The 15 Best Hotels in the Maldives for 2026

How to choose your Maldives stay

The Maldives looks uniform from the air — 1,200 coral islands scattered across 26 atolls — but on the ground every resort is a different country. The first decision is access. Speedboat-reachable resorts (Patina, Ritz-Carlton Fari, Gili Lankanfushi, One&Only Reethi Rah) are 30–60 minutes from Malé and ideal for shorter stays or families with small children. Seaplane-only resorts (Soneva Jani, JOALI BEING, Six Senses Kanuhura, the two Four Seasons) involve a daylight transfer of 30–60 minutes but deliver the more remote atolls, the better house reefs, and — critically — quieter neighbours.

The second decision is style. Soneva pioneered barefoot luxury and remains the playful benchmark. JOALI BEING is the Maldives' first dedicated wellness island. The Nautilus and Voavah are private-island bookings for buyout-grade exclusivity. Patina is the design crowd's address. The Ritz-Carlton Fari Islands is the most architecturally significant new arrival of the past five years. Gili Lankanfushi remains the sustainability standard-bearer. Reethi Rah and Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru are the all-rounders families return to year after year.

The third is season. November to April is dry season — flat seas, perfect snorkelling, peak rates. May to October is the southwest monsoon — short tropical storms, lower prices, and (June–November in the Baa Atoll) the manta-ray aggregation at Hanifaru Bay. All pricing below is from-rates per night for two, sourced from each resort's verified booking page, and reflects shoulder-season inventory.

One&Only Reethi Rah — the all-rounder, on the Maldives' largest private island

The most spacious resort in the Maldives — 130 villas spread across a six-kilometre crescent island in the North Malé Atoll, each with vast private gardens or its own stretch of beach. The Maldives if your priority is space, not just luxury.

Set on the Maldives' largest private island in the North Malé Atoll, One&Only Reethi Rah is the rare resort where you can genuinely walk for ten minutes and not see another guest. The island's six-kilometre coastline supports 130 villas, twelve beaches, and twelve dining venues — yet the wider footprint means everything still feels uncrowded.

Villas come in three families: Beach Villas with private gardens and direct sand access; Water Villas perched over the lagoon with sundeck steps into the sea; and Grand Sunset Residences for multi-generational families. All have private pools, oversized indoor-outdoor bathrooms, and the kind of unhurried space that makes a two-week stay feel like a long weekend.

The ESPA spa runs across an entire overwater pavilion with treatments that lean Asian and holistic — Balinese boreh, Thai compress, signature Reethi Rah ritual. Dining spans Tapasake (Japanese-Peruvian over the water), Botanica (organic European, with a kitchen garden you can tour), Fanditha (Middle Eastern beach-grill), and Reethi Bar for sunset cocktails.

Water is the property's biggest argument. The house reef is intact and snorkellable straight from the beach; the dive centre runs daily trips to manta cleaning stations and whale-shark sites. KidsOnly and One Tribe (teens) are run by full-time staff with proper programming, which is why this is one of the few Maldives resorts genuinely engineered for families with multiple children.

Book it ifyou want the Maldives without ever feeling like you're sharing it.

COMO Cocoa Island — twelve dhoni-shaped villas in the South Malé Atoll

The Maldives at its most intimate — 33 villas inspired by traditional Maldivian fishing dhonis, on a tiny crescent island a 40-minute speedboat from Malé. The wellness pioneer that turned COMO Shambhala into a global brand still does it best here.

On a slim crescent of white sand in the South Malé Atoll, COMO Cocoa Island is the resort that sold the rest of the world on barefoot Maldivian luxury. The 33 dhoni-shaped overwater villas — modelled on the traditional fishing boats that still pass the lagoon — were a design revelation when they debuted, and twenty years on they still feel quietly distinctive.

