#11 in Top 20 Maldives for a Honeymoon · Intimate design resort
COMO Cocoa Island
Thirty-three dhoni-shaped villas on a quiet sandbar, the small, wellness-leaning Maldives honeymoon for couples who find the mega-resorts too anonymous.
Thirty-three dhoni-shaped villas on a quiet sandbar, the small, wellness-leaning Maldives honeymoon for couples who find the mega-resorts too anonymous.
"The honeymoon villa as a native fishing boat, on one of the quietest, most personal islands in the Maldives."
| Criterion | Score |
|---|---|
| Romance | 9.6 |
| Service | 9.7 |
| Design | 9.5 |
| Location | 9.4 |
| Food | 9.3 |
| Value | 9.1 |
| Aggregate | 9.5 |
Scored on our six-criterion framework, weighted for a honeymoon stay. See how we score.
Book it when you want the most intimate, personal version of a Maldives honeymoon rather than the biggest. COMO Cocoa Island is one of the smallest luxury resorts on our Maldives list, with just 33 villas set in a single curved row along a sandbar on Makunufushi Island in the South Male Atoll. The villas are shaped like dhonis, the traditional Maldivian fishing boat, and arriving by speedboat to find a line of boat-shaped timber capsules over the lagoon is a genuinely distinctive first impression that no standard overwater bungalow matches.
That small scale is the whole argument for a honeymoon. With so few villas, staff learn your names within a day, dining feels like eating somewhere you belong rather than a canteen, and the island never feels crowded even when full. The other draw is wellness: the resort is home to a COMO Shambhala spa, and the rhythm of the place is built around treatments, yoga, quiet water time and unhurried meals. It is the pick for couples who want calm, design and personal attention over a resort with a dozen restaurants and a nightclub.
Book a COMO Villa or COMO Suite, the categories that give you a private pool and a deck directly over the lagoon, rather than the entry Dhoni Suites. The Dhoni Suites are charming and the most affordable way in, but they are the smallest villas and do not have a private pool, which for a honeymoon is the detail most couples end up wishing they had paid for. The pool villas turn your deck into the main event: your own plunge pool, steps into the lagoon, and the privacy to spend a whole day without leaving.
If you want maximum space and seclusion, the two-bedroom COMO Sunrise Villa is the flagship, with separate wings and a pool positioned for the morning light. Interiors across the resort are calm and pared-back in pale timber and white, in the understated COMO design language rather than a maximalist, heavily themed look. When you book, confirm the villa category includes a private pool in writing, because the naming across booking channels can blur the line between the pool and non-pool categories.
Build a day around the COMO Shambhala spa, a couples treatment followed by a quiet deck lunch, and book it early in your stay so you can repeat it. Because there is essentially one main restaurant, reserve your preferred dinner slots and any private beach or sandbank dinner on arrival, before the best sunset times are taken.
Dining is intimate rather than varied: the resort centres on a single main restaurant serving Mediterranean and pan-Asian cooking alongside the lighter COMO Shambhala wellness dishes the group is known for, with private in-villa and sandbank dinners available for a special night. The upside is quality and calm; the trade-off, covered honestly below, is that you will not have the choice of five or six venues you would find at a larger resort, so couples who love to graze between restaurants should note that.
The COMO Shambhala spa is the standout amenity and a genuine reason to choose this resort over a livelier one. Treatments lean into COMO's wellness approach, and the overall pace of the island supports actually resting rather than filling every day with activities. The house reef and lagoon are the other draw: the water is excellent for swimming and snorkelling straight from the villas, and the South Male location keeps marine life close. It is a resort to slow down on, not to fill with a packed activity schedule.
The honest cons follow directly from the size. First, dining variety is limited: with essentially one main restaurant, this is not the resort for couples who want to try a different venue each night, and repeat menus over a long stay are a real consideration. Second, the entry Dhoni Suites are compact and lack a private pool, so the budget entry point is less generous than the marketing photos of the pool villas suggest; if you book the cheapest category expecting a pool, you will be disappointed.
Third, Cocoa Island is a slim sandbar rather than a big lush island, so the beach is modest compared with larger resorts, and couples who want long stretches of sand to walk may prefer a bigger island. Fourth, there are fewer on-site activities and no nightlife, which is the point for some and a drawback for others. None of these are flaws so much as the natural consequences of choosing a small, quiet island, but they are worth weighing before you commit.
Against other honeymoon options in the Maldives, COMO Cocoa Island competes on intimacy, design and wellness rather than scale or facilities. Use the table to place it against two other resorts on our list.
| Resort | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| COMO Cocoa Island | Small, design-led wellness honeymoon; short 40-minute boat transfer | One main restaurant; modest beach; entry villas lack a pool |
| Gili Lankanfushi | Barefoot, rustic-luxe overwater villas and a famous no-shoes ethos | Larger and pricier; a less design-minimalist look |
| Joali Maldives | Art-led maximalist design with more villa variety and facilities | Bigger and busier; further from Male, so a longer transfer |
If your honeymoon is about intimacy, wellness and clean design on a quiet island, COMO Cocoa Island is the pick. If you want a barefoot, rustic mood go to Gili Lankanfushi; if you want art-led design with more to do, look at Joali.
Yes, for couples who want an intimate, design-led resort rather than a large one. With 33 dhoni-shaped villas, a strong COMO Shambhala spa, and a quiet single-island feel, it suits a calm, wellness-leaning honeymoon.
A COMO Villa or COMO Suite with a private pool and lagoon deck, rather than the entry Dhoni Suites, which are smallest and have no private pool. The two-bedroom COMO Sunrise Villa gives the most space.
By speedboat, roughly 40 minutes from Male International Airport, about 30 kilometres away. No seaplane is needed, which is one of the resort's practical advantages.
Rates typically start around 1,200 US dollars per night and climb for pool villas in high season, with peak overwater rates often well above 1,500 dollars. Check live rates for your dates.
Limited dining variety with essentially one restaurant, compact entry Dhoni Suites without a private pool, a modest beach, and fewer activities than a big resort.
Sign up for deal alerts: fifth night free offers, resort credits, and the upgrade windows we would book ourselves.