Six Senses Laamu
I was a little nervous about whether I made the right decision by picking Six Senses Laamu for our Maldives adventure. I built this trip up in my head for so long that I was hoping I would not be disappointed. Lucky for me (and my husband), I found paradise the moment I stepped off the boat onto the island.
Six Senses Laamu offers barefoot luxury
I read about the optional shoe policy at the hotel before we left for vacation and was a little hesitant to partake in the tradition. However, once we arrived at the island, I quickly understood why no one wears shoes. It’s simple – you don’t need to. The grounds are immaculate, and the facilities are impeccably clean. Once we took our shoes off, we didn’t put them back on again until we left the resort.
You can, of course, wear shoes, but I don’t suggest it. I would specifically stay away from high heels. Between bike riding around the island, walking on wood planks, and strolling in the sand, high-heels will be uncomfortable. Besides, it was liberating not wearing high heels for nine days!
Luxurious rooms are either beach side or overwater
Six Senses Laamu offers 97 spacious and luxurious thatched villas. The villa design choices, both inside and out, fit with the island’s natural beauty. The thatched-roof villas give the guests a relaxing yet luxurious vibe.
The overwater villas
The overwater villas are amazing! From the moment you walk into the room, you know that you found your home away from home. The villas feature a private, but open-air outdoor rain shower and a glass overwater bathtub with a view to the ocean. The overwater villas would not be complete without direct access to the lagoon (from both the shower area and the large deck), giving you the option of going for a swim or snorkel right from your room, which we did a lot.
If you need a break from swimming, you can relax on your deck on the overwater netting hammock, sit at the outdoor table, take advantage of a lounge chair or sit on the shaded outdoor couch.
The villas also include a second-floor observation deck with unobstructed views of the ocean. It’s worth going up at night to see the stars and moon. On a clear night, the views are outstanding. The overwater villas include a separate toilet area with a partial glass floor. It’s kind of random, but also neat to see rays and schools of fish swimming beneath your feet.
Choosing the location of your overwater villa
The layout of the rooms is generally the same, but there are plenty of room choices based on the location of your room. The overwater bungalows span jetties A, B, and C, and each jetty offers sunrise and sunset options, as well as rooms with a plunge pool.
After studying all the options, we chose a Laamu sunrise villa because these rooms offer panoramic ocean views and are located towards the end of the jetties, furthest away from the beach.
Our room was on jetty A in the lagoon area, which I liked, because it was a short bike ride to the main complex with the activities center and a couple of restaurants.
Overwater villa room tips
- If you are looking for the most amount of privacy, you probably want to request a sunrise room at the end of Jetty C. Your room will be on the ocean side, not the lagoon side, and will not face any other villas. A Jetty C villa is about a 5-minute bike ride through the island to the main hotel complex. From Jetty C, you can also observe one of the nearby surf breaks.
- If you opt for a room with a pool, your room will be towards the very end of the jetties, past the Laamu rooms.
- Are you deciding between a sunrise and a sunset room? Think about whether you would rather have morning or afternoon sun. Also, consider opting for the sunrise room and saving a little bit of money because you don’t have to be in your villa to experience the gorgeous sunsets. The picture below was during the weekly party Six Senses Laamu throws for its guests.
Beach villas
The beach villas surround the perimeter of the island. The beach villas are larger than the overwater villas, some of the rooms come with a pool, and the villas are either one or two bedrooms. The villas have a small beach and and offer direct access to the ocean or lagoon. The beaches are mostly private, but you will see swimmers and people like us walking along the beach. For pictures of the beach villas, click here.
Your Guest Experience Maker
Every guest (couple or family) is assigned a Guest Experience Maker (GEM) to look after you during your stay at Six Senses Laamu. The goal of the GEMs is to provide the guests with uniquely “crafted experiences.” You will meet your GEM when you arrive at the hotel, and he/she will take care of you during the duration of your trip. In total, there are about 450 staff members on the island, about double the amount of guests when the resort is full. With this staff to guest ratio, Six Senses Laamu can provide excellent service.
