JOALI BEING

After opening their first hotel in the Maldives, the region’s first art-immersive resort, the luxury lifestyle brand JOALI chose an island in nearby Raa Atoll for the sequel. Like its sister resort, JOALI BEING has a theme — in this case, Wellbeing — and wholeheartedly commits to it. The wellbeing space specializes in healing therapies, the villas are stocked with meditative musical instruments, and the team’s culinary experts curate the restaurants’ earth-to-table menus.

The architecture was conceived to help guests connect with the natural landscape, and from pretty much every vantage point within the resort, it’s hard to turn one’s gaze away from the aquamarine sea. Over-water and beachfront villas are equally lavish and remarkably spacious; the interiors are grand but modern, with a turquoise, rose, and pale gray palette, romantic canopy-draped beds, and dreamy indoor-outdoor living spaces with private infinity pools and direct views of the Indian Ocean. The bathrooms are palatial, with freestanding tubs, and some villas have outdoor tubs as well. Jadugars await at all hours to attend to any need, even if it’s just a friendly reminder to wake from an afternoon nap to attend the daily sunset ritual on the sand.