CAST AWAYS New openings and hotel happenings in the Maldives
The best new experiences in the Maldives
UNSPOILT BEAUTY
Velassaru is a 21-acre island located in the quiet South Malé Atoll, a speedy 25-minute boat ride from Malé airport. It incorporates everything you would expect from a tropical paradise – long stretches of sugar-white sand, sparkling turquoise waters, swaying coconut palms and villas on stilts – with a contemporary, youthful design.
This season, the spa is offering new treatments, including a Coconut Body Scrub and a two-hour Couple Bespoke ritual, in 10 serene pavilions that offer uninterrupted views of the ocean. The resort has also recently introduced a new room category, Deluxe Villa – a light and airy space featuring an expansive split-level bedroom and living-room, within its own private tropical garden just steps from the beach. Guests can also take advantage of a number of added services, including cruises, group yoga and guided snorkelling tours. From about £325 a room a night
(www.velassaru.com).
FLOATING OASIS
A tiny, tranquil island with a lush green interior encircled by white sands and coral reefs teeming with colourful fish, turtles and baby sharks, the postcard-perfect Kandolhu Island will delight food lovers with a diverse range of dining options. As well as four à la carte restaurants, the resort has just unveiled a private-cinema experience, for which a large screen is set up at the end of the roped-off jetty. Select any movie you like, settle into a comfortable seat, and a personal butler will serve drinks and gourmet popcorn. In addition, monthly dégustation dinners on the beach offer a chance to try cuisines including Maldivian,
French and Italian.
From about £490 a room a night (www.kandolhu.com).
GOING GREEN
Eco-tourism is big business in the Maldives, but some resorts take it
more seriously than others. At Hurawalhi, opening this December,
there are 4,200 square metres of solar panels supplying its electricity, greenhouses grow as much produce as possible, and the rain showers are fed with filtered seawater.
(www.hurawalhi.com)
LA DOLCE VITA
Baglioni will open a new Maldives
outpost in 2017, which is sure to have all the stylish furnishings and chic fabrics so integral to the Italian group’s existing editions. The hotel, 40 minutes by seaplane from Malé in the Dhaalu Atoll, will include 99 villas, a Japanese restaurant and a kids’ club. (www.baglionihotels.com/maldives)
NATURAL WONDER
Designed for those who would prefer an adult-size playhouse to a hotel room, the villas at Soneva Jani are carved entirely from wood. Each of the 25 suites has a retractable roof for stargazing as you sleep, and some have a slide linking the top deck with the ocean. There’s also a spa, over-water cinema and juice bar.
(www.soneva.com/soneva-jani)