JOALI Maldives Review: The Art Island of Raa Atoll, Honestly Assessed

Updated October 2026

JOALI Maldives is the art island of Raa Atoll: 73 villas, each with its own pool, among commissioned works by designers such as Porky Hefer and Misha Kahn, with a strong line-up of restaurants and a butler for every villa. It is also the JOALI that welcomes children all year. The compromise is the reef, which has reliable fish but coral still recovering from bleaching.

What stands out

Three things set JOALI Maldives apart. The first is the art. The island was conceived as an art-led resort from the start, with pieces placed through the gardens, the bars and the villas rather than hung on a gallery wall. Porky Hefer's Manta Ray Tree House stands among the trees facing the lagoon, and Misha Kahn made the Club Tropicana mosaic table.

The second is the service. Every villa has a Jadugar, the resort's name for its butler, who arranges dinners, boats and spa times, and unpacks and packs on request.

The third is that children are genuinely welcome. The Muramas kids' club is here, not at the sister island, JOALI BEING, which keeps children under twelve to set retreat dates.

What the island is like

An atoll is a ring of coral reef with islands scattered around it. Raa Atoll lies north of Malé, away from the busy resort belt around the capital.

JOALI Maldives stands on Muravandhoo, a green island of about 24 acres that opened as a resort in October 2018. The architecture is by the Istanbul studio Atölye4n and most interiors by Autoban, with the water villas strung along a long boardwalk over the lagoon, the shallow water inside the reef.

Art turns up at every corner. The collection was curated by No LaB, an art and design studio based in Turkey, which also shaped the island's art-led concept. A resident artist runs ceramics and mixed-media workshops in the Art Studio, and there is a bicycle for every guest.

Arriving

The way in is the seaplane from Velana International Airport in Malé, which takes about 45 minutes. Seaplanes in the Maldives fly in daylight only, so the last same-day connection is in the mid-afternoon, and anyone landing at Velana after that spends the first night in Malé. The resort has its own lounge at Velana for the wait, and a private seaplane can be chartered for anyone who wants the aircraft to themselves.

Check your landing time against the current cut-off on the JOALI Maldives page before you book flights. The return leg runs to the same daylight rule, so an early international departure can mean leaving the island the afternoon before.

The villas

Every one of the 73 villas has a private pool, and every one has a Jadugar. Each villa also has a curated library and handpicked art.

Over the water, the Water Villa with Pool is the starting point, the Luxury Water Villa with Pool adds space, and the Luxury Sunset Water Villa with Pool faces west for the evening light. On the beach, the Beach Villa with Pool and the larger Luxury Beach Villa with Pool sit in big garden plots, so the gain over a water villa is privacy and greenery around a villa of similar size.

For families there are two-bedroom villas on the beach and over the water, and at the top are the residences, including the Three Bedroom Ocean Residence over the water with two infinity pools and its own spa room.

Guests report that the widest, softest stretch of sand fronts the lower-numbered beach villas.

Eating and drinking

The food is a big part of the reason to come. Vandhoo is the main restaurant, serving breakfast and dinner with Southeast Asian, Chinese and Indian dishes. Saoke stands over the water at the end of a jetty, designed by the Japanese architect Noriyoshi Muramatsu, and cooks Japanese and Nikkei food, Japanese cooking with Peruvian influences, at a sushi counter, a teppanyaki grill and a robata grill.

Bellinis is the Italian restaurant, with handmade pasta. TUH'U serves Levantine food, Lebanese, Turkish and Jordanian dishes among them, at tables on the sand. Mura Bar is the pool and beach bar for lunch, snacks and sunset drinks, with a whisky and cigar lounge alongside.

For something sweet, La Joie makes chocolates and ice cream on the island. Her Kitchen runs cooking classes, and the wine cellar hosts tastings. Dinners can also be set up at the Manta Ray Tree House or on a sandbank, a small bare island of sand in the lagoon.

The spa, the children and sport

The spa has eight treatment rooms, two of them over the water, and a marble Turkish hammam, a sauna, a steam room and a vitality pool, with a healing garden and a yoga pavilion.

The Muramas kids' club takes children from four to twelve, with play areas and a children's pool. There is no separate teens' club.

There are courts for tennis and padel, a football pitch and a gym, with scheduled fitness and yoga classes.

The water

A house reef is the coral reef you can swim to from the resort itself. At JOALI Maldives you can reach it from anywhere on the island, and the fish life is reliable: reef sharks, rays and big schools of fish. The coral is another matter. Bleaching hit this reef hard and it is still recovering, so expect structure and fish rather than colour. The best stretch is the small drop-off on the spa side, and currents can make the far side hard work.

The dive centre, run by Best Dives, takes divers to the thilas of Raa Atoll. A thila is an underwater reef pinnacle that rises close to the surface. Manta sightings in Raa Atoll are seasonal and never guaranteed. The water sports team also offers kayaks, paddleboards, sailing, windsurfing and motorised toys such as jet skis and Seabobs.

Where the compromises are

The reef is the first. For an island at this level, the snorkelling is good rather than memorable, and anyone choosing the Maldives mainly for coral colour should look elsewhere.

The second is the bill for extras. Lunch, drinks and many activities are charged, and the cost of extras is a recurring theme in recent reviews.

The third is the daylight seaplane. With the seaplane as the way in, a late landing at Velana can cost a night, so flight times matter more here than on a speedboat island.

Who will love it, and who won't

JOALI Maldives suits couples and families who care about design, food and service as much as the beach, and who like an island with things to look at. It is one of the better choices for a luxury family holiday in the Maldives because of the kids' club and the family villas. It suits keen snorkellers, and anyone watching every extra on the bill, considerably less well.

Common questions

How do you get to JOALI Maldives?

By seaplane from Velana in about 45 minutes, after a wait in the resort's own lounge at the airport. Seaplanes fly in daylight only, so a late landing means a night in Malé first. Check the current cut-off on the JOALI Maldives page before booking flights.

Is JOALI Maldives good for families?

Yes. The Muramas kids' club takes children aged four to twelve, with play areas and a children's pool, and there are two-bedroom villas on the beach and over the water for larger families. Note that the entry villas take two adults and one child.

What is the difference between JOALI Maldives and JOALI BEING?

They are sister islands in Raa Atoll. JOALI Maldives is the art-led resort, with a kids' club, a wide choice of restaurants and a full water sports programme. JOALI BEING is a wellbeing retreat that takes children under twelve only on set retreat dates. Choose by the kind of holiday, not the villa.

Is the snorkelling good at JOALI Maldives?

It is reliable for fish, with reef sharks, rays and big schools, and the reef can be reached from anywhere on the island. The coral is still recovering from bleaching, so expect fish rather than colour. The best stretch is the drop-off on the spa side.

What restaurants does JOALI Maldives have?

Vandhoo for breakfast and dinner, Saoke for Japanese and Nikkei over the water, Bellinis for Italian, TUH'U for Levantine food on the sand and Mura Bar for lunch and drinks. La Joie makes chocolates and ice cream, and Her Kitchen runs cooking classes.