Twenty of the 25 best resorts in the Indian Ocean, according to Condé Nast Traveller readers, are in the Maldives. That's the headline from the 2026 Readers' Choice Awards, published on 6 October, where JOALI Maldives took the regional crown with a near-perfect satisfaction score of 99.83.
The scale of the sweep is striking. Maldivian properties claimed seven of the top eight spots and eight of the top 10. COMO Cocoa Island came third (99.35), Soneva Secret fourth (99.21), One&Only Reethi Rah fifth (99.18), The Nautilus sixth (99.06), Soneva Fushi seventh (99.01) and Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru eighth (98.89), with Constance Halaveli rounding out the top 10 in tenth (98.59). Only two intruders broke the streak: Madagascar's Miavana by Time + Tide, which pipped most of the field in second place on 99.59, and Mauritius' St Regis Le Morne in ninth.
The remaining Maldivian entries stretch deep into the list and read like a roll call of the country's biggest luxury names: Dhigali, Jumeirah Olhahali Island, SO/ Maldives, the Ritz-Carlton Fari Islands, LUX* South Ari Atoll, Six Senses Kanuhura, Waldorf Astoria Ithaafushi, Niyama, Gili Lankanfushi, Patina, Amilla and the private-island Kudadoo. The other five places in the category went to properties in Mauritius, the Seychelles and Madagascar.
The awards are voted on by readers, with scores reflecting average guest satisfaction, so the result is less a jury's verdict and more a crowd-sourced endorsement of the Maldives' resort model: private islands, overwater villas and high-touch service across every price tier of the luxury market.
For anyone weighing the Maldives against its Indian Ocean rivals, the numbers make a fairly clear case. Whether you're after the barefoot eco-luxury of Soneva or Gili Lankanfushi, family-friendly scale at Four Seasons or Ritz-Carlton, or the ultra-exclusive Kudadoo, readers have already signalled their approval. It's also a useful shortlist if you're comparing resorts and don't know where to start — twenty vetted options, ranked by people who've actually stayed.
