Bandos Maldives, in North Malé Atoll: 220 rooms on an 18-hectare island, 10 to 15 minutes by speedboat from the airport, with the oldest dive centre in the Maldives.
A week here, month by monthBandos suits families and divers: a reef to swim to from the beach, a club for children of 3 to 11, a doctor on the island and, from 10 April to 31 July 2027, nights for 2 from $340. Anyone after a quiet island with Malé and its aircraft out of sight will be happier further from the capital.
Bandos Maldives all inclusive: what it covers and what it leaves out Official siteDoes it suit you?
5 pairs of hotels, and the guide tells you whether this one suits you.
With children I would ask for the Premium Beach Villa, 109.7 m² on 2 floors with a jetted tub outside: 9 guests since April 2023 praise it. In October 2025 a guest on a fifth or sixth stay recommended a room with an open-air bathroom.
In the calendar read on 12 October 2026 every night from 10 April to 31 July 2027 costs $340 or $342. From 27 December to 9 January every night costs $624 to $927.
Neither speedboat is in the rate: Booking.com, read on 4 October 2026, prices the private one at $282 per adult each way. On the 2026 dive list a dive with full equipment costs up to $79.79 and a boat trip $23.16, service and tax included.
Take the mask to Huvan: on the resort’s own island map sharks are drawn just off it, with manta rays to either side and turtles off the water villas, and 4 guests between May 2021 and February 2026 single out the reef there.
It opened on 10 December 1972 with 28 rooms, the second resort in the Maldives (Maldives Magazine, Hotelier Maldives). Today the 18-hectare island, 7 km from Velana airport, holds 220 rooms in 8 types: 128 beachfront rooms, 85 villas on land, a single Beach Pool Villa and 6 Sunset Water Villas with pools over the water (brochure). It is Green Globe certified, and 1,330 solar panels on 16 roofs supply 30% of its energy (sustainability).
Most meals happen at Gallery, the 3-hall buffet renovated and reopened on 1 June 2025, where all-inclusive guests take breakfast, lunch and dinner; the plan covers house wine, draught beer, house spirits and selected cocktails in the bars, the minibar and 2 hours a day of windsurfing, canoeing and paddleboarding (all-inclusive, Hotelier Maldives). À la carte there are Umi Yaki, the Japanese teppanyaki, the overwater Grill Bar, Sea Breeze and Huvan (dining).
Dive Bandos is the longest-established dive centre in the Maldives, a PADI member with 40 sites nearby; a dive with full equipment costs $79.79, plus $23.16 for the boat (diving, 2026 price list). The island has a clinic with a pharmacy, a doctor, a nurse and a decompression chamber, the first in the Maldives according to the resort (diving, official site).
On Google the resort scores 4.6 out of 5 from 2,296 reviews, on Tripadvisor 4.5 from 5,532, read on 5 October 2026. Guests praise the staff, the reef and the short hop from the airport; the buffet hall is full at dinner, extras sit outside the plan and the 12 Garden Villas are off sale until 30 November 2026 (Google, Tripadvisor).
Lumina Guide 2027
Bandos is 10 to 15 minutes by speedboat from the airport: you swim to the reef from the beach and dive with the oldest dive centre in the Maldives, which has a hyperbaric chamber on the island.
How we choose the hotelsAmong Bandos’s regulars, 6 name the house reef and 4 the dive centre; 3 write that the staff remember them: for one, some of the kids’ club team have known her children since they were in nappies. They notice what changes: 3 welcome Gallery, the buffet reopened in June 2025, and a guest on a fifth or sixth stay, back after 3 years and writing in October 2025, finds orchids growing on the trees. She tells the next guest to look at night for glowing plankton on the dark beach beside the private villa. On its own site the resort sets out a loyalty programme, Footprints: 3 tiers, with 10%, 15% or 25% off food and drink.
The 5 things that matter look at the 500 most recent reviews; here, all 872 with text.
What we found reading the hotel’s own pages, one thing at a time.
10 to 15 minutes by speedboat and a reef off the beach; Malé is in sight from the south and east.
A 1972 island for families and divers, lively in the evening at the Sand Bar.
220 rooms from 37 to 110 m², many of them simple; just 6 over the water.
Gallery’s buffet, renovated in 2025, and 4 à la carte venues; the hall fills up at dinner.
