Wearing nothing but a baby-blue cotton shawl, the Balinese therapist leading my two-hour muladhara (root chakra) ritual beckoned to an open-topped stool placed on the floor of one of the most beautiful spas I’ve ever visited. Since plumes of fragranced steam were rising from the centre of the small stool, I instinctively sat next to it, imagining the next step would be to place my face into the swirls of warm frankincense, but it quickly transpired that this wasn’t a facial steamer at all, it was a yoni steamer and I was meant to be sitting my bare butt on top of it.
Once perched and pleasantly surprised at the sensation, a deep chanting filled the air, and I closed my eyes and succumbed to an intense head massage that quickly sent goosebumps across my entire body.
The Align with the Earth treatment, at the award-winning Four Seasons AyurMa spa on the island of Landaa Giraavaru in the Maldives, is just one of many alternative therapies on offer, from two-and-a-half-hour sleep journeys, to a plethora of Ayurvedic massage, acupuncture and naturopathy assessments — this luxurious resort offers extreme alternative healing for mind, body and soul.
But it’s not the only place offering impressive and alternative treatments in the Maldives. A handful of hyper-luxe resorts now provide guests with access to alternative healers from around the globe. So cast off your preconceived notions of honeymooning couples — these Indian Ocean islands offer so much more than romantic beachside dinners.
Here are five of the islands’ best wellness hotels.
Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru
Best for: kicking burnout and spotting manta rays.
With a mind boggling wealth of wellness knowledge, crammed onto one tiny perfectly manicured island, Four Seasons at Landaa Giraavaru is the crème de la crème of refined elegance, unparalleled service and alternative therapy. Aside from the aforementioned chakra ritual, one of the hotel’s most exciting offerings is its PraMā Longevity Diagnostics Screening, the ideal start point for anyone looking to get to the bottom of their wellness concerns. Following a two-hour consultation led by three practitioners, including Ayurvedic physicians and naturopathic doctors, a personalised report is pulled together detailing every element of wellness, including body composition, mineral deficiencies, iris analysis, and Ayurvedic findings.
From the comprehensive report, guests are provided with treatment ideas in the form of massage, meditation, and yoga, along with proposed next steps, lifestyle and diet recommendations and tips for accomplishing a more restorative sleep pattern, which is where the hotel’s famed two and a half hour sleep ritual comes in.
Encompassing various massage techniques, healing crystals and Tibetan singing bowls, and culminating in a frangipani, pink bougainvillea and fresh herb-laden bath, this unmissable experience is ideal for guests suffering extreme burnout.
Even without these wellness offerings, the hotel wows in myriad ways; bedrooms are utterly flawless (the pillow menu features nine different options), and so well designed you almost don’t want to leave, but when you do, expansive private gardens and pools unfurl directly onto pristine beach with the Maldives trademark cerulean waters as a backdrop.
Baa Atoll, where the resort is located, is one of the most impressive when it comes to sea life, the hotel utilises its prime location by offering a ‘Manta On Call’ service (from June to November) where guests are issued with an old-school mobile phone that rings when manta rays have been spotted. Mine rang just after 10am one morning while I was strolling along the powdery soft sand admiring a soaring white-tailed tropicbird, and so after a quick change into swimwear, the boat departed the hotel’s jetty and before long I was swimming the waters of a UNESCO protected bio reserve amongst 30 mantas feeding on glimmering plankton, swirling and somersaulting like underwater angels in a magical dreamworld. These gentle giants of the ocean put on the show of a lifetime, gliding with their colossal wide open mouths in an ethereal feeding frenzy — and since snorkelling forces you to be completely present in the moment to focus on your breath — the experience was extremely meditative as well as overwhelmingly beautiful.
Book it: Stays at Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru start from £1,689 per night on a B&B basis. fourseasons.com
The St Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort
Best for: Ayurvedic treatments and jet-lag busting experiences.Exuding James Bond energy with its impressive tropical island architecture, The St. Regis appeals to arty types who appreciate innovative contemporary design and rugged natural settings. Surrounded by palms, noni fruit trees, screwpine, and night queens, the hotel feels a world away from other Maldivian resorts. Especially since lodgings comprise impressive A-frame beach houses hidden amongst fruit bat laden coconut trees, wooden-slatted two-story homes that blend seamlessly into surroundings and overwater villas designed to resemble the areas beloved by manta rays.
Of the nine-hectare estate, the most impressive structure, aside from the exquisite Whale Bar, where cocktails are as divine as the sunsets — is Iridium Spa,designed to look like a lobster from above. Offering a holistic approach to wellness the spa’s central point is a hydrotherapy pool called The Blue Hole, where bodily tension is hammered out by intense water jets all the while overlooking the Indian Ocean. As well as Ayurvedic treatments and jet-lag busting experiences, a range of massage therapies take place in spa suites (each with glass floor cutouts showcasing the clear turquoise ocean below), and it's here where I experienced my first ever Ku Nye — a type of Tibetan massage using Himalayan salt poultices, hot stones, cold stomach compresses, thick fragranced oil, singing bowls and rose quartz crystals place on the chakra points of the body.
