Veligandu Maldives Resort Island

A 100-villa resort on Veligandu island in North Ari Atoll, opened in 1984 and owned by Crown & Champa Resorts. It was called Veligandu Island Resort & Spa until March 2024; it underwent an 18-month renovation and reopened as a 5-star resort, on 23 November 2024 according to Trans Maldivian Airways, while the group’s release of 27 November gives no day. Google Hotels rates it 5 stars and the MICHELIN Guide awards it one Key.

Sources: the resort’s history · Trans Maldivian Airways · Crown & Champa Resorts · MICHELIN Guide

9 types. Over the water: the 86 m² Ocean Jacuzzi Villa (10 villas), the 102 m² Sunset Ocean Villa with its net over the sea (18), the 125 m² Ocean Pool Villa with a 5.8 × 3 m pool, the 152 m² Sunset Ocean Pool Villa with a 6.5 × 3 m pool, and 2-bedroom versions of 270 and 319 m² with 2 pools. On the beach: the 71 m² Beach Villa, the 86 m² Jacuzzi Beach Villa and the 90 m² Sunset Jacuzzi Beach Villa. The reopening release counts 47 Ocean Pool Villas, 28 Ocean Villas, 16 Jacuzzi Beach Villas and 9 Beach Villas. The 2-bedroom pool villas sleep up to 6 adults; for the 2-bedroom Ocean Pool the villa page gives 6 adults or 4 adults and 2 children, while the same card reproduced on the events calendar gives 6 adults only.

Sources: villas · Ocean Jacuzzi Villa · Sunset Ocean Villa · Crown & Champa Resorts

In Rasdhoo Atoll, part of North Ari, 20 minutes by seaplane from Velana airport. The MICHELIN Guide describes it as 600 metres long and 150 wide; the resort gives 22 acres, about 9 hectares. 2 guests write that you can cross it on foot in around 10 minutes; for the furthest villas the resort sends a buggy on request.

Sources: MICHELIN Guide · villas · Google reviews

By Trans Maldivian Airways seaplane, about 20 minutes according to the resort and the airline, 25 in the group’s release: flights run from 6am to 6pm and the last leaves the island at 4pm, so a late arrival means a night in Malé. By speedboat it takes about an hour, leaving the airport at 10.30am and 4.45pm and the island at 7am and 3.30pm. The seaplane allows 20 kg per person and at most 32 kg a piece. Private and yacht transfers are also offered; fares do not appear on the transfers page. Flights, names and ages must be sent at least 7 days ahead.

Sources: transfers · Trans Maldivian Airways · Crown & Champa Resorts

No: Veligandu is an island and the transfers page lists only seaplane, speedboat and yacht from Velana airport. The parking that Google Hotels lists among its amenities, read on 6 October 2026, has no counterpart on the island.

Sources: transfers · Google Hotels

The overwater villas have steps or direct access from the deck to the house reef; Beach and Jacuzzi Beach Villas are a few steps from the sand, and Sunset Jacuzzi Beach Villas have a stretch of private beach with loungers and a parasol. Sunset Ocean Pool Villas and the 2-bedroom villas go down to the water by a broad staircase.

Sources: villas · Sunset Ocean Pool Villa

The house reef encircles the island and can be explored alone or with a guide; the resort also runs night and sunrise snorkelling, half-day and full-day trips and, with its marine biologist, a boat trip to Big Blue Point for hammerheads, 10 minutes away. Guests describe blacktip sharks, rays and turtles seen from their villas and mantas on dives. Snorkelling gear is included on the all-inclusive; snorkelling excursions are for ages 6 and over.

Sources: snorkelling · diving · the Dine Around plan · Google reviews

The shared infinity pool is on the sandbank, joined to Thundi Bar, and Google Hotels describes it as freshwater. Private pools come with the overwater Pool villas: 5.8 × 3 m in the Ocean Pool Villa, 6.5 × 3 m in the Sunset Ocean Pool Villa, 2 per villa in the 2-bedroom versions. The Jacuzzi villas have a private Jacuzzi.

