Creating a definitive guide to the best hotels in the Maldives is no easy feat. The archipelagic country sets the standard when it comes to superior island living. It’s where overwater stays come as standard, privacy is a given and natural beauty is all around. The calibre is sky-high. Boutique stays and lo-fi boltholes are a rarity. Instead, world-class hotels are spread out on their own private islands, nestling state-of-the-art spas and multiple restaurants amongst lush jungles, pristine beaches and house reefs.
The new generation of Maldives hotels is taking this formula one step further. It’s not enough for villas to just be overwater anymore – waterslides are becoming de rigueur, and recent newcomers have waterfalls cascading into private pools. Spas dangle above lagoons now, too, with glass floors allowing guests to spy turtles as they enjoy a massage. The classic pool bar has been outdone by a beachside treehouse bar, and restaurants have relocated underwater. Steps towards sustainability are also commonplace. Most hotels have their own conservation projects and coral programmes. One is even completely solar powered. This is our definitive guide to the best hotels in the Maldives.
In this article
Editor's picks of the best Maldives hotels
- For luxury: Cheval Blanc Randheli
- For overwater bungalow: Waldorf Astoria Ithaanfushi
- For couples: Six Senses Kanuhura
- For a boutique stay: Huvafen Fushi
- For all-inclusive: Rah Gili Maldives
- For families: Finolhu, a Seaside Collection Resort
Nowhere Private Island by Selina Denman
Huvafen Fushi by Sarah Bannerman
F.Nannini
Cheval Blanc Randheli
Best for: luxury
The second hotel in Cheval Blanc’s slow-growing collection of ultra-luxurious properties opened in the swish Noonu Atoll in 2013. Designed by Jean-Michel Gathy, who was also commissioned to create their latest escape, Cheval Blanc Seychelles, this beachside lair blends palatial proportions with elemental forms and gallery-worthy art to sublime effect.
Capacious open-plan villas stream through the lagoon, over the Indian Ocean and along silken white beaches, where green sea turtles come to lay their eggs. Towering entryways open onto soaring thatched ceilings and elegant cream and taupe interiors dressed with rattans, black stone and glints of mother-of-pearl. Twisting wooden door leaves separate the bedrooms and bathrooms, which are stocked with candles, hair masks, bath salts, body scrubs, and lip balm, as well as shower gel and shampoo, all scented by Dior. Sunhats, beach bags and flip-flops are among a myriad of lavish little extras found in the expansive dressing rooms, while outside, there are huge opal-blue-green swimming pools backed against the Indian Ocean. Hop on a dhoni to practice your backhand on the Tennis Island (where Roger Federer practices every year) or tack towards the Spa Island, which has a gorgeous Guerlain spa, a relaxation pool and wellness restaurant. From billowing egg white soufflés for breakfast to poolside sliders made with wagyu beef for lunch, and plump Maldivian lobsters in lemon gel for dinner, every meal is a delight. Lee Cobaj
Price: Rooms from around £2,400 per night.
John Athimaritis
Six Senses Kanuhura
Best for: couples
As you swoop into the Lhaviyani Atoll by seaplane, it's easy to see why Six Senses was so keen to bring this trifecta of natural coral islands ringed by turquoise seas and aquamarine lagoons into the fold. The second Six Senses property in the Maldives (the other being Six Senses Laamu) is a beauty, with great sweeps of broad white beach, a flourishing house reef and a jungly heart overflowing with soaring coconut palms, twisty screw pines and fragrant sea almonds, which you can explore on complimentary bicycles. Dotted around the island are 91 beachfront and overwater villas (most with plunge pools) with whitewashed interiors, billowing netted beds and al fresco bathrooms. The newer beach retreats stand out for their spacious upstairs-downstairs layouts, huge decks and lap-ready infinity pools. Seven superb bars and restaurants include Drift, a little clapboard and thatch cafe on sister island Jehunuhura, and The Point, a circular building set on the sunset side of the island, housing a Spanish restaurant and a round rooftop infinity pool. Alongside stacks of complimentary daily activities – core training, yoga, meditation, sound healing – and a tip-top spa, a stay here can be as lively or as sleepy as you like. Lee Cobaj
Price: From around £2,000 per night.
