Best of the Maldives: Biggest Water Villa – Gili Lankanfushi

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Gili Lankanfushi’s Private Residence    St Regis Vommulis John Jacob Astor Estate
Gili Lankanfushi Private Reserve                                                St. Regis Vommuli John Jacob Astor Estate

Sometimes the “Best” (and “Biggest”) of the Maldives can become an ever escalating arms race of hyperbolic luxury. One of the more curious bragging rights tussle is over the “Largest Water Villa in the Maldives”

For years, the reigning champion was Gili Lankanfushi’s Private Residence.  I had it listed as 1400 sqm.  Then, a couple of years ago came along St. Regis Vommuli’s John Jacob Astor Estate listed as 1540 sqm, putting the voluminous into the Vommuli.  A YouTube video tour “Largest overwater villa in the Maldives” heralded it as the new crown holder in the outsize overwater villa league table. But then, I read this listicle piece by Lina Travel, “Largest Overwater Villas in the Maldives” which put Gili back on top listing the Private Residence at a larger 1700 sqm. I contacted the resort and they explained, “We had an extension of the Private Reserve in 2015, making the total area 1700 sqm.”

Gili Lankanfushi - private reserve

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Best of the Maldives: Elevation – Soneva Fushi

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Soneva Fushi - elevation

For the high-flying Maldives clientele, you don’t get much more elevated (especially in this part of the world famous for being so low lying) than Soneva Fushi resort. Coincidentally, Soneva’s acronym “SFR” (Soneva Fushi resort) echoes the original icon of high living in castaway paradise – Swiss Family Robinson. Here is a list of the lofty luxury you can find there…

  • Treehouse – Let’s start with the fundamentals of elevated living – the Treehouse. As in “Villa Suite with Treehouse”. Especially suited as an annex for children.
    Soneva - villa treehouse
  • Kids Club – If your childhood Disney fantasies overcome you and you decide to take the treehouse for yourself, at least the kids get the multi-story labyrinth of whimsy that is the “Den” kids club with plenty of climbing places including their own outdoor play treehouse.
    Soneva Fushi kids club 1
      
  • Dining – But the whole family can enjoy a soaring supper at the “Fresh in the Garden” (or over the garden) restaurant deck.
    Soneva Fushi restaurant table 2
      
  • Walkway – Of course, to get there you need the obligatory Indian Jones rope bridge. One the first, longest and highest.
    Soneva Fushi - rope bridge
      
  • Spa – The second story treatment rooms and chill out area adds a vista to your vinyasa.
    Soneva Fushi - spa
     
  • Toilet – Loo with a view.  ‘Nuff said.
    Soneva Fushi self-composting toilet
       
  • Palm Tree Climbing – If you don’t have the climbing dexterity of some of the Maldivians.
    Soneva Fushi - palm wine harvesting
       
  • Villas – Taller villas than anywhere in the Maldives with sweeping wrap-around decks for 360 degree views.
    Soneva Fushi - residences
        
  • Mattresses – The thickest mattresses in the Maldives so even when you lie down, you get lifted up.
    Soneva Fushi - bed
      
  • Ceilings – And when you do lie down, your gaze extends quite high to some soaring ceilings that exemplify the SFR chic aesthetic.
    Soneva Fushi beams
       
  • Observatory – If none of that is high enough for you, Soneva was the pioneer of lifting their guest up to the star above with the first astronomical observatory in the Maldives. Naturally, the telescope itself is nestled in the treetops accessed by a canopy crossing walkway.
    Soneva Fushi - observatory
        

There is one exception which is Soneva’s sunken pool seating which is the lowest seating in the Maldives being literally below ground level (without being underground).

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Best of the Maldives: Southernmost Point – Equator Village

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Southernmost point

Shangri-La Villingili might be the “Southernmost Resort”, but Equator Village gets you to the Southernmost Point, the tippy-toe, of the Maldives on its Gan island (as you can see from the map below, Villingili resort island extended below the position of Equator Village, but the rest of Gan island outside the resort compound goes further south).  Maldives Complete roving reporter Paola posted the above photo of this geographic extremity on the very tip of Gan’s southern promontory.

