The best family hotels in the Maldives
The Maldives might appear, at first glance, like a destination for couples. But beyond the sunset suppers and private pools, many of the top hotels across the 26 Indian Ocean atolls are wonderful for families, too. These are the top nine Maldives hotels to visit with the whole pack. Or for more top stays, see our guide to the best hotels in the Maldives.
Amilla Maldives Resort and ResidencesAmilla Maldives Resort & Residences
Best for: accessibility
A sandy dot in the candy-blue Baa Atoll, Amilla is tucked into a forest where coconut palms tower above the screw pines and hibiscus, and flying foxes chitter and fuss in the canopy. Our usual daily soundtrack – alarm clocks, traffic, heavy-footed upstairs neighbours – was swiftly forgotten, replaced with jungle sounds, the swish of bike tyres, the call of koel cuckoos and the tinkling of glass from coral pieces tumbling in the surf. Amilla has everything: diverse, excellent food, a butler service that’s all too easy to get used to, an impressive spa, a tennis court – countless pleasures on land and in the sea. But because of my disability, all of this – as indeed any holiday on a remote island, with its sandy paths, jetties, air and water transfers – would not normally be possible for my family. However, everything about Amilla gave me confidence.
Last year it became the first resort in the world to be signed off by accessible holiday guru Inclucare for how it responds to mobility, and sensory and cognitive needs. Because of the way it has trained its staff and invested in special equipment, I could visit the Blue Hole, an extraordinary underwater cave and popular dive site, and drive a jet ski around the island looking for dolphins. Things I would never have dreamed of being able to do. But the pampering was at its best when it came to our daughters Poe, six, and Hedwig, five. They had dolls left on their pillows, backpacks in the shape of the native white-tailed tropicbirds and nameplates on their bikes. The all-day kids’ club was a riot of photography, pizzamaking, crafts, face-painting, henna tattoos and treasure hunts. Watching my girls run to hug the staff at the club – which they insisted on staying at all day – I knew they were well cared for.
This meant that my wife and I could spend time together, which is hard to come by. We would have lunch overlooking the sea, not having to remind anyone to use a knife and fork or take their feet off the table. We went snorkelling in the reef – it was the end of the manta season, when hundreds of those unworldly giants feed upon plankton in Hanifaru Bay. Some days we would go our separate ways. Sarah paddleboarded or did yoga while I lounged on the pillow-soft sand and read my book. The staff made sure there was always a beach wheelchair nearby. At the end of the day, we would retrieve our daughters and eat together as a family. The kids’ favourite was the Japanese restaurant, where they watched nurse sharks laze in the water below. Then they would race me home on their bikes, the air sweet from the neem trees, and quickly fall asleep to the sound of the waves, while we stargazed, with a bottle of Champagne chilling, contented that our family was able to enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Jarred McGinnis
Christopher CypertThe Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands
Best for: toddlers
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Travelling to the Maldives alone with my 22-month-old daughter Beatrice, a week before my husband and four-year-old could fly out after school broke up. What I didn’t account for was that the toddler considered a 10-hour flight extended soft play; a boat ride transfer a chance to hurl herself into the frothy surf; and a welcoming villa spread of chocolate milk and cookies gleeful handball practice. But from the second we landed on the teak jetty – sea lettuce forming a fluorescent lime backdrop and whitebreasted water hens hop-hopping along the icing-sugar sand – we knew we were in good hands.
The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands in the North Malé Atoll, a 45-minute boat ride from the airport, opened in 2021 with a kids’ club designed by the great Australian architect Kerry Hill. As with the rooms in the resort, it is round, and with its grass roof and portholes, strongly resembles a cool, future-facing Teletubbyland. The energetic Dom Samonte kept my little one amused with cupcake-decorating, tie-dyeing, facepainting, pom-pom-crafting and endless shelves of wooden Plan Toys, from a seesaw Pegasus to dinosaur puzzles. All Beatrice wanted to do was kick-kick (swim). This was ideal, as the shaded outdoor pool came with a slide, fountains and inflatables. Rooms were filled with Bamford baby products and, one night, our wonderful butler Novita Novita set up a tepee for my daughter’s soft toys. But the things that stuck in my mind were outside the kids’ club: Beatrice swimming unaided for the first time – with armbands – in the villa’s pool; her first maki rolls, popped in her mouth with bear-shaped chopsticks; and soaring over frangipani on the garden swing with her on my lap. Also, the day I asked her how she felt and she smiled and said, “Appy.” Jemima Sissons
Soneva Jani MaldivesSoneva Jani
Best for: the fantastical kid's club
On the fringe of a lagoon, blanketed in deep-green jungle and ringed with neon-white beach and sparkling, dancing, baby-blue water, Soneva Jani is an unreal world. It’s a never-never land for children, who trail about the jungly interiors on push-bikes, pilfering from the free ice-cream and chocolate parlours, hanging in hammocks, throwing themselves down slides into iridescent waters and splashing around on technicolour reefs. Last summer the second Maldivian home of visionary hotel brand Soneva raised the bar even higher for these pint-sized deities, with the creation of The Den, a fantastical kids’ club of dreams that’s the largest in South Asia.