Soneva Jani
Best for: overwater bungalows
On the fringe of a lagoon in Noonu Atoll, blanketed in racing-green jungle and ringed with neon-white beach, Soneva Jani is the second Maldivian island home of the visionary brand. It’s an unreal world, where children and adults alike trail about the jungly interior on bikes, hang in hammocks on Robinson Crusoe beaches, throw themselves down slides, splash about on technicolour reefs and watch dolphins race through iridescent baby-blue waters. The overwater villas have glass-bottom floors and pool decks with corkscrew slides, and the fantastical Den, is among the largest kids’ club in South Asia. But it’s not just about embracing your inner child. Adult treats include The Gathering, on the north side, an overwater barn of restaurants, a library and wine cellar. Eating is taken seriously – from a meat-free outpost by Bocuse d’Or-winning Swedish chef Mathias Dahlgren to the garden-set idyll So Local, as well a rotation of visiting chefs (2024’s include Saudi superstar Nawal AlKhawali and Chet Sharma, Doctor of Physics and founder of BiBi-London). A treehouse-like Island Spa has egg-shaped rooms linked by walkways floating towards a yoga shala. Soneva Soul is the brand’s new, more ambitious approach to health. Recently it launched three-, seven- and 14-day wellness journeys around foundational health, sleep, detoxing and anti-ageing, using its magic blend of naturopathy, Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine alongside high-tech treatments such as platelet-rich plasma therapy and ozone therapy. Feeling well is at Soneva’s core – way beyond ditching one’s shoes on arrival. Lydia Bell
Price: From around £2,300 per night.
Claus Brechenmacher & Reiner Baumann
Nowhere Private Island
Best for: total privacy and large groups
Available for about £34,000 per night and designed by Singapore-based KulörGroup, with space for 24 guests, the two properties on Nowhere Private Island are a play in duality: a distillation of the overwater and beach villas that have long defined a Maldivian stay; offering both sunset and sunrise views; flanked on one side by the calm, shallow, turquoise waters of a lagoon and, on the other, by deep-blue, white-capped waves that roll in from the open ocean with soothing regularity. .Here (the dot is intentional and pronounced) consists of Somewhere, seven multi-storey villas, and Nowhere, two residences on what is essentially a private island. Food can be delivered straight to the house, or eaten at .Here’s dedicated restaurant, Safar, where a perfectly condensed menu of favourites from around the world leans into fresh seafood, seasonal produce and the distinct smokiness of a Josper grill. Only ever a WhatsApp message away, my private butler, or roohu (which translates from Dhiveli to mean “soul”), Ahmed Asif offers some of the most quietly intuitive service I have ever experienced. Instead of the now-ubiquitous floating breakfast, I have breakfast in bed, delivered on a tray that fits over my legs so I can enjoy views of the sea and rising sun without moving a muscle. Other days start with sunrise yoga on an open-air pavilion by the sea, or with me languishing in the ocean-facing steam room, where a handcrafted mosaic depicting delicate white daisies sweeps across the floor. There are massages in the private spa room and a fully equipped gym for those who are so inclined. Selina Denman
Price: From around £34,000 per night, sleeps 24 guests.
Rah Gili Maldives
Best for: all-inclusive
If you're wary of a seaplane ride or want to enjoy a luxury resort without a well-known label, Rah Gili Maldives offers a refreshingly relaxed approach to paradise. It helps that your feet barely touch the ground in Arrivals before you're on a boat and disembarking to the sound of drums at Rah Gili's island jetty. Designed by architecture studio Swarna Hutama Loka, the 74-villa resort is inspired by the look and feel of a traditional Maldivian village with indoor/outdoor communal spaces finished in local materials like bamboo, and sandy paths that meander through bright foliage, a stone’s throw from the sea. The 171-square-metre beach pool villas have private pools, a sun terrace and direct access to the shore. East- or west-facing, 206-square-metre water pool villas sit on stilts off a lengthy boardwalk, which is neon-lit at night, and look out to sea for privacy. In the villa I stay in, a water slide snakes down past the pool and is reached by a spiral staircase. Elsewhere, there are six restaurants in total ranging from Maldivian seafood to Indian and Japanese, along with a beach club menu. From Friday-night sunset bonfire gatherings to moonlight massages, scheduled according to the lunar calendar, Rah Gili offers signature experiences designed to help guests feel a sense of island community. Don't miss the pre-breakfast, midday and dusk wellness programming, which ranges from qigong flow to gua sha, gentle morning or evening mobility workshops, and a crystal sound healing session so restful that one guest gently snores through most of it. Clare Dight
Price: From around £1,100 per night, or £1,600 per night, per person, all-inclusive.
