Voavah is Four Seasons Private Island Maldives at Voavah — a five-acre natural island in the Baa Atoll UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, and the first private island in Four Seasons’ portfolio. It is not a resort: the island is taken by one group at a time, on an exclusive-use basis — in Four Seasons’ own words, “One island. One booking.” When it opened in December 2016, it was launched as the world’s first exclusive-use hideaway in a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.
There are no other guests and no fixed schedules — your island, your rules, around the clock. A dedicated island-based team, led by the Island Chief and customised to each group — chefs, dive and watersports instructors, therapists and nannies among them — shapes the days as you want them: a private festival with a DJ at the pool party, a turtle safari, a Champagne sunset cruise, or nothing at all.
THE ISLAND IN MOTION
The listing's own film — supplied with this listing · 2 min 1 sec
Accommodations & Design
The island’s seven bedrooms are spread across three distinct living experiences, each in beach-chic style — Four Seasons’ own description of the interiors.
The Beach House is the social heart of the island. On its upper floor, two Mezzanine Suites — one at either end, in the most elevated position on the island — each hold a king bed, a panoramic balcony and an outdoor sea-view shower; between them, off the Loft Lounge with its pool table, video games and books, a Bunk Room sleeps four children. The Beach House also holds the island’s fully equipped gym and its library, and the living and dining lounges beside the Beach House pool, with a dining room and kitchen for personal cooking, a private chef or Four Seasons catering.
The Three-Bedroom Beach Villa stands on the island’s north side, steps from the white sand — 1,077 square metres with a massive sunbathing pool and an al-fresco living room. Its master suite has ocean views on three sides and an attached study, also used as a children’s room; the other two bedrooms each sit in their own separate pavilion. It sleeps six adults and two children.
The Two-Bedroom Water Villa is stilted over the lagoon on the island’s southwest side. A 17-metre sunset-view pool runs along its al-fresco deck, with hammocks above the water and steps leading straight down into the reef. It sleeps four adults and two children.
In all, the island hosts a single group of up to 21 guests. The island was designed by MICD Associates, with interiors by Avalon Collective.
Amenities & Inclusions
A stay at Voavah is exclusive use of the island and everything on it — the facilities other resorts share between hundreds of guests belong to your group alone.
The Voavah Summer, a 19-metre (62-foot) Horizon E62 yacht with a two-cabin handcrafted interior, is yours day or night — for fishing, island hopping, dolphin and snorkelling cruises, Champagne sunset cruises and dinners on a sandbank.
The Ocean of Consciousness Spa perches over the lagoon, offering bespoke treatments by ila and the resonance therapies created with the Spa & Ayurvedic Retreat at Landaa Giraavaru, alongside yoga, meditation and pranayama. Ayurvedic physicians, acupuncturists and a Rossano Ferretti hair consultant are on call.
The on-island PADI 5-Star Dive Centre opens up the atoll’s thilas, channels, overhangs and wrecks, and snorkelling and diving with mantas and whale sharks at Baathala and Hanifaru Bay. The water-sports toy box runs to X-Jetblades, a Seabob Cayago F7, jet skis, kite surfing, wakeboarding, windsurfing, parasailing and fun tubes.
Dining is fully bespoke: meals in the Beach House, in-villa dining around the clock, beach barbecues, sandbank picnics and theme nights, all built around your group. Published complimentary services include full Wi-Fi coverage, a pillow, duvet and bathrobe menu, daily housekeeping with evening turndown, IP television and in-room movies. Your stay also opens the facilities of Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru, twenty minutes away by speedboat.
Voavah Private Island in one document — photos, island facts, and regional background.
How Private Is This Island?
Privacy at Voavah is structural. The island is sold whole — there is no per-villa booking — so the only people on it are your group and the island’s own team. Four Seasons describes a single entry point, and arrivals are controlled: seaplanes come in from Velana or Maafaru, or you cross by speedboat from Landaa Giraavaru.
Security is managed with 24-hour on-site patrols, CCTV and night-vision cameras. Two rooms are available for your own security or support staff — up to six personal staff can be accommodated beside the Beach House — so your inner circle can travel complete, and stay that way.
Getting There
Fly to Velana International Airport (Malé), and Four Seasons takes care of everything from there: a 35-minute seaplane flight brings you to the island, aboard the resort’s own eight-seater VIP seaplane or a standard 14-seater. On arrival at Velana, a CIP meet-and-greet fast-tracks you through immigration — passport copies are needed in advance. The island can also be reached in 20 minutes by seaplane from Maafaru International, private-jet arrivals at either airport can be met by local ground handlers, and seaplane luggage is limited to 20 kg per person.
Sustainability
Voavah sits inside the Baa Atoll UNESCO Biosphere Reserve — the Maldives’ only Biosphere Reserve, designated in 2011 — and the island is left as close to its natural state as operations permit, down to an environmentally responsible mosquito-control programme.
Through the island, guests have access to Marine Savers, the Four Seasons marine-conservation programme run with Seamarc and the Maldivian authorities from the Marine Discovery Centre at Landaa Giraavaru, twenty minutes away: coral propagation with Reefscapers, which has transplanted more than 100,000 coral fragments; sea-turtle rehabilitation, with more than 170 turtles released; and the Maldives Manta Conservation Programme — the founding project of the Manta Trust — working with the world’s largest known reef manta population at Hanifaru Bay.
