My best ever break as a single mum — in the Maldives - The Times
Who goes to a private island? Billionaires. Bond villains. And now — in an extremely unexpected turn of events — me. “Welcome, I will show you the way to your villa,” says a cheerful young woman who introduces herself as Ruhushara to my three young children and me as we disembark from our 45-minute sea plane onto Haa Dhaalu, one of the most remote atolls in the Maldives. It looks, at first dazed glimpse, like a 1990s Bacardi advert, all white sand and barely existent paths and not another human being in sight. Previous February half-terms have been spent in overcrowded north London soft-play centres and rainy playgrounds. Toto, we’re not in a soft-play centre now.
Once a decent spa and an egg-shaped bathtub were enough for a hotel to call itself luxury. But the bar rises faster than the steam in your personal in-room sauna. The Old Etonian Sonu Shivdasani and his wife Eva have played a big part in lifting that bar, having created, first, the Six Senses international hotel chain, followed by the more boutique but no less fabulous Soneva resorts in the Maldives and Thailand. Six Senses (which Shivdasani sold in 2012) and Soneva took the starchy formality out of the high-end hotel business and replaced it with an unspoilt bohemian luxe vibe and personalised service. The Shivdasanis sold their majority stake in the Soneva Group last year to KSL Capital Partners, an American private equity firm. But the year before they left they took luxury one step further by opening Soneva Secret, which has 13 villas and offers the near-as-dammit private island experience to holidaymakers who are maybe in the 1 per cent rather than the 0.1 per cent.
As Ruhushara walks us to our villa (beachfront, breathtakingly beautiful and about three times bigger than our actual home), she explains that she will be our “barefoot guardian”, a Soneva coinage which means she will be our personal concierge, providing one-on-one service. Another Soneva phrase is “no news, no shoes”, so Ruhushara — with an impressive lack of visible disgust — takes away the sweaty, horrible trainers we’ve been wearing for the past 15 hours on our journey here, and our shocked, newly liberated feet sink into the soft sand. She then offers to show us around the island on the bicycles that are waiting for us (another Soneva signature.) But the kids have spotted the pool at the back of our villa and are already stripping off and jumping in. “Would you like me to watch the children while you rest after the journey?” Ruhushara says, seeing my frantic, jet-lagged eyes trying to keep track of each child. At which point I come perilously close to weeping with happiness.
I became a single parent three years ago, when my twins were seven and my youngest was three. In the immediate wake of the separation, I wouldn’t say holidays were at the top of my list of concerns but I’d definitely put them in the top ten. How would I cope with long-haul flights with three children on my own? And how would I watch all of them around the pool? In the intervening years I have come up with various strategies — let them watch all the films they want on planes, try to go on holidays with friends — but it turns out there’s an even better option that until now had never entered my brain. Why not go to an insanely luxurious private island in the Maldives? Yes, Soneva Secret is definitely aimed at couples, with the emphasis being very much on romantic privacy, to the point that two of the villas are out in the sea, accessible only by boat, which is definitely not a child-friendly set-up. But, those villas aside, it turns out to be completely ideal for the harried single parent too.
To be fair, it’s hard to imagine anyone who Soneva Secret wouldn’t be perfect for, because it will be whatever you want it to be. That is what you’re paying for. So if you want to hide away in your villa the whole time — which most of the guests do, explaining why I barely see a single other human other than my children and Ruhushara during my time there — that’s no problem, and a private chef and yoga instructor will come straight to your door. On the other hand, if you want someone to help you with your children and keep them constantly entertained in the most idyllic setting in the world, then this is the place. It may well be the most expensive kind of childcare in the world but, wow, what childcare.
Despite being extremely luxurious, Soneva Secret has carefully retained an air of rustic island life. Once I rest (God bless you, Ruhushara) and drag the children out of the pool, we get on our bikes to explore. The roads are just bumpy enough to make us feel like we are the first inhabitants to discover it, while still being cycle-able, even for my six-year-old.
The island is so tiny it takes us only about ten minutes to cycle from end to end but there’s a surprising number of things on it, including an open-air cinema and a zip line, discreetly hidden behind palm trees. There are also multiple restaurants for the few guests who occasionally want to leave their heavenly villa. So the first night we go to So Primitive — a collection of chic little wooden tables on the beach — where the chef thrills my children by revealing a hidden grill beneath the sand, where he has been cooking a red snapper caught that morning, wrapped in a banana leaf and marinated with spices. The ten-year-old twins tuck in but the six-year-old announces that she wants plain pasta, and because this is heaven/ultra luxury, Ruhushara swiftly produces a bowl of it. The six-year-old gazes at her with a delight akin to Dorothy seeing the good witch Glinda for the first time.
