Anyone who has been to the Maldives will be able to recall, with strange clarity, the moment that the coral Atolls first came into view from the plane. The colours – ethereal blues, blindingly white sand, a rush of tropical green – feel intense and other worldly, as if one pinch and you’ll wake up to a more earthly gradient without all that confounding contrast. But it actually exists. As the seaplane descends or the boat glides towards the island of choice, even the most seasoned traveller will feel their heart thumping a little faster and their senses heightened.
It stirs all the emotions associated with falling in love – which perhaps explains its popularity with honeymooners and those looking for a far-flung romantic escape. It’s certainly what motivates Turquoise, a family-owned luxury travel operator and Maldives specialist, whose mission to put fun and romance back into travel has been accomplished thousands of times over. Refreshingly, for them luxury is not synonymous with stars or Michelin bragging rights, but is instead more experiential and service-focused – the sort of holiday that tugs you off the treadmill of daily life and into a surreal, paradisiacal world where breakfast rolls out on decks overlooking manta rays and turtles, and interiors weave into the surreal landscape, as if by magic.
Where afternoons can be spent diving with whale sharks, unwinding with a couples’ massage to the gentle whoosh of the Indian Ocean surf, or sipping tropical fruit cocktails, poolside with any children firmly docked in the islands’ superlative kids clubs, it’s really little surprise that the Maldives wins, time and time again in the romantic holiday stakes. And true to form, the Turquoise team have personally stayed in all of the below hotels, ensuring any advice dispensed is authentic, and that bespoke itineraries are laced with those nuanced tips that can only come from experiencing the islands first hand. Here’s where to honeymoon in the Maldives, for a far-flung romantic getaway.
LUX* South Ari Atoll
A breezy 25-minute seaplane from Malé, this self-described ‘lavish Robinson Crusoe’ resort sprawls out across 181 villas and pavilions on an exquisite speck in the South Ari Atoll. While the design may be in keeping with the island, as it once was, the tech and interiors would make a Manhattan hotel room blush. Across all eight room categories, several are multiroom or interconnecting – ideal for multigenerational holidays and families who come for the stellar kids club and vast array of activities (from floating yoga to sunset DJ sessions). Couples may wish to stow away in one of the pool water villas, with its own infinity pool seemingly hovering over the glassy shallows and a privileged spot for those knockout Indian Ocean sunsets. Lux* South Ari Atoll may offer a more resorty experience to Turquoise’s typical Maldives escape, but with that comes whenever-you-like spa treatments, well thought-through kids activities and marine experiences on tap (the latter highly recommended for diving alongside manta rays and whale sharks with the resort’s marine biologists or sunset fishing trips). The all-inclusive dining option shrugs off that irritating mental calculator when ordering another caipirinha or scoffing another round of sashimi at Umami (one of the resort’s 6 exquisite restaurants). And for a large island, LUX* South Ari Aroll’s eco credentials are impressive, with a trailblazing large floating solar system providing over 30% of the island’s energy, a single-use plastic ban and solar-powered shuttles and bicycles used to scoot guests around the island.
7 nights at LUX* South Ari Atoll, staying in a Beach Pavilion, on a bed and breakfast basis, from £2,180 per person, including international flights and seaplane transfers. Based on travel June 2024 – saving £1,100 per couple.
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Gili Lankanfushi
Embodying all castaway idylls, Gili Lankanfushi rises confidently to the Maldivian brief. A vibrant tangle of tropical green, the island’s smooth, white edges slope gently into warm, turquoise water, over which 45 sympathetically designed villas are perched as if part of the landscape. All enjoy enormous beds, baths and outdoor showers with panoramic views and romantic decks hovering over the Indian Ocean. Aside from its Crusoe good looks and impeccably warm service, Gili’s key allure is its easy access from Malé (a 20-minute speedboat, avoiding the seaplane). And quite the antithesis to the increasingly glamorous resort-style islands (some seemingly a slice of Dubai), Gili Lankafushi feels authentically Maldivian and encourages guests to fully unplug, with a Mr or Mrs Friday Butler service catering to every whim. Both serious divers and fair-weather snorkellers will relish trips to nearby reefs patrolled by rays, sharks and exotic fish. Deliciously drowsy afternoons spent poolside, being pampered in the spa or cocooned in the magazine-ready villas are neatly rounded off with Maldivian lobster and Champagne, followed by an open-air jungle cinema. Blow-the-budget celebrations should beeline for The Private Reserve, the Maldives largest overwater villa, which appears cast adrift with no attached jetty and its own sea garden and private yacht.
7 nights at Gili Lankanfushi, staying in a Villa Suite on a Half Board basis, costs from £4,790 per person, including international flights and speedboat transfers. Based on travel June 2024. Including a 25% discount and free half board – saving £4,440 per couple.