Activities at Six Senses Laamu
Relax
Six Senses Laamu provides a relaxing environment for its guests no matter where you are on the island. However, if you prefer a pool to the beach, you might find the pool Six Senses Laamu adequate, but not a highlight of the resort. Opt instead for a lounge chair at the beach!
Go for a bike ride around the island
Each guest gets a bike when he/she arrives with his/her initials on the back. It’s a cute way to remind guests to take their bikes. If you’re from the United States, don’t forget to stay to the left when biking around the island.
Most people use bikes to get around the island. However, you can also walk or request a golf cart pick up.
Non-motorized activities
Six Senses Laamu also provides a wide variety of non-motorized equipment for its guests to use for free. At the time of our visit, we could use stand-up paddleboards, kayaks, windsurfers, a small catamaran (for experienced guests), and snorkel with fins for free.
Motorized activities
The water sports center also offers the following water toys for a fee: Sea bob, an inflatable ride, kite surf (experienced guests only), X-Jet blade, Sea-doo scooter, wake or kneeboard, and water skis. For more information, click here.
Swimming
You can swim all around the island. If you get tired on the swim back to your room or the beach, you can use one of these handy ladders to climb out of the water.
Snorkeling
I highly recommend swimming and snorkeling around the island. At Six Senses Laamu there is a house reef located in front of the Chill Bar. With stairs down into the water, the reef is easy to access and fun for all ages. Day or night, you can see the most amazing shades of crystal clear blue water and watch schools of fish swim by you.
Due to the worldwide coral bleaching event in 2016, the coral is not as vibrant as it once was, but the marine biologists on staff are working to improve the coral.
Snorkeling by day
Every day, a marine biologist takes a group of guests (free of charge) snorkeling around the house reef and points out fish and coral you might have missed while snorkeling on your own. During our visit, we saw parrotfish, rays, turtles, small blacktip reef sharks, and needlefish. This is a must-do activity.
Snorkeling by night
Guests also have the option (for a fee) of going for a night snorkel. The night snorkel was a little scary at first. But once I got over my fear of being in the ocean at night, I had a great time. Here is a sample of what we saw during our night snorkel.
Experiences and excursions
Each week the staff creates an activities menu of complimentary and fee-based activities. The list of weekly things to do covers a wide array of interests. There is something for everyone. Even if you don’t see something you want to do on the list, ask your GEM to arrange it for you. To check out the full list of experiences and excursions, click here.
Surfing
Part of the reason we chose Six Senses Laamu was the ability for my husband to surf the clean waves in the warm tropic like waters. Unlike Sultans near the Four Seasons, the breaks at Six Senses Laamu are mostly empty.
The best time to surf the breaks around Six Senses Laamu is from April to October. During these months, you can expect the biggest and best swells delivering fairly consistent offshore winds. Although with global warming, the seasons are not as predictable.
Tropicsurf
Tropicsurf runs the surf program at Six Senses Laamu. The surf guides are excellent and provide a level of service usually not seen in the surfing world. If you head out to Six Senses Laamu, tell Josh and Fiona we say hello.
One caveat, the price of surfing and board rental every day can add up. Each two and half hour session through Tropicsurf (there were two boat runs a day to the local breaks), will cost about $95, plus the automatically included 23% tax and gratuity. If you need to rent a board (which my husband did), head to the Board Room and pick a Firewire of your choice. They are available for rent for about $75 a day, plus the 23% tax and gratuity.
If you are planning to surf every day and sometimes twice a day, consider contacting Tropicsurf in advance to learn about its surf packages.
Laamu surf breaks
Beginner surfers in the Maldives
There is a beginner’s break, just offshore called Shoulders, which is a gentle wave. Unfortunately, while we were visiting, Shoulders was almost non-existent.
