Best Maldive island with a 12 year old?

[MiniCooperLover]

I'll like to go to the Maldives for my 50th in 3 years. DS will be 12 by then which means he'll be more expensive to travel as an 'adult'. My bday always falls over Easter so we can do a 10 night trip over school holidays. So everything adds up to be pricey 😩 But what are the best island suggestions for pre teens to keep them happy? I think/hope he'll still love the unlimited warm water Swimming and we are (at the moment) a good gang of 3.

Following/bumping as I would like to do this too some day. We've never taken DC abroad yet, and even pre-DC never did anything this long-haul but I would like a once-in-a-lifetime holiday like this some time.

i'll be following this. i've been doing some quick research for holidays in the maldives with two teenagers. we visited before kids and would love to go back with them, but i can't find anywhere that does rooms for more than 2 - seem to have to book two adjacent villas. hope someone else has some better info for us!

Following too. My 50th next summer would love to go provided travel is allowed/isn't made too difficult.
My DC are 15 and 7.5

I didn't go with teens and there might not be enough to do for them, but we stayed at Oblu Select Sangeli in 2018 and they definitely have 2 bedroom beach villas. We didn't stay in one but we walked past and they looked really nice. There were quite a lot of kids there and the staff were wonderful.

I think most of it depends on finding the right hotel.
International flights land in Male, and after more than ten hours on the plane, you just want a short simple transfer. Choose a resort that is either a seaplane flight or a boat journey away, not both because by this point you’ll just want to get checked in.
Once on your island, there won’t be the usual opportunities to go outside the hotel for meals, snacks, ice creams or activities – in general, there’s no one else to provide these things. I’d probably choose a hotel with a kids club and a fun pool, as apart from the beach, there’s not all that much for a 12yo.

We went to Lilly Beach without DC but it seemed really family friendly.

The resort was all inclusive, they had a special kids buffet at breakfast etc, and sand breaks so the water was still and warm and calm, perfect for little ones to try snorkelling. They had a family friendly pool which we ended up using way more than the ‘adults’ pool as the alacarte lunches were incredible! Repeat guests in the know told us the food was better there. There was also a pool table. There was a kids club and the whole resort just felt really safe and relaxing.

It was expensive, but worth every penny. Do be careful if you book a apparently cheaper resort that’s not all inc. In the Maldives it will be easily $60-80 dollars for a bottle of wine so we got our money’s worth as the included wine list had over 70 types on it. Cocktails malt whiskey cappuccinos etc all included.

The staff and food and room were incredible. If I had kids I would bring them there in a heartbeat!

We had 4 different places to lie down in our room (beach bungalow, cheapest room type). A super king bed, day bed, loungers on our patio, and a few steps away numbered loungers on the beach just for us. We had an outdoor bathroom with massive sunken jacuzzi tub, coffee machine, and free mini bar with beers wines and soft drinks.

The breakfast was incredible, literally every type of breakfast food from across the world like full English, meats and cheeses, fruits, pastries, sushi, eggs benedict, etc etc etc.

The staff were SO nice. I think it’s one of the top resorts for families. Let me know if you have any questions.

Wouldn't it be boring for a 12 year old? Unless they like joining in with kids' club stuff and doing watersports all day?

What type of family holiday do you normally go on?

Here’s a list of Maldives islands which have rooms with a separate room for kids. I may have spelled some wrong! I’m sure there are others I have missed as was looking for particular dates.

Constance Halaveli
Royal Island
Sun Island
Noku
Fiyavalhu
Dhigufaru
Lux South Ari Atoll
Niyama
Saii
Anantara Dhigu
Vakkaru

For your DS Lux might be a particularly good option as it has a teens club (from 12) with specific teen friendly activities, as well as the usual kids club. It gets booked up very early though!

We went to Vilamendhoo island resort. They do 4 guest beach bungalows, but because our kids were older teens, we got 2 adjoining rooms and had lots of space. Unlimited kayaking, windsurfing, SUP, snorkelling, tennis. We did a few whale shark and manta snorkelling trips and evening sailing. There was enough for them to do.

We were in Ozen Maadho in December, 40 minute speedboat, excellent all inclusive, food was very good. Our 12 year old did her underwater Padi course while we were there, there was lots of water sports some payable and some included, daily free snorkel trip.

I think they have 2 bedroom family villas.

We went to Ayada with our two teens and they loved it. So much for them to do and they loved cycling around the island. There was tennis for them, outdoor films, boat trips, kayaking, pool, table tennis and even playstations etc. Would go back there in a heartbeat