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I’ve done the hard job and visited and ranked my favorite Maldivian resorts just for you. This way, you can be sure that you’re spending your hard-earned money on a worthwhile getaway. No buyer’s remorse.
This may come as a surprise, but you will not find a whiff of a Hilton, Marriott, or Four Seasons on this list. Why? I think that, for the most part, chain luxury hotels like these have a huge negative impact on the places they operate in. There are two hotels from major chains that DO make this list; however, I will get to those later. Instead of *just* regurgitating the usual suspects of luxury travel that you’ve probably already heard of, I did a deep dive into the more than 180 resorts in the Maldives and found a handful that give you the best bang for your buck without the guilt of contributing to the demise of this stunning island destination.
Welcome to your guilt-free luxury getaway.
These five properties are all 5-star resorts on private islands that offer rooms for under $1,300 per night. Some for FAR less.
If you’ve landed here looking for the Maldives on a budget, head on over to my island-hopping guide to the Maldives and my blog post dedicated to navigating the local ferry system in the atolls.
How I Made My Maldivian Resort Rankings
I hand-selected these resorts and personally visited all five during three separate trips to the Maldives, and ranked them considering their environmental impact, guest experience, luxury amenities, exciting activities, and the impact they have on local communities. This way, you can be sure that you’ll not only enjoy your luxury experience in the Maldives, but you’ll also learn a little about the local culture and not contribute to the gentrification of the islands.
Without further ado, here are my top 5 favorite Maldivian resorts that are totally worth the luxury splurge.
1. Kuramathi
- Price Point: $400+ per night
- Seaplane Required: No.
- Resort Highlights: Excellent snorkeling, beautiful bungalows, locally-owned, incredibly diverse dining with sustainable gardening, and adult-friendly pool bars.
- Recommended Room Style: Overwater Bungalow
There are many reasons to love Kuramathi Resort. For starters, Kuramathi is the only resort on this list that doesn’t require you to take a $500 round-trip seaplane transfer, which makes its already low price tag even lower. It’s also one of the only private island resorts in the Maldives that’s Maldivian-owned. This is SO important to me. Honestly, even with all that the other resorts do to contribute to local livelihoods and mitigate their environmental impact, nothing beats locally-owned.
As for guest experience, Kuramathi is an exceptionally beautiful and lush island with an extensive network of beaches. The snorkeling is phenomenal straight off the beach. There are a handful of pool bars with top-notch cocktails and excellent dining options that range from pizza to steak to Maldivian eats. I could have stayed on this island for much longer than the three days that I did.
For a full breakdown of all Kuramathi offerings and WHY it ranks as my number one favorite resort in the Maldives, click here.
2. Finolhu
- Price Point: $800+ per night
- Seaplane Required: Yes.
- Resort Highlights: Massive beaches, easy access to Hanifaru Bay, incredible foodie destination, supports local communities, laid back environment, an abundance of on-island attractions, spectacular overwater villas with personal pools and butlers.
- Recommended Room Style: Ocean Overwater Villa
I could not get enough of Finolhu. If you’re an active traveler, this is the island for you. They host more than 90 overwater rooms with an abundance of activities like daily beach yoga, dining with your toes in the sand at Crab Shack on the impossibly long sand bar, snorkeling excursions to Hanifaru Bay to swim in a sea of Manta Rays, and kids/teen centers near the outdoor sport courts and art studio.
Of the five resorts on this list, this is the most action-packed island and the resort with the most impressive overwater rooms. You have your own private pool overlooking the ocean after all. The staff here is the most friendly too.
It’s also probably the most considerate of its environmental impact and impact on the surrounding communities. I absolutely loved how they integrated Maldivian culture and offered LOADS of Maldivian food as well as diverse cuisine like Sri Lankan and Indian in addition to the American/European fare commonly found on the islands.
For a full breakdown of all Finolhu’s offerings, read my blog post dedicated to reviewing the hotel.
3. LUX South Ari Atoll
- Price Point: $1,200+ per night
- Seaplane Required: Yes.
- Resort Highlights: Stunning pool bars, whale shark snorkeling with marine biologists, lots of on-island activities, a local cooking class in a stunning outdoor setting, a pretty island with excellent beaches.
- Recommended Room Style: Overwater bungalow.
