Condé Nast Traveler
When Soneva Fushi arrived two decades ago on a
tiny atoll in the Indian Ocean, its loosened-up, barefoot look
became the prototype for a new generation of beach hotels. Now the
team have returned with an opening set to redefine the Maldives yet again: Soneva Jani
It's a wonder the Maldives isn't running out of islands.
This past year a new hotel seemed to open every month, from the
party hangout of Finolhu to the family-friendly St Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort, and the Four Seasons Private Island Voavah with its own
19-metre yacht to explore the Baa Atoll.
But the biggest opening by far is Soneva
Jani, the third property from the smart, spirited Soneva team
that pioneered around-the-clock butler service, a strong
environmental code and a determination to disconnect from the noisy
outside world (guests are gently asked to remove their shoes on
arrival, which are then slipped into a linen bag until their
departure).
Soneva was founded by Sonu and Eva Shivdasani, he a
British-Indian businessman, she a former Swedish model. Their first
hotel, Soneva Fushi, opened in 1995 and remains a
firm favourite. Soneva Gili followed five years later,
showcasing the first overwater villas in the Maldives. After that
the group - now operating under the Six Senses banner - expanded so
quickly it ran into trouble and the Shivdasanis ended up selling 26
hotels, including Soneva Gili, and 41 spas.
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Elements of Soneva Fushi and their other hotel, Soneva Kiri, a jungly beach retreat in the
Gulf of Thailand that opened in 2010, are evident here,
but what sets Soneva Jani apart - and from hotels across the
Maldives - is that it's actually made up of five little islets in
the Noonu Atoll. Snaking off the biggest island, a former vegetable
farm, is a 1.8km jetty with 24 overwater villas, each one bigger
than some hotels (I was still discovering doors to little rooms and
alcoves on my last day). The largest can fit a family of 10. Next
year the island will also be home to a couple of dozen beach
villas, hidden in the forests of screwpine, banyan trees and sea
trumpet, which will all be for sale - although available to Soneva
Jani guests when the owners aren't around. A tented restaurant
serving seafood lunches will be set up on another island and the
other three will remain entirely undeveloped, so there will always
be somewhere to play castaway.
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The scale of the villas may be extraordinary, but everything
else about this place is understated. It's not about name
architects, tricksy interior design or superstar chefs, just simple
open-plan, open-air living. Rooms built in renewable plantation
wood sprawl in great sweeping curves, each a charming jumble of
pitched roofs and rondavels with fairytale turrets to climb up for
the views; ladders lead directly from decks into the Indian Ocean; windows fold away; portholes in
the floors reveal marine life below; a push-button retractable
ceiling above the bed unveils the starry night skies.
Thanks in part to Eva, the interior design - all light and
bright with vaulted ceilings, bamboo floors and white rattan
furniture - shows admirable Scandinavian restraint. Sandblasted
pine is sawn into soft organic shapes; there are oval windows and
round, sunken sofas with hand-dyed cotton cushions from Sri Lanka. Lampshades are made using rough
marble slabs, or thickly stitched cream cowhide.
The restaurant is headed by Japanese chef Kengo Tomita, who I
immediately recognised from Soneva Fushi, and who greeted me like
an old friend and brought me a steaming bowl of soba noodles
because he remembered I like them. The bar and wine-tasting room,
spa, gym, yoga studio and kids' club are connected by a series of
glass bridges (the spa director is the brilliant Meena Gurung from
Sikkim, who says some of her best therapists are from the Himalayas).
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Across a wooden bridge is a wonderful observatory with a
telescope rising up from the floor and live monitors that share the
view through the eyepiece. Bicycle across the island to the
open-air, floating cinema, where guests wear Bluetooth headphones
to avoid any sound effects disturbing the turtles.
Sonu tells me he has plans to open two more groundbreaking
hotels in the Maldives - so they'll have to dream up some more
ideas to play with. But for now, this is absolutely the new place
to stay, for the creativity, the sensitivity, and above all for
somewhere happy to act as both backdrop and foil to the outstanding
beauty of the islands of the Maldives themselves. Which might just
be the greatest compliment of all.
Red Savannah (+44 1242 787800) offers a week at
Soneva
Jani from £5,997 per person, based on two sharing, including
breakfast, international flights from Heathrow and seaplane
transfers
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