Soneva Jani: Why We Think the Beach Villas Are Better Than the Overwater Villas

When you picture Soneva Jani, chances are you picture an overwater villa.

Those vast, thatched villas stretching out across an almost impossibly blue Maldivian lagoon have become synonymous with the resort. Add in private pools, waterslides straight into the Indian Ocean and retractable bedroom roofs for sleeping beneath the stars, and it's easy to understand why.

For most of us, spending a week or two in an overwater villa in the Maldives is exactly what dreams are made of.

But we're going to say something slightly controversial.

We think Soneva Jani's beach villas are better.

On our recent visit to Soneva Jani, we had the opportunity to explore the resort's three-bedroom beach villa, Villa 29. We expected it to be beautiful. What we weren't prepared for was quite how much we'd prefer it to being over the water.

The space. The privacy. The greenery. Having the beach on your doorstep. The feeling of being completely tucked away from the rest of the resort.

It made us question the automatic assumption that an overwater villa is always the best way to experience the Maldives.

And if we were booking Soneva Jani for ourselves tomorrow?

We'd book the beach villa….

Meet Villa 29

On our recent stay, we explored Villa 29, Soneva Jani's 3 Bedroom Island Retreat with Slide.

Calling it a villa doesn't really prepare you for the scale of it.

At approximately 1,128 square metres, there's an extraordinary amount of space: three bedrooms, huge indoor and outdoor living areas, a private swimming pool, waterslide, gym, steam and sauna room, dining spaces, kitchen and even a wine vault.

Impressive as all of that is, though, it wasn't the facilities that made us prefer it.

It was the feeling of being there.

Villa 29 is surrounded by dense tropical vegetation. Once you step inside, the rest of Soneva Jani seems to disappear.

You know there are other villas and other guests somewhere around you. You just can't really see them.

And that changes the whole experience.

The privacy is on another level

This was probably the biggest surprise for us.

Soneva Jani's beach villas are hidden behind lush vegetation, so rather than looking across the lagoon towards neighbouring villas, you feel cocooned within your own part of the island.

You have the villa. The pool. The gardens. The beach. And then the lagoon beyond.

There's a sense of seclusion that photographs don't really capture.

It genuinely becomes quite easy to forget that other people are staying at the resort.

For us, that's luxury.

You have your own little piece of the Maldives

There's something undeniably special about waking up over the Indian Ocean.

But we'd argue there's something even better about opening your doors and having the island itself outside.

Walk through the tropical greenery and you're on the sand.

Come back from the beach and you're immediately in the privacy of your villa.

Spend the hottest part of the afternoon beneath the trees before wandering back down to the water.

You're not simply looking at paradise from a deck.

You're living in it.

And after a few days, we think the beach villa gives you a much stronger sense of actually being in the Maldives rather than simply being above it.

If you're travelling with children, we'd choose the beach villa every time

This is where the decision becomes particularly easy for us.

For a family holiday at Soneva Jani, we'd choose a beach villa over an overwater villa.

The sheer amount of space makes family life incredibly easy, but it's the way that space is divided that really works.

Everyone doesn't have to be doing the same thing at the same time.

You can all spend the morning around the pool before naturally drifting into different areas of the villa.

Someone can disappear with a book. One parent can have a little peace and quiet. The children can play. Someone else can head down to the beach.

You're together, but you're not living on top of one another.

And anyone who has travelled with children will understand why that's such a luxury.

Travelling with another couple? We'd still choose the beach

Villa 29 isn't only brilliant for families.

If you're travelling to Soneva Jani with friends, another couple or as a multigenerational family, we think the beach villa makes even more sense.

One of the challenges with sharing a villa is getting the balance between spending time together and still having your own space.

Here, you have both.

There are huge communal areas where everyone can gather for breakfast, drinks, dinner or an afternoon around the pool.

But there are also enough separate spaces that nobody needs to feel as though they're spending every waking minute together.

Don’t worry…You still get the waterslide

We know what you're thinking. Can you really stay at Soneva Jani without having the famous waterslide?

Thankfully, this isn't a sacrifice you need to make.

Villa 29 has one too.

So the children — and let's be honest, the adults — aren't missing out on one of Soneva Jani's most recognisable experiences just because you've chosen to stay on the island.

“But I've come to the Maldives to stay over the water”

This is probably the strongest argument against everything we've just said.

And we get it.

If you've always dreamed about staying in an overwater villa in the Maldives, Soneva Jani is certainly an extraordinary place to do it.

But here's the thing.

You don't need to sleep over the water to experience the overwater side of Soneva Jani.

You can head out over the water to Director's Cut, spend an evening watching a film beneath the stars at the resort's overwater Cinema Paradiso, explore the lagoon and spend your days in and around the Indian Ocean.

You still get those wonderful Soneva Jani overwater moments.

But afterwards, you get to retreat back onto the island. And we actually think that's better.

There's something lovely about leaving the open lagoon behind, walking through the vegetation and disappearing into your own private hideaway.

Want the overwater experience? Split your stay

There is one compromise we really like.

Some of our clients choose to spend their first few nights in a Soneva Jani overwater villa before moving to a beach villa for the rest of their holiday.

And we think that's a brilliant way to do it.

Start over the lagoon. Have the full Maldives moment you've been imagining. Wake up surrounded by turquoise water. Jump straight into the lagoon. Use the slide far more times than you'd ever admit to anyone back home.

Then move onto the island.

That's when we'd properly settle in.

Unpack, slow everything down and enjoy the privacy and space of the beach villa.

For a longer holiday at Soneva Jani, we'd much rather do that than spend the entire stay over the water.

Beach villa vs overwater villa at Soneva Jani: our verdict

Having now experienced Soneva Jani and walked through Villa 29 ourselves, we'd choose the beach villa.

Not because the overwater villas aren't exceptional.

They are.

But we think the beach villas give you more of the things that actually matter once the initial wow factor has worn off.

Then we'd move to the beach.

Why seeing the villa ourselves changed our recommendation

This is exactly why we visit hotels ourselves. If we'd only looked at the photographs of Soneva Jani before travelling, we'd probably have gravitated towards the famous overwater villas too. They're the images you see on Instagram. They're the photographs in the brochures. They're what most people picture when they hear “Soneva Jani”.

But staying in Villa 29 changed our minds.

It's difficult for a photograph to communicate the feeling of having that much space or just how private the villa feels behind all that vegetation.

It can't really show you what it's like to have different places for everyone to disappear to throughout the day. Or how lovely it is to wander barefoot from your villa through the trees and onto the beach.

That's the information we want to bring home from our travels.

Because sometimes the villa everyone thinks they should book isn't actually the villa we'd recommend.

And at Soneva Jani, we think the overlooked option might just be the best one.

Planning a holiday to Soneva Jani?

At Willow & Bird, we don't simply recommend the hotel.

We look at the details that can completely change your experience once you're there: which villa to choose, where it's located, how the bedrooms work for your family, whether it's worth upgrading and, importantly, where we don't think you need to spend more.

We've experienced Soneva Jani first-hand, including Villa 29, and can talk you through the differences between its beach and overwater villas.

If you're considering a luxury holiday to Soneva Jani or the Maldives, speak to your Willow & Bird Personal Travel Curator.

We'll help you choose the villa we'd actually book ourselves.