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Soneva Fushi
The barefoot luxury original: ‘no shoes, no news,’ Soneva Fushi was also a sustainability trailblazer, with its outside-in ethos permeating all aspects of the resort, from the restaurants to the materials used to construct the villas. The resort may occupy one of the largest islands in the Maldives, but its villa count is delightfully low. With just 53 cavernous private villas and 8 water reserves, there’s enough unsullied space for land-based activities (including a zip wire) as well as the surreal waterborne adventures (Hanifaru Bay’s manta ray migration spectacle is an easy boat ride away). ‘Young Sonevians’ are in their element here, with a terrific children’s zone, waterslides galore and even in-house tutors on boarded by Soneva to support children studying. While not leaning into a glass-blowing workshop or squinting at the sky through the Indian Ocean’s largest telescope, both children and grownups can cool off with complimentary homemade ice-cream then hot foot it to the open-air cinema. The setting at Soneva Fushi is achingly pretty, with its densely green interior a welcome reprieve from the sun bearing down on the bone-white beach. Its location in the Baa Atoll lends itself well to destination dining – a particularly romantic spot being Sobah’s Restaurant on a local island. And in keeping with the go-slow Soneva tempo, the spa here is a serious affair, with guided wellness programmes and a rotating series of professional sports and wellbeing figures imparting their wisdom on sun-kissed guests.
7 nights at Soneva Fushi, staying in a One Bedroom Villa Suite, on a half board basis, from £6,898 per person, including international flights and seaplane transfers. Based on travel June 2024. Including free half board – saving £6,500 per couple.
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Constance Moofushi
Where the agony of indecision can strike between the 10+ restaurants and five + bars at some Maldives resorts, Constance Moofushi tows the ‘less is more’ line, where just two restaurants are the epitome of quality over quantity. It may be one of the original all-inclusive luxe resorts, but this Maldives stalwart hasn’t lost its fairy dust and continues to wow new arrivals with its right-on service and fun, unpretentious vibe (best found at the Totem Bar). The snorkelling and diving here is some of the best in the Maldives, courtesy of the island’s proximity to several dedicated dive sites, teeming with tropical fish, turtles and sharks, while included excursions forge those hard-to-shake memories, particularly the sunset dhoni or fishing cruises. Whether in the beach or over water villas, those on romantic escapades can hide away from the world in their subdued, calm and contemporary innards – all of which seem to inhale the Indian Ocean breeze. Scattered across the island is a mishmash of various styles, from Caribbean huts to the classic stilted-and-thatched Maldives hideaway. The overwater spa is where to head to kick start the unwinding process, with complimentary classes offered in the yoga pavilion and a comfortingly compact list of spa treatments worth rolling off your sun lounger for.
7 nights at Constance Moofushi, staying in a Beach Villa, on an all-inclusive basis, from £3,549 per person, including international flights and seaplane transfers. Based on travel in June 2024. Including a 35% discount – saving £2,500 per couple.
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Six Senses Laamu
One for the romantics. Six Senses Laamu is gloriously farflung – an hour’s seaplane from Malé – and, quite smugly, the only resort in the Laamu Atoll. That extra seaplane time comes with a kaleidoscopic array of marine life (possibly the best in the Maldives) and the thrilling sense that you’re quite literally cast adrift in the Indian Ocean. Horizons here test your eyesight and the night sky humbles those below it with the sheer clarity of the stars winking down on late night strollers. As you would expect from a Six Senses resort, wellness sits front and centre, with the hotel cleverly leveraging the surreal landscape and its go-slow island tempo for therapies and activities. Couples can embark on a fully holistic wellness programme or carve out their own definition of a healthy escape, with a mix of best-in-class massages and Merlot. The food here is outstanding, with chefs whipping up fresh Indian Ocean bounty with herbs and zesty juices and every bite a reminder of the importance of provenance and seasonality. Unsurprisingly for the group, there is also a keen focus on sustainability, and most ocean activities are interlaced with educational marine conservation sessions or pointers, involving guests in the process. Snorkelling and diving trips to the house reef and nearby dive spots leave guests in a gleeful, salty stupor with the sheer abundance of untouched marine life this far away from Malé. Along with the surfers who have attempted the famous Yin Yang wave, they can bob home to their bamboo and sun-blistered wooden suites, for a dip in a glass encased infinity pool or botanical cocktails on the thatched rooftop’s perch, as the sun begins its yolky descent.
7 nights at Six Senses Laamu, staying in a Lagoon Water Villa, on a half board basis, from £3,799 per person, including international flights and seaplane transfers. Based on travel June 2024. Including free half board, discounted transfers and 35% discount on accommodation – saving £4,570 per couple.
