Why is the full-moon-shaped lagoon the resort's standout?

Furanafushi sits inside an unusually complete circular reef-and-lagoon, which gives the resort its name. Most Maldivian resort islands have a house reef along one or two sides, with the rest facing open ocean or a channel; here the reef-and-lagoon wraps the island in an almost-complete circle, so you can snorkel straight from the villa decks across most of the perimeter rather than walking to a single house-reef edge. For travellers who want the lagoon woven into daily life, this is the area's answer.

North Malé Atoll · premium resort · opened 2000 · refit 2017

Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort & Spa

Marriott Sheraton premium resort on Furanafushi island, North Malé Atoll. 176 villas set around the namesake full-moon-shaped lagoon, the easiest-to-reach Marriott in the Maldives, Bonvoy loyalty across six Maldivian Marriotts, several restaurants led by Sand Coast (Italian) and Anchorage (Asian), and a 15-minute speedboat among the quickest arrivals in the area.

Check rates on Booking Check rates on Agoda

Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort & Spa sits on Furanafushi island about 7 kilometres east of Velana International Airport, opened in 2000 under the Marriott Sheraton flag. Three things define it together. The full-moon-shaped lagoon wrapping the island is the namesake: an unusually complete circle of reef and lagoon that gives the resort its look and lets you snorkel straight off the villa decks. The Sheraton sits at the value end of Marriott's luxury cluster, one of six Marriott resorts in the Maldives (alongside W Maldives in Alif Dhaal, the St Regis Vommuli in Dhaalu, the Westin Miriandhoo in Baa, the JW Marriott in Shaviyani, and Le Méridien in Lhaviyani), and the easiest of them to reach. And the 15-minute speedboat is among the quickest arrivals in the area, alongside OBLU XPERIENCE Ailafushi.

Setting

Furanafushi is a natural island about 7 kilometres east of Velana International Airport, ringed by its signature full-moon-shaped lagoon, an unusually complete circle of reef and lagoon. The 176 villas run around the shore and the over-water cluster on the lagoon.

Its position gives one of the quickest arrivals in the area and puts the marquee North Malé dive sites, a Malé excursion, and wider day-trips within boat range.

Critique: at 176 villas on an older-development island, it isn't a low-density, secluded resort; the full-moon lagoon is the draw, not seclusion.

Who it's for

Marriott Bonvoy members who want the quickest-to-reach Marriott on a premium all-inclusive. The 15-minute speedboat plus Bonvoy points across six Maldivian Marriotts and the global programme are the draw.
Families and couples drawn to the full-moon lagoon. The near-complete circle of reef lets you snorkel straight from the villa decks, which the usual one-sided house reefs can't match.
Travellers who want reliable Sheraton-brand consistency at a premium price without LVMH-Maison polish. It sits at the value end of the luxury cluster, below St Regis polish and the Westin's six-pillar wellness, in the chain-luxury middle.
Repeat travellers redeeming Bonvoy points. The Sheraton Full Moon has long been one of the better point-redemption values among the Maldivian Marriotts, at one of the quickest arrivals.

Who it isn't for

Travellers who want the area's ultra-luxury anchors. The Sheraton is at the value end of Marriott's luxury cluster, below the Gili Lankanfushi / One&Only Reethi Rah / Patina Maldives level.
Marriott loyalty travellers wanting the brand's top-tier or wellness options. For St Regis butler service, St Regis Vommuli in Dhaalu; for the Westin's six-pillar wellness, Westin Miriandhoo in Baa.
Couples who want a firmly adults-only resort. The Sheraton is family-and-couples.
Surf travellers. The full-moon lagoon isn't on the surf-cluster reef passes; for surf adjacency, Adaaran Select Hudhuranfushi or Cinnamon Dhonveli.

The villas

The 176 villas span Deluxe Room, Cottage, Beach Bungalow, Garden Villa, and Water Bungalow types along the Furanafushi shoreline and the over-water jetty around the full-moon lagoon. Sizes vary by category; confirm at booking.

Villa	Size	Sleeps	Pool
Deluxe Room	50 m²	2	No
Cottage	60 m²	3	No
Beach Bungalow	75 m²	3	No
Garden Villa	85 m²	3	No
Water Bungalow	85 m²	2	No

Food & drink

Five restaurants anchor the Sheraton premium all-inclusive plan. Feast, the all-day main pavilion, runs a rotating buffet plus à-la-carte from breakfast to dinner, with separate Maldivian, Asian, Mediterranean, and international sections. Sand Coast is the Italian beachside restaurant, with trained-Italian-chef pasta and pizza for lunch and dinner. Anchorage does pan-Asian dinners with a wok station and Japanese-counter elements. The over-water specialty venue does dinner only; The Sand Bar handles lunch and sundowners.

