Le Méridien Maldives Resort & Spa is 35 minutes north of Velana by seaplane, in Lhaviyani Atoll, and it prices its overwater villas only a little above its beach villas. Here the lagoon is a small step, not a splurge.
It is a mid-size island with plenty going on: seven places to eat and drink, a kids' club that runs daily, a dive centre and a padel court. The resort takes its footprint seriously. Solar panels cover about 40% of daytime power, and The Greenhouse, a 430 m² hydroponic farm, grows produce on the island.
A resident marine biologist runs the Marine Conservation Hub, with guided coral snorkels, a seagrass session and a sunset dolphin cruise.
What you pay
Pick your dates and a villa and the price is the whole stay for two: the villa, breakfast and dinner daily, the return seaplane, and every Maldivian tax, green tax included.
The earliest dates on this page are the cheapest, and only just. The price steps up a few per cent after them and then holds flat for the rest of the year, festive dates apart. There is no cheaper green season to wait for here.
Going over the water adds surprisingly little. The Sunrise Overwater Villa is a few per cent above a Beach Villa on three nights, and the Sunset Overwater Villa adds the same again.
A private pool is the real jump. From November a Beach Villa with Garden Pool is about a tenth more than a Beach Villa, and a Beach Villa with Pool or an Overwater Villa with Pool about a third more. Four adults pay less in two Beach Villas than in a 2 Bedroom Beach Villa with Pool. Take the bigger villa to be under one roof.
What's included, and what isn't
In the price: your villa for two, breakfast and dinner every day, the return shared seaplane, and every Maldivian tax including green tax. Up to two children under twelve stay and eat free in your villa, on your meal plan.
Not in the price: your international flights, travel insurance, lunch, drinks, the spa, diving and excursions, your children's seaplane and green tax, the compulsory New Year's Eve gala, Indian TCS, and anything not named above.
Who this isn't for
Anyone landing at Velana late in the afternoon. The seaplane flies in daylight only, and you must be checked in at the seaplane counter by 15:30. Land later and you spend a night in Malé first.
Couples after a hideaway. With 134 villas and a busy programme, this island is sociable, not secluded.
Families with three children. Only two children stay free in any villa. A third is charged for every night.
Before you book
The festive fortnight is not priced on this page. The New Year's Eve gala dinner is compulsory and charged on top, and stays touching 27 December to 3 January need five nights. We can still book it.
There is only one 3 Bedroom Thilamaafushi Beach Villa. It is booked on request, so ask us early.
Send us your dates, your flights and who is travelling, and we will check the seaplane connection and price the villas side by side. Message our Maldives specialists on WhatsApp or send us an enquiry. We reply within 24 hours.