Why the Four Seasons Maldives hopes to send you to sleep

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  Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru, Maldives

Padding down the long sandy walkway that leads grandly from Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru’s arrival jetty in the Maldives, it seemed as if even the tall palms lining the way were deferentially bowing in the breeze to welcome me along with the myriad of staff who appeared to greet and either offer me something, or else relieve me of something. As a weary arrival, all offers were accepted.

This resort is one of the most beautiful I have seen in the Maldives, with a constant sense of peacefulness and no coral left unturned in the pursuit of exquisite design and comfort. Architect Murad Ismail was influenced by revered fellow Sri Lankan designer Geoffrey Bawa, and he set out to design something beyond the predictable, yet still referencing the local architecture of the Maldives.

The result is high-pitched thatched roofs and chalky white coral for walls surrounding inner sanctuaries entered via a gate in the traditional Maldivian sky-blue seen so often around the islands.

Ismail’s idea for Landaa Giraavaru was to give guests “a sense of space” – his belief is that stressed-out high-end Western travellers seek tranquillity and freedom in places like the Maldives and pay a premium “to just get away”.



I know the feeling. They say if you work too hard, the minute you slow down to go on holiday, illness kicks in. It did – I was soon resigned to being flaked out in the villa with a rotten cold. Ginger and lemon tea was brought to be non-stop and I know there are worse places to be ill, but I would rather have been snorkelling with the marine biologists to see their ongoing coral propagation programme or enjoying a yoga session instead of nearly passing out when I tried it one early morning with the sun looking harshly on.



Luckily the resort has one of the best holistic spas in the Maldives, if not the Indian Ocean, so I hoped a treatment there might sort me out. There is an expert range of Ayurvedic treatments carried out within a dedicated Ayurvedic garden-filled spa-within-a-spa, one of the largest in the country. The spa gardens are planted with medicinal herbs, trees and flowers used in some of the ayurvedic oils and herbal concoctions too.

I may have felt deeply relaxed after a couple of hours in the hands of ayurvedic specialists, but thanks to my cold and jetlag, I still had trouble sleeping. I might well have benefitted from the upcoming specialist sleep programme at the resort – a five-day Zantaa Nidraa Retreat.

According to the Dalai Lama, “sleep is the best meditation” and if you need help getting back on track with your nap attacks, then the Four Seasons Resort Landaa Giraavaru’s retreat (on-island 3-8 August) could help you rediscover your zzzzzs.

It draws on the combined benefits of yoga, pranayama, healing sounds and Ayurveda with the aim of relaxing and purifying the nervous system by balancing the sleep centre of the body, the throat chakra. 

The retreat will be facilitated by the wonderful Denise and John Leicester, founders of Ila-Spa, a British-based spa company that has gained massive respect in the spa world and is featured at only a handful of the world’s spas compared to something like the every-present ESPA. 



Guests on the retreat also get to find out more about Ila’s Zaanta Nidraa dreamtime ritual - a powerful eight-step journey that addresses every level of healing. 

And while I may not have had the personal approach of Denise during my stay, I did have her CD in the room, which is deeply soothing to listen to nonetheless and the chants are by Denise herself.

Seeing almost a hundred spinner dolphins on a short boat trip from the resort also raised my spirits away from their snivelling depths for a morning. And afterall, spending so much time in the villa was no hardship, given its super-comfortable bed, non-stop films on the huge TV, private garden with swing, plunge pool, dining area, oversized sofa and my very own little treehouse.

When I was feeling a bit more with it, a stroll along the beach took me to the main jetty and the dive and marine centre and onwards to Cafe Landaa where an Asian lunch proved to be just the spicy tonic I needed. 

The island is deeply tropical and lush with more than enough space for the maximum 200 or so souls that would ever be staying here. If the modern definition of luxury is privacy, space and time, then this place certainly delivers.

A whiz over to Blu in the golf buggy and you’ve found another impeccably-designed area for lounging and dining. 

Overlooking a stunning 2km lagoon, the beach, furniture and wood here compete in their toothpaste-whiteness and are in sharp contrast to the perfect sky and endless sea. Blu is an Italian restaurant worked around a sandspit into two pavilions and a pool, one of four on the island (not counting the private pools within villas) and the food at night was wonderful, set against an atmospheric backdrop of candles and the lapping sound of the sea. 



Your other option would be a non-stop Lebanese evening mezze at Al Barakat, which was totally delicious. I would have smoked a sheesha afterwards, but sitting with the regional spa director for Four Seasons, I thought it might have been deemed unhealthily inappropriate.

Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru was a tough act to follow, but all the staff waiting for me at the hotel group’s second property in the Maldives, Kuda Huraa were going to try their hardest to do it anyway. 

They had taken their happy pills for my arrival, with at least 10 smiling people waiting on the dock to greet me.

A short walk down the jetty and I was into the high-ceilinged sand-floored lobby with a cool drink in hand. The small proportions of Kuda Huraa were immediately obvious; you could walk round the whole place in 10 minutes but golf buggies are still on call if you need them. 



As I was arriving from Landaa Giraavaru, my journey was by seaplane, which gave a completely different perspective than guests would get arriving by the usual method – a ‘normal’ guest would arrive by speedboat from Male. The aerial view afforded me demonstrated how close the resort is to its neighbouring islands - on Landaa I felt completely cast away in the middle of nowhere and on a much larger island.

However, the upside of Kuda Huraa is that it excels at creating an intimate cosy atmosphere which can’t always be found on Landaa.

Dining experiences at Kuda include the endless delicious Taste of India themed buffet every Sunday night at Baraabaru and the Italian flavours and relaxed atmosphere at Reef Club. I was longing for an Italian dinner at Reef Club (especially as it was such a short barefoot stroll from my overwater villa) but couldn’t get a table so missed out on staring wistfully out to sea from its idyllic setting at the end of the island.

All the other dining options are in the main cluster of buildings around the lobby – which also includes a library, kids club and boutique - where elegant Baraabaru spins off from the open Maldivian-style pavilion of Cafe Huraa overlooking a free-form swimming pool and lagoon.



Packed onto the island and its jettys are 96 rooms in a bewildering range of categories, but design-wise, there’s not much in it – it just comes down to budget, whether you prefer to be on land or over-water and whether you’re an earlyriser who wants to sunbathe at the villa early, or prefers to watch the sun set from their room. 



A wealth of water-based activities also means that Kuda Huraa is a great choice for families, with a dedicated surf school – one of few in the Maldives - and Furaavaru Teen Centre to appeal to 13-18 year olds. And if you and the kids want a real treat, the two-bedroom Royal Beach Villa is the ultimate accommodation option on the island.



Another highlight of the resort is that it has one of the only spas in the world that you reach by tiny dhoni. 

The Island Spa has seven thatched over-water treatment pavilions set on their own little island to which the dhoni plys to and fro to take stressed guests to their little nirvana for a few hours.

* Denise and John Leicester of Ila will also be running five-day Couples Connect Retreat at Four Seasons Resort Landaa Giraavaru (July 26-31 and October 11-16).



www.fourseasons.com/maldiveslg