Electric carts are standard at most resorts (at least the larger ones), but Sun Siyam Olhuveli has a fleet of electric buggy buses allowing them to carry more people, more sheltered (when the cloud bursts come along).
Maldives Vintage Map
I love me a good map, and after featuring so many here, I felt that I had to have one of my own to grace the walls of our home. There are lots of vintage maps of the Indian Ocean and a number that just feature the Maldives. The one above is the one I ended up purchasing a print of as it seemed to have the most aesthetic charm. If you want one for your own memento (not recommended for modern navigation), and Google Image search can find several for sale pretty readily.
Best of the Maldives: Cereal Treats – Sun Siyam Olhuveli
I was delighted to come across this “Corn Flakes Pudding” at lunch not only because I am an all-day breakfast kind of guy, but also because it evoked a wonderful culinary story told in Netflix’ “Chef’s Table” episode with Christina Tosi. One of Tosi’s famed innovations was “cereal milk” pastries after which her iconic restaurant “Milk Bar” is dubbed (they even have “Cereal Milk Soft Serve Ice Cream”). So I had to ask Sun Siyam Olhuveli’s Executive Chef Didi Hassan when I spoke to him about this concoction to which he recounted the following:
- “We need to have a kind of crunchy dessert. Kind of like cookies. I didn’t have any options. I created this granola mix with the chocolate. And then the guests were asking for it for three days in a row. “Can I have this one? Can I have this one?” I asked the executive pastry chef to come up with a new pudding. I told him to go for something no regular. Something people can remember us by.”
Best of the Maldives: Cake Mixing – Sun Siyam Olhuveli
“Cake Mixing” is a holiday tradition that hadn’t especially heard of. The closest our family came to it was baking and frosting Christmas cookies, but I guess making fruit cakes is a big thing. Actually, our close friends of German heritage do annually have a big stollen cake mixing (and baking) tradition that we are a beneficiary of by means of an annual fruit, nut and marzipan packed treat every December. It turns out that cake mixing has become an especially popular tradition in India and neighbouring Maldives has picked it as well.
Sun Siyam Olhuveli has featured a cake mixing event at its resort every year, but this year’s was the biggest, most elaborate ever including a celebrity chef leading the way – Charith N Silva who has the YouTube channel ‘Wild Cookbook’ with over 600 videos and is now Sri Lanka’s largest YouTube channel with over 10 million subscribers.
- “Every year, it has been a tradition in SSOV to do the annual cake festive cake mixing called ‘Rumtopf’. A Rumtopf is a traditional practice in Germany where festive fruit preserve commonly prepared ahead of the holiday festive season. It consists of seasonal fruits layered with sugar and preserved in rum, allowing the flavors to mature over time. During the festive period, the dried minced fruit is served as a celebratory accompaniment ingredient for fruit cakes, baked goods, desserts, etc.”
Best of the Maldives: Most Rooms – Ifuru
We’ve watched how the single-room villa has blossomed to a couple, then several, then multi-bedroom residences over the years. In the Room Type database, of the 1382 entries, 1090 have 1 room, 207 have 2, 85 have 3 or more…but only Ifuru has a THIRTY-TWO (32) Bedroom Island Reserve.
Best of the Maldives: Plant-Based – Siyam
Siyam Olhuveli is not just covered with vegetation on some of its pathways, but also on its dedicated “Plant Based Bliss” buffet section. Not just a few token mushroom and tofu dishes laid on with some salads, but an extensive array of cooked and prepared plant-based dishes for guests. In fact, all of the Siyam properties have a group-wide objective of 30% of all menu being plant-based
Best of the Maldives: Wide Path Canopy – Olhuveli
One of the charms of many Maldives islands, especially those with particularly lush vegetation, is that the flora can form a tunnel-like canopy over the paths literally enveloping you in its greenery. The overhead foliage provides an often welcome shade from the tropical sun (especially while you are doing a rare bit of exercising by walking or bike riding from one place to another). It’s easy for narrow footpaths to have such canopies, but we have never seen one span such a wide expanse as areas of Sun Siyam Olhuveli where a sandy lane wide enough for two buggies is densely shielded.
How to Pick Your Perfect Maldives Resort – UPDATED
Maldives Complete’s most popular article by far has been “How to Pick Your Perfect Maldives Resort” with 288 comments. But it was written way back in 2013 and the destination, and the considerations around choosing a resort, have shifted a fair bit.
Some considerations are virtually identical …
- Large or small island?
- How important is off-beach snorkelling?
- Seaplane ride?
- Children?
Some questions are also the same except for my commentary with numbers…
- What’s your budget? – While the question remains the same, my comment that resorts “vary in cost from £1,000 per week to over £10,000” would have to change to “vary in cost from £200 to £20,000 per night”
- All Inclusive? – Same consideration as before but instead of “38 out of 132 resorts offer all inclusive”, it is now “59 out of 186”
- Any favourite activities? – Same consideration as before but instead “now with over 120 resorts, there is something for everyone” the count has grown to 186.
The one question that has changed quite dramatically (and the one which was one of the primary drivers to be creating the spreadsheet which led to the website) is “does the resort have a pool”. When I first published the piece, I noted that “86 out of 132 resorts have pools” (65%…lots of choice but certainly no guarantee). Today, 180 out of 186 – 97%! – have a resort pool. So not so difficult to find a resort with one (in fact, the real challenge is finding one without one). What I noted in my article addendum I made in October 2020 was that the new thing was “private pools” for each villa. These days, 727 room categories out of 1,406 (or 51%) have their very own dedicated private pools. So the question is really more “do you want your own private pools” and it is less a question of finding a resort than finding a suitable room type at a resort.
And as my follow up piece, “How to Pick the Perfect Maldives Villa” noted, the villa “pool” consideration itself has lots of variations, ie. luxury, standard, plunge, jacuzzi.
Best of the Maldives: Bus Stops – Siyam World
The inspired resorts are the ones who make the ordinary extraordinary. Siyam World is quite an extensive property and they have laid on a buggy service that operates constantly to make it easier for guests to get from one place or another without have to fatigue their legs or endure an too much time in an overly toasty sunny day. Most resorts put a bench or a simple bus shelter to mark the buggy stops, but Siyam World has designed an colorful collection all inspired by famous cities around the world:
- London
- Kudafari
- Delhi
- New York
- Milan
- Instanbul
- Tokyo
- Munich
- Marrakech
- Moscow
- Cape Town
- Seoul
Not only does it add a striking aesthetic to this otherwise boring spot, but the very distinctive decors really help you to remember which stop you want to go or return to (especially helpful after an evening of pina coladas)
Siyam World’s buggy stop reduce the “pedestrian” at their resorts in more way than one.
Best of the Maldives: Most Colourful Nighttime – Oaga
To add to its collection of colorful Best Ofs, Oaga dazzles with a rainbow of hues even at night.