Intermediate surfers in the Maldives
For intermediate surfers, you can hop on a boat and head out to the left-hand Petrols break. Petrols is a short, punchy left. Another close break is called Jetty C. Aptly named, it is visible from the edge of Jetty C (but too far to paddle from shore) and a great wave for a longboarder. Both breaks are about a 5- minutes boat ride from the Board Room.
Advanced surfers in the Maldives
Six Senses Laamu is also close to one of the most famous breaks in the Maldives, Yin-Yang. Yin-Yang has two sections – the outside and the inside. The outside wave breaks in deep water and can offer big barrels in the right conditions. The inside section also offers fun steep waves that are not as punishing. Yin-Yang is about a five-minute boat ride from Six Senses Laamu.
If none of the close breaks are going off, you can head out to Machines, which is about a 30-minute boat ride. The Machines break offers long tube rides over a shallow reef. For more information from Tropicsurf about the breaks and pricing, click here or check out Surfatoll’s description of Yin-Yang here.
Suba diving in the Maldives
While my husband was off surfing one day, I decided to have an adventure of my own! I signed up for a resort dive. After all, the Maldives is known as an incredible place to scuba dive. I have been diving a couple of times before, but I am not certified. The dive shop team was ready to teach me the basics before heading into the water. After a short class, it was time to gear up and head out.
I passed the in-water instruction portion of the class, and I was ready to see what lies beneath. My dive instructor was fantastic. She took the time to point out the beautiful fish, corral, and an eel during our dive. If you are a diver or are interested in learning, I highly suggest going for a dive in the Maldives.
The Spa
A trip to the Maldives would not be complete without a little relaxation. We were fortunate enough to each have two massages during our stay. Our massages were in the treatment nests overlooking the beach.
The treatment rooms are unique and provide the perfect way to relax. There is a long list of treatments to chose from, some of which incorporate the Maldivian culture. After your massage, relax on the beachfront deck with a detoxing juice and watch the waves lap gently on the white sand beach.
The Gym
The two-story fitness center is located next to the spa and overlooks the ocean. The bottom floor contains a small workout room with a rooftop yoga studio.
We took a couple of yoga classes, as well as a unique and memorable full moon yoga class on the beach!
Six Senses Laamu brings in yoga instructors from around the world to teach different forms of yoga. Our instructor was from India, and he was a great teacher.
On your pre-arrival questionnaire, you can request yoga mats. We used the yoga mats a few times to practice yoga on our deck overlooking the ocean while watching a YouTube yoga video.
Dining options at Six Senses Laamu
There are numerous dining options at Six Senses Laamu. The menus are also easy to follow if you are on a wellness program and looking for food that promotes detoxing the body, sleep, or a trim diet.
Breakfast
Breakfast is included in most packages and is a buffet-style with live stations in the main dining area at the Longitude restaurant. Pick a seat with a view and enjoy breakfast!
Lunch
We were usually so full from breakfast we skipped lunch. Occasionally we had a light snack at Chill or the beach restaurant – Sip Sip.
Ice Cream
Don’t forget to check out Ice where you can enjoy delicious ice cream and gelato on the house. The ice cream lady (as she refers to herself) serves up ice cream all day!
Dinner
Dinner is the main event, and you will want to make a few dinner reservations in advance because some of the restaurants, like Leaf and ZEN, book up quickly.
Leaf
The signature restaurant, Leaf, at Six Senses Laamu is only open for dinner. It’s perched above the organic garden accessible by a hanging bridge or the beach. I liked walking across the bridge just for fun!
You can dine with your party or choose to eat at the shared Chili Table. The dishes are inventive at this upscale restaurant. Tip: Make a reservation for a sunset dinner at one of the two stargazing tables. The romantic setting and fantastic food make for an incredible night.
Zen
Try ZEN, an upscale Japanese restaurant that serves sushi and other Japanese dishes. ZEN is my favorite restaurant at Six Senses Laamu. You can enjoy a Japanese tasting menu with or without paired saki or order a la carte. Tip: Make a reservation for one of the tables closest to the railing where you sit on cushions and relax. Your dining experience will be memorable.