Orchid Spa for massages and the salon; sauna and steam room at the Clubhouse.
On Google, read on 12 October 2026: $340 or $342 a night for 2 from 10 April to 31 July 2027, $624 to $927 from 27 December to 9 January.
A badge is an experience travellers look for, that is really here and that few hotels in the guide have.
Here: 10 to 15 minutes by speedboat from the airport, 7 km away; boats leave at any hour, timed to the flights.
Stated by booking.com. 20 hotels of 335 hold it.
Every hotel with this badgeWhat do Bandos’s guests say? They write it in their reviews, even those who only came for a drink or dinner: we read every one and tell the 5 things that matter, from the location to the bill.
9 in 10 guests who mention it are happy with it. The reef within swimming reach of the beach and the short speedboat ride from the airport are what bring guests back.
7 in 10 guests who mention it are happy with it. Guests write above all about the beach villas, which they find spacious, clean and comfortable, and, among the rooms, about the Deluxe Beachfront Rooms.
8 in 10 guests who mention it are happy with it. The waiting staff at the Gallery, the housekeepers and the instructors at Dive Bandos are mentioned most, often by name.
7 in 10 guests who mention it are happy with it. Breakfast is the buffet at the Gallery, from 7 to 10.15am; guests remember the choice and how helpful the staff are in the morning.
When Bandos guests write about money they write about extras: drinks, excursions, what the all-inclusive covers. Some of them loved the island.
| What | Score out of 10 | Guests who mention it | Happy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Location | 8.3 | 238 | 86% |
| Room | 6.9 | 152 | 72% |
| Staff and service | 8.1 | 399 | 82% |
| Breakfast | 7.0 | 24 | 71% |
| Price | – | 109 | 29% |
The scores come from 500 Google reviews with text, left from 7 May 2022 to 19 September 2026. The other hotels are the ones weighed for a stay in the Maldives: for each we read its latest 500 Google reviews with text, or all of them where there are fewer, as of 5 October 2026. The score is the average of what they say, from 0 if they speak of it very badly to 10 if they speak of it very well. Where only a few mention something, the score stays close to the guide’s average: a handful of voices does not make a reputation.
The hotels we weigh it against in the Maldives:
Price: for two on the night of 16 November 2026, from $317 (seen on Google Hotels on 12 October 2026).
On 12 October 2026 Google showed nights for 2 at $340 or $342 from 10 April to 31 July 2027 and at $435 to $622 from 10 January to 9 April; before Christmas 2026 most cost $276 to $566, with 8 nights in October and November between $746 and $1,240. On 4 October the nights from 27 December to 9 January cost $474 to $696 and 8 days later $624 to $927, each one dearer, while 142 of the 143 nights from 10 April to 30 August had not moved: on those 2 readings I would settle New Year dates first and feel no hurry over spring and summer.
| Period | Dollars a night |
|---|---|
| 13 October to 26 December 2026 | 276–1,240 |
| 27 December to 9 January | 624–927 |
| 10 January to 9 April 2027 | 435–622 |
| 10 April to 31 July 2027 | 340–342 |
| August 2027 | 384 every night |
| 1 to 7 September 2027 | 340 every night |
The lowest price Google Hotels showed for the hotel for that night in a search for 2 adults, read on 12 October 2026; 3 nights in October had no price and the calendar ran to 7 September 2027. The 8 nights at $746 to $1,240 are 17, 22 and 23 October and 17 to 20 and 22 November 2026: on 4 October the same nights read $345 to $540. The resort’s availability sheet of 11 October 2026 has most room types off sale on every night from 13 to 29 October. Booked as 7 nights from 16 November 2026, the lowest seller Google listed that day asked $558 a night.
Bandos for a shared pool, tennis and squash courts and a decompression chamber for divers; Villa Nautica for a bigger resort, 282 villas with Water Villas from 77 m², where Bandos has 6 villas over the water; Malahini Kuda Bandos, the island next door, for a small one at less than half the price in the week of 7 December 2026, where only the villas and suites have a pool. At Villa Nautica the bill turns on the meal plan: on full board, drinks and the à la carte restaurants are paid for.
| Hotel | A night, from |
|---|---|
| Bandos | $412 |
| Villa Nautica | $359 |
| Malahini Kuda Bandos | $172 |
A night: the lowest price in the week of 7 December 2026, in a search for 2 adults, read on Google on 12 October 2026.