Believed to help reduce anxiety and tension by reducing sympathetic nervous activity, the massage also reduces toxins in the body making it ideal for anyonesuffering from chronic stress. Alongside the resort’s treatments, the hotel also offers chakra readings (with solutions for realigning unbalanced chakras), and anti-gravity yoga (ideal for people who need to let go) as well as blissful evening chakra meditation sessions that work in harmony with the meditative sound of the waves.
Book it: Stays at The St Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort start from £1,979 per night on a B&B basis. marriott.com
Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Kuda Huraa
Best for: regenerative experiences.
The Maldivian magic begins even before arriving at this compact Four Seasons resort since the warm waters surrounding the hotel teem with happy pods of dolphins that twirl and leap out of the water during golden hour. But the magic doesn’t stop there. After a short speedboat ride from Male, the tiny island of Kuda Huraa wows with colourful gardens and a troupe of super friendly, down-to-earth staff that’ll take care of your every need.
Sitting on a separate private island and only accessible by a dhoni (typical Maldivian fishing boat), the hotel’s spa features various unique treatments including a 90-minute full body massage that takes place on pillows of warm water, and a ‘healing tent’ journey inside an 18-foot tall tee-pee. Utilising colossal gongs and various singing bowls to send vibrations radiating throughout the tent, the session comprises reiki and guided breathing before guests are plunged into an ice bath for the ultimate regenerative experience.
And each evening, flying meditation sessions with the hotel’s yoga master, Rijo, take place on a wooden platform above the ocean. Cocooned in a bright orange swirl of suspended silk ribbon, intense mediation comes easily since the body is comfortably supported, much more so than when lying flat on the ground.
Book it: Stays at Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Kuda Huraa start from £1,243 per night on a B&B basis. fourseasons.com
The Nautilus
Best for: pure relaxation and losing a sense of time.
The only resort in the Maldives with a no-time concept (think breakfast whenever you desire and nighttime massages), this bohemian utopia is decked out in artworks of macrame. It features secluded beach houses and a selection of very impressive over-water residences, overlooking endless shades of aquamarine and indigo.
The island is so tiny, you can walk around it in its entirety in nine minutes, but remarkably, it still feels incredibly private, and each of the islands' structures, from the restaurants to the pool bar, have been designed to promote free flowing energy and a state of relaxation by eliminating sharp edges and corners.
To aid the state of bliss further, there’s a huge array of alternative wellness offerings to explore at The Nautilus, including aerial yoga overlooking the ocean and sunset sound healing sessions at Solasta, the resort’s spa. But it’s the hotel’s partnership Ananda, nestled within the Himalayas, that allows for traditional Ayurveda and holistic wellbeing to be practiced with ultimate expertise.
The ‘Moksha Nautilus Signature treatment By Ananda’ uses Ananda spice oil, cardamom, ginger and black pepper with a marma point release technique to boost the free flow of prana (energy) throughout the body. This specialist treatment works best when taken in conjunction with a nasal detox, another popular Ayurvedic treatment where Anu Tailam oil is used to clear nasal passages and reduce sinus congestion.
Once guests have been pummeled, massaged and cleansed in their entirety, nothing is more meditative than snorkelling alongside moon wrasse, painted sweetlips, bullethead parrotfish and blue lipped clams in the hotel’s stunning reef just moments from the shoreline.
Book it: Stays at The Nautilus start from £2,323 per night on a B&B basis. thenautilusmaldives.com
Six Senses Kanuhura
Best for: biohacking and sound therapy.
Though it has an uncompromising commitment to sustainability, style certainly isn’t compromised at this desert island idyll. It also boasts incredible staff, gorgeous cuisine and large, modern bedrooms. Aside from being a haven for couples, friends, families and even solo travellers, Six Senses Kanuhura has an impressive personalised wellness offering that encompasses biohacking, sound and chakra healing, aerial yoga and pranayama sessions. And since many of Six Senses’ staff hail from Rishikesh; the yoga capital of the world, and Kerala; home of Ayurveda, you know you’re in expert hands, whichever treatments you opt for.
The hotel’s resident sound healer, Rohit, provides the ultimate wellness journey starting with the heady scent of palo santo, followed by writing down negative emotions on a piece of paper before setting them alight. After a guided visualisation, the ultimate sound bath follows where all manner of instruments and percussion are used, including rain sticks, Tibetan singing bowls, bells and even chanting. The harmonious environment provides a deeply relaxing experience that even wellness novices will be able to appreciate.
When adventure calls, it’s worth heading out on a snorkelling trip to swim alongside elegant hawksbill and green turtles — some of which are impressively large and beautifully patterned — before heading back to the resort to dine on top-class sushi and Maldivian lobster on your very own private island.
Book it: Stays start from £904 per night on a B&B basis. sixsenses.com
