- Beach
- Garden/land Villa
Standard Room
Garden View — 14 units, 35m² incl. terrace, land/garden view. Max occupancy 3 adults, or 2 adults + 1 child (2–11.99) + 1 infant (0–1.99). Entry-tier, land-based room.
- Sleeps up to 4
- No private pool
All Maldives resorts
NORTH ARI ATOLL · MALDIVES
- Direct contract
Ellaidhoo Maldives by Cinnamon
Ellaidhoo is the resort we point genuine divers to — this is one of the few properties in our portfolio where the resort itself has published a 108-page guide…
- Honeymoon
- Divers
- Snorkellers
- Wellness / Spa
- Transfer Speedboat · 90 min or Seaplane · 25 min
- Accommodation 112 villas
- Board BB · HB · FB · AI · Premium AI
- Dining 3 restaurants · 2 bars
- House reef Exceptional
Why I recommend it
Why we recommend it
Ellaidhoo is the resort we point genuine divers to — this is one of the few properties in our portfolio where the resort itself has published a 108-page guide to its own house reef and the dive sites around it, and that reef is a proper wall dive with whitetip reef sharks and eagle rays, not a wade-in lagoon. The on-site dive centre runs a full course ladder from a scuba review through Open Water, Advanced, Rescue and Nitrox certification, and both seasonal manta and whale-shark excursions are real, bookable products, not marketing language. It also runs a documented honeymoon offering (fruit basket, wine, bed decoration, discounted spa and excursions), which makes it a strong pairing for a diving-plus-honeymoon trip. As a direct-contract Cinnamon partner, Mykish books it at rates the public can’t access online.
Best for
- Honeymoon
- Divers
- Snorkellers
- Wellness / Spa
The honest fit
Ellaidhoo is the house-reef island: the reason people come is fifty metres offshore, where a steep wall of overhangs, sea fans and black coral drops away from seven roped entry points, with a wreck at 30 metres in front of the jetty — divers and snorkellers get more reef per stay here than almost anywhere in our portfolio, and the island prices itself for people who’ll use it. Rooms are honest three-tier bungalows and a row of water bungalows — comfortable, unfussy bases for wet days — and every rate includes Full Board, with All-Inclusive and Premium All-Inclusive available as upgrades. The island is 42 km from Malé: a scenic 90-minute speedboat or a 25-minute seaplane, both operating in the 6am–4pm window, so we plan your flights around it. Families are welcome — there’s a children’s play area and kids’ pool, and children stay and dine free in the right categories — while families wanting a full supervised kids’-club programme are better matched to Dhigufaru Island Resort in our portfolio, and we’ll say so when you enquire.
Where you stay
Where you'll stay
- Beach
- Garden/land Villa
Superior Room – Ocean View
28 units, 52m², sea view. Max occupancy 4 adults, or 2 adults + 2 children (2–11.99).
- Sleeps up to 4
- No private pool
- Beach
- Beach Villa
Beach Bungalow
46 units, 38m², beachfront. Max occupancy 3 adults, or 2 adults + 1 child (2–11.99). No private pool — no villa category on the island has one.
- Sleeps up to 3
- No private pool
- Water
- Water Villa
Water Bungalow
24 units, 79m², overwater. Max occupancy 3 adults + 1 infant (0–1.99), or 2 adults + 1 child (2–11.99). Per the resort's own contract: children 2-11.99 are not permitted in overwater categories unless a parent/guardian signs a disclaimer — a softer restriction than an outright ban. No private pool.
- Sleeps up to 4
- No private pool
Eating & drinking
Dining
Board basis available: Bed & Breakfast, Half Board, Full Board, All-Inclusive, Premium All-Inclusive.
Madi
- International
Buffet dining — breakfast, lunch and dinner; the base restaurant for every meal plan tier.
The Junction
- Asian
Specialty à la carte restaurant, dinner only (7-10pm): Indian, Malaysian, Maldivian, Indonesian and Sri Lankan cuisines. Supplier's own multi-cuisine description preserved here — the enum has no combined-Asian-subcontinent value; 'Asian' used as the closest single fit. Meal-plan guests get 20% off à la carte.
Seanic
- International
Café & Bar — à la carte lunch and dinner, the alternative to Madi's buffet for meal-plan guests (no table reservations, first-come-first-served). Also functions as the Seanic Poolside Bar.
Iruohsnee Bar
- Bar / Lounge
Open 9am till last guest leaves. Exclusive snack service (morning/evening/late-night) for All Inclusive and Premium All Inclusive guests only.
EYZ Bar
- Bar / Lounge
Special events only, per the Cinnamon Complex Brochure — not a daily-operating bar.
Time on the island
Experiences & wellness
Chavana Spa (A Mandara Spa Company) — open 10am-8pm; treatments charged to your room, 50% cancellation fee inside six hours’ notice.