The wellness offer is what keeps regulars returning. COMO Shambhala Retreat is the spa brand's home laboratory: Ayurvedic consultations with a resident doctor, holistic anti-stress programmes, daily yoga at sunrise on the beach, and the trademark COMO Shambhala massage. The cuisine is by the same team behind COMO's London and Bangkok restaurants — Asian-inspired raw bars at Ufaa, Mediterranean grilling at Faali.

The house reef is exceptional and reaches the villa decks at high tide. Sea turtles are routine; reef sharks pass at dawn. For couples wanting the Maldives at its most refined — and the wellness component done by people who actually understand it — this is the address.

Book it ifyou want the original COMO Shambhala wellness experience, in the Maldives where the brand was born.

Patina Maldives, Fari Islands — the design crowd's address

Marwan Zgheib's debut Maldives project and the most architecturally interesting resort opening of the last decade. 90 villas of Brazilian-modernist precision, ten dining venues, and a Fari Marina Village shared with the Ritz-Carlton next door.

Patina opened the Fari Islands in 2021 with a bold proposition: that the Maldives could be more than reefs and overwater villas. Architect Marwan Zgheib delivered a campus of low, horizontal pavilions in pale concrete, timber, and mesh, channelling Brazilian modernism in a Maldivian setting. The result is the most architecturally legible resort in the Indian Ocean.

The 90 villas — Studios, One- and Two-Bedroom Beach Pool Villas, Three-Bedroom Beach Pool Villas — are restrained, spacious, and free of the over-styled tropical-trinket clutter that plagues most luxury Maldives properties. Bathrooms feel European; pools are deep enough to swim in; outdoor decks are private.

There are ten dining venues, and unusually for the Maldives, all of them are interesting. Helios is fine-dining Mediterranean. Roots is plant-forward by chef Tom Aikens. Fuoco is wood-fire Italian. The Painter's Palette is afternoon tea reimagined. The shared Fari Marina Village (with neighbouring Ritz-Carlton) means a real beach club, casual cafés, retail, and a sense that you're staying somewhere with social texture, not just a single-resort island.

Book it ifyou've stayed in the Maldives twice already and want a resort that looks nothing like the others.

Alila Kothaifaru Maldives — quiet sustainability in the Raa Atoll

The Maldives' most considered sustainability programme, hidden inside a contemporary 80-villa resort in the seaplane-only Raa Atoll. Alila's design language done at its highest expression.

Set in the seaplane-only Raa Atoll, Alila Kothaifaru is the brand's most fully-realised Maldives expression: a spread of 80 contemporary villas across an island of palm groves and white-sand crescents, with a sustainability programme that goes well beyond bottled-water gestures.

The villas — Beach Villas with Pool, Sunrise Water Villas, Sunset Water Villas — are mid-century modern in palette, with timber-louvre exteriors, oversized open-plan interiors, and direct lagoon or beach access. Most have plunge pools; all have outdoor showers and integrated sun decks.

Wellness is the resort's quiet specialism. The Spa Alila pavilions are open-air, set among gardens; treatments use locally pressed coconut oil, indigenous botanicals, and Balinese-trained therapists. Daily yoga at sunrise on the lagoon-facing pavilion is included; longer wellness journeys are bookable. Dining at Sea Salt (signature seafood) and The Edge (beachside Mediterranean) is uncomplicated, ingredient-led, and avoids the over-elaboration that diminishes most Maldivian fine-dining.

The house reef is excellent — manta rays in season, reef sharks year-round, no need to take a boat to snorkel.

Book it ifyou want a contemporary Maldivian villa that quietly walks its sustainability talk.

Soneva Jani — the playful kingdom in the Noonu Atoll

The Maldives' most copied resort, by some distance. Water Reserves with private slides, retractable roofs over the master bed, an open-air Cinema Paradiso, and the kind of barefoot luxury vocabulary that every other Indian Ocean resort now imitates.

Set in the remote waters of the Noonu Atoll, Soneva Jani is the resort that defined the modern Maldives playbook: barefoot luxury with theatrical touches, sustainability built in rather than bolted on, and a willingness to take design risks that competitors won't.

