Bandos – Maldives Holidays
Over a thousand small coral islands make up the Republic of the Maldives and are scattered like glitter in the turquoise Indian Ocean. Beautiful sparkling white sands, coral reefs, and fantastic marine life provide one of planet Earths most beautiful settings for a holiday.
The Maldives island resort of Bandos is located in the North Mal Atoll, which is the closest atoll to the capital of Mal. Transfer from Mali, which is where the main airport is, takes roughly 20 minutes by boat and allowing you to easily nip back during your stay if you wish to explore the capital city which is more westernized than the remaining islands.
Bandos has some excellent marine life in abundance, including white tip sharks, barracuda, and many thousands of species of colourful reef fish. As well as having shipwrecks to explore, the coral reef also provides some good surf here for the water-sports enthusiasts. Bandos has an excellent PADI dive center here which caters for divers of all abilities, including beginners. Its got to be the best place in the world to pass your initial PADI open water dives, the only thing is you may get distracted by the stingrays and sharks gliding by!
Bandos is a 4-star resort and has 100 standard rooms, 48 Junior suites and 48 Beach Villas. The standard rooms are a mix of double and twin rooms to help accommodate families and overall they are nicely furnished. The only thing I would say is that the bathrooms are slightly on the small side in these rooms, but on the upside, most face west and so get a good sunset and the majority of them are beach fronted.
The Junior suites are nicely decorated and I was lucky enough to stay in one of these during my recent visit. For people with small children I would just point out that at high tide the beach in this area of the island is pretty much completely submerged. The Beach water villas are two-storey, with an upstairs bedroom and a sea balcony. These buildings have been carefully and tastefully done to give you that superior feel, with the bathrooms half inside and half outside, complete with thatched jacuzzi.
The resort has gone out of its way to accommodate families, with a purpose-built childcare facility complete with female staff on hand to look after the children and provide babysitting in the evenings. Some of the rooms in the standard and junior class have an interconnecting door for families split between several rooms.
Bandos offers the “Kuda Bandos Sunset Wedding” for couples intent on getting married in paradise which features a taste of traditional island ceremony including sunset boat ride and Maldivian drums. The ceremony is held on the beach of one of the uninhabited islands and later, the newlyweds can enjoy a romantic private dinner set on the beach of Kuda Bandos.
Jonathan is a travel journalist and travels frequently to the Maldives to report on diving and environmental issues. Read about the Maldives at the Maldives Holidays guide and about the superb diving island resort of Bandos in particular.
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