The Amilla Bubble Escape is the ultimate indulgence in the best of both worlds – indoors and outdoors. The two worlds of natural splendour and sheltered creature comforts.
Lori and I adore spending time outdoors 24 hours a day in the Maldives. The obvious sun-bathing and lounging by the pool during the day. But also, star-gazing at the Milky Way swashed sky and looking for falling stars (during our Amilla stay, we hit the jackpot with a clear sky and a barrage of meteors that were flying by at a rate of about 3 per minute). Finally, we love to fall asleep with the sensation of the gentle ocean breezes wafting across us and the sounds of the water lapping the shallows beneath us.
But such al fresco devotion comes with compromises. Most villas’ loungers have cushions not quite as comfy as proper bed mattresses (sometimes you only get the narrow loungers and have to push two together). And if you get surprised by a late night squall, then you are awakened by literally a splash of water on the face and a mad scramble to get inside. And of course, there is no AC so some nights it is uncomfortably hot and humid, while others it can be downright chilly.
The Bubble Escape lets you intimately experience the sights and sounds in 360 degrees with all in the comfort of a queen-sized bed surrounded by all sorts of handy things like treats, drinks, books, etc. But the luxury doesn’t stop at inside the bubble. Amilla has moved it to its own little private beach-side nook behind the spa. The outside area includes a sink, table for eating (we had dinner and breakfast served to us there), a Maldivian-style swing.
When Amilla first came out with the “Bubble Tower”, I obviously just had to write about it as it was so unique and curious. But the resort has now updated the concept and added a number of new features which make it a more than a feature and turns it into a true experience.
We arrived at the spa mid-afternoon where they gave us a tour of the facilities and the various features of the Bubble (you have access to the spa bathroom and showers throughout your stay in the Bubble). After settling in, the therapists arrived to give us a waterside couples massage. We were then so chilled that we relaxed in the hammock and swing there just swaying and enjoying the seascape vista. In the early evening, the chef and server arrived to prepare our dinner over a beach BBQ served at a waterside table. We lingered over our remaining wine until deciding to retire to our Bubble bed for some star-gazing. We drifted off to sleep under the swish of falling stars shooting across the heavens. In the middle of the night, we were awoken by an unusual pluck-pluck-pluck sound of raindrops hitting the clear plastic. It was a soft, rhythmic patter which sent us quickly back to sleep (grateful for our polyethylene protection).
The Bubble Escape rates right up there with my two other favourite “Wow” types of features in the Maldives: (a) underwater rooms, and (b) discovery centres. All three provide a striking fresh window to this enchanting paradise.
Postscript: The only resort encourages people to “switch off” during their Bubble Escape. When we went, we decided that the only ipads allowed were “eye pads” (see photo at bottom).
