About

About Vilamendhoo Island Resort

Located in South Ari Atoll, just 25 minutes by seaplane from Male's international airport, Vilamendhoo Island Resort and Spa offers a luxurious getaway with a focus on scuba diving. This private island resort will appeal to everyone, with both adults-only and family-friendly zones complimented by sumptuous design details and pristine tropical backdrops. Guest villas are spacious, modern and well-appointed, with plenty of room to relax after a day of sun. Other exciting facilities include an award-winning spa, sports facilities, and dining options for every palate and preference.

South Ari Atoll is a diver's dream, with thrilling drift dives and pelagic encounters, and Vilamendhoo Island Resort lies just a short boat ride from many of the atoll's best dive sites. Guests can try their hand at channel and thila diving, with visits to manta cleaning stations and current-swept sites boasting year-round sightings. The atoll is also home to a small shipwreck, plus a smattering of calm and protected coral reefs. Vilamendhoo Island's professional dive team offers PADI courses, guided dive trips throughout the atoll, whale shark snorkeling adventures, sailing, and more.

Explore the resort

Vilamendhoo Island is home to a variety of restaurants and bars, with everything from all-you-can-eat buffet restaurants with sand under foot, to fine dining a la carte menus beside the beach. No matter where you eat, you'll enjoy a tempting blend of local and international flavours with new and exciting menus each day. Vilamendhoo specialises in romantic meals for two, with a range of intimate offerings including around-the-clock room service, candlelight dinners on the sand, champagne brunches, and a special lobster beach barbeque.

Vilamendhoo's award-winning Duniye Spa delivers a variety of services inspired by traditional and modern therapies from around the globe, with an emphasis on regional healing traditions from Asia and Africa. The Healing Earth™ and PURE™ products used in treatments are developed in line with the latest scientific research and contain only the purest organic ingredients. This resort's other facilities include a fitness centre, sports grounds, games room, and watersports such as kayaking, paddleboarding, sailing, jet-skiing, and more. If you're up for a bit of adventure, don't miss out on day trips snorkelling with whale sharks, island hopping, and visiting Dhangethi - the atoll's cultural centre.

Diving from Vilamendhoo Resort

Vilamendhoo Island’s partner dive centre, Euro-Divers, is a well-established international chain of PADI 5-Star centres. Their professional staff offers dive courses and guided experiences for beginners on the island's stunning house reef, as well as night dives. Daily South Ari dive adventures hit two to three of the best sites in the atoll, with boats divided by skill and experience level to keep each group satisfied. Other diver friendly details include professional quality rental equipment, free nitrox for certified divers, and comfortable dive boats. All certified divers can enjoy a free orientation dive, after which they'll be cleared to use the island's fill service and explore the house reef without a guide.

South Ari Atoll is one of the Maldives’ most exciting destinations thanks to its exciting range of sites and all year encounters with whale sharks, manta rays, and plenty of sharks. This atoll is ideal for advanced divers with some drift diving experience, as the best kandus and thilas feature stronger ocean currents and much of the action takes place below 18-metres. Other exciting day trips from Vilamendhoo include manta and whale shark snorkelling excursions.

Conservation

The Vilamendhoo Marine Biology Center is led by a resident marine biologist and operates in close cooperation with Euro-Divers. This educational space is dedicated to studying the island's vibrant house reef and South Ari Atoll's fragile underwater ecosystem. Their passionate and fun programmes are often held in partnership with Manta Trust, the Maldives’ leading manta ray research project. These exciting outings include manta observation, tracking, and identification. 

Vilamendhoo Island Resort and Spa's ongoing environmentally sustainable initiatives are aimed at reducing the resort's overall impact on the local ecosystem. Current efforts include a desalination and plastic-free water bottling centre, composting, recycling, responsible waste management, and an island-wide switch to earth-friendly cleaning products. This resort encourages all guests to enjoy passive and sustainable interactions with local wildlife, hosts its own beach and dive site clean-ups, and sponsors local educational programmes focused on environmental awareness.