Why We Like it: Lily Beach Resort is a 5 Star all-inclusive with water villas on a stunning private island in southern Ari Atoll, Maldives. Their all-inclusive plan offers a generous array of quality services, with a range of free water sports activities and excursions and lots and lots of premium quality food and drink. It is a well-known resort and consistently popular; people return here year after year, so advance bookings are recommended. Water Villas & Other Accommodation: They have a choice of water villas, beach villas and lagoon villas at Pearl Beach. The typically romantic overwater villas come in two categories: their ‘Deluxe Water Villas’ have 1356 ft² of space including a private outdoor deck with a jacuzzi plunge pool. Their ‘Sunset Water Villas’ then are a step ahead with 1960 ft² to play with, a proportionally larger deck and larger pool, as well as a 24-hour personal butler service. All the overwater choices have a section of glass floor panels so you can gaze at the sea life below from the comfort of your bungalow. The Lagoon Villas are at the edge of the lagoon and cover just short of 1000 ft², are secluded and private and come with an outdoor bath on the terrace. The Beach Villas have a nice location right on the beach with a private deck and about 730 ft² of space for the ‘standard’ villas and 1463 ft² for the two-bedroom ‘family’ villas, which are effectively two interconnected standard villas. The style is modernist and fairly minimalist, with the emphasis being more on comfort than fancy decor. All the accommodation choices include luxury hotel standard facilities and features as standard: air-conditioning, WiFi, flat-screen TV & home theatre system, tea/coffee making facilities, minibar and safe etc. The bathrooms are all suitably plush too and come with powerful rainfall showers and luxury spa bathtubs. Water Villa Prices: Check out all the details – prices, reviews and more photos, on their Booking.com page here and on their Expedia.com page here. Resort Facilities & Things to Do: There are four restaurants and three bars at the resort and the quality of the food and drink is READ MORE

Why We Like it: All-inclusive resorts can tend to fall short when it comes to real luxury but Ozen Maadhoo is the Maldives’ finest example of how to get it right. It is a fabulous place: the setting is stunning, as is the accommodation, there is a generous supply of top quality food and drink and, if staying more than 4 nights, complimentary activities to enjoy too – spa treatments, scuba diving and a meal at the resort’s very special underwater restaurant, just to give you an idea. All that plus tremendously high levels of service make Ozen All Inclusive excellent value compared to other similar resorts in the Maldives. Water Villas & Other Accommodation: You have a choice of classic water villas and beach villas here, ranging in size from 85 m² to 285 m². They are all doubles, with king size bed and a sofa bed in the lounge area if needed, with the exception of the large ‘Beach Pool Pavillion‘, which has two bedrooms – a master bedroom and one twin bedroom. The water villas are a classically romantic choice with direct access to the water and with uninterrupted views as far as the eye can see. They also all have, amongst other luxury features, glass floor panels in the living room and standalone ellipse-shaped bathtubs which open up to the outside via sliding doors. The standard villas will not disappoint but the ‘Water Villas with Private Pool‘ are the pick of the bunch, having 1205 sq ft/112 sq meters of space and a nice infinity-style plunge pool on the outside deck. The beachside villas may not have that but they all have a private pool as standard and across the accommodation choices the interior design and decor is crisp and smart with sleek furniture, bright fabrics and tasteful art pieces. Modern luxury hotel facilities are standard too with AC, WiFi, flat-screen cable TV, Segafredo coffee machines and free mini bars that are generously restocked twice a day. The service is top quality at this resort and you will have room service, a private butler and concierge services throughout your stay. Water Villa Prices: Check out all READ MORE

