World’s largest overwater villas open in Maldives; Know more

Hotels in the Maldives are synonymous with luxury, but Soneva Fushi has just increased the standards.

Soneva Fushi Resort, which is renowned for hiring a bookseller every year to live and work on the island, opened the largest one-and two-bedroom overwater villas in the world.

How big is big, exactly? The one-bedrooms are 6,286 square feet in size while the two bedrooms are 9,224 square feet.

As it was obviously not enough to simply break a record, these eight villas also have glass floor panels which makes it all the better to see coral and fish up close without having to get on a boat, private outdoor baths, wooden porches with sun loungers, swimming pools (if the ocean is just not enough water for you), retractable roofs for stargazing from the bed and waterslides.

Soneva Fushi is on a private island, like many Maldivian getaways — in this case, on the Kunfunadhoo Island. There are numerous facilities including a chocolate room, a children’s club, tennis courts, an observatory, a dedicated scuba diving reef and even a glass-blowing center on the grounds, so there’s plenty to keep you occupied without having to go anywhere else.

And that’s not even it, somehow. The largest outdoor movie screen in the Indian Ocean, Cinema Paradiso, is also at Soneva Fushi.

Quarantine never looked so luxurious ever.

Planning to experience it?

For people who are desperate to travel right now, there is good news — the Maldives is open to tourists from any country, provided they remain on one island for the duration of their stay.

The tourists to the world-famous island nation will also have to present a compulsory negative coronavirus test upon arrival at Velana International Airport. The COVID-19 test should be carried out within a maximum time of three days prior to departure to the islands. The certificates will have to be submitted through the ‘Imuga’ immigration portal.