Gangehi Island Resort & Spa

Gangehi is a small island in North Ari Atoll, about 230 by 150 metres, 25 minutes from Malé by seaplane, which lands at the resort's own platform off the jetty. Opened in 1987 and renovated in 2008, it's Italian-run and simple, with no pool and no kids' club; the draw is the reef, where sharks are seen all year, and a PADI 5-Star dive centre with its own boat and a marine biologist leading reef trips.

The cheapest rooms are the Club Rooms (34 m²), set in the garden, furnished in teak with a veranda. The Garden Villas and Beach Villas (64 m²) share a plan, with stone bathrooms in the garden villas and a private stretch of beach and a sea view in the beach villas, and there's a two-bedroom Family Garden Villa (76 m²). Over the water, the Overwater Villas (76 m²) face the sunset along the jetty, and the Overwater Villa Deluxe (102 m²), the largest, has a big wooden deck and direct access to the lagoon.

Veli, the main restaurant, serves buffets for every meal facing the beach, with an Italian night on Wednesdays, a Maldivian night on Fridays and a pasta corner. Thari, suspended over the lagoon at the end of the jetty, is the à la carte seafood restaurant, and the Kandu Bar beside Veli is open all day. The Ginger Spa is set in four antique wooden cottages brought from Kerala.