Dhawa Ihuru

A 5-star all-inclusive resort on its own island in North Malé Atoll, run by Banyan Group under its Dhawa brand. It was Angsana Ihuru until the rebrand Banyan Tree Group announced on 25 January 2023 in its newsroom, which called it the brand's entry into the Maldives and listed new dining venues and leisure facilities. The island buy-out page counts 45 beachfront villas.

The buy-out fact sheet lists one restaurant, one bar, one spa, a yoga studio, a gym, a PADI dive centre, a water sports centre, a kids' club and an arts and crafts studio. The home page shows Tripadvisor's Travellers' Choice for 2023 and 2026 and EarthCheck Gold certification from 2024.

4 types, all on the beach, as the accommodation page lists them: the Beachfront Villa and the Beachfront Sunset Villa at 57 m², the Beachfront Jet Pool Villa and the Beachfront Rainmist Villa at 68 m². Each has a king bed and an outdoor shower, a minibar, a safe and a smart TV; the Jet Pool Villa adds a whirlpool bath and the Rainmist Villa a rain mist lounge.

There are 45 villas in all, and the site does not break the figure down by type; none is over the water. The villa pages give a capacity of 2. The Beachfront, Sunset and Jet Pool pages allow 2 extra sofa beds; the Rainmist page does not mention them; Booking.com lists a queen bed and a sofa bed. On 7 October 2026 the official site, on Google, asked $796 for 2 in a Beachfront Villa on the Family Splash Escape plan and $1,247 for the Rainmist Villa on All-Inclusive Dine.

On Ihuru, in North Malé Atoll, 18 km and 25 minutes by speedboat from Velana International Airport, according to the location page; the home page puts it 20 km north of Malé. Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru, the sister resort, is 0.9 km away.

It is quiet: guests from 2023 to 2026 describe a small, calm island with no loud entertainment, though not adults-only. One guest in December 2024 put its circumference at about 500 metres, 2 others in 2025 at about 1 km; nobody publishes an official figure.

By speedboat, 25 minutes from Velana, says the home page, which adds that the return transfer is complimentary for all guests; the offers page lists it among the benefits of booking direct, and the Booking.com listing carries “with Free Transfers” in its name. The resort’s home page, read again on 15 October 2026, still gives complimentary return transfers to all guests, so the Google Hotels card is wrong to list the airport shuttle as an extra charge.

Booking.com asks for flight details at least 2 days before arrival. There is no seaplane, so an evening flight needs no night in Malé, as one guest wrote in February 2023.

No: Ihuru is an island reached only by boat, and there are no cars on it. The Google Hotels card lists parking, an error for an island; the location page gives only the speedboat from the airport, and guests walk barefoot from villa to restaurant.

From your own villa: every one is on the beach, with direct access to the sand and the water, as the resort’s guide to all-inclusive stays says. The reef begins a few metres out; guests in 2024 and 2025 wrote of reaching the drop-off in under a minute and of a reef 2 metres from the shore.

There is no beach club, and the beach shifts with the monsoon: in March 2024 one guest found it best on the north and west sides.

Yes, from the beach. The resort’s diving guide describes hard and soft corals a short swim from the shore, with green and hawksbill turtles, blacktip reef sharks, stingrays and shoals of fusiliers and snappers; the 2023 rebrand release counted 30 dive spots on the house reef. Snorkelling it is free, with gear lent at the Marine Centre.

The Rannamaari, a dredger sunk in 1999, lies offshore and is reached by a brief boat ride or a guided swim, depending on conditions. Guests disagree on the reef's health: in January 2023 one found it 40% intact, in December 2023 another “comparatively ok”, while most since 2024 praise its sharks and turtles. A house reef dive costs from $100 in the all-inclusive brochure.

None for swimming. The “jet pools” on the facilities page are the whirlpool baths in the open-air bathrooms of the Jet Pool Villas, and the buy-out fact sheet counts one spa, one yoga studio and one gym, with no pool on its list. Guests say the same: one in January 2023 noted no pool and no water villas, another in September 2024 chose the island for having neither.

The nearest pool is the saltwater infinity pool at Madi Hiyaa on Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru, 3 minutes by the scheduled ferry, which one couple used in August 2026. For swimming, Dhawa Ihuru has the lagoon and the reef.

There is no swimming pool on the island. The whirlpool baths are private, in the open-air bathrooms of the Jet Pool Villas. The nearest pool is next door, 3 minutes away by the scheduled ferry: the saltwater infinity pool at Madi Hiyaa on Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru, open from 8am to 6pm according to its facilities page. Neither resort's pages, read on 6 October 2026, give a water temperature for the baths or for the pool.