The oldest dive centre in the Maldives, a doctor on the island, a reef you swim to, the all-inclusive buffet, teppanyaki and the children’s club.
The longest-established dive centre in the Maldives, a PADI member, dives 40 sites nearby and teaches everything from Discover Scuba, $154.44, to Open Water, $785.07 (diving, 2026 price list). Each dive with full equipment costs $79.79 and the boat $23.16 a trip; masks and fins are free but stay at the centre (2026 price list).
The island has a clinic with a pharmacy, a doctor, a nurse and a decompression chamber, which the resort calls the first in the Maldives (diving, official site). A guest in July 2026, taken ill after the first day, describes being seen with care at 7.50pm, 10 minutes before closing (Google).
You swim to the house reef from the shore, 40 to 60 metres out according to Expedia (Expedia). Guests in 2026 see small sharks, rays and turtles; for one in July it is liveliest behind the breakwaters (Google).
The main buffet, in 3 halls, reopened after renovation on 1 June 2025: breakfast from 7 to 10.15am, lunch from 12.30 to 2pm, dinner from 7 to 9pm (Gallery, Hotelier Maldives). All-inclusive adds selected drinks at the Sand Bar, Pool Bar, Huvan and Sea Breeze, afternoon tea and the minibar; at dinner the hall fills up (all-inclusive, Google).
Umi Yaki is the Japanese teppanyaki, by reservation, with 2 dinner sittings, 6 to 8pm and 8 to 10pm, closed on Sundays (Umi Yaki). The Grill Bar, on its overwater deck, grills meat and fish from 6 to 10pm except Fridays; Huvan, open from 11am to 11pm, is the sunset bar (Grill Bar, Huvan). For a guest in April 2026, drinks in the à la carte restaurants are charged even on all-inclusive (Google).
The club for children aged 3 to 11, supervised at all times, with crafts, games and learning through play; babysitting for younger ones is charged (experiences, brochure, FAQs). From 8 the dive centre lets children try a tank in less than 2 metres of water, on the $154.44 Bubblemaker (diving, 2026 price list).
Bandos lies 7 km from the airport and 8 km from Malé: Malé is in view from the south and east and the sunset is on the west side, near Huvan. Source: bandosmaldives.com
On the availability sheet the resort published on 11 October 2026, the 12 Garden Villas are off sale until 30 November (availability).
Neither speedboat is included in the rate: Booking.com prices the private one at $282 per adult each way, for up to 6 people, with children free (Booking.com). Boats leave with other guests, timed to flights (FAQs), and at the airport you wait until everyone has landed: 3 reviews between April 2025 and March 2026 describe waits of 45 minutes to more than an hour and a half (Google).
Bandos lies 7 km from the airport and 8 km from Malé (brochure): Malé is in view from the south and east and the sunset is on the west side, near Huvan (Google).
All-inclusive does not cover everything: snorkelling gear is hired separately, and 2 guests who wrote in 2025 report $20 and $22 a person a day for a set; excursions are paid for too (Google). Offers booked on the resort’s site include free snorkelling gear, 20% off food and 15% off the spa (Book Direct).
The prices read on Google include taxes and fees (Google Hotels). For children aged 2 and over, absent from the 2-adult quote, Booking.com lists a $12 nightly green tax payable at the resort. Do not add a second tax charge to the taxes already included in the quoted rate. In December 2025 the resort held gala dinners at Gallery on the 24th and the 31st: for December 2026, ask when you book whether they return and what they cost (festive programme).
Most rooms are simple: 128 of the 220 are Standard and Deluxe Beachfront Rooms, and only 6 villas stand over the water (brochure). Anyone who wants more space should look to the villas: those on the beach are the rooms guests write about most warmly; between May 2024 and January 2026, 6 Google reviews describe furniture and bathrooms showing wear in the beachfront rooms (Google).