The wine and cocktails run at Marriott's reliable chain-luxury standard, and the premium plan covers Feast plus rotating à-la-carte nights.

Honest read on the food: five venues is broad, at solid premium standard; for more breadth, Kurumba at eight venues is the area's premium dining anchor.

Diving and the house reef

The on-island dive operation runs at a premium level, and the central North Malé position puts it within boat range of the marquee dive sites: HP Reef, Manta Point at Lankan Reef (the southwest-monsoon manta aggregation), Banana Reef, and the wider channel sites.

Certification courses run from Open Water through Divemaster, and the full-moon lagoon lets you snorkel straight from the villa decks rather than taking a boat for the casual side of the trip.

Honest caveat: for a specialist dive operation, Bandos has the Orchid PADI 5-star and a hyperbaric chamber; the Sheraton's strength is the full-moon-lagoon house reef on a premium all-inclusive, not dive depth.

Spa and wellness

Shine Spa for Sheraton runs at Marriott's chain-luxury level, with massages, facials, body scrubs, and the brand's signature treatments.

At peak season spa appointments get contested; book treatments when you confirm.

Honest caveat: if wellness is the whole point of the trip, the dedicated wellness islands are well ahead.

Activities and the on-island programme

Watersports cover the usual range: stand-up paddleboarding, kayaking, sailing, guided snorkel trips, and the dive programme. The full-moon lagoon lets you snorkel straight from the villa decks, a real advantage.

Being family-friendly, it runs a kids' programme, and Bonvoy split-stays across the six Maldivian Marriotts (W, St Regis, Westin, JW, Le Méridien, and Sheraton) are easy to arrange.

Smaller offerings: a dolphin-watching cruise, a sunset cruise, a private-sandbank trip with a chef, and a Malé excursion made easy by the quick routing.

Getting there

The standard route from Velana International is a 15-minute speedboat straight to the Furanafushi jetty.

The speedboat runs on a wide daily schedule, with late-night runs by prior arrangement. At 15 minutes it ties with OBLU XPERIENCE Ailafushi among the quickest arrivals (behind Kurumba at 10, ahead of the 20-minute group).

Visa: most nationalities receive a 30-day free visa on arrival. The Tourism GST adds 17 percent to the total bill.

Best time to visit

North Malé's seasons follow the standard Maldivian pattern. December through April is the dry season, with the European peak; Christmas and New Year carry the steepest rates.

May through November carries the southwest monsoon; the August Italian and German school holidays bring a second spike.

Contrarian's pick: late September into October for shoulder-season value; the quick arrival makes a weather-driven late booking genuinely workable.

Sustainability, the numbers

Marriott's group-wide Serve 360 programme covers the basics: energy efficiency, waste segregation, marine stewardship, and coral-restoration partnerships across the Maldivian Marriotts.

The full-moon lagoon gives the resort a stake in protecting its own reef, and the dive school monitors it daily.

What is absent: a published, independently audited annual impact report of the kind Soneva produces.

Our take

What sets the Sheraton apart is the full-moon lagoon at one of the quickest arrivals in the area. No other North Malé resort sits inside a near-complete circular lagoon like this; it lets you snorkel from the villa decks, and combined with the 15-minute speedboat, nothing else nearby quite matches the package.

The underrated angle is the six Marriotts. Each is deliberately different: W Maldives in Alif Dhaal is design-led and music-leaning; the St Regis Vommuli in Dhaalu is ultra-luxury butler service; the Westin Miriandhoo in Baa is wellness-focused; the JW Marriott in Shaviyani is family-luxury in the far north; Le Méridien in Lhaviyani is French-coastal culture-and-arts; and the Sheraton Full Moon is the quick-arrival, value-end-of-luxury one in North Malé. For Bonvoy members, the six together make a deliberate cross-atoll, cross-tier set to work through.

Our recommendation: book a Water Bungalow for a five- or seven-night couple's stay, or a Beach Bungalow for a family, during the late-September shoulder. Use the 15-minute speedboat to arrive and leave on the same day plus a Malé excursion, and consider a split-stay with a contrasting Marriott (the Westin Miriandhoo for wellness, or the St Regis Vommuli for top-tier polish). Bonvoy point redemptions here have long been good value.