Recreation: Sports Centre (6am-10pm) — tennis, squash, gym, billiard, free of charge. Table tennis, foosball, darts, indoor squash court.
On the water: diving and snorkelling with lessons, canoeing, pedalo, kayak. Fishing charters — sunrise, sunset, night and big-game fishing (own catch prepared for the next meal), dolphin safari, sandbank picnics (group or couple), and a Hangnaameedhoo local-island excursion.
Celebrations: a documented Honeymoon Offer for couples married within the last 12 months (marriage certificate required at booking/check-in) — fruit basket, a bottle of wine and sparkling wine, special bed decoration, 20% off excursions, 25% off the spa menu. Destination/private dining setups are offered — see gallery.
The house reef
One of the Maldives’ celebrated house reefs, with seven marked entry and exit points around the island, a steep south wall of overhangs hung with sea fans, gorgonians and black corals, and a wreck at 30 metres in front of the jetty. Whitetip reef sharks, stingrays, eagle rays, Napoleon fish and big schools of bannerfish and snappers — all per the resort’s own dive guide.
Diving North Ari Atoll
The resort’s dive book maps 46 reefs — Ellaidhoo Thila, Fish Head, Maalhos Thila, the Fesdu and Halaveli wrecks among them — with dive-master notes on depths, currents and marine life for every site.
Snorkelling straight off the island
The reef edge sits within swimming distance of shore — the same seven roped entry points that serve divers put snorkellers over the drop-off without a boat.
Excursions
Dolphin safaris, sunrise, sunset and night fishing, big-game fishing, sandbank trips and visits to the neighbouring local island of Hangnaameedhoo — all bookable on-island.
Chavana Spa
The island’s spa, with a published treatment menu alongside the sports centre and tennis court.
Dolphin watching
Out into the atoll after the pods.
Sunrise fishing
Early-morning fishing, before the island is properly awake.
Sunset fishing
The evening version, with the light doing the work.
Night fishing
Fishing after dark, off the boat.
Big game fishing
Deep water, larger species.
Dhoni ride
A traditional boat excursion — the vessel is the point.
Sandbank picnic
A meal set up on a bare sandbank, for couples or a group.
Dinner at Lover's Deck
Dinner for two on the overwater deck.
Island tour to Hangnaameedhoo
A visit to the inhabited island next door.
In the water
House reef & marine life
- House reef: Exceptional
- Snorkel straight from the beach
- On-site dive centre
December–April, peak January–March, at Donkalhuu (~80 min by boat from Ellaidhoo) and other North Ari Atoll dive sites reachable on excursion from the resort's own dive centre. A 'Manta full day snorkeling' excursion is a dedicated, bookable dive-centre product. Not a house-reef guarantee — a boat excursion.
Occasional encounters during the Manta season (Dec–Apr), driven by increased krill shrimp at excursion dive sites. The dive centre sells a dedicated 'Whale Shark full day with dive excursion' AND a 'Whale Shark full day' snorkelling product — a genuine, bookable offering, framed as occasional/seasonal, never a guarantee.
Sustainability
Ocean impact
Ellaidhoo publishes its environmental record in its own dive book’s ESG chapter, and the numbers are specific: 428 solar panels generating 150kW (saving some 59,560 litres of diesel a year), reusable cloth and paper replacing hundreds of thousands of plastic bags, bottles and straws, water-flow regulators and wastewater re-use saving over a million litres of water annually, and organic gardens fed by an on-site composting machine.
- Reef cubes crafted from recycled glass bottles seed coral restoration on the reef.
- Guest reef and beach clean-ups run through the year.
- Damaged beach umbrellas are re-sewn into beach bags, with 100% of proceeds funding aluminium water bottles for schoolchildren on inhabited islands.
- Kadjan roofing is woven from palm leaves in partnership with the women of neighbouring Haggnaameedhoo.
Ellaidhoo is also listed as a collaborator of Parley for the Oceans’ Maldives programme (it appears as “Ellaidhoo by Cinnamon” on the Parley Maldives collaborators list, checked July 2026).
Planning your trip
Getting there & good to know
Getting there
- Speedboat90 min
- Seaplane25 min
- Transfer costIncluded
- AtollNorth Ari
Return transfers are included in every Mykish package. We confirm the transfer basis on your quote.
Ellaidhoo Maldives by Cinnamon sits in North Ari Atoll, Republic of Maldives, approximately 42km from Malé. Transfer options (speedboat ~90 min or seaplane ~25 min, both quoted separately) and timing are covered in the Australian traveller guide above.
From Australia, Ellaidhoo connects via one of the major Malé gateways — Singapore Airlines via Singapore (SIN), Malaysia Airlines via Kuala Lumpur (KUL), SriLankan Airlines via Colombo (CMB), or Emirates via Dubai (DXB).
Once in Malé, Ellaidhoo offers a genuine choice: a ~90-minute speedboat, or a ~25-minute seaplane (seaplanes only operate in daylight). Unlike some of our other Maldives partners, neither transfer is bundled into the room rate on the confidential rate contract — both are quoted as separate supplements.
