COMO Cocoa Island

1 Restaurant & 1 Bar

Cocoa Island is deliberately small on dining venues — Ufaa carries breakfast through dinner with a modern Indian-Mediterranean menu under Chef Federico Tidu (appointed 2024). Faru Bar handles poolside lunches and evening cocktails. COMO Shambhala Cuisine — the wellness-led nutrient-rich menu found across COMO properties — is available within Ufaa and via in-villa dining. Themed Indian and Thai nights run several evenings each week. Specialty experiences: Sandbank Picnic on the eastern sandbank (three-course, prosecco), Villa Yakiniku Dinner (in-villa grill, sake pairing), and customised private dining at locations across the island.

Ufaa

Indian / Mediterranean

Open wooden pavilion overlooking the lagoon. Modern Indian and Mediterranean menus with an emphasis on local produce and sustainable seafood. Chef Federico Tidu (appointed 2024) runs the kitchen. Themed Indian and Thai menu nights rotate several evenings per week. COMO Shambhala Cuisine — the brand's nutrient-rich wellness menu — is woven through the regular offering.

SettingBeachfront pavilion · All meals

Our tipAsk about the Thai theme nights — typically Tuesday and Friday — for the best of Ufaa's range

All plansView menu

Faru Bar

Pool Bar

Poolside bar with direct beach access. Cocktails, wines, cigars, light snacks and casual lunches through the day. Transitions to the cocktail venue in the evening with sunset views across the lagoon. The default first-and-last-day venue for most guests.

SettingPoolside · Open-air · All day

Our tipOrder the rum-and-tonic at sunset — Faru is angled west, so you get the colour change off the deck

SupplementView menu

Dining Inclusions

Three meal plan tiers — bed-and-breakfast (included in room rate), Half Board, and Full Board. COMO Cocoa Island does NOT offer an all-inclusive plan; the wellness positioning leans against the buffet-and-tap-everything model. Children under 6 eat free.

Your Days on the Island

COMO Cocoa Island is a wellness-led, reef-led resort. COMO Shambhala — one of the Maldives' most credentialed spa programmes — anchors the wellness side; the house reef sits a few metres off every villa deck and rivals the best in the country. Cocoa Thila, one of South Malé's signature dive sites, is just behind the resort. No surf programme here (that's COMO Maalifushi).

Family-Friendly Features

Cocoa Island runs no kids' club, but the resident marine biologist makes it work for families with older, curious kids: Young Marine Explorers reef sessions, weekly Marine Talks at Faru Bar, and a sponsor-a-coral-frame Reefscapers programme that ships photo updates every six months. Turtle Point sits a short snorkel from every deck. Dhoni Loft Water Villas (110 sqm) put a king-bed mezzanine above a downstairs living room that converts for kids. The 33-villa scale means a small peer group — best for multi-generational trips or self-directed older kids.

House Reef & Underwater

One of the best house reefs in the Maldives — the drop-off sits metres from the deck of every overwater villa, making shore-entry snorkelling immediate and reliable. Cocoa Thila, a regional signature dive site, is just behind the resort with reef sharks, eagle rays, and large schooling fish. The resort runs a Reefscapers coral sponsorship programme (106 planted frames + 245 honeycomb structures) and maintains a turtle ID database via Turtle Point — hawksbill turtles are present year-round.

PADI dive center on-site. Night snorkeling available. Marine life observations sourced from dive logs and guest reports.

Transfer from Malé

Forty minutes by speedboat from Velana International Airport to Makunufushi, the small island that hosts COMO Cocoa Island in South Malé Atoll. The 40-min run is one of the easier Maldives transfers — no seaplane scheduling, no domestic-flight connections, no overnight required for late arrivals. Return transfer is approximately USD 350 per person; children 2–11 are USD 175; infants free. Private boat charters are available — USD 900 (1–4 pax) or USD 1,600 (5–8 pax) one-way.

Resort island map — COMO Cocoa Island

Who This Resort is For

COMO Cocoa Island's proposition is small-island serenity at a speedboat-easy distance. Thirty-three dhoni-shaped overwater villas, an exceptional house reef with shore-entry drop-off, a wellness operation that occupies a third of the island, and Ufaa as the single dining anchor. It's the COMO portfolio's couples-leaning Maldives property — Maalifushi is the surf-and-wellness pick in remote Thaa, Cocoa Island is the wellness-and-honeymoon pick in easy South Malé. Repeat COMO loyalists choose it for the wellness depth and the no-seaplane simplicity; first-timers choose it for the dhoni-villa visual and the romantic scale.

COMO Cocoa Island — FAQ