Out of a total of 1190 islands in 26 natural atolls, 202 are inhabited, 100 are set aside for exclusive tourist resort development. Measuring 820 kilometres north to south and 120 kilometres east to west at its greatest width, the closest neighbours are India and Sri Lanka.

The new look to Bandos is a nice contemporary casual feel yet still retaining its Maldivian style and charm. Some of the accommodation has interconnecting doors for large families who need to spread out over several rooms.

The bar area and other amenities are well-placed near the water, and the bar is often busy until the early hours of the morning. The restaurants, while not particularly inspiring in their decor, do serve a range of quality dishes.

Since the resort is popular with families, children who are not quite old enough to take part in some of the older games and activities will probably find other children their age to play with. Visitors with young children need to be aware that the lagoon tends to deepen quite quickly so be careful when allowing you kids in or near the lagoon.

There are 84 standard rooms which look out over the beach and another’ that are slightly set back. In addition there are 48 Junior suites and 48 circular-shaped Beach villas.

The Bandos resort provides a Kuda Bandos Sunset Wedding for those getting married, which features a taste of traditional island ceremony, a sunset boat ride, unique cultural costumes, Maldivian drums and traditional style and ceremony.

The dive centre is a member of the internationally acclaimed PADI International Resort Association, and offers a wide range of PADI courses. The multi-lingual instructors are able to conduct courses in English, German, Swiss, Italian, French, Japanese and Chinese and provide you with all the requisite teaching materials in these languages.

The diving equipment provided at Bandos is the best and features internationally reputed brands such as Mares, Scubapro, Aqua Lung, Dive Rite and Suunto, to name but a few. It should also comfort customers to know that there is an in-house service shop to ensure that all the equipment is up to standard.

Popularity: 17% [?]

I have visited 8 Maldives resorts in the past 6 years and I have now been to Bandos twice and I can honestly say that I shall be going back! I have tried to present an objective overview in this article for anyone considering visiting it, or who is not sure which island to choose.

Bandos was closed during 2005 being practically rebuilt, the resort that is not the island, and reopened as a new resort. The resulting resort is magnificent in my opinion. Being in close proximity to the capital Male makes the transfer to Bandos by boat short and sweet, which makes it very attractive to many holiday makers who don’t wish to board a seaplane to visit some of the more remote islands. The resort has great facilities and is also very family orientated, resulting in what has become a very popular resort in the last few years.

The lighthouse restaurant, with its prominent peaked white spire, appears in most of the photographs you might see of this resort (this is the only building on the island missing the proverbial thatched roof). The food and service here, as in the rest of the resort, I found to be great. The restaurant itself is split between an upper lounge bar (great to chill with a cold drink here about 6pm and take in the panoramic views), and the lower-level haute cuisine restaurant serving an exceptional menu of Mediterranean and Asian fusion dishes.

The other main restaurant - the Cayenne Grill - prepares a range of seafood, meat and vegetarian options to your own specification and serves this at one of the individual thatched pavilions at the waters edge.

There are 3 different category of room on the resort, as is typical with most Maldives island resorts - water villas, Baros villas and the Deluxe villas. The attention to detail and the workmanship is second to none, and walking into these rooms for the first time makes you feel good about arriving - always important for me. There are designer fittings, concealed plasma Tv, quality coffee maker, and more importantly for me, a well-stocked wine cooler.

Each room in the resort is never a stones throw from the beach or lagoon and all have a large verandah complete with comfortable daybed. If you consider that their is a very good 24 hour room service you wont be surprised to hear that I didn’t need to stray far short of taking the odd dip to cool down or go snorkeling.

Snorkeling is really good here - and I do like to snorkel, with the reef, which runs around most of the island, being easily accessible. The dive school is run by PADI and has introductory dives in the lagoon for beginners and also can provide you with your open water certificates if you want go that step further from snorkeling. There are approximately 30 dive sites within reach of Baros which offers good potential for some interesting dives. The resort also has a resident Marine Biologist providing talks on the local marine life and accompanying the snorkeling trips and excursions on the house reef.

It is difficult to beat Bandos island resort for a Maldives holiday that will not break the bank, go on, find out more.

Popularity: 18% [?]

More than a thousand tiny coral islands scattered like glitter in the turquoise Indian Ocean, make up the Republic of the Maldives. These islands are the epitome of an island castaway. Beautiful ice-white sands, coral reefs, and fantastic marine life and diving make the Maldives as beautiful a getaway as you are ever likely to experience.

I have been to the island resort of Bandos several times now and it one of my favourites, if not thee favourite. Located within North Mal Atoll, the Maldives Holiday resort of Bandos is one of the closest to the capital island of Mal which is very convenient for those of you who want to explore more of the cultural side of the Maldives capital, which is more westernized than the remaining islands. Transfers from Mal are by boat and take approximately 20 minutes.

The diving in Bandos is spectacular with an excellent PADI dive school, shipwrecks to explore, and an abundant array of marine species from clown fish, barracuda, giant stingrays and my favourite the white tip reef sharks. For the water-sports lovers the reef also provides some sporting surf. I loved my last holiday when I got to do some kite-boarding here.

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 is popular with families, so kids who are not quite old enough to take part in some of the older activities can probably find other children their age to play with. Visitors with young children should be aware that the lagoon tends to deepen quite quickly.

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.

Popularity: 19% [?]

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 of the most excellent dive sites in North Mal Atoll and the Maldives in particular. It is within easy reach of shipwrecks to explore, and is renowned in the diving world for its diverse range of marine life that are common and easy to see here, including white tip sharks, barracuda, and colourful reef fish. Bandos is also blessed with some excellent coral reef surf for the sport watersports enthusiasts amongst you.

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 48 Junior suites on the resort are arranged in groups and are stylishly decorated, with a ochre color scheme and solid wooden four-poster beds. The only small downside, as far as I could tell, is the beach in this section of the resort is almost completely submerged at high tide, but then these rooms dont cost as much as the Water Bungalows so in a way some may think this a pleasant feature of their stay.

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.

Popularity: 19% [?]