I love the creativity with which the resort welcome (and also bid farewell sometimes) to their guests as they arrive to the island’s shore. The latest addition to the cavalcade of cordial choreography is Kudafushi’s fish and wave greeting. A rendition opens their video holiday greeting the staff filmed.
Best of the Maldives: Seaside Tennis Court – LUX North Male Atoll
One of the myths about the Maldives is that there is nothing to do there. One glance at the sheer scale of the Best of the Maldives “Activity” listing dispels that notion. There is a big difference between “you can do nothing” and “you have to do nothing”.
When you do decide you feel like a bit of stimulating action, there’s no better place than the picturesque surroundings of this tropical utopia. Where else can you play a few games of tennis framed by the dazzling ocean? LUX North Male Atoll’s uniquely positioned seaside court even features blue playing surface for the full azure effect.
Best of the Maldives: Photo Points – You & Me
In the Instagram era, if you don’t get your social snaps, then did you even go on holiday. Now nearly every resort offers a photo point (motivated by the free publicity as they almost always have the name of the resort plastered prominently on them. But no one has more than You & Me with its five different points:
- Arrival logo (below)
- Lagoon logo
- Frame (above)
- Swing (bottom)
- Special hammock (coming soon)
The snappiest resort in the Maldives.
Best of the Maldives: Coconut Yoghurt – Joali
Best of the Maldives: Coconut Vases – Faarufushi
Faarufushi has made cultivating flora part of the internal décor with stylish vases holding germinating coconut saplings. When they get mature enough, they are transplanted outdoors on the resort.
Best of the Maldives: Largest Nursery – Reethi Faru
Not all the tropical landscape just happens upon the islands. Most resorts have a nursery to germinate a range of the more colourful plants and flowers with which to accent the property. The largest we have come across is Reethi Faru’s extensive garden. Spread over a number of acres, the various saplings and young plants are organised in an inviting way. And you can explore the greenery from top to bottom as the resort has added an elevated platform in the middle to survey the lot as well as a hundred meter arbour (see below) to stroll under the shade of various flowering plants.
Best of the Maldives: Palm Tree Volleyball – LUX North Male Atoll
Going natural on the beach facilities can extend to the sports scene as LUX South Ari Atoll has demonstrated with their beach volleyball pitch set up perhaps the way beach volleyball was meant to be played.
Best of the Maldives: Beachy Groynes – OBLU Select Sangeli
long grappled with the ocean shifting the sands all over the place historically. The properties there have figured out a variety of means for reducing this erosion with sea walls, groynes and other measures to address the impact of currents.
For many guests, these protruding measures can detract a bit from the archetypal image of a round plot of sand in the middle of the ocean. Some creative resorts have made lemonade from these aesthetic lemons by dressing up these structures in a number of way (many of which I have shared and now have collected in the new tag of for “Groynes”). I like the approach by OBLU Select Sangeli to smooth the groynes (as opposed to making piles of rocks) and painting them a brilliant white to blend in with the adjacent coral sand beaches.
Best of the Maldives: Wall of Memories – Kudafushi
Kudafushi features an artistic tribute to its guests with its “Wall of Memories”. The feature is complementary for any guest who sends a special note. One of the most extravagant guest books ever.
Guest books were especially popular in resorts in the early days where guests were intrigued to know perhaps what celebrities had visited this already prestigious destination. Those guest books prompted me to add the “Celebrity Guest” field to the Maldives Complete database. And the popularity of that information and piece I wrote about celebrities, contributed to the “Fashionista” series when the Instagram wave hit.
Best of the Maldives: Evacuation Map – Joali
If you are keen for a plaque for your wall, I recommend Joali and their exceptionally high spec evacuation map. Most room maps are simple printouts with maybe a bit of lamination. The luxury villas might have a printed plastic sign up. But the Joali is an artistically etched brass plaque. No troubles finding the way out with these directions as the aesthetic allure of it draws your eye to it.