Sources: Thundi Bar · Ocean Pool Villa · Sunset Ocean Pool Villa · Google Hotels

The resort publishes neither opening hours nor a temperature for the infinity pool; Thundi Bar beside it opens at 8am and closes with the last guest. A guest who wrote in October 2025, after 15 days on the island at the end of September, says they were often alone at the pool.

Sources: Thundi Bar · Google reviews

Dhonveli, the buffet on a sand floor: breakfast 7.30 to 10.30am, lunch 12.30 to 2pm, dinner 7 to 9.30pm, with weekly theme nights. Madivaru Silk, Mediterranean and Asian cooking on the sunset side: lunch 12.30 to 2.30pm with last orders at 2pm, dinner 7 to 10pm with last orders at 9.30; the same page also gives hours of 10am to 11pm. Madivaru Teppanyaki Grill cooks in front of guests from 7 to 10pm. Raalhu, lobster and seafood, dinner only, 7 to 10pm. The bars are Thundi, from 8am until the last guest, and Raalhu Bar, 10am to 11pm. Guests advise booking early through the resort’s app.

Sources: Dhonveli · Madivaru · Raalhu · Thundi Bar · Raalhu Bar

The plan’s PDF, version of 30 April 2025 for winter 2025/26 and summer 2026, covers breakfast, lunch and dinner at Dhonveli; 3-course lunch and dinner at Madivaru Silk and dinner at Raalhu, by booking; snacks at Thundi Bar until 10.30pm, afternoon tea, alcoholic and soft drinks at Thundi and Raalhu Bar, a minibar restocked once a day and a bottle of champagne per villa. From 4 nights it adds a floating breakfast in the pool villas, an in-villa breakfast in the others, and a beach dinner. It leaves out destination and in-villa dining, motorised sports, excursions and the Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve gala dinners. Every guest in the villa must join for the whole stay. On the discount and the snack hours the newer source is the plan’s page, edited by the hotel on 22 February 2026 and read on 15 October 2026: 20% at Madivaru and Raalhu, snacks from 10am. A guest in December 2025 writes that teppanyaki was not included.

Sources: the Dine Around PDF · the all-inclusive page · Google reviews

Himeyn Spa stands over the water, above the lagoon (Himeyn Spa), with a yoga pavilion (Crown & Champa Resorts); its name means “calmness” in Dhivehi. The spa menu, version of 30 April 2025, describes a couples’ room and a relaxation lounge where ginger and lemongrass tea is served after treatments; a sauna, a steam room or spa pools appear neither in the menu nor on the spa page, read on 3 and 6 October 2026. You can book 60- and 90-minute massages at $155 and $215, couples’ rituals from the 75-minute Him & Her at $340 to the 135-minute Full Moon Magic at $560, facials, manicures and pedicures from $85, and yoga and mindfulness classes.

Treatments are paid for separately and charged to your villa, with 17% GST and 10% service already included in the prices on the spa menu; you book them from the villa phone on extension 644, through the resort’s app or at the spa, walk-ins included when there is space. On the Dine Around all-inclusive, each guest aged 15 and over receives one selected 60-minute treatment for stays of 7 to 10 nights and 2 from 11 nights, 20% off selected treatments in the first 2 days, and group yoga. For under-14s the spa offers family packages, with a parent present. A day pass for guests staying elsewhere is not published: the menu and the spa page, read on 3 and 6 October 2026, address guests in the villas and charge services to the room.

10am to 8pm, with the last booking at 7pm. Rescheduling or cancelling needs 6 hours’ notice: a no-show or a last-minute cancellation is charged in full, and packages are non-refundable.

Sources: spa menu

The menu, version of 30 April 2025, prices the main massages, from the Himeyn signature to Balinese, Thai and aromatherapy, at $155 for 60 minutes and $215 for 90; foot reflexology is $140 for 60 minutes. Prices are in US dollars with 17% GST and 10% service already included.

