Bathala Island Resort — Hotel in North Ari Atoll

A great hotel for its price - it fully justifies its 4-star rating.||The hotel is located on a small island. To get there from Male, you need to take a 20-minute seaplane flight, followed by a 7-10 minute speedboat ride. You can walk around the entire island in about 10 minutes, so keep this in mind if you're looking for an active holiday. We are not fans of intense activities, and we were initially worried we might get bored over 12 days – but not at all! We had a wonderful time and would have happily stayed another week.||The rooms are in good condition, with cleaning service twice a day. Everything is restocked promptly (water, soap, etc.), and the grounds are constantly cleaned of leaves and debris. A huge plus for me: there are no insects in the rooms, and essentially no mosquitoes on the island (which is a common complaint in most Maldives hotels). We preferred the beach villas over the water villas for their greater privacy and greenery, but this is a matter of personal taste.||The restaurant doesn't have an enormous selection of dishes, but it's sufficient, and the food itself is very, very tasty. There are always European options like Italian pizza and pasta – it's impossible to go hungry; you'll definitely find something you love. Each room is assigned a waiter who, by the next day, already knows all your drink preferences, which is very convenient.||There's a reef all around the island, so you can snorkel endlessly. There are guided snorkeling sessions with instructors at 11 am and 4 pm – we highly recommend going the first few times to be shown the best entry points; after that, you can swim on your own. We highly recommend swimming in the morning while wearing a t-shirt and applying SPF 50+ to your arms, as your skin can burn instantly between 11 am and 12 pm (after all, you're almost on the equator!). The underwater world is magnificent: schools of colorful fish, sharks, stingrays, moray eels, starfish, sea cucumbers, turtles, etc. – it's incredibly beautiful!||The main downside: the reef starts at waist level, so you can't gradually walk into the water from the sandy beach; there's a high risk of cutting your feet. We mostly snorkeled and entered the water from the pier. If we just wanted a quick dip, we used the pool. It didn't really inconvenience us, but keep this in mind if you're traveling with a small child.||The island's nature is also beautiful: flowering trees, parrots, a huge number of crabs, fruit bats (flying foxes), storks, and on our last day, we even saw bioluminescent plankton. The hotel offers very unobtrusive animation. If you want to do something, you can participate in activities, but if you seek solitude, you can just enjoy the stunning starry sky (where you can clearly see the Milky Way) and the incredibly warm ocean.||Thank you to the hotel for a wonderful 12 days, for the warm birthday wishes, and a special thanks to manager Mursaid – he was always incredibly friendly and helpful with any request. The hotel is very lucky to have such an employee :) The staff in general are very welcoming; you are greeted and seen off as the most desired guests. The bartenders make delicious cocktails. In short, you will truly relax both body and soul.||Are there better hotels? Of course, there are: newer, more luxurious, more expensive, etc. But are we ready to recommend this hotel and return? Definitely "yes." There were several guests at the hotel who were visiting for their 3rd, 6th, and even 17th time – which we think speaks volumes about the hotel's consistent service quality. We didn't regret a single day we spent there.||Thank you to Sandies Bathala and its entire team for a fantastic...

A small, stunning, and cozy family-friendly paradise—the whole island is like a postcard-perfect image of the Maldives. You can walk barefoot everywhere, anytime! ||The restaurant served amazing food—huge variety, everything delicious, fresh, and beautifully presented. Just don’t show up 15 minutes before closing! 😉 ||The reef is partially alive, teeming with colorful fish, and we even swam with a turtle right by the house reef. The beaches are absolutely gorgeous all around the island! ||The staff is incredibly friendly—everyone greets you with a smile. 😊 |Special shoutout to the wonderful Mirsaid, who welcomed and assisted us—responsive, kind, smart, and fun! He speaks English and Russian, and we’re so grateful he made our stay effortless. Thank you! ❤️ ||The manager, Tyrone, was also lovely—warm, attentive, and handsome! He always checked if we were happy and even made sure our favorite dishes appeared on the menu. ❤️ |The bar guys were awesome too—remembering our names, drinks, and preferences. The whole team is fantastic! ||The evening entertainment was… unexpected. Some nights had beautiful live lounge music and a singer, while others featured science lectures with slides about ocean life—very unique! 🤷‍♀️ No dancing or wild shows, though. There’s a Red Party, so pack something red! ||Most guests were well-mannered Italian couples or families with teens. We were the only Russians but felt completely comfortable. ||The beach bungalows felt tiny at first, but we quickly adjusted—everything was within reach. The mattress and pillows were comfy, AC worked perfectly, and housekeeping was spotless. No separate bathtub, just a shower, but every bungalow has a gorgeous ocean view! ||Everything was perfect—except one downside: watch your belongings (including cash). I won’t go into details, but we discovered a loss too late, and the culprit was impossible to trace. I’d read about similar incidents in Maldives reviews before, so… lesson learned! ||Still, this island is the kind of place you miss and dream of...

Thank you to the whole Bathala team for making our recent stay on the island so enjoyable. This was our second time staying on the island having first been in 2024 and it was as good, if not better, than last year!||Our time on the island is very much focussed on the water and participating in the many and varied excursions; the team in Water Sports got to know us well as we did many trips, some twice. We came away with wonderful memories of swimming with Manta Rays, Whale Sharks, and catching Red Snappers plus others fish via line fishing and snorkelling over beautiful Reefs. Lahpo and the team do all they can to make the experiences memorable for the guests, our sincerest thanks go to them all.||The house reef is the best we have seen in the Maldives having been to 6 different islands. There's such a variety of species seen daily on the reef; various types of rays, sharks (black tip, white tip and nurse) and two turtles. Sun-rise snorkelling was fun to see the reef so alive and observe the more nocturnal species, like Lion Fish. The team are doing a lot to replenish coral life on the reef too which is great to see.||The Intro diving lesson and short dive along the reef was superb, thank you to Werner Lau for their expert tuition.||The restaurant food is fresh, varied and all very tasty and the chef and waiting staff are all very polite and extremely helpful. The accommodation is spotless with twice daily room attendance, we were very comfortable there for our 10 day stay.||The island's staff work very hard which was evident by clean and looked after island, and the events put on were amazing like cocktails on the beach and the Easter dinner served outside with a spectacular display and range of food.||We recognise that the Bathala team go out of their way to see that we are having an enjoyable time and are always helpful, polite and courteous. ||It is our intention to come back in 2026 as we have found an island that we so dearly love. ||If I could give you 6...