INDIAN OCEAN MALDIVES DESTINATIONS


“A


re you all ready for a hike?” asks our host,


cheerfully. “I’d like to take you to the top of the highest point in the Maldives,” she adds. Hiking? In the Maldives? What happened to lying horizontal for eight hours, getting up only to eat or take a dip in the pool? Off we go, leaving the


tranquillity of Shangri-La’s Villingili Resort behind for a long, winding tour of the island (via golf buggy), ending up at Mount Villingili, the world’s smallest ‘mountain’, which stands at a mighty 5.1 metres high. Phew. We all breathe a sigh of relief while she stands there grinning. Back to the sunloungers, then. The Maldives needs little


selling. It’s a picture-postcard paradise of white-sand beaches, turquoise waters and a tropical climate. But finding the right resort for your customer can be a little more complicated, with so many to choose from and little, on the surface at least, to tell them apart. In recent years, resorts here


have upped their game in terms of appealing to the family market and offering more in terms of activities. Yet there’s a lot more to knowing which resort to recommend than being able to list its kids’ club opening hours or its wealth of water sports. Kuoni took a group of travel agents to the Maldives with SriLankan Airlines as part of


its Worldwide College training programme to see three different resorts for themselves.


w SHANGRI-LA VILLINGILI RESORT & SPA Getting there: Thanks to a direct flight that began last November from Colombo to Gan airport on Addu Atoll, getting to the Maldives’ most southerly island is more convenient for UK travellers, especially those who want to do a twin-centre with Sri Lanka. SriLankan Airlines flies direct


from Heathrow to Colombo twice a week, with onward flight times to Gan amended in September to better fit UK arrivals and departures. Kuoni added the resort to its


programme on the back of the new service. Alternatively, flights from Malé


to Gan take around 70 minutes. From Gan airport, the resort is a five-minute speedboat ride away. Villingili Island is in the Addu


Atoll, which is just south of the equator and the largest single-resort island, measuring two miles long and 12 hectares. As well as being the Maldives’ southernmost island, it is also home to the country’s highest point – the five-metre Mount Villingili. Accommodation: There are 132 villas spread around the island, from the overwater Villa Muthee to the land-based Villa Laalu tucked away in the forest.


16 November 2017 travelweekly.co.uk 59


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