Claus Brechenmacher & Reiner Baumann
Finolhu, a Seaside Collection Resort
Best for: families
Impeccable service meets flavour-packed food and playful design at this Maldivian escape. From the moment you arrive, your Roohu (butler) anticipates every need, while thoughtful touches – from personalised cocktails to seamless buggy pick-ups – make days feel utterly effortless. There’s plenty to indulge in: I lost hours immersed in soothing treatments at the serene spa, grazing over one of the most impressive breakfast buffets I’ve ever seen and making the most of our sprawling villa, complete with private pool and steps into the lagoon. But there’s purpose, too, with an impressive coral-restoration programme, investment in solar energy and locally-inspired Maldivian nights. For families, the Oceaneers Club is a real highlight, with a packed programme spanning cooking, baking, creative workshops and guided excursions on and below the water. Older children have their own Teens Hut (the drum kit, mocktail bar and DJ decks are a far cry from the 90s kids' clubs I grew up with!) while the Art Lab offers painting, pottery and workshops for budding creatives. Glamorous without ever taking itself too seriously, Finolhu manages that rare trick of making paradise feel full of personality – and works equally well for families, friends and couples alike. Sarah Allard
Price: From around £490 per night.
.Here Baa Atoll
Best for: luxury
It’s the eternal question in the Maldives: beach or overwater villa? At Somewhere, the first phase of .Here – the new offering from Seaside Collection, which runs nearby Finolhu – there’s no need to choose. Each of its seven residences spans the island: sand at one end and that covetable ladder into the Indian Ocean at the other. Designed by KulörGroup, with interiors by Inge Moore, the two-storey structures have appealing outdoor showers, hammocks and swings, as well as -suspended sky infinity pools, some with waterfalls that drop into a plunge pool. The interiors are blue-toned and the soft furnishings tactile and textured, all voluminous cushions, cloud lamps and fringed curtains. A Roohu, or butler, is assigned to each villa, conjuring spa treatments and activities at the water sports centre; eco-conscious guests can dive deeper on a coral-conservation course, snorkelling alongside marine biologists. Chef Georgios Vasilopoulos, previously of Raffles Dubai and Badrutt’s Palace, oversees open-air restaurant Safar, impressing diners with his seafood barbecues. Guests of Somewhere can pop to Finolhu for dinner at Crab Shack, aquatic plantar reflexology at Fehi Spa and the Oceaneers kids’ club. The second phase, Nowhere, designed for buyouts, opens soon, with two palatial residences and a dedicated spa. Divia Thani
Price: From around £13,400 per night.
Huvafen Fushi
Best for: a boutique stay
Huvafen Fushi is a heavenly alcove of a property that sets the standard in personalised service. What's more? It's so far removed from the real world that it's simply impossible not to feel at ease. We arrive by speedboat from Male, and are welcomed by a host of smiling staff armed with cold towels and refreshing welcome drinks, after being chaperoned through a bamboo-swathed tunnel and along a sandy path to our beach villa, which is complete with not one but two private pools and a stretch of silky sand that leads to the ocean. There are other guests here, but it feels like we have the island to ourselves. The main beachfront restaurant is buzzy enough, though, filled with a mix of clientele that share one thing in common: we've all stumbled across this golden find among a sea of hotels in the Maldives, and we're feeling smug about it. There are only a few rooms here, and I'm told it's to ensure each guest's experience can be perfectly tailored.
By day, we swim in the pool and book excursions out to sea. On our first night, we're led to a private table in a sunken alcove in the sand, directly in front of a chef who preps a Sri Lankan tasting menu under a starlit sky. As we order our nightcap, an enormous projector appears as if from nowhere, ready to play a film of our choosing if we want to laze here post-feast. On our final night, we follow a trail down to the underwater spa, which has been transformed into a private dining space. We're introduced to our chef, who talks us through the menu as sharks and tropical fish swim past us at eye level. For the kids, a tiny table and chairs of their own, giant Duplo blocks and colouring sets await them, and silver-plattered fish fingers and chips arrive the minute we walk through the doors. This is somewhere we'll never forget, and a far cry from my expectations of what a holiday in the Maldives might be. It's unique, characterful and small enough to make you feel at home. There's a reason why Huvafen Fushi's returning guest rate is so high. Sarah Leigh Bannerman
Price: From around £1,400 per night.
Catherine Mead
Joali Maldives, Muravandhoo Island
Best for: luxury
Renowned Istanbul-based design studio Autoban (behind London’s Duck + Rice, the extraordinary airport in Baku and numerous hotels in their hometown such as the House Hotels and the Witt Suites) were commissioned to come up with something fresh and different at Joali. The design details in the overwater and beach villas are beautifully curated. Locally hand-carved wood panels and bamboo-slatted headboards are counterbalanced with rose-gold bathroom taps resembling giant pebbles. In the dressing rooms you’ll find heron-and-palm-leaf printed kimonos by Ardmore and slippers like chubby clouds.
