Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa Review: Overwater Sunset Pool Villa

After three days in the Park Hyatt Maldives Beach Pool Villa, we then made our way to the world famous Overwater Sunset Pool Villa.

When people think about the Maldives, I think it’s safe to say that people think about sitting in an overwater villa with a private plunge pool, looking out over the vast Indian Ocean. We had saved up money over the course of the year in order to take advantage of our time in the Maldives. We really wanted to spoil ourselves with this villa.

I can definitely say that this is well-worth the money. We had an absolute blast, and we have already started scheming how we can come back and stay here again. It’ll be several years, but we definitely look forward to coming back. Besides, if you plan on traveling across the world, you definitely want to live it up and spend your money upgrading here. As I’ll describe later, I think it’s worth an upgrade over the basic overwater villa itself.

Before I move on: as I noted in an earlier post, we had to pay a cash upgrade for this suite. You cannot use points alone to book into an overwater villa at the Park Hyatt Maldives.

For this particular stay, we were staying in Villa 46. The sunset overwater pool villas are the farthest away from the main island (that’s a weird sentence to type). However, just like staying on the island, our villa was just a few minute walk to get to the island. If needed, they always had a golf cart a quick phone call away.

On the day of our transfer, we had our bags packed and ready to be taken to our new villa. Our host, Shahum, picked us up in a golf cart and drove us over to our new villa. Our luggage was picked up a few minutes later by someone else and delivered separately.

The walkway to get the overwater villas is really long, and, if I’m being honest, I’m actually pretty impressed that they could build it.

With all that being said, here’s my review of the Park Hyatt Maldives Beach Pool Villa.

Park Hyatt Maldives Beach Pool Villa Entrance

The entrance to all of the villas are on the back right side of the villa (furthest away from where the sunset will be). Every entrance for all villas are the exact same.

Like the villas on the island, you are not issued traditional hotel key cards here. These rooms actively lock and unlock with a physical key.

Once you open the door, you walk directly into the room, while the bathroom was to the right. I’ll start with the room and then move to the bathroom and, finally, the outdoor area.

Park Hyatt Maldives Overwater Sunset Pool Villa Bedroom

The center piece of the room was the king-sized bed. The bedroom felt a bit bigger than the beach pool villa, but the layout was more or less the same. The only difference really was that there was an extra couch and coffee table right by the door. Additionally, the long cabinet / desk was directly behind the bed running the length of the bedroom.

I’ll let the pictures do the talking here, as there isn’t much to add from my previous villa review.

Also, note that WiFi was quite fast here. We were able to stream video (just Netflix, everything else isn’t available in the Maldives regionally) and listen to Spotify.

Park Hyatt Maldives Overwater Sunset Pool Villa Bathroom

The entrance to the bathroom was to the right of the front door. There was a short hallway where you could actually look down and see fish swimming along in the water on the right-hand side. Towel hooks galore dotted the bathroom.

As you walk into the bathroom, directly to the left was a huge bathtub with windows (and privacy blinds). Note that it would have taken an hour to truly fill the bathtub, but that seems pretty par for the course for most places these days. There was also the small drying rack that held 4 towels. The remote in the picture below controls the shades.

Directly across from the entrance to the bathroom was 3 closets. There were no luggage racks like in the beach pool villa. However, the amount of closet space more than made up for it.

Next to the closets was the huge shower with a beautiful skylight. If you’re showering at night, you can see the stars. Note that there was a rainfall shower and a handheld shower nozzle.

Running along the bathroom furthest from the windows were the his and hers sinks. All amenities were the same as the beach pool villa.

Finally, going through the bathroom entrance and to the right was the toilet area. There was a skylight there as well.

Park Hyatt Maldives Overwater Sunset Pool Villa Outdoor Area

On the side opposite from the entrance was the outdoor area. Doors were in both corners of the room, but we primarily used the door closest to the bathroom so that we didn’t have to have the windows open the whole time.

I’ll start from the end furthest from the main entrance and make my way over to the side closest to the entrance.

Around the corner from the far entrance was a wicker table with two chairs. We moved the table closer to the pool to hold our water bottles while we sat in the pool, as well as to hold the tripod we used when we were taking pictures in the pool (like in the main picture of this blog post). It was very light, and I was honestly surprised it didn’t blow away at some point.

In between where the table originally was and the pool was a privacy wall, as well as a bush to create more privacy. It actually made the villa seem more luxurious, in my opinion.

Next, there was the pool. The pool was maybe 3 feet deep and had the perfect temperature. It lit up at night as well for night “swimming” (more like standing in there and looking at the stars).

