A Tango In Blue

One of the newest players on the Maldives’ luxury scene draws those in the mood for love.

- Charmian Leong

You’d have to be spectacularly bad at hospitality if you can’t make a resort in the Maldives inviting. Nature has provided the raw ingredients – endless aquamarine waters, powdery pearlescent sand and all the seafood you can encounter (and eat) – for hoteliers to provide the truest sense of a getaway. Realising this, the Crown & Champa Resorts group knew its first five-star property, Hurawalhi, had to offer something distinctive.

Over-the-water ocean and beach villas are a given on the Lhaviyani Atoll, of which there are 60 and 30 units, respectively. But the first stop you’ll want to make once you’ve luxuriated in the spacious, high-ceilinged rooms is 5.8 – the island resort’s restaurant. Built in New Zealand and using specially manufactured glass from Japan, 5.8 is the largest, all-glass undersea restaurant in the world.