By speedboat from Velana airport: 7 km, 10 to 15 minutes according to the resort.
| Speedboat | The resort runs transfers through the day and evening, timed to flights and shared with other guests; on arrival its staff wait in Zone A, at counter 2 (FAQs). Guests count 10 to 20 minutes on the water (Google). |
|---|---|
| Prices | Neither boat is in the room rate; the private one costs $282 per adult each way, for up to 6 people, children free (Booking.com). |
| Before you go | Flight details must reach the resort at least 3 days before arrival to secure seats on the boat (Booking.com). |
| Check-in | From 2pm, check-out by noon (Booking.com); a guest in April 2026 who landed at 9.30am waited for the room until 2pm in a lobby with no air conditioning (Google). |
Sources read on 4 and 5 October 2026.
The resort, the airport, the capital and Huraa, the island of the village tour. Tap a place for details.
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The resort’s team meets flights in the arrivals hall; if you miss them, their desk is counter 2 in Zone A. The speedboat is shared with guests landing at the same time.
Omelettes, waffles and pancakes are made to order at the live stations; the buffet closes at 10.15am.
6 guests between February 2018 and December 2025 tell the next guest to bring their own snorkelling gear; 2 who wrote in 2025 report $20 and $22 a person a day to hire a set. Booked on the resort’s site, the Book Direct offer includes it for 2 guests.
On the all-inclusive plan, afternoon tea, coffee and snacks are served at Sea Breeze, the café on the waterfront; the swim-up Pool Bar pours until 8pm.
The resort calls it its best spot for sunset cocktails. Umi Yaki’s first teppanyaki sitting starts at the same hour, by reservation; it is closed on Sundays, the Grill Bar on Fridays.
A live band, karaoke or a film: there is something on every night, and the bar stays open until midnight.
Platform scores and what guests write about the reef, the staff, the buffet and the building works.
Scores read on 5 October 2026
From the resort’s Google listing, April to September 2026: the reef, 16 days as a family, a doctor in the evening, the building works and the overwater villas.
GoogleA guest in September 2026 snorkelled round the island several times among small sharks, turtles and rays; that month also brought plenty of rain and wind.
GoogleA family who stayed 16 days in July 2026 praise the clean, well-kept island, the choice at the buffet, the activities and the reef off the beach.
GoogleA guest in July 2026, taken ill after the first day, was seen at the clinic at 7.50pm, 10 minutes before closing, and for 2 days the kitchen made them broth.
GoogleA guest in July 2026 writes of building works from 1 July to 30 November, an angle grinder every morning, 2 power cuts, a poor breakfast and Wi-Fi that drops; they advise coming after November.
GoogleA guest in April 2026 found the overwater villas fine and new and the location handy, 20 minutes by speedboat, but the buffet disappointing and the wait for the room, from 9.30am to 2pm, in a lobby with no air conditioning.
Sources read between 4 and 13 October 2026.
On Google Hotels, read on 5 October 2026 for 2 adults and 3-night stays, the resort’s own site asked $650 a night from 16 November and $534 from 7 December 2026, $497 from 11 January, $622 from 8 March and $340 from 7 June 2027. The cheapest seller asked $474 from 16 November, $407 from 7 December, $440 from 11 January and $537 from 8 March.
Google’s calendar, read again on 12 October 2026, showed $317 on 16 November, with $989 to $1,240 on the 4 nights after it, $412 on 7 December, $497 on 11 January and $340 or $342 every night from 10 April to 31 July 2027; 28 and 29 December 2026 cost $846 and $854. The figures include taxes and fees: for the stay from 7 December Booking.com’s link counts $463 of the $1,661 as taxes and fees, just over a quarter. The speedboat comes on top (Booking.com).
The resort offers «all standard meal plans»; on 7 October 2026 its booking engine sold half board, full board and all-inclusive (FAQs). All-inclusive covers breakfast, lunch and dinner at the Gallery buffet; water, tea, coffee and selected drinks at the Sand Bar, Pool Bar, Huvan and Sea Breeze, with house wine, draught beer, house spirits and selected cocktails; afternoon tea, coffee and snacks at Sea Breeze; and the minibar, refilled daily (all-inclusive).
It adds windsurfing, canoeing and paddleboarding for 2 hours a day per person, table tennis, billiards, squash, badminton, daytime tennis, the gym, classes, sauna and steam room (all-inclusive). The à la carte restaurants and the drinks ordered there are extra, and so is snorkelling gear: 2 guests who wrote in 2025 report $20 and $22 a person a day to hire a set (Google).