At Riveli Restaurant, the island's only one: international cooking, buffet or à la carte, breakfast from 7am to 10am, lunch from 12.30pm to 2.30pm and dinner from 6.30pm to 10pm. Velaavani Bar serves snacks and drinks from 11am to 11pm, and Nectar brings Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Maldivian or Western bento boxes anywhere on the island from 11am to 11pm.

The lagoon breakfast, the Ihuru Grill and the fisherman beach dinner cost extra. Across the water, the all-inclusive brochure adds the restaurants of Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru: Madi Hiyaa, Japanese and over the water, Saffron, which is Thai, Sangu Garden and Naiboli Bar, all to be booked ahead. The 2023 release named a Barception and a Nook; the website today names Riveli and Velaavani, and guests in 2024 and 2025 still called the bar Barception.

There are 2 plans, according to the all-inclusive brochure of May 2026. All-Inclusive Dine covers breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner, standard drinks by the glass at Riveli and Velaavani from 11am to 11pm, the minibar restocked daily and the kids' club, with 20% off food at Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru, excluding Naiboli Bar and Sangu Garden, and on destination dining.

All-Inclusive Premium adds premium drinks, one meal a day served in the villa, lunch at Sangu Garden and buffet dinners on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday on Vabbinfaru, 50% off destination dining, 20% off spa treatments other than body massages, 2 pieces of laundry a day and a resort credit of $75 per person per day, capped at $750 per person. The plan runs from 2pm check-in to noon check-out, the same for everyone in the villa; no alcohol is served under 18.

8lements Spa offers massages and body wraps, with the oils mixed from native ingredients just before each treatment, as the spa page describes; the website's photographs show treatment pavilions open to a garden behind a bamboo fence. One guest in July 2025 placed it in the island's interior, with an unhurried welcome before being shown to a private garden treatment room. There are also Activa, a gym open round the clock, which the same guest puts above the dive centre, and a yoga room facing the sea.

The resort gives neither the spa's size nor its number of rooms, and names no sauna or steam room. Booking.com lists a relaxation area, a foot bath and a hot tub, and the location page points to the Banyan Tree Spa on Vabbinfaru, a ferry ride away.

Treatments cost extra. On All-Inclusive Premium, the daily $75 resort credit can pay for one body massage per person per stay, from $155, and other treatments cost 20% less, as the all-inclusive brochure says; All-Inclusive Dine includes no treatment. Booked online, the Rainmist Villa adds a 60-minute massage for 2 once per stay.

The resort publishes no day pass for anyone not staying on the island, which is reached only by boat, and no fee for visitors from its sister island: in July 2023 a guest of Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru wrote of being offered Dhawa Ihuru's kids' club, restaurant and water sports equipment.

From 11am to 8pm, according to the facilities page. The gym and the Nest lounge are open 24 hours, the Marine Centre from 8am to 5pm and the kids' club from 9am to 5pm. Treatments are booked through reservations, and the brochure asks for pre-bookings.

One price is in print: the all-inclusive brochure has a body massage at 8lements from $155 a person. The website carries no full spa menu; the spa page names massages and cooling, restoring body wraps, the honeymoon page adds aromatherapy baths, and Booking.com lists facials, body scrubs, manicures and pedicures.

Yes, though on a small scale. The kids' club, open from 9am to 5pm, runs treasure hunts, beach games and arts and crafts, as the facilities page and the brochure say; it is included on both plans, children under 4 must be accompanied and babysitting costs extra. One guest in February 2024 described a club for ages 2 to 7.

On Booking.com children 12 and over pay as adults, under-2s eat free, a cot is free and an extra bed costs $12 a night up to 3 years and $230 from 4 to 11. The festive offer lets 2 children under 12 stay and dine free, and Booking.com welcomes children of all ages.

The facilities page lists 8lements Spa, the Activa gym and yoga studio, the PADI 5-Star Gold Palm dive centre and water sports centre, the Kahan'bu catamaran, the kids' club and the Nest, a 24-hour lounge with free snacks, tea and coffee. The arts and crafts studio turns driftwood and reclaimed timber into dhonis and sea creatures.

Kayaks, paddleboards, snorkelling gear, catamaran sailing and windsurfing after a check sail are free, according to the brochure; jet skis, parasailing, the dolphin cruise and night fishing cost extra. Wi-Fi is free and scores 9.5 out of 10 on Booking.com. There is a meeting room for 20.