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Niyama Private Islands
Spread across two lush, ludicrously pretty islands (‘CHILL’ AND ‘PLAY) linked by a bridge, one with imaginative pod suites suspended among banyan trees, the other with a jaw-dropping infinity pool surrounded by cabanas billowing in the wind, Niyama Private Islands is one of those beguiling corners of the world you’ll never want to leave. It’s also smart – smart in the sense that it’s choreographed ‘PLAY’ with right-on facilities and activities for children (dolphin scouting, masterchef classes, a kids club refreshingly starting from as young as one), then the more grown up isle which feels worlds away from the energetic sprogs, the surf school and the live music, with the spa setting the tempo and the agenda being one of pure chill. Here, couples can wallow in the gin-clear shallows, lean into the spanking-fresh seafood at the floating restaurants and wake up island time from their porous (and exceedingly photogenic) overwater suites. ‘PLAY’ has some well thought out villas and pavilions for families or groups, including three bedroom options, which feel more like private villas parachuted into paradise, and five overwater villas at ‘The Crescent’ impressively sleeping up to 14 adults and eight children.
Across both islands is a subdued, contemporary design that feels in keeping with the surrounding blue-green palette, without veering to far into shiny, cosmopolitan territory. The joy of the double island act is pooling its restaurants and phenomenal resources, with a ‘dine around’ offer keeping any gastronomic boredom at bay (the Treetop Nest restaurant is Instagram gold) and activities such as surfing available to all… not to mention the hopping surf bar which couples firmly anchored to the CHILL island have been known to drop into, tail between legs.
7 nights at Niyama Private Islands, staying in a Beach Villa, on a half board basis, from £3,949 per person, including international flights, and seaplane transfers. Based on travel June 2024. Including free half board and a 20% discount – saving £1,640 per couple.
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Heritance Aarah
All-inclusive naysayers will soon be stripped of any snobbery at this vast, Raa Atoll island’s jetty. Every stay here is a luxxy spin on the all-inclusive formula, and with a tempting array of cuisine, land-and-sea activities and spa therapies in the Maldives first medispa, it’s easy to see the appeal. A private butler is assigned to every Old World-style villa – think dark woods, beamed ceilings and a polished, less-is-more Robinson Crusoe aesthetic throughout. Families have been kept front of mind when designing the 124 villas and 24 suites, with spacious ‘living areas’ and numerous bedrooms in some (Turquoise highly recommends the beach pool villas), while fully stocked (complimentary) minibars are a lovely touch for those routinely stung by silly rates when hunger strikes. While known for its family-friendly credentials, Heritance Aarah is large enough to preserve the peace for couples looking to unwind. They should beeline for the hotel’s outstanding spa, where a world-class diagnostic screening programme enables practitioners to pull together a bespoke wellness journey for guests…though willpower will be tested when the island’s ‘Naughty Carts’ pull up (dispensing delicious dollops of ice cream, candy and cocktails). The 40-minute seaplane flight from Malé is worth it for banishing that irritating internal voice totting up all the beach cocktails and extra facials – the unfathomably beautiful, intensely blue-and-white surroundings may lower the shoulders, but the all-inclusive promise is surely the final piece in the far flung relaxation puzzle if budgets aren’t bottomless.ess.
7 nights at Heritance Aarah, staying in a Beach Villa, on an all-inclusive basis, from £3,590 per person, including international flights and seaplane transfers. Based on travel June 2024. Including a 35% discount – saving £2,249 per couple.
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Turquoise’s Maldives Fact File and Insider Tips
Getting there – direct flight from London to Malé of 10.5hrs or indirect (via Middle East hubs) 12-15 hrs, or with a twin-centre stopover. Sri Lanka is a popular destination to combine with a trip to the Maldives.
Time difference – GMT +5 hrs
Resort access – speedboat or seaplane – make sure you when figuring out where to honeymoon in the Maldives that you’re aware of the onward journey to the island you choose – most are accessed by seaplane but some closer to the main island of Malé are just a short speedboat ride away
Resort location – alongside how you get there is how remote you want to feel. Speak to a specialist about the atoll you’re choosing (some islands and resorts are quite close together, some you will be in a villa with only a vast expanse of ocean in front of you).
House Reef – all resorts have access to a house reef however some you can swim to and some you have to get a boat too.. if you are keen snorkellers, having to get a boat or pay for a boat (in some cases) isn’t the dream island getaway.
Size of island – the choice is endless, from tiny islands with lots of overwater accommodation and spaces, to much larger islands (or clusters of islands) where there are more facilities and more land to roam.
Overwater vs Beach – overwater accommodation is one of the largest draws of the Maldives however, for families, the ease and privacy of beach accommodation, especially with a pool, is much more relaxing – especially with toddlers. Privacy is a big consideration as even though most overwater villas are private, you can have people swimming past on occasion.
Sunset or Sunrise – when it comes to overwater accommodation a top tip from Turquoise is whether you prefer sunrise or sunset – most islands give you the option when booking and can make or break your stay if you get the sun at your optimal time of day – coffee at sunrise or cocktails at sunset.
Budget – an obvious one for all holidays however, do consider the island you choose with overall budget in mind. For some all-inclusive is the way to go, removing any worries during a stay. Don’t get stuck on an island on bed and breakfast where you can’t afford to relax and eat/drink – costs can be high, especially with taxes on top. Take guidance from a specialist and also take advantage of amazing offers and savings at different times of year.
Related content: Which Six Senses honeymoon would you choose?
