Best Maldives resorts for families: you could be forgiven for thinking that the Maldives are only for couples on holiday. Yes, that is true for some of these paradise islands. But the shallow, clear water, powder-soft sand, and soothing sound of coconut palms swaying together are also perfect for stressed-out parents looking for an easy family holiday to give them much-needed R&R.
Plus, many fun and educational kids’ clubs help with that. From children to teens, this place has a hotel for every kind of young guest, from those who love water slides to those who want to learn about marine life, snorkel, paint, or build sandcastles. And what about the parents? Spas, surf lessons, dinners with candles under the stars, and an hour or two of floating in those turquoise waters without kids? Here is a list of the Maldives’ best family hotels.
Are the Maldives a good place for a family holiday?
Best Maldives resorts for families Maldives is known for being a beautiful place to holiday, but families can enjoy their time there just as much. No matter what age, the beaches are great for kids because they have soft sand, shallow water for swimming, and lots of fun things to do.
“The Maldives is a great place for families!” Many good resorts for families have great kids’ clubs with cooking lessons, Lego rooms, and other things to do inside and outside. These islands are great places to help your kids become interested in nature. What could be better with your family than going on hikes in the woods, crabbing, and feeding stingrays?
JA Manafaru
It takes a 90-minute domestic flight from the city and a 45-minute speedboat ride to get to JA Manafaru. This resort is better for older kids who are very fit because the trip takes longer. The resort also has many outdoor activities, such as cooking classes, parasailing, tennis, billiards, and volleyball. There are private pools in the family villas, and the all-inclusive choice is great for families because the food is so good. The Haa Alif island, which is still unspoiled and teeming with healthy coral reefs, turtles, manta rays, eels, and eagle rays, is the true attraction here though.
Avani+ Fares Maldives Resort
This 176-room resort is on the edge of the Unesco biosphere reserve Baa Island. It is the first resort in the Maldives to have a restaurant just for kids called Petit Bistro, which has small tables, a pizza oven, and a cooking school. For kids ages 4 to 11, there are also AvaniKids Clubs. For teens, there is a club with computer games and futsal tables. There are four studios in a block, all of which are large and reasonably priced. Two- and three-bedroom overwater pool houses and a four-bedroom mansion roll right onto the beach. There is also a choice that covers everything.
Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru
This fancy island resort does a cool trick: it’s great for honeymooners, solo tourists, and families. The houses are big, with private pools and acres of outdoor space, so kids can squeal and laugh without bothering the neighbours. They are located on stretches of clotted-cream beach or stilts over turquoise water. Adventure programs get kids to put down their video games and explore the island with several puzzles and challenges, like finding lizards, arranging coral reefs, and walking along wishing trees. They do these things to earn stamps that can be exchanged for toys and ice cream sundaes.
Finolhu
This fancy island resort does a cool trick: it’s great for honeymooners, solo tourists, and families. The residences are large, with private pools and lots of outside space so children may squeal and laugh without annoying the neighbours. They are located on stretches of clotted-cream beach or stilts over turquoise water. Adventure programs get kids to put down their video games and explore the island with several puzzles and challenges, like finding lizards, arranging coral reefs, and walking along wishing trees. They do these things to earn stamps that can be exchanged for toys and ice cream sundaes.
Patina Maldives, Fari Islands
Easygoing, Family-friendly things are great about Patina Maldives. The location is fantastic; from Malé, a 45-minute speedboat ride. The abundance of things to do presents still another challenge. The Patina is part of the Fari Islands, artificial islands with three resorts, a shared pier, a beach club, a water sports centre, and many restaurants. The slightly sloping main beach is protected on three sides, so the water is always calm, and kids can use kayaks, paddleboards, and scuba gear for free. There’s a cutting-edge kids’ club with Glowforge laser cuts, 3D printers, and crazy science classes. The entry-level villas aren’t the biggest, but the two-bedroom pool houses can fit up to six people.
Amilla Maldives Resort & Residences
Spinner dolphins, sea turtles, and manta rays often swim by this modern luxury lodge, which is in a beautiful lagoon with its own little blue hole. There are 67 houses, some on the beach and some over the water. They are all very large and have Hamptons-style decor, large living rooms, private pools, and lots of outdoor space. The Sultan’s Village Kids’ Club is lucky because it’s open from 9 am to 8 pm, some of the Maldives’ longest hours. They have kombucha courses, Friday night dances, and advanced sandcastle-building.