Compass point extremes have a strange allure. Like you have gone to the very edge of the place in question. The planet carries on pretty much like the surrounding area, but still you feel like you have reach to the limit of this destination. Especially in the Maldives which stretches so extensively from north to south for nearly a thousand kilometres. Our son, Chase (himself a veteran of many Maldives trips) has explored these topological margins with his field recording both in the USA (Key West where we stayed at the Southernmost Hotel) and the UK (where he undertook a project to record all for compass points extremes in Britain which ended up in the British Library).

Southernmost point map

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Best of the Maldives: Darkest Skies – Filitheyo

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Filitheyo - dark skies

While the Black Moon might be the darkest month to the do some stargazing, where is the darkest place in the Maldives. Lots of factors affect visibility – light pollution from the moon, cloud/haze cover – but one of the biggest is light pollution from the ground. This light is what makes star gazing so difficult in built up areas and why the best observatories are located in the remote locations far from ambient light sources.

The question came up on the TripAdvisor Maldives Forum as few months ago. I pulled NASA’s night time photos of the world.  As expected, there are not many lights in the Indian Ocean.  The high-res TIFF shows basically 3 tacked vertically north to south.  The northern most (and by far the brightest) is Male, the middle is Gan and the southernmost is the British Indian Island Territory.

I was going to examine which parts of the Maldives were the furthest from Male (without getting close to Gan).  I’ve overlaid Google Maps onto the NASA photo to provide some perspective –

But doing a bit of research on skyglow shows that it doesn’t really extend beyond a few dozen miles from the major light. Check out the UK map on this site.

There is also the question of “glare” which is the light from the immediate vicinity.  This light does add to the sky glow, but more importantly it adds “glare” to your viewing.  So in short, you are looking for a resort who has relatively secluded villas (ie. away from the dense infrastructure of the resort operations and main public areas) and ideally one where the lighting is used sparsely. 

A simpler resort like Rihiveli comes to mind (less infrastructure).  A resort without water villas (at least on your side of the island) will eliminate the inevitable jetty and water villa lights (they don’t want people stumbling into the water).

This methodology narrowed down the possibilities to a couple of possibilities in some more remote, less populated atolls…

  • Filitheyo, Faafu (distance to capital island – 20 km)
  • Alimatha/Dhiggiri, Felidhoo (distance to capital island – 12 km, lowest population atoll)

I decided to lean to Filitheyo because Alimatha and Dhiggiri, though smaller and simpler resorts, are both near each other throwing skyglow on each other, while Filitheyo is all by itself 20 km (about the right distance for avoiding skyglow) from the major island in the atoll.

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Best of the Maldives: 3D Astonomy – Soneva Fushi

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Soneva Fushi - telescope

The end of February and still no new moon this month. The rare occurrence of a month with no New Moo is ominously dubbed a “Black Moon”. It’s not all glum as the absence of moon, especially a bright full one, is great for stargazing. And the pioneer in Maldives astronomy, Soneva Fushi, has added another dimension (literally) to its state-of-the-art observatory: 3D.

  • “Soneva has introduced a 3D astronomy experience, with the introduction of a brand-new Meade telescope at the Observatory at Soneva Fushi, its flagship resort in the Baa Atoll of the Maldives. Resident astronomers at Soneva Fushi will be on hand to educate guests and show them the differences in distance between stars and other celestial objects using the 3D technology. Mike Dalley, CEO of Inspiring Skies, the company responsible for installing the new telescope, explained the capability of the 3D component: ‘This new technology will help revolutionize how we offer astronomy experiences to guests, as it gives depth of field to what people see while looking through the telescope. It means that, for example, while looking at an open cluster, some stars will appear closer while others further away’.”

When it comes to star gazing, no moons is good moons.

