So you’ve decided to book one of Sandals’ amazing Caribbean overwater bungalows? Congratulations on being ready to book a romantic trip of a lifetime! As of 2019 Sandals has three excellent resorts that offer overwater bungalows and each is quite different so it’s important to choose the one that fits your needs the best.
I’ve been fortunate enough to visit all three Sandals overwater bungalows resorts and tour the bungalows as well, so I thought it would be helpful to discuss the pros and cons of each of them to help people decide with confidence.
Jamaica is one of the Caribbean’s most popular islands, especially for all-inclusive resorts, and starting late in 2016 it also became the region’s capital of overwater bungalows. There are now two amazing overwater bungalow resorts on Jamaica, and we are hoping to welcome more in the future.
Fans of all-inclusive resorts will be happy to hear that both of the Jamaican resorts are part of the famous luxury Sandals chain, so guests pay one price and nearly everything they can think of (including premium items and excursions) is included.
We are constantly asked if there are any of those amazing overwater bungalow resorts in the Caribbean, and many people are disappointed to learn that there are only a few options that come close to what you would find in the South Pacific and the Maldives.
With this said, there are some good options for budget seekers off of the Caribbean coast of Panama. Most of these hotels, lodges, and resorts tend to focus more on nature and being as eco-friendly as possible than on luxuries, so they’re certainly not for everyone.
Honduras is definitely a country on the upswing with its tourism industry, featuring excellent weather most of the year in addition to extremely reasonable prices for everything. The islands just off the coast of Honduras even contain 3 eco-resorts that have overwater bungalows, though they aren’t a proper substitute for the honeymoon-style resorts in Bora Bora of the Maldives.
If you are looking for a deluxe 4-star or above room with air conditioning and an entertainment center then you won’t find such a thing anywhere but French Polynesia or the Maldives, but those who are looking for an active vacation and affordable all-inclusive rates will find a few very good choices here.
Most of the world’s overwater bungalows and water villas are located in the Maldives, which is just southwest of India, but more resorts are opening every year around the world. Malaysia now has six overwater resorts of its own, which is the third most in the world behind the Maldives and Bora Bora.
Even more impressively, Malaysia now boasts what is by far the largest overwater bungalow resort in the world, with an amazing 392 overwater rooms just off the coast south of the Kuala Lumpur Airport.
Thailand is perhaps the most popular country in Asia for sunny holidays we get a lot of questions about whether there are overwater bungalows or water villas in the Land of Smiles. The answer is a bit complicated because there are two resorts that currently have something along these lines, but neither are the classic design that most people are looking for. There are no overwater resorts in Krabi, but there’s one on Phuket and another on Koh Samui that sort of fit the definition.
When many of us think of a tropical winter vacation, we immediately think of Mexico, so it’s no wonder that quite a few people hope to find overwater bungalows in the country. There’s a bit of good news here as there are two resorts in Mexico that feature overwater villas, one of which is considered all-inclusive.
The problem is that overwater bungalows, or water villas, as they are called in many parts of the world, can only be built over still water.
we first had the idea to create a worldwide directory of every overwater resort in the world, we honestly assumed there were about 20 or maybe 30 of these places. It turned out we underestimated by quite a bit, and since new ones keep opening up, the number keeps getting higher and higher.
A couple months ago I wrote a post called where are overwater bungalows, which lists all the major spots in the world where you can find these things.
this site’s main mission is to be a guide to every overwater bungalow and water villa resort in the world, I’ve been quite surprised at some of the places that exist out there. From a somewhat ramshackle resort in Cuba to a beautiful resort on Koh Samui in Thailand that has rooms set over private pools, these things come in more forms than I ever would have guessed.
We are now listing over 125 of these overwater resorts, and today I just added one that is in Europe, Switzerland to be exact.
the Maldives didn’t already have enough water villa or overwater bungalow resorts, the list continues to grow longer almost monthly. At the moment there are over 90 different overwater resorts in the world, and now the Maldives alone has about 60 of those.
These four resorts have been under construction since 2010, and getting an exact opening date for them tends to be difficult. The resorts tend to open later than originally planned, and most go through what they call a “soft opening” where they begin accepting guests (usually at special rates) while the finishing touches are being applied, or sometimes rooms are being finished.