6 underwater restaurants in the Maldives that need to be seen to be believed

Ithaa Undersea Restaurant

Ithaa, meaning mother-of-pearl in Maldivian is an incredible underwater restaurant located at Conrad Maldives Rangali Island. Opening originally in April 2005, it was the first underwater restaurant in the world. To enter the venue, you must descend five metres below the surface of the ocean, down a spiral staircase, into an acrylic underwater structure. The design features a transparent arched roof which provides 270-degree panoramic underwater views of the ocean bed, coral gardens and surrounding wildlife. The interior décor is simple and elegant as to not draw any of the attention away from the stunning surroundings.

The total capacity for the restaurant is just 14 people and it is a designated adult-only venue; you can be sure that every booking is guaranteed to be a tranquil and intimate experience. When visiting you can expect a fusion menu of local flavours blended with more western influences, of course paired with the very finest wines and cocktails. At lunch you will delight in a four-course set menu and at dinner you’ll enjoy an extravagant seven-courses. The restaurant is also open daily for a morning pre-lunch cocktail hour at 11.00am for those who can’t get enough of the unique atmosphere and ever-changing underwater display. Because of its personable size, Ithaa is also a superb option for private dining experiences, weddings and celebratory special occasions – of course advance booking is required.

Interesting fact: Ahead of entering the restaurant you will be instructed to take off your shoes and enter barefoot or in socks.
 

Conrad Maldives Rangali Island – South Ari Atoll

At Conrad Maldives Rangali Island you can expect an unparalleled luxury experience staying in a choice of water or beach suites and villas. The accommodation has some incredible features including direct ocean access, private infinity pools and personal spa rooms. This resort is also home to the MURAKA, the world’s first undersea residence, for an unbeatable underwater experience, and ideal spot to sleep immersed in a submarine world. When you aren’t dining at Ithaa, you can look forward to exploring a further 11 world-class dining venues, including the archipelago’s first subterranean wine cellar restaurant.

For more information about Conrad Maldives speak to one of our travel experts today on 0203 816 0985. Or, if you would like to add Ithaa Undersea Restaurant to your Maldives wish list, drop your personal travel manager a message and we will make sure a visit is added to your dream holiday itinerary.

Sea

SEA is located six metres beneath the surface of the water, at Anantara Kihavah Maldives Villas. Opening in 2010, it has become renowned as being the first underwater restaurant in the world with its own award-winning wine cellar. Here you can explore more than 100 years of wine-making history, with around 450 labels to choose from, representing 24 countries around the world. The restaurant is constructed in an octagonal shape and creates a small but peaceful space accommodating up to 30 guests in total. It is also a child friendly venue, with a menu designed just for the kids, so the entire family can enjoy this bucket list experience together.
 
The interiors create an ethereal environment with mirrored ceilings, walls and pillars bouncing the moving light of the ocean around the room. Furniture and table dressings are designed in keeping with the surrounding coral reef, to help further enhance the diner’s immersive experience. Lunch is served between noon and 2.00pm and dinner guests can enter the underwater world from 6.30pm until 10.00pm. Once inside you can look forward to four courses of gourmet delights, all served alongside some perfectly orchestrated wine pairings should you wish to indulge. Or, if you think of yourself as a wine connoisseur, the underwater wine cellar can be opened just for you for a private wine tasting experience, just speak with the concierge at the resort to arrange or make a booking ahead of your visit with your personal travel manager. Unlike other underwater restaurants, SEA also offers a breakfast sitting, available only upon request, where you can indulge in a four-course champagne accompanied meal to get your day off to a flying start.
 
Interesting fact: Each table is given a pamphlet to help you distinguish the diverse marine life you spot as you dine. If you are struggling to correctly identify any, the hosts in the restaurant are very knowledgeable and will be happy to point them out to you.

Anantara Kihavah Maldives Villas – Baa Atoll

Anantara Kihavah Maldives Villas is located on a private island inside a spectacular UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. This resort offers the epitome of barefoot luxury living as you savour a stay in either a beach or overwater villa. SEA restaurant is part of a quartet of culinary experiences you can enjoy at the resort, accompanied by FIRE, SALT and SKY, and that is just the start of the dining events on offer.  In total, guests can explore up to seven unique venues as well as requesting private in-villa or destination dining around the resort in some spectacular settings.

Learn more about Anantara Kihavah Maldives Villas. Or, to begin planning your dream Maldivian escape, get a free quotation from one of our personal travel managers by completing our enquiry form today.