Read on 6 October 2026: Stay More, Pay Less, 25% off from 3 nights and 30% from 7, with one child free; Advance Purchase, 20% off when booked 30 days ahead; Family Splash Escape, all-inclusive with up to 2 children free, a catamaran sail and a dolphin cruise or guided snorkel; Dive More, Pay Less, 5 dives for $600 or 12 for $1,260, tax included.

Booking direct adds a $150 resort credit from 3 nights. The festive offer, for stays from 20 December 2026 to 9 January 2027, gives 25% off, with gala dinner supplements on top.

Yes, on the beach: the beach wedding page takes up to 50 guests standing or 30 seated, and includes bodu beru drummers, a garland and bouquet, flowers, a cake, a bottle of champagne, a wedding certificate and a romantic turndown. The page, which also speaks of renewing vows, gives no price and does not say whether the ceremony is legally binding.

The honeymoon benefits, within 6 months of the wedding, add wine, fruit and a cake from 3 nights and a 5-course beach dinner from 5. The whole island, 45 villas, can be taken for a wedding or a party through the buy-out, which offers sunset cocktails on the beach, private barbecues and catamaran cruises.

Yes, and it is compulsory. Booking.com lists the New Year's Eve dinner on 31 December 2026 at $250 net per adult and $125 per child aged 4 to 11, free for infants, and a Christmas Eve dinner on 24 December at $200 and $100. The festive programme is called “Welcome to Neverland”: gala dinners, Santa arriving by boat and a New Year's Eve party where guests dress as Neverland characters, with the schedule still to be confirmed.

On Google Hotels, read on 12 October 2026, the night of 31 December cost $1,565 for 2; the calendar does not say whether the dinner is included, and the resort's festive offer treats gala dinners as a supplement.

No. Neither the facilities page nor the brochure lists a golf course or a golf package. A guest reviewing on 24 November 2023 mentions the table-tennis table; another, on 31 January 2025, recalls playing badminton during a stay in July 2024.

On Google Hotels, read on 6 October 2026, 113 of the 117 nights from 7 October 2026 to 31 January 2027 had prices. For 17, 18, 19 and 21 November the calendar showed no price, and a night without a price is not necessarily a night the resort is closed.

The diving guide says the reef is rewarding all year, with clearer water in calm periods and more big fish when the currents pick up. A review of June 2023 tells of few people on the island, which its writer put down to the rainy season; 4 write of rough sea, in reviews of July, October and December 2025 and June 2026.

On Google Hotels, read on 6 October 2026, a night for 2 adults cost $796 on 7 October 2026, $1,393 on 28 October, $820 on 29 November, $1,709 on 29 December, $1,156 on 10 January 2027 and $2,458 on 29 January, taxes and fees included.

The calendar names no villa. For 7 October the official site asked $796 for a Beachfront Villa on the Family Splash Escape plan, all-inclusive, and its booking link included $196.19 of tax and $60 of other charges; on All-Inclusive Dine the same villa cost $989 and the Rainmist Villa $1,247.

On 3 October 2026 Google showed 4.7/5 from 509 ratings, Tripadvisor 4.9/5 from 3,645, with the 2026 Travellers’ Choice, and Booking.com 9.3/10 from 278, with 9.7 for staff and 8.7 for value. Of the 323 Google reviews with text, 92% of those discussing the location are positive, 90% on staff and services and 77% on the villas; guests happy with the price name the all-inclusive plan, speedboat transfer and reef a few metres from the villa.

The reef, the staff, the privacy of the beach villas and the short boat ride recur. The island has no pool and one restaurant, and on a long stay a few dinners can be had at Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru; spa treatments, dives and guided snorkelling, from $50, are outside the all-inclusive plan.

Google Hotels prices for the Maldives include taxes and fees: for 7 October the official link showed $796.19, of which $196.19 was tax and $60 other charges. The offers page quotes its own rates per villa per night, subject to service charge and the tourism goods and services tax, plus a green tax of $12 per person per night.

On Tripadvisor, partner prices from $684 for 11 October were “taxes not included”, read on 3 October 2026. The dive packages are quoted with tax and service included.

Check-in is at 2pm and check-out at noon, according to the accommodation page. Early check-in and late check-out depend on availability; a late check-out until 6pm costs 50% of the day's Best Available Rate, and booking direct adds both, subject to availability.