SLEEP


Best for barefoot luxury GILI LANKANFUSHI


Fresh from a pre-pandemic spruce, perennial favourite Gili Lankanfushi is as dazzling as ever. One of the longest-established and most environmentally conscious resorts in the Maldives, it’s easy to see why guests return year aſter year: the lagoon setting, world-class cuisine, outstanding spa and castaway- chic villas are truly first-class. But it’s the service that stands out most: many of the staff have been with the resort for decades and won’t bat an eyelid at even the most outlandish request — they once ferried in a baby grand piano at the request of one virtuoso visitor. But, in truth, days are all about luxuriating in the beautiful surroundings, feet in the sand, floating in the sea or sitting on the balcony watching stingrays in the water. ROOMS: Villas from £980, B&B. gililankanfushi.com


Best for design junkies PATINA MALDIVES, FARI ISLANDS


This stylish new resort exudes cool from every corner. The first of three luxury destinations in the Fari Islands (a new mini-archipelago of man-made islands a


45-minute speedboat transfer from Malé), it has a sleek tropical modernist design — all low-slung wooden


loungers, four-poster beach beds and villas with ocean- facing plunge pools. Start your day with a spot of yoga, perhaps followed by some standup paddleboarding in the lagoon, before dinner at restaurant Brasa, one of 12 places to eat and drink on the island.


ROOMS: Villas from £1,585, B&B. patinahotels.com


Best for divers COMO MAALIFUSHI You’ll find this island escape in the barely-inhabited


Thaa Atoll, surrounded by no less than 25 outstanding dive sites, including one of the most reliable whale-


shark spotting locations in the country. Guests who sign up to see the huge fish are alerted when the animals have been sighted and told to head to the boat. In between times, you can lounge in your villa: all pale


woods, four-poster beds and billowing white curtains. Alternatively, sip pina coladas by the pool and visit the thatched-roof spa, one of the best in the Maldives. ROOMS: Villas from £612, B&B. comohotels.com


Best for VIPs SONEVA FUSHI


It’s the Beckhams’ Christmas getaway and where Buzz Aldrin comes to look at the stars — Soneva Fushi is celebrity central. Not that you’d ever know, with everyone in their hidden beach villas or


fantastical overwater villas. The starfish-strewn beach is admittedly hard to leave, but activities include


snorkelling trips to look for manta rays, eagle rays, stingrays, hawksbill turtles and spinner dolphins,


sunrise yoga and jungle meditation sessions or spying the stars through a telescope.


ROOMS: Villas from £1,375, B&B. soneva.com November 2021 65


IMAGE: SAKIS PAPADOPOULOS


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