Joali is a hybrid of the best that the Maldives has to offer. Turn up barefoot at Mura Bar for a sunset Martini, a buttermilk-chicken slider and a shisha pipe. Or get dolled up for dinner at Japanese restaurant Saoke. It’s this deep-rooted, solid luxury, without the slightest hint of dictating who guests should be, what they should wear and how they should relax, that immediately aligns Joali with the frontrunners. For Maldivophiles, here is a worthy winter-sun detour that is every bit as high-achieving as some of the beloved old-timers and big-name brands. Damien Gabit
Price: From around £2,300 per night.
Paul Thuysbaert
Vakkaru Maldives
Best for: overwater bungalows
The setting is hard to beat – a private island filled with a soaring jungle of coconut palms gives Vakkaru a magic that the other man-made islands in the region can’t compete with. All the dreamy hallmarks of the Maldives are here, albeit more seductively discreet than most. Breezy thatched villas are wrapped in warm muted tones and natural textures, from the burlap wash bags in the bathrooms to the billowing muslin hanging from four-posters. The outside spaces appear just as thoughtful as inside – plush outdoor daybeds are placed within steps of floor hammocks in the overwater villas, so you’re never short of somewhere to flop.
There are six restaurants as well as an array of romantic private dining experiences in idyllic settings – the beach, the jungle, or even a sand bank in the middle of the Indian Ocean. A private lunch can be arranged in the serene organic farm, or a private supper under the stars in the jungle cinema – a winner for couples and families. At the multi-level overwater spa, all treatment rooms have glass floor windows, so muscle melting Balinese massages can be accompanied by an aqua blue parrotfish sighting. Or you can opt for a tailored Ayurvedic treatment following an in-depth consultation with a Kerala-trained doctor. The cherry on top is the genuinely warm and welcoming spirit – who knew a villa on the beach of a private island could so easily feel like home? Lauren Burvill
Price: From around £1,700 per night.
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Alila Kothaifaru Maldives
Alila Kothaifaru Maldives
Best for: a boutique stay
Situated on a lush, natural private island with pool villas and wonderfully friendly and professional staff, this is easily one of the most charming hotels in the Maldives. About 45 minutes north of Malé International Airport by seaplane, in the Raa Atoll on a natural island known as Kothaifaru, the setting here is blessed with long white beaches and endless palm trees. Throughout the 27.6 acres, there is also thick jungle vegetation that gives the new space an already settled-in feel – emphasised by historic artefacts, pre-Islamic communal bath and ornately carved stones that were discovered during the resort’s development.
The 80 villas – all with pools – are split between overwater villas (with bathrooms that open up to the sea) and beach villas (with sunrise and sunset options). There are two restaurants and two bars to choose from, as well as a spa tucked away deep within the jungle vegetation. But the service here is what makes this resort stand out in the crowd of smart hotels in the Maldives. After a few days, it will start to feel like home with staff remembering your preference for still or sparkling water, the names of your children, and where your favourite table is – so much so that there is an urge to book a repeat trip before you have finished the first one. Mary Lussiana
Price: From around £600 per night
Courtesy The Nautilus Maldives
The Nautilus
Featured in our Gold List of the best hotels in the world 2026
Best for: a boutique stay
If city living is all about the lean-in, the Maldives is for the recline. Named after Nemo’s submarine, the Nautilus private-island retreat of 26 overwater and beach houses has maxed out on relaxed luxe. Sitting above the indigo Baa Atoll and its eddying UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of pale sandbars and just visible coral gardens, it’s a place where schedules are decidedly lacking and guests duck in via seaplane or yacht to zone out. The USP here is that everything is fluid: unscripted dining means scallop carpaccio or oyster ice cream at 5am if you wish. Waterborne adventures are impromptu, too, with watches and iPhones swapped out for snorkels and paddleboards at any time. This is very much a barefoot-and-board-shorts hideaway, crisscrossed with polished hardwood walkways and lofty palms beside walls of fragrant clerodendrum. Only the arrival of whale sharks and manta rays on their May-December migration provides a discernible sign of time passing. Unusually for hotels in the region, the Nautilus is independently Maldivian owned, and is designed for the next generation of smart travellers who are seeking out the latest go-with-the-flow modern boho experience. Noo Saro-Wiwa
Price: From around £2,300 per night.