There was a ledge on the right side of the pool that held two plastic loungers. They aren’t attached to the pool, so you can move them around, but if you’re a bigger person like myself, they can move easily, so be careful when getting on them. They felt great to sit there and read a book!

Immediately to the right of the pool was the lounging section. Instead of two separate loungers, it was one giant lounger, but you could raise each side independently of each other. (Thus, one person can lay down while another person sits up.) There was a pergola above the lounger that provided lots of shade and made sitting out in the sun much more bearable.

Next to the pergola was a path that led down to where you have direct access to the water.

You first go through a gate that locks from the inside (so that you can close it when not using it, and no one else can access your deck.) Make sure to lock it before you go to bed, or you’ll here the door banging against the fence from the wind.

Down a few stairs was the ladder to get down to the water. It’s actually quite tall, so if you have limited mobility, you won’t be able to use it. However, we found the ladder quite sturdy, as it did not really sway at all. This was the case even when it was a bit windier and there were some waves crashing. The bottom rung of the latter is only about 1.5-2 feet off the bottom of the ocean, so there is no need to feel like you are jumping into water that you can’t touch the bottom of. (With that being said, you absolutely cannot jump off your villa into the water, due to the fact that the water is quite shallow, and there is coral everywhere.)

Note that, generally speaking, people can see you out on your deck if they’re out in the water or walking past your villa to get to their villa. It’s not nearly as private as the beach pool villa, but, given that there are only 53 villas on the entire island, you still have a lot of privacy.

Tips for Having a Better Time in the Sunset Overwater Pool Villa

While we had an absolutely amazing time, some tips to help increase your enjoyment in the sunset overwater pool villa.

First, during the afternoon, the sun bears directly down on your deck and fills your villa with natural light. That being said, in spite of pretty good air conditioning and an overhead ceiling fan, it can get incredibly hot in the villa if you don’t have the window shade door things drawn in the afternoon. The main thing our host Shahum told us when we got to the villa the first day was to keep the shades drawn during the afternoon so that the villa wouldn’t get crazy hot.

We ended up keeping our window shades closed from about 10AM until the sun had come down. We still were able to have them open and stay cool when the sun wasn’t bearing down on us, and we were still able to wake up in the morning to light outside and see the ocean. However, keep your window shades drawn and your AC running 24/7 to keep your room at a good temperature.

Second, we never would have guessed this, but the wind comes around the island towards the walkway that leads to all the overwater villas. Thus, the wind is pushing against your front door pretty much the entire time. When you are trying to unlock your door, pull the door towards you and then turn your key. It should work perfectly, but just needs something counteracting the wind.

Third, given that the water is so shallow, it can be hard to swim over the coral at certain points of the day once you enter in off your dock. I guess you could swim all the time, but I would never want you to touch the coral! We found the best time to enter the water was directly after breakfast when the water was at high tide. The first time you get in, look for a path to deeper water. Use that to get back and forth from your dock during your stay. Note that each dock has your villa number on it so you know where to go once you’re done snorkeling!

Finally, at the far end in a cabinet was an A/V receiver that theoretically could be used outside as well. We again used our waterproof speaker to listen to quietly on our porch, so we didn’t even try to use it. (We listened to this artist the entire time to relax). Some nice instrumental music goes great with the calming plunge pool and lounger.

Is it Worth Paying for the Upgrade to the Sunset Overwater Pool Villa?

As I note in my introduction, there is an ~$300 a night price difference between the Overwater Villa and the Sunset Overwater Pool Villa. Is that extra money worth it?

I absolutely think so for two reasons. First of all, as I mentioned earlier, to protect the coral reef, you can’t really get down in the water all day. Having the pool there allows you to get in the water without having to worry about hurting the reef. It’s also great for night swimming, which I guess you can do in the ocean, but I don’t think it’s particularly safe.

Second, the Sunset Overwater Pool Villa has the pergola. The base overwater villas don’t have a pergola. It simply has a deck that faces the sun in the hottest part of the day. By having the pergola, our skin was saved from sunburn and actually kept us cool, allowing us to enjoy being cool all day.

Thus, if you’re going to upgrade to an overwater villa, I highly recommend upgrading to the Sunset Overwater Pool Villa.

Conclusion

That is the Sunset Overwater Pool Villa at the Park Hyatt Maldives. If you’re heading to the Park Hyatt Maldives, I highly recommend upgrading to this fantastic experience!

What do you think of the Park Hyatt Maldives Sunset Overwater Pool Villa? Is this a place where you would like to stay?

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