Nova Maldives

3 Restaurants & 2 Bars

Tight, focused dining for a 76-villa resort — Soul Kitchen as the all-day main, Flames for grill-and-seafood nights, and Mizu for overwater teppanyaki. WINK handles cocktails and WINE selections in the main lounge; SOLIS is the swim-up pool bar.

Soul Kitchen

International

Beachside main restaurant with live cooking stations and a rotating themed-dinner calendar — Italian, Asian, Maldivian, and BBQ nights across the week. All three meals are served here and the buffet spread punches above the resort's price tier.

SettingBeachside · Open-air · Main restaurant

Our tipShow up early on Maldivian night — the kottu station runs out first

All plans

Flames

Grill

À la carte grill house on the beach — prime cuts, lobster tails, and same-day catch over charcoal. The most atmospheric dinner on the island and the one guests remember.

SettingBeachfront · À la carte · Dinner

Our tipBook on arrival — 12 tables, and the sunset side goes first

All-InclusiveView menu

Mizu

Japanese

Overwater Japanese restaurant with a teppanyaki counter and sushi bar. Lagoon-facing deck seats fill first; teppanyaki chefs put on the full tableside show with Banana Flambé to finish.

SettingOverwater · Teppanyaki · Dinner

Our tipRequest the teppanyaki counter — six seats, first-come first-served

All-InclusiveView menu

WINK

Cocktails

The resort's main cocktail-and-wine bar — signature Nova cocktails, a curated by-the-glass list, and late-night DJ sets on weekends. Doubles as the pre-dinner gathering spot when people are deciding between Flames and Mizu.

SettingMain lounge · Cocktails & wine · All day

Our tipAsk about the off-menu coconut old fashioned

AI DrinksView menu

SOLIS

Pool Bar

Swim-up bar at the main infinity pool with all-day frozen cocktails, smoothies, and light bites. The daytime social centre — loungers fill after lunch and stay busy until sunset.

SettingMain pool · Swim-up · Daytime

Our tipSwim-up seats open up around 4pm as the day-beds clear

AI DrinksView menu

Dining Inclusions

BB and HB run at Soul Kitchen only. Full Board and All-Inclusive sit above them.

Meal plan prices are a guide only — generally an average across the year. Resorts can change them at any time, they often vary by season, and a plan sold in one season may not be offered in another. We'll confirm what's available and the exact price for your dates.

Your Days on the Island

Nova's activity stack is ocean-first — the Aquaholics PADI 5-Star centre, a Manta Trust-accredited excursion programme, and direct walk-in house-reef access. Land-side stays deliberately light for a 76-villa island: one main pool, gym, spa, and a cultural Holhuashi gathering each week.

Family-Friendly Features

Nova is a better fit for older snorkel-ready children than for toddlers. There is no dedicated kids' club, nursery, or teen programme — reviewers flag this as the main family gap. The Interconnected Family Beach Villa works for two adults plus children, the lagoon is shallow and safe, and the year-round whale shark and manta excursions are once-in-a-lifetime for any age. Babysitting is on request only.

House Reef & Underwater

One of the better house reefs in South Ari — the lagoon shelves quickly into a coral-rich drop-off with direct steps from every water villa. Blacktip reef sharks, turtles, octopus, and dense tropical fish populations are consistently reported, and the resort is a partner of both the Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme and Manta Trust. What Nova adds to the house-reef story is the atoll itself: year-round whale sharks at Maamigili Beyru and manta cleaning stations within 40 minutes.

PADI dive center on-site. Night snorkeling available. Marine life observations sourced from dive logs and guest reports.

Transfer from Malé

South Ari is one of the easier seaplane runs from Velana — a 25-minute flight direct to the resort lagoon, daylight only. Nova is 90 km south-west of Malé, sitting close to the atoll's southern edge inside the Maamigili Beyru marine reserve.

Resort island map — Nova Maldives

Who This Resort is For

Reviewed by Tym Lewtak, founder of LuxAtolls ·Updated Sep 27, 2026

Nova Maldives is the pragmatic 5-star pick for South Ari. You get the same whale sharks, the same marine protected area, and a house reef that's arguably better than LUX*'s — at roughly half the nightly rate. The three-restaurant footprint and absence of a kids' club show where the compromise sits, but for a couple who wants to dive, snorkel, and swim with whale sharks from a properly run small-island resort, the maths are obvious.

Nova Maldives — FAQ