RALF TOOTEN
The St. Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort
Best for: luxury
This is an island that attracts a fashionable globetrotting crowd, and loyal St Regis fans – arguably one in the same. During the day it’s less barefoot luxury and more Chanel heels on the beach. At sunset its Amina Muaddi slingbacks, when honeymooners head to the bar to make the most of the martini shots while a could-be-a-model DJ plays cool and breezy beats in a midriff-bearing top. It’s a scene that wouldn’t look out of place in Manhattan, and yet this bar couldn’t be further from New York, sitting over the Indian Ocean and shaped to resemble a whale shark. The American hotel brand landed a prime spot of tropical paradise when it opened in 2016 on the previously uninhabited natural island of Vommuli. This lush environment has played a key role in the hotel's nature-inspired design – overwater villas are shaped like manta rays, while the impressively large library swirls into the sky like a cone shell. Morning yoga classes are held at the overwater Iridium Spa, where you can watch trumpetfish paddle past in between poses. The seven restaurants scattered across the island are all undeniably decadent, with Maldivian lobster plucked straight from the sea and served at every turn – even in the omelettes at breakfast. At Pan Asian restaurant Oriental, the lobster comes to the beachside tables looking like plump scoops of ice-cream. Don’t sleep on the intriguing looking Maldivian section at the morning breakfast spread either – a delicious adventure you won't forget. Lauren Burvill
Price: From around £3,100 per night.
Stevie Mann
Soneva Secret
Best for: luxury
With a focus on sustainability, wellness and the raw natural environment of the Maldives’ Makunudhoo Atoll, newly opened Soneva Secret might be the most honest interpretation of the barefoot luxury brand yet. Even the arrival here is chic. Because there are no other islands around, you float down via seaplane into a pure turquoise world, where the views of blue skies and bluer waves are uninterrupted from each of the 14 villas. You will hear the phrase ‘simple luxury’ repeatedly during your stay and that would be exactly how to characterise Soneva Secret on first view. There is no sense of a sprawling resort. It is chic and unassuming. Villas are either overwater or beachfront, plus a first-of-its-kind ‘floating’ villa on stilts in the ocean is currently under construction. The design of the villas is even more open to the elements than at Soneva’s other two resorts. The glass doors of the bedrooms (the only main spaces with air-conditioning) can disappear, and you can sleep to the sounds of waves seemingly lapping up to your toes. There are two main places to eat on the island: the more casual driftwood-chic Living Room and a circular fine-dining restaurant called Out of This World, about 330 feet off the shoreline. I ziplined there from the Living Room – very much the Soneva way – to sample ambitious morsels by tattooed chef Henrique Lork, who started as a baker in his native Brazil. Divia Thani
Price: From around £3,300 per night.
GEORG ROSKE
Patina Maldives
Best for: couples
This is an island for aesthetes. The first of a progressive new brand of hotels from Capella, which now also includes the spellbinding Patina Osaka. Here, Brazilian architect Marcio Kogan has been handed the reins, designing his first hotel, and has come up with something that feels truly special, transplanting his take on tropical modernism to the Indian Ocean. In keeping with the movement, the architecture encourages interaction with nature. Long, linear wooden structures are open to the elements, and cooled by swirling fans and perforated screens, all chiaroscuro light and shadow. Custom-made furniture from Dedon and Paola Lenti sits beneath triangular sun shades strung between towering palms.
Then there’s the art collection, like a treasure hunt for grown-ups, with James Turrell’s Skyspace light gallery the star attraction. Yoga gurus from Rishikesh hold classes inside the installation in the soft morning glow. In the evening, when it’s illuminated violet, the skylight frames the moon. The 90 pool villas aren’t the largest in the Maldives, but they impress in other ways, with glass walls that fully retract on three sides. In the bathrooms, there are exfoliating seaweed soaps from Haeckels, and 3-D-printed vitamins appear on pillows instead of chocolates at bedtime. The Flow Spa is original too, with treatment rooms that look like sugar cubes tossed into the long grass. Hi-tech therapies – flotation pods, LED-light therapy, Iris sound immersions – are offered alongside deep-reaching rituals that might include an out-of-body experience in the watsu pool with a Balinese healer. Lee Cobaj
Price: From around £2,700 per night.
