Anantara
An eco-minded Maldivian island in the Baa Atoll Biosphere Reserve, where villas slip between palms and the SEA restaurant dines guests beneath the waterline.
Anantara Kihavah occupies an island in the Baa Atoll, a stretch of the Maldives held within a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The resort’s first decision was a restrained one: not a single tree was removed from Kihavah Huravalhi to make room for it.
The result is a property that reads as part of the island rather than imposed on it. The villas, eco-minded in build and ambition, are dispersed among soaring palms and mango trees, their neutral white tones and thatched roofs doing little to interrupt the view. It is understated by design.
Dining is where the resort allows itself a flourish. The SEA restaurant sits below the waterline, its octagonal room wrapped in acrylic so that sharks, turtles and reef fish drift past at eye level; the adjoining cellar (the first underwater wine cellar in the world) holds more than 450 bottles. It has been named the world’s best underwater restaurant more than once, and the claim is hard to dispute.
The spa makes a similar argument from a glass cocoon set above the lagoon, treatments staged against the colour of the sea. Beyond it, the days fill easily: turtle quests across the reef, seabob dives, parasailing above the atoll.
For travellers who want the Maldives without the gloss of the over-engineered resort, Anantara Kihavah offers the quieter version: luxury that defers to the island it sits on.