Gili Lankanfushi
Gili Lankanfushi is full of exciting things to do, from the strange thatched-roof water houses that are thrown out into the Indian Ocean and can only be reached by boat to the meals that can be found by fishing or foraging. The resort cares a lot about protecting and promoting Maldivian culture. This includes the kids’ club, which has lessons on making art from palm leaves and coconuts, underwater treasure hunts with a marine biologist, and Boduberu drumming. Adults can get relaxing ayurvedic treatments at the lovely Meera Spa while the kids are busy.
Sirru Fen Fushi, Private Lagoon Resort
Not every island resort has an art gallery, let alone one underground. But suppose you snorkel along the shore of Sirru Fen Fushi. In that case, you can find an artificial coral reef made of a steel box that is only partially submerged and filled with beautiful underwater statues by Jason deCaires Taylor. Family members can learn how to paint like the Maldivians at an art school and relax in stylish family homes with private pools and free minibars above the water. There are also miles of beautiful beaches and clubs for kids ages four and up.
The Residence at Dhigurah
You’re more likely to see sea turtles than people on this huge, jungled island in the faraway Gaafu Alifu Atoll. Hawksbill, olive ridley, and green turtles are often seen in the house reef, along the shore, and in underwater homes. This means that you’ll almost certainly see one every day. A kilometre-long wooden bridge connects it to a sister resort, and everyone gets around on bikes. Running from the beach to the huge swimming pool, cooking classes, and the kids’ club is a lot of fun. You can get there by business jet, which is great because you won’t have to try to get nervous kids on a crowded seaplane.
Soneva Fushi
This eco-resort is ahead of its time and is in the manta ray-filled Baa Atoll. It has huge family homes with private pools, sun decks on the second floor, direct beach access, and up to nine bedrooms. In addition to its kids’ club, The Den, it has a cooking school, a library, an outdoor movie theatre, a studio for blowing recycled glass, tennis fields, and an observatory where, on a clear night, you can see Saturn’s rings. The animals are also very interesting. Fluffy rabbits, flying chickens, and fruit bats are running all over the island.
JW Marriott Maldives Resort and Spa
This resort is great for families and is in Shaviyani Atoll, full of dolphins. The beaches are raked, the restaurants have views of the water, and the spa has treatment rooms that are enclosed in glass. There is great care for families, and the service is as warm as the Maldivian sun. The duplex villas have two bedrooms, private pools, and a den upstairs for movie nights. The Little Griffins Kids’ Club has a 13-meter pirate ship and more than 100 events every week. Children under twelve eat for free; you can volunteer free babysitting.
Vakkaru Maldives
There are a lot of regulars at this low-key resort in the Baa Atoll. Madonna was on a family trip with her six children. When they arrive, kids are given small bathrobes and shoes, comics and books, a parrotfish soft toy, and an indoor tepee. After dinner, kids ages 3 to 12 can go to the kids’ club with a treehouse theme, and teens can play soccer and volleyball at the Coconut Club. The beach is beautiful, and the house reef is easy to get to and in great shape. It contains sea turtles, clownfish (Nemos), and powder blue tang (Dorys).
Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands
Tucked away on a grassy knoll fit for The Teletubbies, Ritz Kids is Middle of the knoll is a swimming pool with water slides, water jets, and a mega-climbing structure. Inside sits napping pods and a game room. For bigger children, there is a separate activity facility featuring pool tables and a photographic studio. Riding with your family would be much suited for over two miles of sandy paths. The only program in the Maldives that employs drones and underwater robots to teach people about ocean preservation is the fantastic Jean-Michel Cousteau Ambassadors of the Environment program.
Kandima Maldives
In the Maldives, finding a resort that doesn’t offer expensive private villas is rare. But this big, happy resort in the barely developed Dhaalu Atoll has cheaper rooms, family-sized flats, water villas, and beach villas. Every restaurant, even the fine-dining restaurant and the teppanyaki grill has a children’s menu, and kids under six can stay and eat for free. There’s also Kandiland, an exciting kids’ club with a climbing wall, trampoline, and water park open every day from 9 am to 7 pm Lux* South Ari Atoll.
The cool design that looks like it came from Ibiza, the feel-good spa treatments, and the five different bars will make parents happy. There are two clubhouses for kids and one for teens. The kids will also love the beach games and adventure trips. The all-inclusive is sure to make everyone happy; it includes tennis and yoga classes, minibars in the rooms, coffee made by a chef, unlimited ice cream, and water sports that don’t motors. The best places to stay for families are the lagoon houses, which are right on the white beach and in the calm, Tiffany-blue water.
Six Senses Laamu
Six Senses Laamu has a free online program called “Jun” or Marine Biologist” It includes video lessons, home projects, and colouring books and worksheets that kids can download and print out. They can learn to be marine biologists before going to the beach. They can use any new skills they’ve learned when they get to the remote Laamu Atoll (also used as Planet Scarif in the Star Wars movie Rogue One). They can swim through fields of seagrass, a favourite food of green sea turtles, snorkel with manta rays, and kayak tours through the dark mangroves.