Jumeirah Olhahali Island Maldives
Best for: a boutique stay
A thrilling one-hour speedboat ride from the airport, on the tranquil edges of the North Malé Atoll, Jumeirah Olhuhali has a sleek South Beach vibe and plenty of the glitzy touches you might expect from the Dubai brand. Whether rolling onto the beach or perched above the water, the 67 villas are some of the largest entry-level accommodations in the Maldives. Screened by bundles of sea hibiscus, the former offer the most privacy, while the latter have ladders leading straight into the water. All have stylish circular living rooms and capacious polished concrete bathrooms, as well as rambling patios, seven-metre-long swimming pools and splendid rooftop decks for stargazing and outdoor movie nights. The restaurants are just as enticing, delivering zingy Greek-Mediterranean dishes at Shimmers beach club (where you’ll also find an ice-cream cart), Peruvian-Japanese flavours at poolside restaurant Kayto and a brilliant breakfast at all-day dining room, Glow.
There’s no shortage of things to do – complimentary kayaks, SUPs, yoga, Bodu Beru drumming classes – although keen snorkellers should note that the house reef isn’t in great shape, the result of climate change, which the hotel is trying to counter with a large-scale restoration project and coral-planting workshops for guests. There are still plenty of healthy reefs and dive sites in the area, though, as well as huge 100-strong pods of bottlenose dolphins which hang around just outside of the lagoon. Lee Cobaj
Price: From around £850 per night.
Sakis Papadopoulos
Milaidhoo Maldives
Best for: all-inclusive
Milaidhoo Maldives gives classic Maldivian island style a refreshing contemporary twist. Understated, refined, and properly spoiling. The 50 villas are enlivened with deft decorative flourishes – the vivid blue-on-blue accents and curvaceous lines of the Beach Pool villas, in particular, display great charm and panache. The island is small enough to get around without a buggy, so you can put a little of the barefoot work back into the enjoyment of barefoot luxury. Milaidhoo's location in Baa Atoll - a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve with the world's highest concentration of manta rays – is a huge plus. Nearby Hanifaru Bay is to ray fanciers what La Scala is to opera buffs. A snorkelling, diving or sailing expedition, especially in the company of the resident marine biologist, is likely to be as instructive as it is beautiful – the sort of experience that could alter a person's entire attitude towards the oceans.
You could go half-board but when the food this good the smart money is on Milaidhoo’s Gourmet package, which allows you to flit between four restaurants and imbibe free-flowing soft drinks, smoothies, hot beverages, beers, spirits and some superb wines. The signature restaurant, Ba'theli, serving Maldivian and trade-route-inspired dishes in three cleverly interlinked dhonis, is a show-stopper. No less intriguing is the Deep Sleep Mood Menu. Four courses contrived for maximum soporific effect (passion-fruit-and-green-tea soup – who knew?) are served on your candlelit terrace. Ideally, it will be preceded by a spa treatment and followed by a meditation session and herb-infused bath. Sophie Knight
Price: From around £1,800 per night.
LUX* South Ari Atoll
Best for: families
Anyone with trepidation over taking children to the Maldives will feel the shift in mindset as soon as they arrive at LUX*. Not only are the staff incredibly welcoming, but they remember the names of little ones and go above and beyond to make them feel part of the family. We travelled with two under two, and our room was kitted out with a bottle warmer and steriliser, as well as cots filled with keepsakes and personalised notes. Our allocated bicycles were fitted with toddler-sized seats on the back, and highchairs were in ample supply, so we never had to wait to be seated at mealtimes. The menu was especially good and featured a build-your-own plate option where parents could pick and mix familiar food choices to create something (hopefully) foolproof. For babies, the option to have ingredients blended into a puree was also available.
There’s an outdoor kids’ club with a schedule of activities and a babysitting service, but most youngsters looked happy enough playing on the sand while parents lounged nearby or got involved in the digging. The most popular spot on the island? The ice cream shop, where choices included frozen fruit popsicles as well as sugary delights to trick tinies into thinking they were getting a special holiday treat. But children's highlights aside, this is a place to consider if you're travelling adults-only, too. Interiors were beutiful, restaurant choice was ample, and the evenings were alive with a buzz of couples and friendship groups enjoying cocktails under the stars. Sarah Leigh Bannerman
Price: From around £900 per night.
Christopher Cypert
The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands
Best for: families
This Kerry Hill-designed resort forms part of the man-made Fari Islands cluster, located a 45-minute speedboat journey from the capital. Of the 100 villas, 56 are set over water with the remainder scattered up and down broad stretches of cottony white beach. Families should opt for the latter, which are substantial larger and have much bigger swimming pools, as well as complimentary bicycles for nipping around the 500-metre-long island. At the Ritz Kids Club, youngsters can frolic in their own pool complete with slides, jets and dancing fountains. Teens can try their hand at the photography studio, learn how to windsurf or hang out in a dedicated rooftop space with pool tables, fusbol and games consols. While the whole family can sign up for Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ambassadors of the Environment programme, run by marine biologists who monitoring the marine life with underwater robots and airborne drones. Night snorkelling with nurse sharks, unfurling feather stars and bioluminescent squid is especially memorable.