Maldives Idylls editorial·last revised 2026-05-11

Verdict

For Marriott Bonvoy members who want the quickest-to-reach Marriott on a premium all-inclusive, families and couples drawn to the full-moon lagoon, travellers who want reliable Sheraton consistency without LVMH-Maison polish, and repeat travellers redeeming Bonvoy points, Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort & Spa is the right answer at North Malé's Marriott premium quick-arrival end. The 176 villas across Deluxe Room, Cottage, Beach Bungalow, Garden Villa, and Water Bungalow types, the five-venue Sheraton premium all-inclusive plan, the full-moon lagoon, the six-Marriott Bonvoy Maldivian set, and the 15-minute speedboat from Velana are the headline features. The value-end-of-luxury Sheraton polish sitting below the area's ultra-luxury anchors and the top-tier Marriotts, the density of 176 villas rather than a low-density layout, the family-and-couples rather than adults-only feel, and a working rather than audited approach to sustainability are the honest trade-offs.

Check rates on Booking

Lagoon conditions

29°Csea 29°C

Wind

23.0 m/s W

Source: Open-Meteo · cached 6h

Quick facts

Villas: 176 across Deluxe Room + Cottage + Beach Bungalow + Garden Villa + Water Bungalow types
Restaurants: Five venues on the Sheraton premium all-inclusive plan: Feast main pavilion + Sand Coast Italian + Anchorage pan-Asian + over-water specialty + The Sand Bar
Transfer: 15-min speedboat direct from Velana International (among the quickest arrivals, alongside OBLU XPERIENCE Ailafushi)
Dive centre: On-island dive operation; North Malé marquee dive-site routing + full-moon-lagoon house reef
Opened: 2000 (renovated 2017; Marriott Sheraton-flag)
Island: Furanafushi, North Malé Atoll (~7 km east of Velana International; the namesake full-moon-shaped lagoon)
Brand framework: Marriott Sheraton (one of six Maldivian Marriotts: W, St Regis, Westin, JW, Le Méridien, and Sheraton; Marriott Serve 360 sustainability programme)
Distinctive feature: The namesake full-moon-shaped lagoon ringing the island; a 15-minute speedboat among the quickest arrivals; Bonvoy loyalty across six Maldivian Marriotts; a value-end-of-luxury Sheraton position

Gallery

Photographs come from each resort's own communications and operator-supplied media kits. Operators retain ownership; takedown requests are honoured on email. Click any tile to view it full size.

Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort & Spa, aerial, North Malé Atoll, Maldives, Furanafushi T-shaped jetty + overwater villa row aerial: arrival pavilion at the end of the long T-jetty with speedboats moored on either side, curving thatched-roof overwater villa row at right wrapping into the full-moon lagoon, central palm-canopied island visible in distance. — Furanafushi T-shaped jetty + overwater villa row aerial: arrival pavilion at the end of the long T-jetty with speedboats moored on either side, curving thatched-roof overwater villa row at right wrapping into the full-moon lagoon, central palm-canopied island visible in distance.

Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort & Spa, aerial, North Malé Atoll, Maldives, Full-island approach aerial: Furanafushi seen from the channel side with the T-shaped arrival jetty and pavilion at the foreground, wooden dhonis and Sheraton speedboats moored, central island palm canopy, full curve of the namesake thatched-roof overwater villa row tracing the lagoon edge into the distance. — Full-island approach aerial: Furanafushi seen from the channel side with the T-shaped arrival jetty and pavilion at the foreground, wooden dhonis and Sheraton speedboats moored, central island palm canopy, full curve of the namesake thatched-roof overwater villa row tracing the lagoon edge into the distance.

Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort & Spa, villa overwater, North Malé Atoll, Maldives, Water Bungalow deck POV: thatched-roof corner overhead, glass door and picture window framing the in-villa bathroom on the left, stainless ladder descending from the deck into the turquoise lagoon, two rolled orange-towel loungers on the timber deck, small distant green island on the horizon (the property's signature thatched-roof and step-down-into-lagoon configuration). — Water Bungalow deck POV: thatched-roof corner overhead, glass door and picture window framing the in-villa bathroom on the left, stainless ladder descending from the deck into the turquoise lagoon, two rolled orange-towel loungers on the timber deck, small distant green island on the horizon (the property's signature thatched-roof and step-down-into-lagoon configuration).

Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort & Spa, villa overwater, North Malé Atoll, Maldives, Overwater Villa with Pool deck: dark-louvered villa wall on the left, blue-tile plunge pool with submerged ladder built into the timber deck, orange-cushion lounger in the foreground, reef edge and breakwater visible at the horizon, partial thatched roof corner upper-right. — Overwater Villa with Pool deck: dark-louvered villa wall on the left, blue-tile plunge pool with submerged ladder built into the timber deck, orange-cushion lounger in the foreground, reef edge and breakwater visible at the horizon, partial thatched roof corner upper-right.

Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort & Spa, villa beach, North Malé Atoll, Maldives, Beachfront Deluxe bungalow row exterior: cluster of thatched-roof bungalows in a row, central entry archway with stone steps, frangipani trees flanking the path, manicured shrub borders, palm canopy above (the property's heritage thatched-roof beach-bungalow architecture). — Beachfront Deluxe bungalow row exterior: cluster of thatched-roof bungalows in a row, central entry archway with stone steps, frangipani trees flanking the path, manicured shrub borders, palm canopy above (the property's heritage thatched-roof beach-bungalow architecture).

Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort & Spa, villa beach, North Malé Atoll, Maldives, Beach Front Cottage interior: vaulted dark-wood ceiling with central beam structure, daybed banquette under multi-pane wood-framed windows with green Roman shades, batik-print pillows in coral-and-cream, woven-front credenza with wall-mounted television, sliding glass door at left opening to the deck with beach and lagoon beyond. — Beach Front Cottage interior: vaulted dark-wood ceiling with central beam structure, daybed banquette under multi-pane wood-framed windows with green Roman shades, batik-print pillows in coral-and-cream, woven-front credenza with wall-mounted television, sliding glass door at left opening to the deck with beach and lagoon beyond.

Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort & Spa, villa beach, North Malé Atoll, Maldives, Deluxe Room building exterior: two-story accommodation block with thatched canopy roof feature over the entry corridor, balconied upper-floor rooms, palm trees framing the approach, dense planted shrubs at the ground level (architecturally distinct from the heritage single-story thatched bungalows). — Deluxe Room building exterior: two-story accommodation block with thatched canopy roof feature over the entry corridor, balconied upper-floor rooms, palm trees framing the approach, dense planted shrubs at the ground level (architecturally distinct from the heritage single-story thatched bungalows).

Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort & Spa, villa beach, North Malé Atoll, Maldives, Cottage with Pool at twilight: standalone thatched-roof cottage with lit interior visible through open sliding glass doors, two green-cushioned lounge chairs on the timber deck, blue-tile plunge pool in the foreground, planted shrub border at right with outdoor rain shower, secondary cottage thatched roof in the background. — Cottage with Pool at twilight: standalone thatched-roof cottage with lit interior visible through open sliding glass doors, two green-cushioned lounge chairs on the timber deck, blue-tile plunge pool in the foreground, planted shrub border at right with outdoor rain shower, secondary cottage thatched roof in the background.

Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort & Spa, spa, North Malé Atoll, Maldives, Shine Spa walkway: long wooden boardwalk extending across the reef from the main island to the spa pavilion on its own palm-covered islet, white rope-railing posts on both sides, distinct thatched-roof spa pavilion at the far end (the spa as a dedicated detached-islet pavilion within the full-moon lagoon). — Shine Spa walkway: long wooden boardwalk extending across the reef from the main island to the spa pavilion on its own palm-covered islet, white rope-railing posts on both sides, distinct thatched-roof spa pavilion at the far end (the spa as a dedicated detached-islet pavilion within the full-moon lagoon).

Alternatives we would also recommend

Lhaviyani Atoll

Le Méridien Maldives Resort & Spa

Another Marriott, Le Méridien, in Lhaviyani: 141 villas, premium all-inclusive, the French-coastal Sip Savour Stay culture-and-arts style, a 2021 build, Bonvoy loyalty.

Baa Atoll

The Westin Maldives Miriandhoo Resort

Another Marriott, the Westin, in the Baa biosphere: 70 villas, premium all-inclusive, the six-pillar wellness approach, Hanifaru manta routing, Bonvoy loyalty.

Frequently asked

Why is the full-moon-shaped lagoon the resort's standout?: Furanafushi sits inside an unusually complete circular reef-and-lagoon, which gives the resort its name. Most Maldivian resort islands have a house reef along one or two sides, with the rest facing open ocean or a channel; here the reef-and-lagoon wraps the island in an almost-complete circle, so you can snorkel straight from the villa decks across most of the perimeter rather than walking to a single house-reef edge. For travellers who want the lagoon woven into daily life, this is the area's answer.
How does the Sheraton Full Moon compare across Marriott's six Maldivian resorts?: Six Marriotts operate across the Maldives, each deliberately different. W Maldives (Alif Dhaal) is design-led and music-leaning. The St Regis Vommuli (Dhaalu) is ultra-luxury butler service. The Westin Miriandhoo (Baa) is wellness-focused. The JW Marriott (Shaviyani) is family-luxury in the far north. Le Méridien (Lhaviyani) is French-coastal culture-and-arts. The Sheraton Full Moon (North Malé, full-moon lagoon, 15-minute speedboat) is the quick-arrival, value-end-of-luxury one. Bonvoy points carry across all six, which makes a cross-atoll, cross-tier set easy to plan.

Verification

Last verified 2026-05-28. Next refresh 2026-08-28. Edited by Linus Halberg.