LUX Resort makes a huge effort to host an array of attractions and activities that are unique to this island and this island alone. For starters, they have a message in a bottle hunt that gives away prizes daily like free massages, coffees, and meals at thier delicious restaurants. The island itself is huge and rimmed in palm-fringed beaches with some of the most gorgeous white sand you’ll ever see. While the house reef snorkeling is okay, the real joy is in the Whale Shark excursions available in the South Ari Atoll. I recommend reading my guide to snorkeling with whale sharks before you commit, though.
The pools and poolside restaurants in LUX South Ari are some of the best on this list. So why doesn’t LUX rank higher? Well, it was simply outperformed by the other two in overall experience for the price tag.
For a full breakdown of all LUX South Ari Atoll’s offerings, read my blog post dedicated to reviewing the resort.
4. InterContinental Maamanugau Resort
- Price Point: $1,300+ per night.
- Seaplane Required: Yes
- Resort Highlights: Wonderful house reef, adults-only pool area, protected lagoon for snorkeling, diverse dining experiences, truly luxurious amenities.
- Recommended Room Style: Beachfront pool villa.
Welcome to the “chain hotel” portion of my list. Both #4 and #5 are part of much larger hotel conglomerates. This one is British-owned IHG. The InterContinental Resort is truly luxurious. Like pillow-menu by the bedside, assorted chocolates/champagne welcome, and high-tea level fancy. The spa here is quite possibly the most idyllic and serene in all of the Maldives. The food is divine. You can eat a dinner of beef-cheek ravioli inside the country’s only lighthouses. The bed here is probably the most comfortable I have ever slept in.
The snorkelling is excellent right off the island from the beach or the lagoon! But you can also head on over to Hanifaru Bay or other Manta Ray sites quite easily from the island. InterContinental has thought of everything. They even give you a bike to get around with ease.
You might be wondering what the catch is at this point? Well, InterContinental has a reputation with families, and you will undoubtedly see many here. This made sharing the beaches, restaurants, and pool bars a little chaotic. Fortunately, they do have an adults-only area that we were able to escape to and enjoy the serene lagoon. My other slight issue? I felt that when compared to other operations, IHG serves the least Maldivian food, employs the fewest Maldivian locals, and perhaps has more of an emphasis on luxury than sustainability. So for me, it had to go lower on the list.
For a full breakdown of all InterContinental Maamanugau offerings, read my blog post dedicated to reviewing the hotel.
5. Angsana Velavaru
- Price Point: $300+ per night.
- Seaplane Required: Yes
- Resort Highlights: Budget-friendly, great for families, nice beaches, lots of privacy.
- Recommended Room Style: Beachfront Villa
You might be surprised to see the most affordable resort at the bottom of this list. I didn’t NOT enjoy Angsana Velavaru by any means, it’s a wonderful budget option with great beaches, a lovely spa, and buffets that will leave you 10 kg heavier by the end of the trip.
Angsana is a Banyan group hotel, which means that it puts A LOT of effort into sustainability efforts. All of this is explained in the dedicated blog post linked below.
What are the downsides? I found the island to be very small for a longer getaway, and after three days, I was getting a little stir crazy. My biggest problem was the dress code enforcement on an island that didn’t really feel quite fancy enough for a dress code to begin with. I also found many of the rooms and facilities on the island to be in need of some TLC as the resort is 20+ years old (one of the oldest in the Maldives). All of these are really small things, and for the lower price tag, totally acceptable and worth its spot on this list as the top 5 resorts in the Maldives.
For a full breakdown of all Angsana Velavaru’s offerings, read my blog post dedicated to reviewing the hotel.
Which Maldivian Resort is Right For You?
While any of these five Maldivian resorts would make an excellent choice for your island getaway, it really depends on what you are looking for. Families will probably prefer InterContinental or Finolhu because of their wide array of activities for all ages. Marine enthusiasts will most definitely enjoy Kuramathi or Finolhu. Truly luxury travelers will be most at home on LUX or Intercontinental, while the budget-savvy might prefer Kuramathi or Angsana Velavaru. If you don’t want to hassle with the seaplanes, then Kuramathi is the only choice. It just depends on what you’re looking for in your perfect Maldivian vacation.
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