There are seven restaurants to choose from on the island, including a Chinese pavilion serving Cantonese cuisine, a Bedouin tent bursting with moreish Middle Eastern dishes and showpiece restaurant Iwau, where knife-juggling Japanese chefs prepare pretty nigiri rolls and just-caught lobster. And when the action gets a bit too much, you can always slope off to the spa, a striking circular overwater structure – look out for stingrays hovering through its centre – for lush geranium-scented scrubs, massages and facials by British skincare specialists Bamfords. Lee Cobaj
Price: From around £3,400 per night.
Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi
Best for: overwater bungalows
A 30-minute Champagne-fuelled yacht ride from the airport takes you to this opulent resort in the South Malé atoll. The sheer scale of the resort impresses from the moment you’re welcomed into the cavernous lobby adorned with intricate carved woods, parquet floors and a grand piano. In a country where every inch of sandy square-footage comes at a premium, the Waldorf Astoria runs over four-kilometres from tip to tip, ensuring that every one of the 117 villas feels like its own private fiefdom. It’s tough to choose between the beach villas rolling onto clotted cream sands, the overwater villas with timber sundecks facing the seemingly endless Indian Ocean, and the reef villas, which have catamaran nets strung over the corals. There are no bad options, each are personal fiefdoms with huge private pools that you won’t want to leave. The marine life isn’t as rich here but there’s no end of alternative entertainments from Australian barbecue lunches to treetop dinners, to padel lessons with a tennis pro, to hydrotherapy-based wellness journeys at the spa. Lee Cobaj
Price: From around £2,800 per night.
Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru
Best for: couples
Families, couples, solo travellers – the Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru can do it all. The shoreline is transfixing, a vision of bright white sands, luminous turquoise waters and coral house reefs swirling with confetti bursts of colourful reef fish (perfect for first-time snorkellers). Villas, whether on the beach or stilted over the water, are perfectly placed to take in the environment, with rambling terraces, long private pools and sea view bathtubs. There are eight excellent bars and restaurants – the breezy Blu Beach Club is the place to be at sunset – and the spa has Ayurvedic programmes, astrology and daily complimentary wellness classes. The island's Marine Discovery Centre, run by a team of biologists whose main focus is manta-ray research, could get anyone hooked on the wondrous world revealed as one sinks below the ocean surface with a snorkel or tank. Lee Cobaj
Price: From around £1,800 per night.
The Halcyon Private Isles Maldives
Best for: overwater bungalows
So far south it's skimming the equator, this tiny island resort is surrounded by nothing but the hypnotic blues of the Indian Ocean and unbroken horizons, an exceptional location that’s worth the longer-than-usual, one-hour domestic flight to the Gaafu Alifu atoll. Barely brushed by modernity, and little affected by recent global bleaching events, the marine life here is so profuse that you don’t even have to get your feet wet to see it. Stay in one of 38 expansive beach villas and you’ll likely encounter black-tip reef sharks, stingrays and at least one of the 25 hawksbill turtles that nest on the island. Opt for an overwater abode (12 villas are set on a stilted island out at sea, reached by boat) and you’ll be right among 1,200 species of corals, fish and mammals that inhabit this area. The water villa complex also houses a Japanese-Peruvian restaurant, an infinity pool and an overwater spa, where Balinese therapists perform signature massages that start with the hum of a Tibetan singing bowl and end with warm coconut oil being poured onto your third eye. Back on land, there’s a padel court, a water sports centre, a second swimming pool and a sand-between-the-toes bar and restaurant for Maldivian tuna ceviche and spicy coconut versions of the Singapore sling. Lee Cobaj
Price: From around £2,000 per night.
Joali Being
Best for: overwater bungalows
White-gold beaches, crystalline lagoons, palm trees swaying like metronomes, the gentle shoosh shoosh shoosh of waves – there are few places more conducive to destressing than the Maldives. Opened in 2021, Joali Maldives’ wellness-focussed sibling is entirely dedicated to making you feel good (as long as money is no object), with a genuine sense of spaciousness, opulent facilities and a chic biophilic design by Turkish overachievers Autoban. Inhale the fresh sea air, doing sun salutations in a bamboo pavilion overlooking the Raa Atoll, before strolling to breakfast through the Discovery Sound Path, percussing chimes and gongs on the way. Poetic pavilions hidden in the greenery house an Olympian-worthy gym, a huge yoga studio, cryotherapy chambers, a Russian banya, an aromatherapy Aufguss sauna, a watsu pool, a sound healing room, a herbology centre and 39 treatment rooms.