The Water Reserves — overwater villas with private slides that drop directly into the lagoon, retractable bedroom roofs for stargazing from bed, and infinity pools that spill into the sea — are the resort's most photographed asset and still the most-imitated. The 26 villas range from One-Bedroom Water Reserves to Four-Bedroom Reserves with butler, chef, and dedicated boat.

What makes it genuinely unmatched is the surrounding programme. Cinema Paradiso is an over-water open-air cinema with reclining day-beds; By the Sea is destination dining; So Hands-On runs cooking classes with the resort's chefs; the Soneva Observatory has the Maldives' largest professional telescope and a resident astronomer. Out of the Blue is the over-water restaurant complex serving Mediterranean and Japanese.

The sustainability work is real: zero plastic, on-site water bottling, organic gardens, and (since 2008) full carbon offsetting of every guest's flight included in the room rate.

Book it ifyou want the original of the resort everyone else is copying.

The Nautilus Maldives — private-island freedom on the Baa Atoll

An all-villa, all-inclusive 26-residence resort in the UNESCO Baa Atoll Biosphere Reserve. No fixed schedules, no dress codes, no set dining times — the Maldivian buyout-light experience.

The Nautilus operates on a deliberately rule-free philosophy: no fixed meal times, no dress codes, no programmed activities you have to attend. The 26 residences — Beach Houses, Ocean Houses, and the Private Residence — are oversized, oversized again, and built for guests who pay for total flexibility.

Villas combine timber, stone, and woven bamboo with sunken outdoor bathtubs, infinity pools that spill into the lagoon, and dedicated butlers. Dining is à la carte across SeaFire (grill), The Bistro (modern European), Ambrosia (Asian fusion) — guests order what they want, when they want it, and it arrives. The wine cellar is one of the deepest in the Indian Ocean.

The Baa Atoll setting is the property's biggest draw. Hanifaru Bay — the world's largest manta-ray aggregation site — is a 30-minute boat ride; the resort's marine biologists run dedicated trips during the June–November season. The house reef itself is exceptional, reachable from the villa decks.

This is the Maldives at its most private. If you want a place that asks nothing of you and gives you everything, The Nautilus is the address.

Book it ifyou want a Maldives where the only structure is the one you set.

The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands — the new architectural benchmark

Kerry Hill's last completed Maldives project — 100 circular villas oriented as a chain of pearls in the lagoon, with a circular over-water spa pavilion that may be the most beautiful single building in the Indian Ocean.

The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands, is the second resort on the Patina-led Fari Islands development and shares its Marina Village. But the architecture by the late Kerry Hill — circular over-water villas linked by a curving boardwalk — gives it a quietly different identity.

The 100 villas are arranged in a single chain of pearls along the lagoon. Each one is circular, glass-walled, with a wraparound deck and a private infinity pool that spills into the sea. Beach Pool Villas are on land; Reef and Lagoon Pool Villas are over the water. All are oriented for sunrise or sunset views.

The Ritz-Carlton Spa is a circular pavilion suspended over the lagoon, with treatment rooms looking down through glass floors at coral and reef fish. Treatments lean Asian and holistic. Iwau (Japanese), La Locanda (Italian), and Summer Pavilion (Cantonese, by the team from Singapore) provide three distinct dining identities; Fari Beach Club is the relaxed sundowner option.

The house reef is real and snorkellable from the villas. Service follows the Ritz-Carlton playbook — discreet, attentive, named-by-name from the moment you board the speedboat.

Book it ifyou want a Ritz-Carlton standard of service inside a genuinely landmark building.

Gili Lankanfushi — the sustainability standard, twenty years on

45 over-water Crusoe Residences, no shoes from arrival, and the original 'no news, no shoes' Maldivian wellness ethos that every other resort copied. Still the standard for environmental rigour.

Gili Lankanfushi sits in the North Malé Atoll, a 20-minute speedboat from the airport, and remains the resort that taught the Maldives what sustainability could mean. The 45 thatched over-water Crusoe Residences are built from local timber and reclaimed materials; the resort produces its own water, generates significant solar, and operates on a strict zero-plastic, low-impact protocol.

