Gili Lankanfushi

From one of their 45 over-water villas, you gaze across the Indian Ocean’s tranquil waters. Secluded. It overwhelms at first, but you get used to the sensation. You have never felt it before. Bliss. Your villa is in complete harmony with its surroundings. Silent. Stripped of all distractions to the outside world. Designed with the sole purpose of relaxing you and suspending you in time. Forget everything. You are home.

Villa Suites

You arrive in the Villa Suite lost for words. Spoilt for choice on where to relax. Walk through the open-air living room and up to the very private rooftop sun-deck. Compose yourself and take it all in. This moment will stay with you forever.

Key Features

• Total area 210 sqm
• Large open-air living room with daybeds and dining area
• Rooftop terrace with daybed and dining table
• Overwater sundeck with sun loungers
• King size bed
• Semi open-air private bathroom with separate glass walled shower area
• One villa in this category includes a spa suite
• Latest audio visual offering and Wi-Fi available if you really need it

The Residence

Barefoot luxury floating on the Indian Ocean, scanning the endless turquoise. It never ends, not that you want it to.
Your new Residence is large enough for each of your family members to find their own hidden slice of solitude within, but cosy enough to share every shred of happiness together.

Key features

• Total area 250 sqm
• Large air-conditioned living room with two large daybeds and dining table (convertible to additional bedroom)
• Rooftop terrace with daybed and dining table
• Overwater sundeck with sun loungers
• Mini wine cellar
• King sized bed and some with two single beds
• Semi open-air private bathroom with separate glass walled shower area
• One villa in this category includes a spa suite
• Latest audio visual offering and Wi-Fi available if you really need it

The Crusoe Residence

On your arrival, you will be escorted on a short boat ride to your Crusoe Residence where luxury, tranquility and a true sense of open space will await you.

Key features

• Total area 250 sqm
• Crusoe Residences stand alone in the Indian Ocean, secluded for great privacy
• Your own private Motorized Boat or Resort Pontoon to the island
• Private overwater hammock
• Large air conditioned living room with two large daybeds and dining table (convertible to additional bedroom)
• Rooftop terrace with daybed and dining facilities
• Overwater sundeck with sun loungers
• Mini wine cellar
• King sized bed
• Semi open-air private bathroom with separate glass walled shower area
• Latest audio visual offering and Wi-Fi available if you really need it

The Privacy Reserve

You have never seen anything quite like the rustic über luxury of the Private Reserve, reputed to be the largest over-water villa in the world! A decadent private palace sitting atop a sapphire lagoon, the most vivid dreams unable to conjure its grandeur. A flawless jewel of the Maldives, presented to you. Experience the exquisite.

Key features

• Total area 1,700 sqm
• Luxuriously appointed living space in the middle of a turquoise blue lagoon
• Uninterrupted views of the Indian Ocean
• 2 master suites, each with ceiling to floor-to ceiling windows on 3 sides
• Private indoor and outdoor relaxation areas and sundecks
• 1 guest room with en-suite bathroom
• All bedrooms, spa, master suite and indoor relaxation areas are air-conditioned
• A large central open plan living area with sea garden, natural coral pool, surrounding viewing/sun decks, dining area, writing desks and daybeds
• 2 Unique open-air 100 sqm private bathroom with separate glass shower enclosure
• Each master suite has a relaxing 2-person bathtub built over coral gardens
• Private couple’s spa with sauna, steam room, indoor and outdoor treatment pavilion. An air conditioned gym on the second floor
• Private cinema
• Mr. and Ms. Friday (Personal Butlers) on call 24 hours. On request, they can be housed in the Reserve
• Residents will be invited to design their own wine cellar selection from a list of 400 labels
• A water slide installed from the top deck leads into the private lagoon swimming area
• 2 Roof top terraces with daybeds and two outdoor dining pavilions
• Sea level sundecks with sun loungers offering direct access into crystal clear coral gardens and amazing marine life
• Your own kitchen
• Personal, easy-to-use motorised transfer boats exclusive to guests. Alternatively Mr. Friday will captain and transport residents
• The welcome room doubles up as a business lounge equipped with a laptop and printer for working purposes
• Latest audio visual offering and Wi-Fi available if you really need it
• Luxury yacht for arrivals and departures

The Spa Suite

For those seeking true relaxation, the Spa Suite beckons. Step out of your rooftop Jacuzzi overlooking the lagoon, and into the steam room to unwind. Even take a break from paradise with your own air-conditioned gym.