Generous villas deliver the kind of privacy the A-list expect, alongside soothing shell-pink and pistachio interiors with shimmering vaulted ceilings, sun-bleached furnishings, wellness bars, mindfulness games and large private swimming pools. The overwater variety also comes with full-frontal views of the Indian Ocean and what feels like your very own menagerie of marine life – unicorn fish! Octopus! Bottlenose dolphins! Three restaurants cover all the bases – international, Japanese, Mediterranean – and are more inspired than you might think. Choose Sri Lankan grilled prawns with quinoa and raw mango pickles from the pescatarian menu, creamy butternut squash tagliatelle from the plant-based picks, or juicy-crisp pork belly with Jerusalem artichokes from the B’Well selection. Alcohol is also available – you are on holiday after all. Lee Cobaj
Price: From around £4,000 per night.
Ishan
Anantara Kihavah Maldives Villas
Best for: couples
When this hotel landed in the Baa atoll in 2011, it was a sleeker, clubbier Anantara outpost than family-friendly Dhigu, honeymooners’ Veli and quiet Naladhu that the brand already had in these waters. And there were plenty of head-turning attractions: the glass-bottomed baths in the overwater villas, the underwater restaurant, reportedly the country’s longest swimming pool. But plenty more splashier arrivals have since played their cards in the ongoing game of Maldives hotel top trumps. So Anantara’s latest update puts it back on the board, with knockout new multi-bedroom beach and pool residences, each with its own kitchen, gym, spa treatment room and pool deck.
The rest of the island is lush (no trees were felled during construction) and its central sandy path provides peekaboo pops of turquoise water while leading to diversions including an art studio, kids’ club and outdoor cinema beneath a celestial sky. At the overwater spa, there are new vitamin-drip therapies, part of the region’s only Cocoon Medical Spa, and an updated relaxation platform with saunas and plunge pools. Six dining spaces include an underwater restaurant, a teppanyaki, a Japanese-Peruvian flame grill and a sunset champagne bar. The overwater observatory, the only one in the Maldives, has the country’s most powerful telescope (a research-grade 16-inch Meade LX200). Here, astronomer Ali Shameem, who grew up fascinated by the stars on the island of Maalhos, guides guests through the cosmos – the bonus of being almost on the equator means you can see constellations in both hemispheres. For all the slick hotel tricks, it’s always the hypnotic sea and sky that are the real knockouts. Ramsey Qubein
Price: From around £1,600 per night.
Which Maldives hotel is best for couples?
As the stuff of honeymoon legends, the Maldives has plenty to offer couples. For the truly standout spots, we love Cheval Blanc Randheli (as do the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge), the Four Seasons Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru and Milaidhoo. See our pick of the best Maldives honeymoons for more recommendations.
Which Maldives hotel is best for families?
The Maldives might be best known for honeymoons, but its private island resorts are the stuff of family holiday dreams too. Spacious villas mean there’s plenty of room for everyone, while kids clubs, restaurants and pools are all at your fingertips. Some of our favourite hotels for families include Gili Lankanfushi, Six Senses Laamu and Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands. For more, see our guide to the best family hotels in the Maldives.
When is the best time to go to the Maldives?
There’s no bad time to visit the Maldives, but few places offer such a perfect antidote to the UK’s long, dark winters. It really does have it all: upwards of eight hours of sun per day, average temperatures of around 28°C, an ocean teeming with wildlife and some of the smartest hotels in the world. For many, the best time to visit the Maldives is December to April, as that's dry season, with little rain and low humidity leading to bright blue skies, cloudless days and still, balmy evenings. The rainy season starts in May and ends in October, with considerably more rain and occasionally strong winds. For more, see our guide to the best time to visit the Maldives.
How we choose the best hotels in the Maldives
Every hotel on this list has been selected independently by our editors and written by a Condé Nast Traveller journalist who knows the destination and has stayed at that property. When choosing hotels, our editors consider both luxury properties and boutique and lesser-known boltholes that offer an authentic and insider experience of a destination. We’re always looking for beautiful design, a great location and warm service – as well as serious sustainability credentials. We update this list regularly as new hotels open and existing ones evolve. Find out more about our editorial standards and how we review hotels.