Subsix

This unbelievable venue sits 500-meters off the shore of Niyama Private Islands and is reached via a 15-minute boat transfer from the island. Without a doubt the interiors of this venue leave you awe-struck. The abstract coral-like chandeliers, mirrored surfaces, coral-like chairs, clam-inspired bar and shell draped ceiling is sure to blow you away as you descend the three-tier staircase to the ocean bed. This is as close to swimming with marine life as you will get without donning a snorkel or pair of flippers.
 
Subsix Underwater Restaurant first opened its doors in 2012. This is a playful venue which offers everything from champagne breakfasts and weekly glow parties to subaquatic lunches and enticing wine tastings. Destination evening dining and private breakfasts are available on request as well as any additional celebratory events you wish to hold in the restaurant. At lunch children are welcome to experience the thrill of this underwater adventure and can select their meal from a specially adapted child-friendly menu. As evening descends, the restaurant takes on a different vibe hosting glow parties twice a week, reserved for adults-only, with dazzling drinks flowing in front of the underwater theatre that is accompanied with a soundtrack from the resident DJ.
 
Interesting Fact: This venue originally opened as a bar and underwater nightclub, before being transformed in a redevelopment into a multi-purpose space which accommodates a world-class eatery.

Niyama Private Islands Maldives - Dhaalu Atoll

Spread across two islands, Play and Chill, Niyama Private Islands Maldives offers everything you are looking for in a Maldivian escape. Paradise-like surroundings, heaps of luxury, elevated levels of privacy and an array of one-of-a-kind experiences. Dining options alone will bring adventure to life, inviting you to dine suspended over glittering water, submerged beneath it, resting on a beach, high amongst the treetops or romancing by a fire. With nine totally unique restaurants and destination dining experiences available in total, foodies you are certainly in for a treat.

Find out if Niyama Private Islands Maldives is the perfect resort for you. Or, to make sure Subsix makes it on you to your Maldivian itinerary, speak to your personal travel manager today on 0203 816 0985.

5.8 Undersea Restaurant

 
When on the quest for an underwater restaurant that is guaranteed to dazzle, look no further than 5.8 Undersea Restaurant, the world’s largest all-glass underwater eatery. Spanning 969 square metres, the tunnel-like structure is constructed from one single piece of halfmoon shaped glass. Located at the end of a resort jetty, here you will discover a spiral staircase which takes you down 5.8 metres beneath the sea level (hence the name of the restaurant). Note, before entering the space you will be asked to remove your shoes as this is a barefoot dining experience.
 
Although spacious underwater, the restaurant has a total of just 10 tables, accommodating a maximum of 20 people for a five-course lunch and a seven-course dinner, so advanced booking is highly recommended. Décor is kept to a minimum with simplistic furniture and plain hardwood floors providing little-to-no distraction from the awe-inspiring, fully transparent surroundings - which allow you to feel completely submerged at the bottom of the ocean. A multi-course seafood menu is served alongside an expansive wine list which complements the fine-dining experience. The restaurant offers ever-changing set menus that are inspired not only by evolving seasons but the chef’s culinary experimentation. Plus, all dietary requirements can be accommodated for, just make sure you mention your specifications at your time of booking. 5.8 Undersea Restaurant has several service sittings and is open for two lunches, at 12.00pm and 2.00pm, and a dinner sitting at 6.00pm. 
 
Interesting Fact: To ensure every underwater experience has plenty of marine life surrounding guests when they dine, a diver will drop fish food around the restaurant just before a sitting to attract the colourful fish to swim closer. 

Hurawalhi Island Resort - Lhaviyani Atoll

Hurawalhi Island Resort welcomes guests aged 15 years and older and provides an atmosphere that is perfectly balanced with serenity and adventure. Boasting a luxurious collection of all-villa accommodation, the interiors of the beach and overwater residences blend barefoot living with contemporary designs. On top of the showstopping fine dining at 5.8 Undersea Restaurant, you are able to enjoy another three sensational dining venues and two bars throughout your stay.

To discover more about 5.8 Undersea Restaurant or Hurawalhi Island Resort, submit an online holiday enquiry, or call 0203 816 0985 to speak directly with our team of travel experts.

