The Barceló Nasandhura Malé opened in February 2025 in Malé, the island capital of the Maldives in the north of the Indian Ocean, signalling the arrival of the first, spanking new, five-star hotel in Malé.
It occupies pole position in Malé, directly on the waterfront. It is a swift ten minute drive from the Velana International Airport over the sturdy China-Maldives Friendship Bridge which the Chinese completed in 2018. It also is directly opposite the Henveiru Ferry Terminal and a five minute drive from Maafannu Ferry Terminal.
The hotel therefore offers ready access to atolls throughout the Maldives by sea plane, speed boat and (Maldivian style) ferry, as well as international destinations through commercial flights and private jets. The hotel provides a shuttle service which is efficient and it liaises directly with resorts on the atolls to ensure its guests are not kept waiting.
It overlooks the King Salman Mosque, a six storey Sunni Islamic mosque which has a distinctive blue dome-like structure designed to evoke a Bedouin desert tent and elements of traditional Maldivian architecture.
The Barceló Nasandhura Malé is also a short walk along the waterfront promenade from the main financial district in Malé and many important government buildings, such as the brightly painted Mulee-aage Palace, the official residence of the President of the Maldives.
It represents the second venture in the Maldives for the European Barceló Group, founded in 1931 in distant Mallorca, following the opening in 2024 of Barceló Whale Lagoon Maldives, a five-star island resort in the Maldives renowned for its whale sharks.
Turning to the hotel itself, it is brand new, gigantic in scale and towers over the seafront and neighbouring buildings. It has no less than 136 spacious rooms for hotel guests, many with balconies and nearly all with sweeping views of the Indian Ocean. The rooms are modern, clean, filled with light and designed for maximum comfort. One would not expect more in London, Paris or Stockholm.
I particularly enjoyed watching all sorts of craft sailing back and forth in the littoral stretch of ocean in front of my room, from compact tugboats and container ships to a sleek gunboat of the Maldivian National Defence Force, presumably part of the preparations for the Victory Day Parade public holiday on the following day.
The hotel also has 116 serviced apartments and an enormous space for hosting conferences, conventions, exhibitions and weddings. In that sense, it is far more than a tourist hotel and is certain to be a magnet for all types of visitors to the Maldives, including business men and women and foreign dignitaries and diplomats.
The hotel has a full range of modern facilities. Starting at the rooftop, BHeaven is an open air, lounge style bar with a bird’s eye view of the bustling promenade and waterfront which separate the hotel from the ocean beyond. BHeaven serves a range of delicious mocktails. It does not, however, serve alcoholic drinks which represents a stark contrast to the distinctly relaxed approach in the resorts on the atolls in the Maldives.
BHeaven overlooks, one floor below, the hotel’s elongated seafront pool (the first and only one in all of Malé). It is an absolute suntrap and has wonderful views over the Indian Ocean.
The Barceló Nasandhura Malé has a lobby café and a couple of restaurants. The main one is Oivaru, a spacious restaurant which guarantees privacy and offers a first-class buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner at a reasonable price. It will fortify any guest at the hotel for the next stage of their journey or schedule and is well worth a visit in its own right.
The hotel is ideal for tourists to the Maldives who wish to experience the atmosphere of life in its capital city, which to be clear, could not be more different from the resorts on the atolls.
It is also perfect for those who wish to break their journey from Asia or Western Europe and avoid a lengthy same day wait, impatient and jetlagged, at the seaplane terminal in Malé before finally reaching their ultimate atoll destination. The same logic applies on the way home.
I have not found a better stop over than this hotel for a long journey to or from the Maldives, and it certainly provides a colourful alternative to well-worn layovers in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
The Barceló Nasandhura Malé is open throughout the year. Bookings may be made directly with the hotel at www.barcelo.com and by telephone on +44 020 3727 0251. It is also possible to book through other booking platforms.
The website for the Barceló Nasandhura Malé is published in English and various other languages. It contains plentiful information about the hotel and no meaningful information about tourist attractions in Malé.
Details of other hotels within the Barceló Hotel Group can be found on the same website.
Average prices for the Barceló Nasandhura Malé will fluctuate depending on the season and type of room. The average price for a standard room with breakfast is unlikely to be less than about £300 per night. Half board options and other packages are available.