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Best of the Maldives: Mas-Huni – Medhufushi

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Medhufushi - Mas Huni

Quite possibly the most distinctively traditional Maldivian dish you will find at a resort is the breakfast staple – Mas-huni. It is a delicate blend of fresh reef-caught tuna mixed with coconut, onion and a touch of chillies served on a light, thin flatbread (called “roshi”). It is light, healthy with both the tropical flavour tinged with coconut and a touch of piquancy with the chillies. It is Lori’s favorite dish in the Maldives and she has it everywhere they serve it so she has become a bit of a connoisseur (I enjoy it as well, but prefer to indulge in the sumptuous variety of the breakfast buffets more extravagantly). You can get it at most resorts. Being a pretty basic and popular dish, I haven’t featured it in the Best Of series yet, because there wasn’t that much variation. But I finally found a buffer offering worth calling out at Medhufushi. They offer two styles of Mah-Huni (until our visit, I didn’t even know there was more than one style). The Bashi-Mas-Huni is made with a squash like eggplant, butternut squash or pumpkin added.

Baajjaveri hendhuneh!

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Best of the Maldives: Lagoon Boat Restaurant – Milaidhoo

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Milaidhoo - dhoni restaurant 2

You can not only lounge around Milaidhoo’s dhonis, but wine and dine too. They have adapted the dhoni aesthetic to their signature overwater restaurant:

  • “Shaped like three dhonis (wooden sailing boats), our signature restaurant is the only restaurant in the world set on a boat in a lagoon featuring gourmet dishes of inspired island cuisine from the Maldivian Spice Route. Guests dine on the ‘deck’ of the restaurant where, underneath starry night skies, the team of chefs deliver an island influenced menu of locally inspired and sourced dishes. There’s also indoor seating in air-conditioned comfort where you can watch the sea-life below through glass floors. Expect to find seafood and traditional local flavours intelligently reinterpreted for the 21st century.”

Milaidhoo - dhoni restaurant 1

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Best of the Maldives: Tree of Wishes – LUX South Ari Atoll

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LUX South Ari Atoll - Tree of Wishes

LUX South Ari Atoll has its own wish tree, or as they call it – Tree of Wishes:

  • “Imaginative and uplifting: this new Reason to Go LUX* is a chance for guests to reach for their dreams while being part of unique interactive artworks. Local artisans and in-house creatives are cultivating and crafting Trees of Wishes at each resort by adapting real trees in the flower-filled gardens and by using upcycled materials such as metals and fiberglass to make these sculptures. At night, these mystical shapes are dramatically illuminated. And, in line with the LUX* Tread Lightly program, each objet d’art is utterly eco-friendly and constructed entirely in-house.”

That’s now a trifecta of arboreal adornment aspirations so I’ve add a special “Wish Tree” tag to keep track of even more that might blossom.

LUX South Ari Atoll - Tree of Wishes 2

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Best of the Maldives: Wishing Tree – Ayada

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Ayada - wish tree

Wish trees are found in many traditions, but one of the most prominent is the Japanese O-mikuji (literally “sacred lot”). Wishes are written on small strips of paper and hung in a tree. They can be hung directly on branches (or other frame) or inserted into a small container for safe keeping. My parents presented us with a Wish Tree at our pre-wedding celebration party where guest wrote wishes for the betrothed couple and hung them on decorated branches. Ayada has introduced this tradition with the romantic twist of placing the wishes in tiny, heart-shaped glass bottles (thanks Paola).  So if you want your Valentines wishes to last forever, you can give your love a message in a bottle on a tropical island.

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Best of the Maldives: Wellness Villa – Amilla Fushi

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Amilla Fushi - wellness villa

Amilla Fushi takes villa innovation a beyond architecture and design to entirely new concept with its Wellness Tree House. The villa is more than accommodation, but better described as an entire experience centred around well-being:

  • “The one bedroom Wellness Tree House by Bodyism at Amilla combines a secluded spa, fitness and healthy eating experience in the treetops so that your entire wellbeing is holistically cared for.”

Refreshing the body and spirit isn’t confined to a few appointments at a spa, but instead is woven into nearly every part of your stay. The villa package includes trainer who visits and all of the sodas and energy drinks and junk food are removed from the room and replaced with healthy ones.

Also, with its rare tree house setting, certainly the most uplifting stay in the Maldives.

Amilla Fushi - wellness treehouse

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