10 of the best affordable hotels in the Maldives

The Maldives is synonymous with its super-rich movie star company — Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Lionel Messi, Taylor Swift — however you don’t have to construct an empire to have the ability to go to this unimaginable island nation. A seemingly insatiable demand from travellers has led hoteliers to diversify, with extra resorts being constructed to attraction to households, huge teams and solo travellers, in addition to these on a finances. And whereas a vacation right here is rarely going to be low cost (until you’re prepared to remain on an area alcohol-free island) yow will discover offers for little greater than you would possibly pay to go to the Caribbean or southeast Asia. There’s loads of selection on the desk too, from far-flung escapes skimming the equator to wellness retreats, occurring design-led islands and back-to-nature escapes. We’ve put collectively the best of the bunch underneath £2,500 per individual per week.    

Main picture: Constance Halaveli, Maldives

1. The Residence at Dhigurah

Best for edge-of-the world vitality
It takes a bit longer to succeed in this resort from Malé International Airport (a one-hour home flight south adopted by a 15-minute speedboat experience) however, boy, is it value it. A coral-stone’s throw from the equator in the barely developed Gaafu Alifu Atoll, the islands listed here are bigger, longer and extra jungly than in the north — options that The Residence takes full benefit of with miles of shimmering white seaside, shapeshifting sandbanks and bicycle trails by coconut groves. The entry-level seaside villas are our favorite of all the classes; supersized, merely styled and intensely personal, every with its personal swimming pool. The Spa by Clarins sits in lush gardens with a sea view. 

Details Six nights’ B&B from from £2,431pp, together with flights and transfers

2. Nova Maldives

Best for whale sharks
This fresh-out-the-box resort has 78 seaside and overwater villas, generously spaced aside on a gorgeous huge pure island in the serene South Ari Atoll. The design is clear and sunny, all vivid whites, pale woods, mint greens and lemons — the good foil to the Indian Ocean’s luminous blue. This is the place you’ll be spending most of your time, exploring the dazzling home reef, taking benefit of the free non-motorised water sports activities and trying to find whale sharks (the South Ari Atoll is one of the solely locations in the world the place you possibly can swim with them year-round). 

Details Seven nights’ full board from £2,386pp, together with flights and transfers

3. Kandima Maldives

Best for laid-back vibes  
Shaped like a 3km-long hockey stick, Kandima swings by an untouched lagoon in the faraway Dhaalu Atoll, which will be reached on an affordable home flight from the capital. Unusually for the Maldives, the resort additionally has rooms (fairly than solely villas) making a keep right here much less dear than most. Activities embrace every thing from kickboxing, artwork courses and cookery classes to pool events and film nights underneath the stars.  

Details Seven nights’ all-inclusive from £2,387pp, together with flights and transfers

4. Meeru Island

Best for households 
This cheerful resort is tucked away on a big pure island in a quiet nook of the North Malé Atoll, which implies households will be parked on the seaside inside an hour of arriving at the airport jetty. Larger than most Maldivian islands, Meeru has a golf course with a placing inexperienced and driving vary, tennis courts, badminton courts, and a soccer pitch at the coronary heart of the island. Elsewhere, there’s a dive centre, two swimming swimming pools, two spas, 5 eating places, three bars and 286 colour-pop backyard, seaside and water villas.  

Details Six nights’ full board from £1,763pp, together with flights and transfers

5. Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort and Spa

Best for foodies
A breezy 15-minute speedboat experience from Velana International Airport, this massive pure island is full of services — three swimming pools (together with one with a waterfall), tennis courts, ping-pong tables, water sports activities centre, youngsters’ membership and holistic spa. The most affordable entry-level rooms are pretty, positioned on the seaside 4 in a block, with both a balcony or sandy little terrace. Seven tip-top eating places make sure you get the most out of your all-inclusive deal — the Thai and Indian meals is especially moreish.

Details Six nights’ all-inclusive from £1,508pp, staying in a deluxe beachfront room, together with flights and transfers

6. Kurumba Maldives

Best for barefoot luxurious 
Kurumba is the authentic Maldives resort. When the personal island opened in 1972 it consisted of 30 modest rooms, constructed from coral stone, coconut timber and palm thatch, with restricted electrical energy and brackish water for showers. Fifty years later, it’s a classy escape with 180 rooms, suites and villas, in addition to eight eating places, a dreamy spa and a few of the nicest workers in the enterprise. Just ten minutes by speedboat from the airport, if there’s one downside it’s that the resort doesn’t really feel as remoted because it should have carried out in the previous.  

Details Six nights’ full board from £2,408pp, together with flights and transfers 

7. Velassaru

Best for cool {couples}  
A brief hop by speedboat from the capital, Velassaru manages to tug off being romantic and trendy at the identical time. The island itself feels uncluttered, haloed by a broad band of pearly white sand the place you possibly can all the time discover some privateness. The glossy villas are bigger than common, too, adorned in pared-back taupes, darkish woods and zesty pops of color, with split-level dwelling rooms and monochrome bogs. Fen Bar is the place to be after darkish, nibbling meze and ingesting blue curaçao cocktails between the Indian Ocean and LED-studded infinity pool.

Details Six nights’ half board from £2,461pp, staying in a deluxe villa, together with flights and transfers 

8. The Standard Huruvalhi Maldives

Best for a vigorous ambiance 
Located in the resplendent Raa Atoll, a 40-minute seaplane experience from Malé, The Standard delivers designer attractiveness, on-trend bars and eating places, and incredible well being and wellness services. Pale wood villas are trimmed in neon pink with ukuleles on the wall, disco balls above the bathtubs and inflatable flamingos in the plunge swimming pools. There’s additionally loads to do, from complimentary pilates and yoga courses to seaside volleyball, swimming with manta rays and sundown dolphin-spotting cruises. 

Details Six nights’ B&B from £2,334, staying in an overwater pool villa, together with flights and transfers 

9. Lux* South Ari Atoll

Best for water infants
Whether you need to go crusing throughout the Indian Ocean, browsing alongside distant breaks, diving alongside hammerhead sharks, snorkelling in technicolour reefs or swimming with whale sharks, manta rays and turtles, this personal island escape — in one of the Maldives’ most biodiverse atolls — has bought you coated. Not that the resort takes second place: Lux* is unpretentiously cool, with massive whitewashed villas, complimentary yoga and bicycles, a incredible overwater spa and a unique restaurant for each night time of the week.

Details Seven nights’ B&B from £2,211, staying in a seaside villa, together with flights and transfers 

10. Constance Halaveli

Best for overwater villas 
Constance Halaveli feels much more luxurious than its charges counsel, with a sublimely peaceable location in the North Ari Atoll (a 30-minute seaplane journey from Malé), prime services — dive centre, tennis courts, infinity pool and overwater spa — and eating places which have received awards for his or her wines. And you received’t have to splash out further for an overwater villa; they’re classed as entry-level right here, regardless of their ample measurement, personal plunge swimming pools and large decks with wood steps main straight into the baby-blue sea.  

Details Six nights’ B&B from £2,463, staying in an overwater villa, together with flights and transfers