Maldives resorts have had a strong run in the 2026 awards season, with four very different properties picking up honours — and one of them needs your vote before mid-November.
The biggest headline came from .Here Baa Atoll, which took three gongs at the World Luxury Hotel Awards 2026, including World's Best Luxury New Resort. The retreat also won Best Luxury Private Island Resort in the Indian Ocean and Best Luxury Boutique Resort in the Maldives. It sits inside Baa Atoll's UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and spreads just nine residences across two private islands, named Somewhere and Nowhere. Somewhere offers three- and four-bedroom beachfront and overwater residences with infinity pools, each guest looked after by a dedicated "Roohu" host. Nowhere is an eight-bedroom buy-out island with its own cinema, spa, gym and pool — aimed squarely at families or groups wanting the whole place to themselves. Guests can also head out on the resort's private yacht, ASMAS, to explore the surrounding waters.
Wellness got its moment too. Milaidhoo Maldives, also in Baa Atoll, won Best Hotel Spa at the Condé Nast Johansens Awards 2027 for its overwater Serenity Spa. The property pairs classic treatments with tech-led options like the LYMA Laser, plus daily yoga, an on-island wellbeing consultant and the option to have treatments in your villa. Even the food leans healthy, with produce from the resort's Chef's Garden.
Away from the luxury end, Secret Paradise Maldives co-founder Ruth Franklin received the Regenerative Travel Pioneer Award at the Inspiring Women in Travel Asia awards in Bangkok. Her company, founded in 2012, runs locally led tours that go beyond the resort-island formula — marine conservation projects, cultural experiences and partnerships that channel tourism revenue into Maldivian communities. For travellers who find standard Maldives itineraries a bit one-note, it's a genuinely different way to see the country.
Finally, there's an award still up for grabs. Sirru Fen Fushi, on Gaakoshibee Island in Shaviyani Atoll, is a finalist in two categories of the Luxury Lifestyle Magazine Readers' Travel Awards: Best Hotel for Families and Best Hotel for Sustainability. The resort occupies a 600-hectare lagoon with a 9km house reef, and its sustainability credentials are real — a coral-regeneration underwater art installation by Jason deCaires Taylor, guest coral planting and turtle research programmes, and Green Globe GOLD certification. Voting closes at 11.59pm on 15 November 2026, with winners announced on 2 December.
Why does this matter if you're planning a trip? The Maldives market has quietly broadened: ultra-exclusive private-island buy-outs at one end, wellness-focused stays in the middle, and community-based, conservation-oriented travel at the other. These award lists are a decent shortcut for working out which resorts actually deliver on their promises — and Sirru Fen Fushi's public vote means readers get a say in at least one of them.