Sun Siyam Iru Fushi
The award-winning Balinese-style pool at the five-star Sun Siyam Iru Fushi is just one of the many nice touches the hotel offers exhausted parents. There is also a kidskids’b to keep the kids busy. They can play ping-pong and billiards and splash around in the family pool for fun. Meanwhile, parents can relax at the hair salon, do yoga and health classes, or swim in the pool just for adults. There is live music, DJ sets, and enough places to eat somewhere new every night for two weeks. This means that kids won’t be bored. You can choose an all-inclusive holiday, but you can also choose a bed and breakfast, half-board, or full-board holiday. Up to two children are free to stay and eat with their parents.
Jumeirah Maldives
Some of MaldMaldives’sgest beach and water houses can be found at this easy-to-reach resort in the north Malé Atoll, just a 50-minute speedboat ride from the airport. Each house has its big infinity pool and a deck on the roof thatthat’sat for family movie nights (complete with popcorn). The price includes access to the kidskids’b for kids ages 3 to 11 from 9 am to 7 pm. You can also use the tennis fields, football pitch, and other water sports that don’t involve motors for free.
Conrad Maldives Rangali Island
Not every resort in the Maldives has manta rays in the backyard; it’s uncommon to see them anywhere but in certain atolls at certain times of the year. But suppose you cross the bridge that connects the two beautiful natural islands that make up the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island. In that case, you’ll see at least a couple of these beautiful creatures swimming along the surface. You might also see dolphins, whale sharks, and green sea turtles on a boat trip. Back on land, there are free kids ages 3 to 12 and lots of free activities for bigger kids, like learning to scuba dive in the pool and windsurfing on the beach. There are also 12 great places to eat, including the underground restaurant Ithaa, so you won’t have to worry about food.
Le Meridien Maldives Resort and Spa
This pretty island resort is in the northern Lhaviyani Atoll of the Maldives. It’sIt’sreat place to build sandcastles. A long band of broad white sand around the natural island is covered in coral, seashells, and tiny hermit crabs. The sand slowly slopes into the warm, shallow Indian Ocean, which is great for kids. Despite their more business-like decor, the beach villas feel bigger than the other villas, even though they all have outdoor rooms. The soft play area and swings in the kidskids’b allow parents to relax at the adult-only pool and great spa.
Ozen Reserve Bolifushi
There are a lot of all-inclusive resorts out there these days, but Ozen Reserve Bolifushi is the best in terms of services and value for money. The island is big enough to fit 91 pool villas, some with slides that go into the water. There is also a shared infinity pool, a gym with a view of the water, an ice rink, an overwater spa, a kidskids’b, and a teenteens’m. With the Reserve Plan, you can eat at all five places and enjoy theme nights, unlimited champagne and aged whiskies, free laundry, and three hours of spa treatments daily.
Niyama Private Islands
This twin-island resort in the southern Dhaalu Atoll is great for families. Its surf break is only a short paddle from the shore. Everyone in the family can take lessons. They start with the basics in NiyaNiyama’s blue pool and move on to duck dives and cutbacks in the open sea. When you return to land, there is a kids’ club with singing and dancing, a restaurant in a treehouse, an underground restaurant, an underwater spa, and big family villas on the beach and stilts above the Indian Ocean.
Joali Maldives
This is the place if you want to take a family holiday somewhere that feels more like home than some of the big foreign chains. The Joali KidsKids’b is open from 9 am to 8 pm, which is very late, and all activities are free. There are cooking classes, clay art classes, tennis lessons, and DJ workshops. The houses look like cathedrals, and all have private infinity pools. There are also two-, three-, and four-bedroom homes for bringing the whole family. There are also five restaurants, a sunset bar, a whisky and cigar room, and an ice cream shop so everyone can find something they like to eat or drink.
Velaa Private Island
The oval-shaped island in the beautiful Noonu Atoll might resemble Kendall Roy’s private island getaway. Aside from its private seaplane and huge luxury villas, Velaa has a lot of other facilities, such as a golf academy and a seven-hole course designed by José María Olazábal, as well as a space-age restaurant tower with a secret wine cellar and an overwater spa. The kids’ club has its water park, and the staff dresses up as superheroes (Spider-Man, Superman, and Iron Man) to teach water jet boot lessons. There are also fan-cooled fields for padel lessons with former tennis pros.
The Maldives is a great place for families looking for reasonably priced yet unforgettable holidays and luxury seekers. These low-cost, family-friendly resorts offer advice on budget-conscious holiday planning.
