Forget backpacking and bootstrapping – if you want the ultimate in beach destinations, Soneva Gili in the Maldives can provide your very own Robinson Crusoe experience with extreme luxury
In March this year I spent a couple of weeks in the Maldives, writing a story for Fah Thai magazine. As part of the trip, I spent a couple of days at Soneva Gili resort, which is part of the acclaimed Six Senses luxury group of hotels and goes under the motto “beyond stars” – i.e. we are way above five stars. Given I will probably never be able to afford to stay somewhere like this (villas typically begin at $1500 US a night), it was fascinating to see the stunning resort Soneva Gili have created. My photos below don’t really do it justice – the professional ones on the Agoda hotel booking site are much better. Still, I thought at least my snaps give a unvarnished (ok, incompetent) view of what Soneva Gili’s villas look like. There’s more great pictures on the Six Senses official site too.
Soneva Gili is a 20 minute boat ride from Male, the Maldives’ capital city and main airport location. Soneva Gili itself is located on Lankanfushi Island, which is part of the North Male atoll. It’s the only resort on the island – you won’t see hardly anyone else around besides the very discreet resort staff.
View of Soneva Gili Water Villas
All of the villas at Soneva are built to be wholly over the water – these are actually the smallest size available. There are other villas twice the size that sit alone out in the middle of the ocean. You can only get to them by boat. Soneva prides itself on providing absolute privacy for its guests – if you want to avoid seeing anyone else for the entire length of your stay, you can. All your food can be delivered straight to your villa.
Soneva Gili View Of The Water Villas
Soneva prides itself on building and maintaining its resorts to be extremely friendly to the environment. Hence the use of wood as the main material at Soneva Gili. Mind you, my photographer Jez and I both thought it looked a little bit like Mad Max or Waterworld, which isn’t necessarily the look they were going for. It’s a pleasant stroll along the jetty to the water villas, or your personal valet can drive you in a customised golf cart to your door.
Soneva Gili Outside View Of The Water Villa
When you get outside the water villa, you begin to realise just how big each water villa is. Each villa has two floors, and I am pretty sure my apartment in Bangkok would fit into the villa about 3 times over. You can understand why guests wouldn’t want to bother leaving – the villa’s like a mini ocean kingdom all on its own.
Soneva Gili Inside View Of Lounge Area Leading To Bedroom
Walking in, you get the big lounge area, which is open in front to the ocean (not in the picture here). Off to the left is the bedroom and to the right, the bathroom. Up the stairs is the roof bed and chairs too. That’s Jez reading the book – he doesn’t come with the room.
Soneva Gili View Down Into Lounge Area Leading To Bedroom
This is the view looking down into the lounge from the bedroom.
Soneva Gili Outside Sun Deck
This is the sun deck that you can walk straight onto from the lounge. Around the base of the platform you can see stingrays and baby sharks (both of which are completely harmless to humans) skittering around, as well as lots of fish. It’s very shallow, perfect for snorkelling.
Soneva Gili View From Bedroom Window
This is the desk and its view in the bedroom. If you had to work at Soneva as we did (and there is free, very fast wifi), it’s hard to beat a view like this.
Soneva Gili Bedroom Sofa
This is the bedroom sofa. Mystifyingly, I didn’t actually take a photo of the bed itself. It’s one of those super super super sink into it mattresses. As Jez and I are not a couple, I slept upstairs on the roof daybed under the stars – it was awesome.
Soneva Gili Bathroom
The bathroom at Soneva Gili is obscene – it’s almost as big as the lounge, has two separate washbasins, and glass floor in the centre, a bath that has an ocean view and a completely separate shower down its own ocean walkway for showering out in the open air.
Soneva Gili Bath With Ocean View
This is the sort of bath you just wouldn’t want to get out of.
Soneva Gili Shower
The shower at the end of the walkway – it has two or possibly three shower nozzles (I forget which) which means you get powerblasted from every different direction. Magic.
Soneva Gili Villa Roof Chairs
Up on the roof, there’s a couple of chairs parked under the eaves of the roof if you want to keep out of the sun – it does get savagely hot, unsurprisingly.
Soneva Gili Villa Roof Bed
The roof daybed is perfect for lazing around during the day, or for sleeping under the stars at night as I did.
Soneva Gili Restaurant
If you want to stroll out of your villa, you can head to the restaurant which serves a wide variety of cuisines, with many of the ingredients grown on the island itself to cut down on the eco-problem of importing everything (and to ensure it’s fresh too). There is also a entirely separate spa building too, with a wide variety of treatments. I had an hour long Thai massage which was very good – you get to look at the ocean through the glass floor while you’re on the massage table.
Soneva Gili Ocean Hammock
If you want to get away from everyone, you can head out to the ocean hammock which sits on its own in the middle of the sea.
Soneva Gili Sunset View Of The Water Villas
Sunset over Soneva. For peace and tranquility, it’s hard to beat.
Soneva Gili has a sister resort, Soneva Fushi, already open in the Maldives, and is opening another in the far south of the Maldives later in 2009 – Lammu Latitude. They are also opening Soneva Kiri in the Gulf Of Thailand too. I will patiently await my next invitation…
Stay In Touch With Travelhappy!
If you enjoyed this post, sign up by Email or RSS to be notified of future updates. You can also follow me on Twitter - I'm @travelhappy
{ 0 comments… add one now }