By speedboat from Velana airport, 7 km away: 10 to 15 minutes according to the resort’s brochure, 10 according to its home page (brochure, official site); guests count 10 to 20 minutes (Google). Boats leave at all hours to meet flights, shared with other guests (FAQs).
Neither the shared boat nor the private one is included in the room rate; the private one costs $282 per adult each way, for up to 6 people, with children free (Booking.com).
Yes: you swim to the house reef from the shore, 40 to 60 metres out according to Expedia (Expedia). Guests since 2025 nearly all speak well of it, with small sharks, rays and turtles; in July 2026 one guest found it liveliest behind the breakwaters (Google).
The resort also runs snorkelling trips to the reefs of Malé Atoll and a glass-bottom boat (experiences); snorkelling gear is free with the offers booked on its site (Book Direct).
Dive Bandos is the longest-established dive centre in the Maldives, a PADI member with 40 sites nearby, named the Indian Ocean’s Leading Dive Resort at the World Travel Awards 2024 (diving). From the 2026 price list, service and tax included: $79.79 a dive with full equipment for up to 4 dives, $23.16 for each boat trip, $154.44 for Discover Scuba and $785.07 for Open Water (2026 price list).
Yes: the clinic and pharmacy offer round-the-clock care, with a doctor, a nurse and a decompression chamber the resort calls the first in the Maldives (diving, official site); Malé and its hospitals are 8 km away (brochure). A guest in July 2026 was seen at 7.50pm, 10 minutes before the clinic closed (Google).
As a family, the Deluxe Beachfront Room, 54 m² for 2 adults and 2 children, interconnecting if needed, or the Premium Beach Villa, 109.7 m² on 2 floors with an outdoor tub (brochure). As a couple, one of the 6 Sunset Water Villas, 83 m² with a pool over the water, or the single Beach Pool Villa, 89.38 m² (brochure).
The 80 Standard Beachfront Rooms, 37.85 m², are the simplest; the Superior Villas face sunset on the west side (rooms). The 12 Garden Villas are off sale until 30 November 2026 (availability).
Yes: Kokko Club takes children aged 3 to 11 every day, babysitting is charged, and the Bubblemaker lets children try a tank from 8 (FAQs, brochure, diving). Cots are free up to 2, an extra bed costs $94 a night, under-2s eat free and from 12 children pay the adult rate (Booking.com).
The resort counts 4 restaurants and 3 bars (official site): Gallery, the international buffet with theme nights; Sea Breeze, a waterfront café open from 6am to midnight; Huvan, from 11am to 11pm; Umi Yaki, Japanese teppanyaki at dinner, closed on Sundays; the Grill Bar, grilling on its overwater deck from 6 to 10pm, closed on Fridays; the Sand Bar from 5.30pm to midnight and the Pool Bar from 8am to 8pm (dining, Sea Breeze, Umi Yaki, Grill Bar).
On request there are candlelit and lobster dinners on the beach, and pool villas can order a floating breakfast (private dining).
Orchid Spa offers massages, scrubs and facials in its villas and cabanas, a salon for manicures, pedicures, hair and make-up, and treatments for younger guests (spa). The sauna and steam room are at the Clubhouse and included on all-inclusive (all-inclusive).
Treatments are paid; Book Direct gives 15% off. Honeymoon Bliss requires at least 4 nights, within 6 months of the wedding, with a marriage certificate at booking; Long Stay requires at least 10 nights. Both are booked on the resort’s site and include one 60-minute massage for 2 per stay, booked within the first 3 days in the 10am–4pm window (Book Direct, Honeymoon Bliss, Long Stay). The site publishes neither opening hours nor access for outside guests.
In December 2025 the resort’s festive programme set a gala dinner at Gallery at 7pm on 24 December and another on the 31st, each followed by a party at the Sand Bar (festive programme). For December 2026, ask when you book whether the dinners return and what they cost. On Google’s calendar, read on 12 October 2026, 28 and 29 December 2026 cost $846 and $854, and 31 December, at $927, is the dearest night between 27 December and 9 January (Google Hotels).