On day two, I took my daughter Havana, 11, there. On day three, she told me she wouldn’t be joining me for lunch, or indeed at any other time. “Goodbye, mother dear,” she said, before turning on her heel and diving into the pool. On day four, she disappeared before breakfast. Screens and tablets are banned from The Den: this is about real play in a natural setting. Two waterfalls plunge into a pool that has a swim-up bar with catamaran nets for lounging in, and a zip line cuts straight through them. The garden is home to a pirate ship and climbing wall. Inside, there’s an entire room for Lego, a craft area, dressing-up space, film projector, toddler sensory play area and a kids’ kitchen, with children’s books scattered around. On the roof, tweens and teens mingle over pool-set ping-pong, a music room, telescope deck, pool and table football, pinball machines and a slide for getting downstairs. All is presided over by attentive, fun-loving staff in the prime of youth. Soneva Jani brings freedom and security to children and parents alike. Havana’s happiness granted me the rare peace and freedom of reading in a hammock, or heading to the treehouselike Island Spa, which skims along the resort’s eastern flank. And when I went to The Den and saw its unadulterated play and joy, I had another feeling – old, now unfamiliar – of wanting to be a child again. Lydia Bell
JW Marriott Maldives Resort and Spa
Best for: relaxing by the pool
This relatively recent arrival is the place for endless horizons, abundant marine life and a perfectly crafted break for you and the clan. Families can hang out in rambling villas with huge terraces and private pools, and the 24/7 baby-sitting service means grown-ups can easily flee to the adult-only infinity pool (or bar) for some R 'n' R. The Little Griffins kids' club is marvellous, with its own pool, a super-sized pirate ship and a seemingly endless array of activities, from yoga and balloon twisting to treasure hunts. Teens, meanwhile, can race around on kayaks, learn to kite-surf, and take up table tennis. One of the hotel's eight restaurants is set in the treetops (for the full Swiss Family Robinson experience), while every night is movie night at the outdoor cinema. JW Marriott has the ultimate bucket-and-spade experience down pat.
Fairmont Maldives, Sirru Fen Fushi
Best for: teens
From the shore it appears like a silvery sugar cube set in a sea of aquamarine, but paddle a little closer and you'll start to make out the shape of large twisting tentacles, bone-white banyan trees and pyramids of starfish – sculptures created from non-toxic marine-grade compounds which act as an artificial reef attracting a kaleidoscope of pink and orange sponges, branching hard corals and stripey schooling fish. A snorkel around the Fairmont's underwater art gallery, or Coralarium, is a delight for the whole family, but Tik-Tok-ing teens, in particular, will be in their element. The kids' club is split in two, with a soft play area for four- to 12-year-olds and a low-lit hangout with pool tables, video games and a music-mixing station for teenagers. Throw in a kilometre of dazzling beach, a 200-metre swimming pool, art and photography studios, inventive menus (go all-inclusive) and fresh, bright, boho-ish villas big enough for kith and kin and you'll never hear a single wail of 'I'm bored'.
Soneva Fushi
Best for: playful delights
This hotel keeps on getting it right. It was the first in these parts to cut a cool swathe, brandishing its 'no shoes, no news' eco vibe with an easy insouciance that cash-rich time-poor urbanots immediately plugged into. Its owners Sonu and Eva, now that they have sold on their Six Senses empire, continue to pour all their passion into what is essentially their island home, a properly wild tropical spot shot through with all the stylish vision they can muster. Fantastical wooden houses with teardrop pools; treetop restaurants with Noma chefs; alfresco cinema screenings fuelled by visits to the chilled chocolate room; private lunches in the gardens. It is a happy place. It doesn't matter if you're here alone to bury yourself in the spa, or with a huge pack of family wanting action: the place is big enough, imaginative enough and clever enough to nail it for everyone.