A Maldives government green tax applies per person, per night, invoiced separately at time of booking. All pricing on this page and in any quote is in AUD; any currency switcher elsewhere on the site is indicative only.
Good to know
- House reef
- Exceptional
- Board basis
- Bed & Breakfast, Half Board, Full Board, All-Inclusive, Premium All-Inclusive
- Island character
- Mid-size
- Best for
- Honeymoon, Divers, Snorkellers, Wellness / Spa
Consultant tip
Consultant tip: if you’re flying the seaplane leg, the operator’s baggage allowance is 25kg checked + 5kg carry-on per person, with excess charged per kilo (a third-party operator charge, not a Mykish fee) — worth packing down to for the domestic leg if your international allowance runs higher.
Your consultant
Talk to Rahul about Ellaidhoo Maldives by Cinnamon
As a direct-contract Cinnamon partner, Mykish accesses rates the public can’t book online, plus on-ground support if anything needs sorting during your stay. Cinnamon’s documented honeymoon offering (fruit basket, a bottle of wine and sparkling wine, special bed decoration, 20% off excursions, 25% off the spa menu) is available to Mykish guests who meet the resort’s own eligibility terms (married within the last 12 months, marriage certificate required at booking/check-in) — we’ll flag this at enquiry stage. Seasonal upgrades, when available, are never guaranteed and always confirmed at the time of booking.
- Direct contract, not a reseller
Personal reply from Rahul
On the island
Facilities
- Spa
- On-site dive centre
- Snorkelling from the beach
- Direct-contract partner
Questions
Frequently asked questions
How do we get to Ellaidhoo from Australia?
Fly into Malé via Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo or Dubai, then either a ~90-minute speedboat or a ~25-minute seaplane to North Ari Atoll — both are quoted separately by the resort, not bundled into the room rate.
Is Ellaidhoo good for a family with young kids?
It's genuinely family-workable, but be clear-eyed about what's on offer: every room category accepts children (with a disclaimer required for the overwater Water Bungalow), and there's a children's play area and kids' pool — but there is no dedicated, supervised kids'-club programme the way some of our other Maldives partners run. If a full-day kids' club matters to your trip, ask us about Dhigufaru Island Resort (Baraveli Kids Club) instead.
Can children stay in the Water Bungalow?
With conditions. The resort's own contract states children aged 2-11.99 are not allowed in the overwater Water Bungalow category unless a parent or guardian signs a disclaimer — it's a waiver, not an outright ban like some Maldives resorts apply to their water villas. Families wanting a simpler yes should book the beach-based Beach Bungalow, Standard Room or Superior Room instead.
Is Ellaidhoo an adults-only resort?
No. Every accommodation category accepts children, and there's a children's play area and kids' pool on-island. It leans toward divers and couples in its identity, but it is not formally adults-only.
What does the All-Inclusive plan actually cover?
Buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner; morning, evening and night snacks; and house-brand spirits, house wine by the glass, all-inclusive-list cocktails, fresh juices, tea/coffee and soft drinks/beer from the mini bar (refilled daily), all from 9am to midnight. It does not cover champagne, premium spirits, excursions, or dive-centre or spa facilities. Premium All-Inclusive (minimum 5-night stay) adds a Balinese spa treatment, a beach dinner, two resort excursions, 24-hour WiFi and full mini-bar.
Is Ellaidhoo good for diving and snorkelling, or do we need to book a boat?
Diving is genuinely Ellaidhoo's strength — the resort has published its own 108-page house-reef and dive-site guide, and the house reef itself is a proper dive site (steep wall, overhangs, whitetip reef sharks, eagle rays), not a gentle lagoon. For snorkelling, guided house-reef sessions and lessons are offered without a boat fee; excursion-based snorkelling (including seasonal manta and whale-shark trips) is priced separately with a boat fee.
What's the difference between the room and villa categories?
Four structural categories. Standard Room – Garden View (35m²) is the entry-tier land-based room; Superior Room – Ocean View (52m²) is a larger, sea-view step up. Beach Bungalow (38m²) is beachfront with no pool. Water Bungalow (79m²) is genuinely overwater, and children require a signed disclaimer. No category on the island has a private pool.
Do Australians need a visa for the Maldives?
No advance visa is required. The Maldives grants a free 30-day tourist visa on arrival to all nationalities, including Australians, provided you hold a passport valid for 6+ months beyond your stay, proof of onward or return travel, confirmed accommodation, and sufficient funds for your visit. (Source: Maldives Immigration.)
Why book Ellaidhoo through Mykish instead of directly?
We hold a direct contract with Cinnamon, so we can access rates and any seasonal offers Cinnamon runs on this property, plus on-ground support if anything needs sorting during your stay — never guaranteed beyond what's confirmed at the time of booking.
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