Ailafushi opened in 2022 on a newly built island in North Malé Atoll, 15 minutes by speedboat from the airport. 'Aila' means family in Dhivehi, and the resort is built around that: a busy, social place with a pool bar, live music most nights and a kids club over several floors with its own pool and arcade.
There are 268 rooms and villas in four types. Most numerous are the 106 Water Villas, shaped like a dhoni and reached along a jetty, followed by beach villas with garden showers, compact duplex Ocean View Rooms and two-bedroom family rooms with a bunk-bed room for children.
Every stay is on the all-inclusive Fushi Plan: buffet dining at Element X, house spirits, beer and wine, an evening cocktail fountain, the minibar, snorkelling gear and the speedboat transfer. Only BLU, which the resort calls the largest underwater restaurant in the Maldives, sits 6.8 metres below the surface and is charged separately.
Gut zu wissenThis is a busy, lively resort with live music and a lot of children in school holidays, not a quiet hideaway. The island is newly built and the resort doesn't advertise a house reef, so snorkelling and diving mean boat trips; Only BLU and the Copper Pot food truck cost extra.