These 2 island resorts are my favourite of the seven I have visited so far. They were both closed and overhauled during 2005, Baros practically being rebuilt and reopened as a new resort. The resulting resorts are both magnficent in their own ways in my opinion, Baros being slightly more pricey since its raised its level of accomodation and services to put it definately within the elite class of resorts. Bandos has become very popular for visitors to the Maldives, partly because it is relatively close to Male, and also because on top of a fine resort with great activities and facilities, it is also very family orientated. In this article I have given a general overview fo both resorts for anyone considering visiting them.

Baros

As well as the sheer beauty of this island, the food and service here is top class. One of the focal points of the resort is the lighthouse restaurant, which has a white peaked spire, making it the only building on the resort that doesn't have a thatched roof. You will see the lighthouse in most of the marketing pictures for this resort. It is split between two levels with a lounge bar on the top level and offering 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 meat, seafood and vegetarian options to your own specification and presents this at one of the individual thatched pavilions at the waters edge.

Your first impression of the resort is raised further when you arrive at your accommodation for the first time. There are 3 room categories here: 30 water villas, 20 Baros villas, 24 Deluxe villas, and a single pool villa. The attention to simple detail and quality of the workmanship cannot be overstated, and walking into these rooms for the first time may give you the idea that you have walked into a magazine article for a chic boutique hotel. There are designer fittings, concealed plasma Tv, quality coffee maker, and more importantly for me, a well-stocked wine cooler.

Every room in this resort is just a few strides away from beach or lagoon and each has a large decked verandah complete with a daybed. Combine this with the 24 hour room service and the well stocked wine cooler, and its not surprising that many guests stay put by their rooms for days on end.

Activities

Snorkeling is very good here, with the reef, which runs around most of the island, being easily accessible. The dive school is run by PADI and offers an introductory dive in the lagoon for beginners and open water certificates. 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.

Bandos

The resort of Bandos had an overhaul in 2005 which added some accommodation and an extension of its facilities. The look and feel of the resort provides a good balance between formal adn casual style. The reception has modern conveniences such as an internet hotspot, conference hall, plasma TV etc. but this hasn't affected the plain natural beauty of the resort which hasn't been compromised at all. The general feel is of tranquil accommodation and private beach areas shaded by tall palms and other tropical vegetation.

This resort has plainly made a great deal of effort to accommodate families, with purpose-built childcare facilities, with female staff on hand to look after the children and provide babysitting in the evenings if required. Some of the rooms in the junior and standard class have an interconnecting door for families who are divided between rooms. The resort is popular with families, so children who are not quite old enough to take part in some of the older activities will likely have other children their age around to play with. Visitors with young children should be aware that the lagoon tends to deepen quite quickly.

The main bar and coffee shop are well-placed near the water, the bar generally being a  hive of activity until the early hours of the morning. The restaurants, while not particularly inspiring in their decor, do serve a range of quality dishes.

Activities

Bandos is one of the main dive centers in the Maldives, not least because it has one of the few decompression chambers in the country. It offers a good range of courses from  beginner open water courses to expert re-breather courses. The dive center here is both a Platinum Facility of the International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers and a PADI Gold Palm Resort. The snorkeling is very good and you can snorkel the whole way around the island.

Accommodation

There are 48 Junior suites with a shared garden, and these are ornately decorated, with a  color scheme of yellow and ochre, a solid wood four-poster bed and a sense of style that makes them feel very comfortable. The only downside, as far as I could see, is that the beach in this section of the resort is almost completely submerged at high tide, but this is a small matter for most I should think. There are 84 standard rooms which are adjacent to the beach and an additional 19 that are not beach-fronted. These standard rooms alternate between twin and double  bed layout to provide for families again. They are pleasantly furnished with tiled floors and balconies

There are 48 circular Beach villas, which are the latest accommodations to have been added to the resort. These rooms are two-storey, with upstairs bedroom and sea balcony, and have been carefully and tastefully done to provide that superior feel. The bathrooms are half inside and half outside the villa, and come complete with thatched-roof jacuzzi. The 24 Garden villas are mainly based alongside the relatively new swimming pool, which will suit those who like to lounge by the pool all day.

suzi writes more about Baros and Bandos at MaldivesHolidays.eu