With nearly 80 Maldives resorts that feature overwater villas, it’s not easy to find the one that suits you the best. Just because a hotel has a high rate doesn’t automatically mean that it’s one of the best out there, so we’ve gone through all of them to create a list of the absolute best of the best luxury resorts in the Maldives to help you find the best for you.
The majority of the overwater bungalow resorts in the Maldives are 4-star or 5-star, so expectations tend to be pretty high with any of them.
Overwater resorts are known for their luxury standards, top notch designs and island decor. Though this is very true for most resorts around the world, there are a few that take amenities to the next level with unexpected features that add an extra touch to each villa.
When looking through lists of resorts, you’ll quickly find that many resorts in the Maldives specialize in private bathrooms or private wooden terraces that offer stairs into the ocean or lagoon below.
You may not yet know that Sandals is a chain of about 20 resorts all over the Caribbean and 3 of those resorts have the regions first “honeymoon-style” overwater bungalows. With a name like Sandals you might also not expect that this is a very high-end chain of all-inclusive resorts, but that’s exactly what it is.
The overwater bungalows start around US$3,000 per night and I had a chance to visit them at two of Sandals’ Jamaica resorts on a recent press trip.
Acting as an extremely popular island for North American honeymooning couples and the romantically inclined, Bora Bora has both its high season and the largest crowds during the months of June and July. With that said, for those with a choice of when to go there are probably better times of year, this of course being dependent on your goals. We’ll dive into all of this down below.
April, 2011, the Kardashian clan (and their film/production crew) invaded the French Polynesian island of Bora Bora for a 7-day family visit. Needless to say, the whole thing is part of their “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” show, and the 3 Bora Bora episodes begin airing this coming Sunday, August 21, 2011, in the United States.
Evidently the main purpose was that Bruce and Kris Jenner were going to renew their wedding vows for their 20th Anniversary so nearly the whole family were there to help celebrate.
We are constantly asked if there are any of those amazing overwater bungalow resorts in the Caribbean, and many people are disappointed to learn that there are only a few options that come close to what you would find in the South Pacific and the Maldives.
With this said, there are some good options for budget seekers off of the Caribbean coast of Panama. Most of these hotels, lodges, and resorts tend to focus more on nature and being as eco-friendly as possible than on luxuries, so they’re certainly not for everyone.
With over 80 different water-villa resorts in the Maldives to choose from, you’ll find that the overwater villas here are spread out throughout the entire nation. You’ll also note that most of the oldest resorts opened up near the main international airport. On the other hand, most of the newer resorts are a long way away, making it so that you’ll need to take a sea-plane flight that can be both time consuming and a bit expensive.
While there are overwater bungalow resorts scattered all throughout the South Pacific, Fiji is home to only 3, at least for the moment. What is nice about these 3 choices, is that they do vary a lot from each other, which allows guests a few options. Out of these, 2 offer rooms around the US$500 a night range while the third is geared toward travelers that adventure with a larger budget.
If you are looking for something other than the three listed below, you’ll be able to go to one of the other islands in the South Pacific, where you’ll have around 30 different resorts to choose from if you can make it to Bora Bora or elsewhere in French Polynesia.
Thailand is perhaps the most popular country in Asia for sunny holidays we get a lot of questions about whether there are overwater bungalows or water villas in the Land of Smiles. The answer is a bit complicated because there are two resorts that currently have something along these lines, but neither are the classic design that most people are looking for. There are no overwater resorts in Krabi, but there’s one on Phuket and another on Koh Samui that sort of fit the definition.
It is without doubt, that most people consider the Maldives to be one of the premier honeymoon destinations on this planet of ours. However, there has been an increased number of families that are spending holidays in this gorgeous archipelago as well. This has made for a sensitive situation where one of our most common questions is about Maldives child-free resorts and of those who solely focus on a romantic atmosphere, meaning they rather not be surrounded by families and their children.