KSL is reportedly keen to stay true to the original Soneva ethos so won’t be overhauling Soneva Secret or any of the other Soneva resorts. But there are plans to make it, as one person put it to me, “more welcoming to the international guests”, which means more water sports, more air conditioning and better wifi.
So the next day, after an absurdly delicious breakfast of pancakes and fruit served by Ruhushara in our villa, we try out the water sports. First up is something called fun tubing, which involves us clinging onto a circular raft tethered to a jet ski, followed by seabob, which I can only describe as like riding a motorbike in the water while lying on your stomach. By now, all four of us are practically giddy with the fun of it all, so we recover with a fantastic lunch of Japanese food in the Living Room, the main building on the island, gazing at the sea. Afterwards Ruhushara says what is without a doubt the most beautiful sentence anyone’s ever said to me: “Can I look after the children while you go for your massage?” Yes please.
Whereas other luxury hotels have spas that look more like Nasa headquarters, with endless corridors and all kinds of high-tech wizardry, the one here looks like a picture-perfect shack, with just one treatment room where I get massaged only a handful of yards from the sea. Just when I think this day can’t get any more perfect, we finish it with a sunset dolphin cruise. Dozens of dolphins swim alongside our boat, leaping and spinning in the air, as if organised by Soneva Secret itself (impossible, surely — or is it?).
By the last day the children are happily roaming the island on their own on their bikes, something I would never allow in London, but here all the staff keep an eye on them. They even occasionally take themselves to the tiny kids’ club — known as the Den — where they bake cookies and write stories about the island, while I — praise be to the god of single parents! — actually read my book and even have a nap by the pool at our villa.
Look, yes, it’s crazy expensive, but if you have the cash, my God, unlike so many other luxury experiences, this really does feel worth it. Best holiday ever. Soft-play will never suffice again.
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Hadley Freeman was a guest of Soneva Secret, which has one night’s B&B for two in a beach villa from £2,494 (soneva.com). Fly to Malé
You can book Hadley’s exact itinerary with Times Holidays. Quote reference THOLJH013
A half-hour hop by seaplane from Malé, this relaxed resort has more than bone-white beaches to thrill the children. There’s a climbing wall, a tennis court, a VR golf simulator, an art studio and an inflatable water course just off the shore. Clubs for kids and teens host activities including deejaying, beach bonfires and sushi making, plus there’s a resident marine biologist to lead snorkelling excursions. Villas in bright white and turquoise have direct access to the beach, lagoon or house reef, and many have private gardens or pools. Kids will love the huge, themed buffet dinners, but there’s also a Middle Eastern restaurant, a fine-dining Japanese spot and a crab shack reached by traditional dhoni boat. Seven nights’ half-board from £2,436pp, including flights and transfers
The kids can gorge on ice cream all week at this all-inclusive resort, where the standard price includes everything from all-day dining and your mini bar to spa treatments and sunset fishing trips. Plus there are two snorkelling excursions daily, unlimited non-motorised water sports, a kids’ club and daily activities from children’s yoga to beach volleyball. Every villa has room for at least three, but the biggest, Majlis Residence, sleeps six and has a private mini-library, garden, private pool and even a room for the nanny. Malé is a 40-minute speedboat ride away.Seven nights’ all-inclusive from £2,689pp, including flights and transfers
A 20-minute flight from Malé, this five-star resort is bigger than most in the Maldives, so has plenty of space for children to roam, plus activities galore to entertain them. They can take their pick from football, basketball, karaoke and cycling, while the water sports centre is stocked with canoes, motorised surfboards, inflatable tubes and even a semi-submersible. There’s a range of day trips on offer, including trips to villages and jet ski tours, or you can hire a boat for a family adventure. Stylish two-bedroom family villas have a veranda and direct beach access for all-day swimming. Seven nights’ all-inclusive from £1,733pp, including flights
There are no hidden extras at this five-star stay, a 45-minute speedboat ride from Malé. The generous all-inclusive package includes daily snorkelling trips and fine-dining restaurants, while even the adults-only underwater restaurant welcomes families for lunch every week, so no one misses out. Children get charts to tick off marine life they spot, and the kids’ club has a pool and sandpit. Book a villa with a twisting slide into the sea to really blow their mind.Seven nights’ all-inclusive from £2,795pp, including flights and transfers (sovereign.com)
Beach-mad families won’t be disappointed by this five-star resort, a half-hour seaplane flight from the capital. Villas are scattered over two miles of soft white sand, while a dive centre offers Padi training and a range of water sports, from flyboarding to canoeing. An in-house marine biologist leads excursions to spot the region’s giant whale sharks, while clubs for kids and teens offer yoga sessions, coral planting and quiz nights. There is a giant screen on the beach for family film nights and a menu of kids’ spa treatments, and the hotel has its own brand of ice cream, with classes in how to make it.Seven nights’ B&B from £1,932pp, including flights