The villas are large by any standard — even the entry-level Villa Suite has 280 square metres of indoor and outdoor space, with a glass-floor 'in-villa' overwater swing, a private rooftop, and steps direct into the lagoon. The Crusoe Residences and the Private Reserve scale up from there.

Meera Spa runs Eastern and Western treatments out of overwater pavilions; resident yoga and meditation teachers run daily classes. By the Sea (signature), Sea Fire Salt (grill), and Plantation (Asian) are the three restaurants — the wine cellar holds 10,000 bottles, the cheese room is among the best in the Indian Ocean, and dietary requirements (raw, vegan, gluten-free, Ayurvedic) are handled with practiced ease.

The service philosophy here is 'Mr. Friday' — a single point of contact for your entire stay, learnable by name on arrival.

Book it ifyou want the Maldives where 'sustainable luxury' was actually invented.

Vakkaru Maldives — refined contemporary, in the UNESCO Baa Atoll

125 villas on a thickly forested island in the Baa Atoll Biosphere Reserve, with one of the Maldives' most consistent fine-dining programmes and an underground wine cellar built for private dinners.

Vakkaru sits on a roughly circular island in the UNESCO-protected Baa Atoll, with a thick interior coconut grove, a generous house reef, and 125 villas spread along its perimeter. The architecture is contemporary Maldivian — thatched roofs, timber beams, open-air living rooms — but the materials and finishes are notably more refined than most resorts in this price band.

Villa types span Beach Villas with Pool, Over Water Villas with Pool, and the Two- and Three-Bedroom Beach Pool Residences for families. All have private pools, indoor-outdoor bathrooms, and direct beach or lagoon access.

Dining is the resort's quiet strength. Onu (signature, Mediterranean and Asian), Isoletta (rustic Italian wood-fire), and the underground Wine Cellar (private chef-led tastings paired across 6,000 bottles) form a coherent and ambitious culinary trio. The Vakkaru Spa runs five overwater pavilions with Maldivian, Asian, and Ayurvedic treatments.

For families, Vakkaru is one of the more thoughtfully equipped Maldives resorts: dedicated kids' club, family-villa configurations, and Hanifaru Bay manta-ray season trips are all standard inclusions.

Book it ifyou want a Baa Atoll resort that quietly outperforms its price band on dining and service.

Four Seasons Private Island Maldives at Voavah — the buyout option

A seven-bedroom private island in the Baa Atoll, available only as a full buyout. Twenty-two staff, two boats, a dedicated dive centre, and the Maldives' most exclusive single property.

Voavah is unlike anything else in the Maldives: a seven-bedroom private-island resort in the Baa Atoll Biosphere Reserve, run by Four Seasons but available exclusively as a full island buyout. The pricing reflects this — from £6,000 per night and rising — and so does the experience.

The island is small, intimate, and configured as a single estate: a four-bedroom Beach House, two over-water villas, and a one-bedroom retreat. Capacity tops out at around 22 guests. The dedicated team includes a private chef, a yacht captain, dive instructors, wellness practitioners, and a personal villa host for each residence.

Facilities are correspondingly serious: a private 62-foot yacht (Voavah Summer); a dedicated dive centre with PADI instructors; a wellness centre with Ayurvedic, Thai, and aromatherapy practitioners; and a private chef who builds menus around your party's preferences for the duration of the stay.

This is the buyout that family offices, multi-generational gatherings, and very high-end celebrations book a year ahead. Note: the booking link goes direct to fourseasons.com (the property is not listed on third-party OTAs).

Book it ifyou're gathering family or close friends and want the Maldives entirely to yourselves.

Six Senses Kanuhura — barefoot wellness in the Lhaviyani Atoll

Six Senses' most recent Maldives opening — 80 villas on a generous Lhaviyani Atoll island, with one of the brand's most ambitious wellness screening programmes and a Chef's Herb Garden that supplies the kitchens.

