The Best Hotels Near W Retreat & Spa Maldives, by the Record
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The nightclub is 15 feet underground so the beats don't disturb the lagoon's calm, which tells you exactly the kind of resort this is. Overwater villas sit on stilts above the North Ari Atoll, Beach Oasis bungalows sit steps from the sand, and spa treatments happen on open-air platforms above the water. Guests arrive by seaplane from Malé, which is either thrilling or just the standard Maldives commute, depending on how many times you've done it.
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The waters around this private island resort in North Ari Atoll shift from pale turquoise to deep navy before you've finished your coffee. With 86 thatched-roof villas, each with a plunge pool and high wooden ceilings, Constance Halaveli earns its Forbes Four Star rating by keeping things genuinely remote without making you feel like you've roughed it. Whale sharks patrol the nearby dive sites, which helps explain why half the guests have fins in their luggage.
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A twenty-minute seaplane hop east of Malé lands you on a sliver of sand where a hundred overwater villas somehow never feel crowded. The stilted rooms come with teak ceiling fans, glass floor panels looking straight down into the reef, and steps off the deck into snorkeling water. Three restaurants cover everything from buffets on sand floors to fine dining under a fishbone sculpture. Personal assistants field requests by WhatsApp, which feels either very futuristic or very millennial depending on your age.
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Two islands joined by a 600-metre bridge, spread across the South Ari Atoll, with a restaurant sitting five metres below the surface and a residence that goes deeper still. This Forbes Four Star resort in the Maldives runs eleven dining venues, an underground wine cellar, and a dedicated cheese bar, which is either visionary or very on-brand depending on your feelings about cheese. Swimwear to black tie, sometimes on the same day.
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The glass floors in the spa's treatment pavilions look straight down into the Indian Ocean, which sets the tone for this Forbes Five Star resort spread across three private islands in the Maldives. Eleven restaurants range from a treetop perch to a wine cellar cave, and the villas blur the line between indoors and the water surrounding them. The whole place is built around the premise that the ocean is the amenity.
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The waterslides off the overwater villas deliver guests straight into the Indian Ocean, which sets the tone for this private-island, all-inclusive resort in the South Malé Atoll. Five dining venues, overwater spa pavilions, and a dive center keep you from noticing there's nowhere else to go. A Michelin Key resort, and a homegrown Maldivian one at that, holding its own against the global names that have long colonized this stretch of the Indian Ocean.
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The whole resort fits on an island you can walk end to end in ten minutes, which tells you everything about the level of seclusion. COMO Cocoa Island is an overwater villa resort in the Maldives where every suite is built in the shape of a traditional dhoni fishing boat, with steps off the back balcony dropping straight into the Indian Ocean. A beach restaurant, a bar, an infinity pool, and some genuinely good diving round things out. Beyond that, the agenda is mostly yours to fill with nothing.