Best of the Maldives: Buggy Stop – Canareef

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Canareef - buggy stop

While the main jetty is often the focal point of to-ing and fro-ing, the biggest islands like Canareef (well, one of the longest), also lay on ground shuttles with little electric buggies to ferry people across the property itself. You can call them when you need them, but depending on how busy and far away they are, they might take a few minutes to reach you. Rather than expending any energy standing in the tropical sun, Canareef has constructed a number of sheltered buggy stops at its prime spots (eg. restaurants, spa).

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Best of the Maldives: Artistic Arrival Jetty – Soneva Jani

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Soneva Jani - arrival jetty

First impressions make the biggest impact. It’s one of the reasons why I added a photo of the “Arrival Jetty” to the Maldives Complete Profiles. We were particularly struck by Shangri-La Villingili’s towering welcome pier this summer. But Soneva Jani has set a new high bar in terms of aloha artistry with its sculpted creation.

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Best of the Maldives: Budget Private Island – AaaVee

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AaaVeee - private island

If the price of oil has got your sovereign fund in a slump or interest rates have hit your hedge fund, then maybe you want to consider the value priced private island hire available at AaaVeee. (thanks Paola) You can only bring up to 50 of your posse mates, but in the low season you can get away at a mere snip of a price of $50,000 per night…

  • 01-Nov-16 through 27-Dec-16 (Full Board) – $50,000
  • 28-Dec-16 through 06-Jan-17 (Full Board) – $100,000
  • 07-Jan-17 through 20-Apr-17 (Full Board) – $75,000
  • 21-Apr-17 through 31-Oct-17 (Full Board) – $50,000

And if this deal wasn’t inviting enough, AaaVeee has a Special Offer on its website – “7 nights on a Private island with All-inclusive Meals, accommodation & with your your invitees ONLY.  (Max 50pax)  Entire Island in nature’s paradise for your Private event JUST $100,000.”

Your very own plot of paradise that easy on the pocketbook (relatively).

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Best of the Maldives: Biggest Private Island – W Retreat

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W Retreat - group

Your own private island in paradise for just you…and 150 of your closest friends. A billionaire fantasy that might just be reachable to mere multimillionaires.

Coco Prive is notoriously *only* available for renting out in its entirety, but it is a mere 5600 square metres in size with only 7 rooms (there are some suites larger than that in the Maldives). Finolhu recently gave its entire island to the Delavingne girls for a week, but that was a one-off launch publicity stunt. I supposed any resort island would rent itself out entirely to a single customer (and their posse of friends). I have heard tell of a few Middle Eastern princes doing just this. It’s not easy to do as most resorts allocate out inventory to distributors and agents over a year in advance. But W Retreat has introduced a “island buyout” package with a standard advertised rack rate. The package includes:

  • Island buyout of all 78 rooms
  • All dining venues
  • Free flow of food and house beverages
  • Unlimited spa (inside operation hours)
  • Unlimited water sports
  • Shared seaplane transfers to and from the resort

Mind you this is not a budget punter’s paradise with rates at these levels…

  • 7 nights – USD $6,250,000
  • 6 nights – USD $5,500,000
  • 5 nights – USD $4,750,000
  • 4 nights – USD $4,000,000

Start saving your pennies…

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Best of the Maldives: Ocean Pool – Hulhumale

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Hulhumale - ocean pool

Hulhumale’s “lagoon pool” ticks off another “Finally Seen”. The authentically natural swimming experience, but a bit protected and groomed (ie. sand) for some people’s comfort. We still bump into folks visiting the Maldives spooked to go in the ocean for fear of the little puppy sand sharks swimming about. Come to find out, some people don’t want to swim in any water that has any fish in it. I can’t guarantee that some enterprising piscatorial bounder hasn’t literally made the leap to check this feature out, but you should be pretty safe.

Hulhumale - ocean pool aerial

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Best of the Maldives: Kids Climbing Wall – Canareef

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Canareef - kids climbing wall

I love pint sized versions of things. One of my favourite websites is Minimus.biz (at one point I was going to open up a European branch of Minimus). The Maldives itself is pretty much made up of pint-sized versions of islands. And, since the outset, I’ve always felt that the appeal of the destination for families with children was always unsung.

I was especially enchanted by Canareef’s mini climbing wall for the smallest tykes t the kids club. Too often the “big” kids get all the cool, adventure toys, while the little ones are stuck with colouring books. This wall is just right for the tiniest alpinists. And at over a meter high (!), they can boast having scaled the highest point on the island.

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Best of the Maldives: Kids Greeting Treat – Four Seasons Kuda Huraa

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Four Seasons Kuda Huraa - kids treat

Every arrival at a resort typically includes some special welcome treat. Anything from a fruit basket to gourmet delicacies, a bottle of wine to useful gifts or a ready-to-go cocktail. At Four Seasons Kuda Huraa, the younger set get just as colourfully and creatively constructed welcomes as the parents complete with custom chocolate name plate. Mind you, it might take hours of swimming to burn off the sugar rush!

 

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