Six Senses Kanuhura sits in the Lhaviyani Atoll, a 40-minute seaplane north of Malé, and represents the brand's latest Maldives expression. The 80 villas — Beach Pool, Family Beach Pool, Overwater Pool — are large, low-slung, and built from local timber and stone, in the now-instantly-recognisable Six Senses palette.

Wellness is the central proposition. The Wellness Screening uses biomarker testing, body composition analysis, and consultation with the resort's wellness practitioners to design a personalised stay programme. Ayurvedic consultations, breathwork, sound healing, and meditation are all bookable; daily yoga is included.

Dining is unusually serious for the Lhaviyani Atoll. Al Barakat serves a cohesive Arabic-Mediterranean menu; Chef's Herb Garden is a working farm-to-table restaurant where most ingredients come from the on-site garden. Three uninhabited islands within the atoll are programmed as private picnic and barbecue venues.

The house reef is among the Maldives' best — manta cleaning stations and dolphin pods are routine sights from the boats; the dive centre is excellent.

Book it ifyou want a Six Senses Maldives, calibrated for wellness without compromise on dining.

LUX South Ari Atoll — whale-shark waters and family-friendly value

The Maldives' best resort for whale-shark sightings — South Ari Atoll's whale sharks are year-round, and LUX runs daily encounters. 193 villas, six restaurants, the most generous family programme in our list.

LUX South Ari Atoll occupies a 1.8-kilometre-long island in the South Ari Atoll, the Maldives' best-known whale-shark site. The 193 villas — Beach Pool Villas, Water Villas, and the all-villa Romantic Pool Water Villas — are spread along the island and over the lagoon, with a substantial number of family-configured layouts.

The whale-shark proposition is real. The South Ari Marine Protected Area has year-round resident whale-shark populations, and the resort's marine biologists run daily encounter trips at no extra charge. Diving here is among the Maldives' best.

The LUX Me Spa runs holistic and Western treatments out of an overwater complex; the Wellness Concierge programme integrates yoga, fitness, and nutrition. Six restaurants — Velaa Bar & Grill (beachside seafood), The Lagoon (Mediterranean fine dining), Glow (Asian), East Market (Asian street food), MIXE (international), and Beach Rouge (the South of France-inspired beach club) — give the resort more dining variety than most.

For families, LUX is one of the more flexible Maldives resorts: kids' clubs split by age group, family-villa layouts, and water-sport programmes that accept younger ages than most competitors.

Book it ifwhale sharks are non-negotiable and value matters as much as polish.

Amilla Maldives — barefoot family resort in the Baa Atoll

67 villas and residences on a generous Baa Atoll island, with one of the more sophisticated multi-bedroom family-residence programmes and a substantial commitment to wellness, sustainability, and on-island farm produce.

Amilla sits on Finolhu Island in the UNESCO Baa Atoll, with a substantial interior of palms, gardens, and white-sand beaches surrounding the 67 villas and residences. The property is unusual in scale of accommodation — the largest are eight-bedroom Beach Residences with private pools, kitchens, and butlers, suitable for very large multi-generational gatherings.

Villas span Reef Water Villas, Lagoon Houses, Tree Houses (raised on stilts among the canopy), Beach Houses, Ocean Reef Houses, and the Great Beach Residences. All have private pools and oversized indoor-outdoor configurations.

Dining covers Tribal (signature Asian-African-Mediterranean fusion), Café Lido (Mediterranean beach), Baazaar (Eastern souk), Joe's Pizza, Wine Shop & Cellar Door, and Emperor Beach Club. The on-island farm supplies a meaningful share of produce — uncommon in the Maldives.

The Amilla Spa runs Maldivian, Asian, and energy-healing treatments. For families, the kids' club is dedicated and well-staffed; manta-ray season trips to Hanifaru Bay are scheduled.

Book it ifyou're travelling in a group of more than six and want everyone in one residence.