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Daniel SteinmannOzen Life Maadhoo
Best for: a sporty all-inclusive
All adrenaline-packed action takes place at one end of the island nicknamed The Hub, where there is a watersports centre - such as flyboarding and wakeboarding - a pool by the thatched bar, and five of the hotel's six restaurants. But this is also the spot to wind down: at the pretty spa with its outdoor salt- and freshwater dipping pools, and stepping-stones over ponds decorated with half-submerged Oriental vases and lily pads. The 46 beach-front villas are good for families, while the 49 over-water villas offer more privacy; those with plunge pools face the sunset and all come with a shared butler who can whizz guests around the island in a buggy. For lunch, head to Lonu for reimagined traditional Maldivian small plates, or at any of the surprising number of places to eat, given the size of the hotel. There's Hong Kong-style, stir-fried lagoon crab at Peking; delicious hoppers with coconut chutney at Indo Ceylon, and six-course seafood menus (scallops with pumpkin and heirloom tomatoes; grilled yellowfin tuna; red mullet with pepper and pecorino) at underwater restaurant M6M. This is an all-inclusive that shouldn't make you sneer; it's a bit of a treat not having to think about prices and extras, and where every detail is taken care of. Emma Love
Finolhu
Best for: island playground
Finolhu is an island that delivers on all levels. Forget Club 55: Crab Shack is one of the top beach restaurants in the world, halfway down a staggeringly beautiful tail of white sand spearing nearly two kilometres into the Indian Ocean. Here you'll find litres of delicious pink wine and soft-shell-crab tacos delivered by the metre. Staff are funny, charming and top-brass, filtered from other best hotels in the zone such as Reethi Rah. The main hangout is the Beach Kitchen, an all-day dining restaurant with views of the oasis-style swimming food and exciting open-kitchen experience.
If guests do fancy some shut-eye, there are 91 over-water villas and 34 on the beach, some facing reef-protected calm waters, the rest with pools. Rooms are smart and fun: rattan furniture, handmade lamps and decorations from South Africa and Java. Food is sensational, from mezzes and shisha pipes at Middle Eastern restaurant Arabian Grill to contemporary Japanese food at Kanusan. Downtime and detox is at The Fehi Spa, with its jungle gym, basketball and tennis courts, and the Milk LAB serves flat whites, protein shakes and açai bowls. This hotel is not to be underestimated. An instant professional, it delivers on high energy brilliance without forgetting to get rooms, service and food pitch-perfect. Michelle Jana Chan
COMO Maalifushi
Best for: little ones
With its sister COMO hotel in the Maldives popular with couples, Maalifushi is aimed at the next stage: parenting. At the kids' club, four- to 12-year-olds can grow crystals, fold palm leaves into parrots and learn Dhivehi (well, a few words anyway). But they're just as likely go hunting for geckos or shark spotting, in keeping with COMO's new 'Play' philosophy, which encourages children to take charge. It's all about boosting confidence. For teens, there are plenty of watersports and desert-island hijinks plus getting down with dad at family yoga sessions if they (or you) are up for it. With shady gardens and plunge pools, and just a few steps from the sand, the beach villas are best for families. There's a natural, understated vibe throughout, and children won't eat this healthily anywhere in the archipelago: coconut, cinnamon and almond porridge for breakfast, lentil cakes with crushed avocado for tea. But really the joy of Maalifushi lies in its sensational spa, where parents are likely to disappear and emerge with a much higher patience threshold. Which let's face it, means a marvellously relaxing time for everyone.
Per Aquum Niyama
Best for: kids' clubs
The clever Per Aquum group has clocked that honeymooners may want to return to the Maldives with some additions to their party. That's where sister hotel Niyama comes in. Staff smile at sticky fingers, scoop up tantrummy toddlers and debate football teams with teens. The island, Play, has at its heart a gleaming kids' club, run by an unflappable Scott Dunn-trained team. With circus-top-themed rooms, a marathon of activities, the softest sand-floored playground and a water park, it's a spirited hideaway for children, a refuge from the equatorial sun. For parents of smaller ones, the fact that the club takes kids from 12 months old is worth ordering another gin and tonic for. For those with tech-obsessed tweens, there's a separate games zone with Xboxes, computers and an awesome pair of simulator rooms: one for cinema screenings and one with kit for golf, shooting and goal-scoring practice. And, of course, there are the beaches, the snorkelling, banana boats and dhoni trips. There's not a chance in hell anyone will get bored.
Kanuhura
Best for: hands-on family activities
Children get special treatment here, and can be whisked off to the Kids' Club (for four- to 11-year-olds), complete with junior-size windsurfers, to enjoy banana tube rides, cooking classes and even pirate cruises. There are also abundant options for all the family, from sunset fishing to beach football and movies under the stars. Set in an otherwise little-visited area of the archipelago, Kanuhura has 80 contemporary-chic villas, each with a butler who will organise anything from a highchair to a desert-island excursion.