This long island is one of the bigger resorts in Maldives, but manages to feel intimate and easily manageable on foot through good design. It boasts beautiful beaches that wrap around the entire island, a stellar house reef with passing whale sharks, and impressive architecture that combines fashionable minimalism with island chic.
Rooms range from the thatched-roof beach pavilions – a good size at 65 sq metres – and go up to the giant 360-sq-metre LUX* villa. There's a large set of water villas off each side of the island; they're quite some distance from the island itself, which can either make you feel like you have a long walk to the main restaurant, or that you’re lucky to enjoy some seclusion. While only half of the water villas have plunge pools, you’ll find them at all the cheaper beach pool villas, making these rooms good value for money.
The island has seven restaurants, multiple bars, a spa, a PADI five-star dive centre, a full water sports centre and the usual host of excursions.
The lagoon is wide on all sides and a good place to learn windsurfing or catamaran sailing. There’s no snorkelling to be had from the shore but you can take one of the free boat trips (which depart every afternoon) to the reef edge. The island has always been popular with divers, especially for the whale sharks that cruise the outer edge of the atoll here from May to November, and for the mantas on the west side of the atoll from December to May. Many guests are here to enjoy the high standard of dive sites paired with good accommodation and high-quality dining.