Why We Like it: Soneva Jani is one of The Maldives’ most exclusive private island resorts and has water villas that are almost uniquely spacious, stylish and luxurious. The very largest of them, the two and four-bedroom ‘water reserves’ around the end of the walkway, being really quite extraordinary. These opulent wooden palaces come with private pools, water slides and retractable roofs that allow stargazing direct from the master bedroom. Soneva Jani is also an eco-resort that has, since its inception, striven to keep its environmental impact as low as possible. Water and waste is recycled and treated via the on-site waste management center and most of the resort’s electricity is solar generated. Facilities include, amongst others, a luxurious spa, tennis courts, a gym, four restaurants and a bar, a cinema, a night-time sky observatory, a water sports center and a kid’s club. All inclusive packages have been available here since 2021. Check below for details as to what is included. Most of the island is left natural and wild so, anytime the feeling takes you, you can have a wander through mangrove forests and deserted beaches, and feel yourself enticingly detached from civilization. Water Villas & Other Accommodation: The first stand-out feature of Soneva Jani’s water villas is their sheer size – all of them are spread over two floors and their very smallest one-bedroom units still cover 4477 square feet/416 square meters while their largest, the four-bedroom water reserve, covers a whopping 15295 square feet/1421 square meters. There are five other categories between those two extremes none of which will disappoint. The majority of them have water slides from the upper floor if you’re ever in a hurry to get downstairs. Other standard features include large private pools, various glass floor viewing panels, study rooms, huge walk-in wardrobes, kitchenettes and stunning bathrooms. Outside of the water villas you can also choose to stay in their two-bedroom beach bungalow hidden away in the mangrove forests. It is titled the Robinson Crusoe Residence and comes with lots of very private space. Or you can also choose to stay in their very indulgent, 23-meter private yacht. It has two en-suite bedrooms READ MORE

Why We Like it: Sun Siyam Iru Fushi is an award-winning 5-star all inclusive with water villas on a stunning private island in The Maldives’ Noonu Atoll. The resort has a great reputation for family vacations, winning the World Travel Awards’ category of Best Family Resort in the Indian Ocean three years running from 2016 to 2019, while also being nominated multiple times for the world’s best family resort. It is also though a popular place for a romantic getaway – this being the Maldives adults/couples dominate anyway, there are also dedicated adults only zones and the resort is large enough to find plenty of space for rest, relaxation and romance. It offers various options – b&b, half board, full board and all inclusive. For a multiple award winning, 5 star resort in The Maldives Sun Siyam Iru Fushi is pleasantly very reasonably priced, with the all inclusive being overall the best value package. Water Villas & Other Accommodation: It has a nice choice of accommodation on offer, villa style, around the beach or overwater. All of them fit a maximum of two adults and two children up to the age of 12. They are all as plush and comfortable as you might expect from a 5 star private island paradise with sleek interiors and a nice sense of open space both inside and out, though some may deem the water villas too close to each other careful design means that even on their outside terrace they are still very private. The pick of their Maldives over water villas is very much the ‘Infinity Water Villa with Separate Living Room’, all 1668 square feet/155 square meters of it. It, as the name suggests features a separate lounge area and an infinity pool on the terrace. The others are smaller, though none of them could be accused of being too small – your most basic choice will still be over 900 square feet/85 square meters and though won’t have a private pool it will still have either a semi-open bathroom with a photo-worthy spa bath overlooking the sea, or a jacuzzi on the terrace. All their water villas also come with those READ MORE

Why We Like it: The 5 Star, adults only Anatara Veli Resort has 67 chic overwater bungalows in a sublime setting just half an hour by speedboat from Mali’s International Airport. The location is more private and secluded than other water villa resorts in The Maldives, and is very much designed for romantic getaways. It is still though just a two-minute speedboat shuttle to the busier (& family-friendly) Anantara Dhigu Resort across the lagoon. There you’ll find a broad range of facilities and entertainment; restaurants, bars, shops, water sports etc. Antara Veli also has facilities of its own though with tennis courts, a fitness center, an outdoor spa and three very fine restaurants serving Japanese, Thai and international food at your doorstep. The service here is consistently impeccable, and you are allowed as much, or as little, interaction with staff and other guests as you would like. Water Villas & Other Accommodation: You can choose between a classic water villa/overwater bungalow on the lagoon or an ocean bungalow set on a secluded cliff edge overlooking the ocean. All the accommodation choices are doubles and all come with a suitably grand king size bed. Your choices among the water villas are: ‘standard’ 62 m² units with an outdoor sun deck and direct access to the lagoon, deluxe units which have about 30 m² of extra space plus some very special open-air bathrooms with terrazzo bathtubs overlooking the lagoon. The ‘superior’ water villas go a step further with a plunge pool overlooking the lagoon and a full 125 m² of space over two floors. Finally, there are the ‘Ocean Bungalows’, not overwater bungalows per se but their position on the edge of a small, secluded cliff directly over the ocean grants them a similar feel. They are broadly similar too in layout, and in size, to the superior overwater bungalows, also having that lovely plunge pool, but this time overlooking the Indian Ocean. All the accommodation choices are B&B and have a pleasing array of modern facilities; air-con, WiFi, cable TV, music system, refrigerator, coffee maker, mini-bar (with private wine collection), bathtub, rainfall shower, walk-in closets, yoga mats etc. plus plenty of lounging READ MORE