Sources: spa menu

Yes, though not in every villa. Beach, Sunset Jacuzzi Beach, Ocean Jacuzzi, Ocean Pool and 2-bedroom Ocean Pool villas take all ages; Jacuzzi Beach, Sunset Ocean, Sunset Ocean Pool and 2-bedroom Sunset Ocean Pool villas are for ages 12 and over (page of 3 August 2025). The 2-bedroom Ocean Pool sleeps 4 adults and 2 children. The official pages read do not mention a kids’ club; the spa has packages for under-14s and snorkelling excursions start at 6. Among the guide’s hotels, neighbouring Kuramathi has a free kids’ club for ages 3 to 12.

Sources: villas by age · spa menu · the Dine Around plan

According to Google Hotels, read on 6 October 2026, Wi-Fi is free, check-in is at 2pm and check-out at noon. The resort has an app for booking restaurants and activities, and your villa host answers on WhatsApp, as the MICHELIN Guide also notes.

Sources: Google Hotels · MICHELIN Guide

Padel, pickleball, tennis, TYPTI and beach volleyball; the VFitness gym facing the sea; a PADI dive centre with 18 sites nearby and a marine biologist; windsurfing, wing-surfing, catamarans, kayaks and motorised sports. Excursions include fishing, a sunset dolphin cruise, a sandbank picnic and a 2-hour visit to an inhabited island. In the evenings there is a Maldivian cultural show, live music and DJ nights.

Sources: land sports · diving · water sports · excursions · entertainment

The add-on packages apply only to bookings made directly with the resort, booked and stayed by 31 October 2027, 2 of them with a 3-night minimum: a 5-course dinner with sunrise yoga from $432 per villa, a couples’ wellness retreat from $328, and $300 of credit for $240, to spend in the restaurants, bars, boutique and photo studio. They exclude 22 December to 6 January, 14 February and special events. The Ocean Explorer package gives a 5-night minimum in its heading and 3 in its terms.

Sources: packages

The resort arranges symbolic ceremonies and vow renewals, on the beach, the sandbank or a yacht, with styling and candlelit dinners; the page calls it symbolic, without legal effect. Prices and guest numbers are not published.

Sources: weddings and vows

The resort’s festive page, read on 13 October 2026, gives the 2026/27 season as 23 December 2026 to 5 January, a 2-week programme with gala dinners and raffle draws; the 2025/26 season ran from 22 December to 2 January. The Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve gala dinners are compulsory supplements, outside the room rate and the Dine Around discounts. On Google, read on 12 October 2026, the night of 24 December 2026 cost $3,443 for 2 and that of 31 December $1,310.

Sources: festive season · the Dine Around plan · Google Hotels

No: the land sports the resort lists are padel, pickleball, tennis, TYPTI and beach volleyball. Among the guide’s hotels in the Maldives, Kuredu has a 6-hole golf course.

Sources: land sports

It reopened on 23 November 2024 after 18 months of work. The official pages read announce no seasonal closure, and Google’s calendar, read on 12 October 2026, shows prices for 294 nights from 22 October 2026 to 6 September 2027; a night without a price only means Google showed no offer that day.

Sources: Trans Maldivian Airways · the resort’s history · Google Hotels

On the Google Hotels calendar, read on 12 October 2026, a night for 2 adults cost $739 on 1 November 2026, $837 on 2 December, $3,443 on Christmas Eve, $1,310 on 31 December and $815 on 14 January 2027; the lowest figure in the calendar was $471, on 120 nights from 1 May to 6 September 2027. The calendar does not say which villa or meal plan, and the transfer comes on top; the official pages read publish no villa rates.

Sources: Google Hotels

In the 101 Google reviews with text written since the reopening, 93% of those who mention the island praise it, and 93% of those who mention the service do too; the villa hosts, the buffet and the reef from the villa keep coming back. It helps to know that the à la carte restaurants need reserving early and that, without the Dine Around all-inclusive, the extras add up, from drinks to the guided reef tour.

Sources: Google reviews

Spa menu prices include 17% GST and 10% service. The Google Hotels calendar figures, per night for 2 adults, do not name the villa, the meal plan or the transfer. The official pages read publish no villa rates or transfer fares, so ask for the full quote and its separate charges. On the Dine Around, included items are not billed and the rest is settled at check-out.

Sources: spa menu · Google Hotels · the Dine Around plan