Longitude
If you are looking for a casual dining experience, Longitude is the place. It is an open-air multi-level restaurant that offers different themed dining experiences. For instance, there might be a Pan-Asian or Italian themed dinner. The dinners are buffet style, with numerous live stations providing a variety of choices for any dietary restrictions.
Chill
You can also dine at Chill which offers a bar type menu. The restaurant is appropriately named as guests listen to music from the resident DJ and chill with their dinner and drinks.
The best places for a drink on the island
Even though the Maldives is a dry country, resorts are allowed to serve alcohol to guests. There are two bars on the island – Sip Sip and the Chill bar – and happy hours every day!
The alcohol on the in-room dining list is surprisingly reasonable. It gives you an excellent excuse to have a cocktail on your overwater deck while you admire the breathtaking scenery.
Water in your room is complimentary. However, you do have to pay for water with your meals. At the time of our visit, each bottle is about $6++, but $2 of it goes to charity.
Meal plan options
You have three meal plan options: pay as you go, half board or full board.
The half-board option includes free breakfast and up to $110 per person (plus 23% tax and tip) for dinner at any of the restaurants (Leaf, ZEN, Chill Bar, and Longitude), exclusive of alcohol and certain specialty items such as Kobe beef. Even if you are not a big eater, based on the high menu prices at the resort, I recommend you opt for the half board package. You would be surprised how quickly you can spend $110 (without alcohol) per person at dinner. Half board does not apply to special dinners such as a BBQ on the beach.
The second option is the full board, which includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with the same exclusions. If you eat three meals a day, you might want to reserve this package. However, we often found we were too busy having fun to sit down for lunch.
Sustainability at Six Senses Laamu
Six Senses in general and the team at Laamu pride themselves on sustainability and giving back to local communities.
We signed up for the back of the house tour and learned about the impressive lengths Six Senses Laamu takes to create a sustainable resort. The back of the house tour is aptly named because you see the inner workings of the resort, such as the water desalination process, the chickens raised for eggs, the central power station, and the glass recycling process. Don’t knock it until you try it – it’s actually interesting. Guests also get to visit the resort’s garden at will, where you might make a new friend.
Also, Six Senses Laamu employs over ten marine biologists to track changes in sea life such as coral, turtles, rays, and dolphins, as well as to study the overfishing of grouper to foster local support for sustainable fishing.
As part of its sustainability program, Six Senses Laamu urges its guests to leave plastic bottles and items with microbeads at home.
Packing list
There is a small store at the Six Senses Laamu. Because the Maldives is a remote location, the prices are high for anything you forget. Here are a few things you may want in your suitcase.
Donations for local schools
Guests of Six Senses Laamu are encouraged to bring the following items to donate to local schools:
I hope you love the Maldives as much as we did! I cannot wait to go back!
If you are interested in sustainability, you might enjoy my post about other luxury hotels with sustainability programs.
For other exciting beach vacations, check out my posts on Boating in the Exumas, A Guide to Staying at Baha Mar, and for surfers, an Epic Surf Trip to Namotu, Fiji.
It looks stunning, this is definitely on my bucketlist now!
i was interested on the surf conditions …..
Our visit was during the latter half of October. My husband surfed during our visit and he wanted you to know that the surfing was fun. You should look into purchasing a surf package if you can as one-off sessions can get expensive because you need to take a boat to all, but the paddle out break. The breaks include: Paddle Out Break – Tiny grom break when we were there that was basically unsurfable but they said it can get fun sometimes Jetty C – fun longboard break that is a really short boat ride away and had no… Read more »
thx
Hi, in which periodoyou have been in six senses Laamu?
This place looks amazing! The night snorkeling and glass bottom bathroom are a great touch. Will be checking it out one day after the world reopens!
We had so much fun! We hope you do one day too!