The resort holds symbolic vow renewals, which it describes as not legally recognised (FAQs). The package PDF, still linked from its wedding page and read on 5 October 2026, lists base prices of $1,200 for Ocean Inspired, $1,500 for Tropical Paradise and $1,800 for Rustic Romance. A marriage proposal is $800 in the same document.
The file sits in a February 2024 path and adds 10% service and TGST, 17% for tourism since 1 July 2025 (MIRA, read on 15 October 2026); it gives no taxes-included total for a ceremony in 2026. It gives no beach-party capacity.
For meetings and events, the official venue page lists 378 theatre seats or 108 banquet places in Orchid Hall; 90 or 25 in Unimaa. The Funamaa/Kudimaa table lists 56 theatre and 13 banquet places. These are room capacities; that page gives no room-hire price.
Check-in from 2pm, check-out by noon (Booking.com). Offers booked on the resort’s site include early check-in and late check-out, subject to availability (Book Direct).
The shared swimming pool is outdoors among the gardens, with a swim-up bar (Pool Bar). The bar opens from 8am to 8pm. Its page gives no separate swimming timetable, pool dimensions, temperature or heating information.
For a private pool, the catalogue lists a single Beach Pool Villa and 6 Sunset Water Villas with pools over the water (rooms and villas). The remaining categories share the outdoor pool.
The resort publishes no seasonal closure. On 12 October 2026 Google showed a price for 327 nights from 13 October 2026 to 7 September 2027, every night but 3 in October: a night without a price does not prove a closure. On the resort’s availability sheet of 11 October 2026, the Garden Villas are off sale on every night to 30 November and other room types on many nights of October and November (availability). On Google’s calendar, read on 12 October 2026, every night from 10 April to 31 July 2027 cost $340 or $342; 30 November and 1 December cost $341; the dearest run was 27 December to 9 January, at $624 to $927, and 8 nights of October and November stood at $746 to $1,240 (Google Hotels).
On Google it scores 4.6 out of 5 from 2,296 reviews, on Tripadvisor 4.5 from 5,532 and on Booking.com 9.0 from 1,238, read on 5 October 2026. The 61 Google reviews of the last 6 months average 4.52. Guests praise the staff, the reef, the food and the short hop from the airport; the buffet hall is full at dinner, extras sit outside the plan and the 12 Garden Villas are off sale until 30 November 2026 (Google, Tripadvisor).
No. Bandos is an 18-hectare island 7 km from Velana airport, reached by speedboat in 10 to 15 minutes (brochure): a car and parking play no part in the stay.
A big, green island 15 minutes by speedboat from the airport: 7 restaurants and bars, water villas and a spa on an islet reached by a bridge.
An adults-only island almost entirely over the water: villas with a slide or a pool, 5 restaurants on the all-inclusive plan and H2O, the restaurant under the sea.
A family resort 20 minutes by speedboat from Malé: beach and overwater villas, the Roxity and Teen Spirit clubs, a pool with a waterslide and the restaurants of 3 islands on the meal plans.
A new family resort 30 to 45 minutes by speedboat from Malé: slides, a lazy river, a kids’ club and a bridge to Centara Grand Lagoon.
A small island 45 minutes by speedboat from Malé, with an all-inclusive plan and the reef off the beach; room blocks from 1996 and no pool.
A resort opened in 2025, 30 to 40 minutes by speedboat from Malé: 142 villas with a pool or a Jacuzzi, 5 venues on the island and family-minded Mirage across the bridge.
Pasta Point’s island, 20 minutes by speedboat: the wave for 30 surfers, water and beach bungalows, 3 buffets, from $393 a night.
150 villas furnished by the Italian brand LAGO, all inclusive only, 30 minutes by seaplane from Malé, with a free kids’ club for ages 3 to 12.
A cheerful island in Baa Atoll, 30 minutes by seaplane from Malé: 125 villas, the sandbank with the Crab Shack, clubs for children and teenagers and Hanifaru’s mantas from May to November.
A 24-hour all-inclusive in Raa Atoll, 45 minutes by seaplane from Malé: a green island, the reef a swim from the beach and 221 villas.
2 islands joined by a bridge, Premium All-Inclusive, golf, a kids’ club and a turtle hospital.
389 bungalows and villas, reef from the jetty, 6 golf holes and 3 areas with different pool and restaurant rules.
This guide is written with Lumina, the marketing system for hotels.
