Baa Atoll: two islands, one reef
Finolhu and .Here lie in the same biosphere reserve and could not be more different: a two-kilometre sandbank with four restaurants, and nine residences on two small islands. We visited both.
Baa Atoll has been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2011. Hanifaru Bay, where manta rays and whale sharks gather in season, is the reason many guests want to come here at all. Whether you see them depends on weather, current and luck; the resorts say so honestly.
Finolhu: the sandbank
Two kilometres of white sand across four islands. Finolhu has 125 villas and four restaurants, and with them a deliberately social side that a silent private island does not offer. The openness remains, because the sandbank is so long that you end up standing alone at its tip. A night in the Beach Bubble on the sandbank is booked within a stay of at least three nights in a regular villa. The house reef is reachable from the beach.
.Here: nine residences
A few minutes by boat, the opposite. .Here spreads nine private residences across two small islands. Each residence has a Roohu and a villa attendant, its own infinity pool of 44 to 47 metres and a path from the terrace straight into the water. You meet the other guests when you want to, and otherwise not.
Which house for whom
Families with children who want a daytime programme, and couples who value choice at dinner, are right at Finolhu. Those seeking distance, a residence to themselves and a day set by their own clock choose .Here. The two can be combined in one journey: first the sandbank, then the quiet.
The best time for calm seas and dry days is November to April. For Hanifaru Bay it is rather May to November, with the caveat that sightings are never guaranteed.
Houses in this entry
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Finolhu, A Seaside Collection Resort Baa Atoll, Maldives
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.Here Baa Atoll Baa Atoll, Maldives