Key Features

• Available with one Villa and one Residence
• Couples treatment room with air-conditioning, two treatment beds and CD Hi-Fi stereo system with surround sound speakers
• Bathroom with blitz shower
• Steam room and Gymnasium with air-conditioning, equipment and refrigerator
• Wooden jet bath on the upstairs terrace overlooking the lagoon
• Relaxation area with daybed for couples
• Latest audio visual offering and Wi-Fi available if you really need it

Formerly known as Soneva Gili by Six Senses, Gili Lankanfushi is set on its own private island of Lankanfushi in the North Malé Atoll. This luxury resort is just a 20-minute speedboat ride from the International Airport at Malé, the capital of the Republic of Maldives.

This intimate coral island in a sparkling lagoon is truly breathtaking, with jetties threading across the water out to spacious villa accommodations. Everywhere you look, marine life abounds. And the gleaming waters beckon. The surroundings are teeming with marine life and the resort has its own fully-equipped padi diving school plus a variety of water sports. This place tops the list of must-do destinations for those in the know.

Ultimate privacy can be found at Gili Lankanfushi. With just 45 luxurious overwater villas, including Crusoe Residences and The Private Reserve reached only by boat, you’ll have a piece of paradise all to yourself. Each villa is designed with the utmost attention to detail, and built to be environmentally friendly. Your own private water garden and sun deck, as well as a separate shower linked to your bathroom by an open-air walkway allow you to live right by the water’s edge.

Luxury dining comes in the form of a private dinner on this secluded island. The cuisine will whet your appetite with fresh offerings and local produce, while the extraordinary settings will leave an indelible impression.

At Gili Lankanfushi, they are very sensitive to the environment. They take the utmost care in developing the island with respect to its ecological balance.

Hotel Features

• Features the Largest Overwater Villas in the World
• Only Standalone Overwater Chapel in the Maldives
• Offers one of the Finest Wine Collections, 600 Varities of Wine
• Ocean Paradise Dive Center
• Fitness Center
• Organic Garden

Dining

You need a week or two to just do justice to the hotel’s array of eating options. Restaurant on the Beach is a sandy setting for breakfast and dinner, with shaded wooden chairs and tables positioned beneath the palms. Breakfast is a vast spread of pastries, preserves, breads and tropical fruit; dinner on some nights features cooking stations (Asian street market, Mediterranean buffet and so on) and live entertainment. By the Sea on the sunrise side of the island serves Japanese food (try the crispy soy-braised pork belly). The restaurant is perched high above the beachside forest, with views of the ocean, and boasts a copper-clad sushi and sashimi bar, sake menu and an open kitchen. At the Over Water Bar, guests can choose from choice cuts of lamb, steak, pork and duck, all cooked on a lava stone grill. 

A sumptuous array of the freshest seafood imaginable awaits you. Fished locally using traditional and sustainable Maldivian techniques, prepare yourself for a taste of island living.

But it doesn’t stop at seafood. Experience choice as vast as the ocean, with a different market and grill nights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays and Themed menus with À la Carte menus for the remaining week.

Hotel Bar

The Over Water Bar Is set over a shallow lagoon with 360-degree views of the Indian Ocean. It’s an idyllic place to admire the sunset. In the middle of the bar, there’s a lowered seating area with a circular cut-out hole where you can see the lagoon below and the marine life swimming by. The bar offers a buffet lunch between 12.30pm and 3pm, or you can order pizzas, salads, sushi, burgers and lobster until 6pm. Sip a ginger mint julep (Jim Beam, ginger, lime juice, mint and sugar syrup), or try one of the experimental martinis.

Meera Spa

In the Sanskrit language, Meera means ocean, and that’s where you’ll find the spa – built right over the sea. The sound of the lapping waves and the beauty of the sweeping views will set you at ease the moment you step in. At Meera Spa, you’ll find yourself relaxing and unwinding amidst the best that nature has to offer.

Make yourself comfortable on the massage table, and you’ll be treated to views of underwater life through the glass windows beneath. Aches and knots are magically soothed away, thanks to an artful combination of therapies from all over the world; these draw on the healing wisdom of age-old cultures and are infused with modern know-how to rejuvenate your senses, calm your mind and uplift your soul.

Meera Spa is a member of Healing Hotels of the World.