JOALI BEING — the Maldives' first dedicated wellness island

The Maldives' first and only resort dedicated entirely to wellbeing — 68 villas, a 200-strong wellness team, biomarker testing, sound therapy, and a programme that genuinely changes how you feel by day three.

JOALI BEING opened in 2021 as the Maldives' first dedicated wellness island — sister property to JOALI Maldives but built around an entirely different proposition. Where JOALI is art-immersive luxury, JOALI BEING is transformative wellness, with every aspect of the stay calibrated to one of four pillars: mind, skin, microbiome, and energy.

The 68 villas — Sunrise Water Villas, Ocean Pool Villas, Beach Pool Villas — are designed for sleep quality first. Circadian-tuned lighting, blackout curtains, EMF-shielded bedrooms, and grounding mats are standard. The wellness centre is the largest in the Maldives — sound healing pods, cryotherapy chambers, floatation tanks, hyperbaric oxygen, IV drips, and a full Ayurvedic clinic.

Guests are matched to their pillar through a screening programme on arrival; treatment plans are then built across the stay. Yoga and meditation are included; private practitioner sessions are bookable. Mura (signature) and Vandhoo (all-day) take a clean-eating approach with menus shaped around your wellness pillar — but the food still tastes like food, not like rehab.

This is not a casual five-night Maldives. JOALI BEING rewards seven-to-fourteen-night stays, and guests who arrive committed to the programme leave noticeably different.

Book it ifyou're going to commit to the programme — and especially if you have ten nights to give it.

Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru — the Baa Atoll all-rounder

Four Seasons' largest Maldives resort — 102 villas across a thickly vegetated Baa Atoll island, with the brand's most serious Ayurvedic programme and the Marine Discovery Centre that runs Hanifaru Bay manta encounters.

Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru is the brand's larger, more comprehensive Maldives offering, set on a substantially forested island in the UNESCO Baa Atoll Biosphere Reserve. The 102 villas — Beach Bungalows, Beach Villas with Pool, Sunset Water Villas with Pool, Family Beach Pool Villas, and the three-bedroom Landaa Giraavaru Estate — are spread across an island larger than most Maldives resorts.

The Spa is the resort's quiet specialism. The Ayurvedic clinic runs traditional consultations and 7–14-day Panchakarma programmes — one of very few Maldives resorts where this is taken seriously. Yoga, meditation, and wellness consultations are scheduled daily.

Dining covers Fuego (Latin-flame beachside), Blu (Mediterranean seafood), Ai Sushi, and Cafe Landaa (all-day). The Marine Discovery Centre is a working research facility that runs the resort's Hanifaru Bay manta-ray excursions during the June-November season — and contributes to genuine reef-conservation work the rest of the year.

For families, Kids for All Seasons (the brand's children's programme) runs at scale here, and the family-bungalow configurations are some of the more thoughtful in the Maldives.

Book it ifyou want Four Seasons consistency, in the Maldives' most biodiverse atoll.

Our verdict

Fifteen hotels, fifteen distinct propositions. If we had to point you at one, the answer depends on the trip you're trying to take.

For a first Maldives stay with a partner, **Gili Lankanfushi** (sustainable, intimate, in-villa swing) or **COMO Cocoa Island** (small, wellness-led, dhoni-shaped icons) are the two we recommend most. For families with multiple children, **One&Only Reethi Rah** (sheer scale, twelve beaches) or **Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru** (serious kids' programme, Marine Discovery Centre) are the safest bets. For architectural travellers who've already done the Maldives once, **Patina** or **The Ritz-Carlton Fari Islands** are the only resorts that make the second visit feel like a different country.

For wellness as the entire reason for the trip, **JOALI BEING** is unmatched — but commit to ten nights or don't book it. For multi-generational buyouts and milestone occasions, **Voavah** is the only true buyout in our list. For whale-shark certainty, **LUX South Ari Atoll** wins on geography. For the original 'barefoot luxury' theatre, **Soneva Jani** still does it best.

All fifteen are extraordinary. The right answer is whichever one matches the holiday you're actually trying to have.