If you've been weighing up a Christmas or New Year escape in the Maldives, a batch of resort announcements gives a good picture of what the season will look like across the atolls.
Reethi Faru Resort has kicked things off with its annual Fruit Mixing Ceremony, the traditional signal that festive preparations are underway. Its Christmas and New Year programme covers the whole family: tree decorating, gingerbread house making and creative workshops for kids, lit-up beach walks for couples, a Christmas dinner and a New Year's Eve gala with a DJ party to see in 2027. There's also a Christmas tree lighting ceremony, a visit from Santa, the resort's own anniversary celebration, live music, Maldivian cultural performances and outdoor movie nights. Guests who want more than festivities can join coral planting with a marine biologist, take PADI diving courses with certified instructors, try water sports, book island excursions or simply unwind with yoga and spa treatments.
Elsewhere, Ifuru Island Maldives is running a themed season called "Echoes of the Ocean and Stars" from 21 December 2026 to 10 January 2027. The concept blends reef and bioluminescence with stars and constellations across décor, dining, entertainment and even staff uniforms, in a palette of ocean blues, pearl white, turquoise and celestial gold. Unusually for the Maldives, the programme stretches past New Year to cover Orthodox Christmas, with the main celebrations on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and 31 December.
On the awards front, .Here Baa Atoll has been ranked No. 6 resort in the Indian Ocean in the Condé Nast Traveler Readers' Choice Awards 2026. The property sits inside the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of Baa Atoll and spreads nine residences across two islands, Somewhere and Nowhere. Somewhere holds seven three- and four-bedroom residences with multiple pools and private dining, reached by private speedboat with no conventional lobby check-in. Nowhere is bookable by one group at a time: eight bedrooms and 3,329 square metres of living space across a five-bedroom Presidential Residence and a three-bedroom Lagoon Residence. It also made the magazine's Hot List 2026.
Reethi Faru has kitchen bragging rights too. Chefs Rohit Kabdal, Mayank Bijalwan and Abhishek Sharma took gold, silver and bronze respectively at the Hotel Asia Culinary Challenge and the FHAM Global Culinary Challenge, in decorated cake, dressed cake and hot cooking fish categories — a decent sign of what to expect from the resort's festive dinners.
For travellers, the takeaway is that Maldives resorts now treat the festive stretch as a proper programme rather than a single gala night, and the best events book out early. Families get the widest spread of activities around Christmas, while couples after privacy might find the newer luxury entries like .Here Baa Atoll worth the premium. Anyone celebrating Orthodox Christmas has a genuine option at Ifuru Island, which few tropical resorts cater to.