M6m

 
The name M6m is an acronym for minus six metres, as this is the depth at which the restaurant sits beneath the shimmering Indian Ocean. M6m was the first underwater restaurant in the Maldives to be included in an all-inclusive package at Ozen Life Maadhoo. Although children are allowed to dine on special occasions, for the most part the venue has been developed as an adult-only space. Ensuring all parents staying in the resort have the opportunity to swoon over this romantic setting, the kids are taken off your hands for the duration of the sitting to enjoy delicious snacks and entertainment at the kids’ club.
 
M6m offers a very cosy environment and an unusual table setting brings couples even closer together. All tables of two are seated with a love chair arrangement where pairs dine alongside each other rather than face to face. Each setting is then positioned so that you are looking out directly through the glass wall observatory windows, reducing distractions down to a minimum, allowing your sole focus to be on each other and the unbelievable underwater show.
 
Begin your experience with an exceptional pairing of caviar and champagne at the elegant M6m Lounge upstairs before descending into the underwater world for a dining adventure you will never forget. Open for both lunch and dinner, M6m introduces an exceptional modern seafood menu presented in a contemporary and artistic manner. Expect simple and flavoursome cooking techniques used throughout the presentation, which ensures the quality of ingredients shines through. The multi-course menu is washed down in exquisite fashion with a masterful selection of mouth-watering wines.

Interesting Fact: The space is shaped in a semi-circle shape with six window openings looking out at the beautiful reef and a mirrored ceiling that reflects the many shades of blue that the ocean carries.

Ozen Life Maadhoo - South Male’ Atoll

Ozen Life Maadhoo is set on the picture-perfect Maadhoo Island surrounded by exotic turquoise hues of the South Malé Atoll’s turquoise waters. The resort is speckled with an awesome collection of five-star earth villas and wind villas, each with their own private pool. The standout feature of a stay at Ozen Life Maadhoo has to be its exceptional, luxury all-inclusive package that encompasses everything including a dine around experience, premium drinks, snorkelling, and exhilarating Indian Ocean excursions, as well as dives and spa treatments for those who are enjoying a longer stay.

Does all this talk of bucket list adventure and dreamy Maldives holidays have you wishing you were in the midst of planning your next escape. Call 0203 816 0985 for your free holiday quotation.

H20 by Chef Andrea Berton

In 2021, four times Michelin-starred chef Andrea Berton, took over the management of H20 at You And Me by Cocoon Maldives. This makes H20 the world’s first underwater restaurant to be branded with a Michelin-star. As one of Milan’s most decorated cooks, it is safe to say your culinary experience here will be a remarkable one.

H20 is situated just outside of the You and Me resort, a short boat ride away in the middle of the lagoon. The exclusivity of this unique dining experience is sure to wow as you are taken on a journey six metres beneath the water to enjoy a 360-degree view of the underwater environment.

The à la carte lunch is a light yet incredibly tempting multi-course menu which presents a celebration of refreshing flavours. Showcasing delights such as sea bass and vegetable ratatouille with roasted bell pepper sauces and for dessert pineapple with smoked rosemary ice cream and coconut. For dinner, the menu expands to include more courses as well as a bonus interlude to simply admire your surroundings. All dinner menus are presented with specially curated music throughout, which is designed to enhance the experience and immerse you in an otherworld as you dine.

Interesting Fact: It’s an Italian Job here, not only is the head chef born and raised in Italy, but the design company, Lago, who designed the suspended, hand-painted, ceramic tables in the restaurant as well as furniture throughout the resort are also an Italian company.

You And Me by Cocoon Maldives - Raa Atoll

You & Me Maldives is an adults-only resort, the first to offer an à la carte dine-around concept to its guests. Whether you are staying half board, full board or all-inclusive, you can look forward to selecting between a choice of five gourmet restaurants for lunch and dinner, all which offer a diverse and mouth-watering experience. For those that enjoy a taste of the good stuff, You And Me by Cocoon Maldives also has a partnership with the world renowned champagne house, Veuve Clicquot. Head to the Cheers Bar to sample a cold glass in the sun, or perhaps a champagne cocktail is more your style?

Ideal for couples, honeymooners and friends, the resort is a quiet and relaxing retreat, far away from outside distractions. Visitors are sure to delight in the fantastic collection of villas and suites, with most located over the sparkling lagoon and a few additional properties resting on white sands.

Looking to plan a memorable honeymoon adventure? Discover more inspiring honeymoon properties and ideas. Or if you have decided on staying in the Maldives and visiting one of these incredible underwater restaurants browse our collection of first-class Maldives properties or begin an enquiry with our team of personal travel managers today.