The resort with a slide into the sea

Not one beside the pool for the kids. A full-sized waterslide that drops straight from your overwater villa into the Indian Ocean.

From that point on, nothing here should surprise you. Spend the morning snorkelling with turtles. Help yourself to unlimited chocolate after lunch. Then climb the spiral staircase to the top of your villa before launching yourself into the lagoon. At Soneva Fushi, that's considered a perfectly normal day.

Getting there is part of the fun, too. After arriving in Malé, you'll swap the international terminal for a scenic seaplane: thirty minutes spent flying over tiny coral islands and lagoons in every shade of blue. Not a bad commute.

The villas tell you everything you need to know about Soneva. They're undeniably luxurious, but they never feel flashy. Instead of polished marble and sleek contemporary interiors, you'll find weathered timber, soaring thatched roofs, woven textures and soft natural fabrics that feel like they belong here.

The beach villas disappear amongst the jungle, where oversized open-air bathrooms and private pools make it easy to forget anyone else is staying here at all. Out over the lagoon, the overwater villas feel even bigger, with sprawling decks, retractable roofs above the bed for stargazing and the waterslides that have become a Soneva trademark.

Soneva never forgot that holidays are supposed to be fun.

Kunfunadhoo, Baa Atoll

That relaxed approach carries through to everything else. You might cycle to breakfast, lose track of time in the observatory learning about the southern night sky, wander through the glass studio where discarded bottles become works of art, then settle into a beanbag for an outdoor movie beneath the stars.

Somewhere in between you'll probably find yourself making “just a quick stop” at the chocolate room, which rarely ends up being all that quick.

Food is a big part of the experience here, but not just because of what's on the plate. Every meal feels completely different, so dinner becomes another excuse to explore the island. One evening you might be dining with your feet in the sand, the next enjoying freshly grilled seafood beside the lagoon, before finding yourself high amongst the treetops the following night.

If we were booking one dinner before we arrived, it'd be Fresh in the Garden. Hidden beneath a canopy of lights amongst the trees, much of the produce comes straight from Soneva's own organic gardens. Book it early. You'll thank us later.

Unlike many of the newer resorts, Soneva Fushi doesn't sit on a tiny sandbank with every villa on display. Kunfunadhoo is one of the largest islands in the Maldives, covered in dense tropical jungle that makes the whole resort feel wonderfully hidden.

Sandy pathways weave beneath towering palms, bicycles lean against trees instead of being parked outside reception, and it's entirely possible to walk back to your villa without passing another guest. Half the time, it feels less like you're staying at a resort and more like you've stumbled across someone's very extravagant private island.

For all the chocolate rooms, barefoot breakfasts and relaxed approach to luxury, don't let the fun fool you. This is still one of the finest resorts in the Maldives. The service is quietly exceptional, every detail feels considered and nothing ever feels overdone.

Maybe that's why so many people come back. It's not just because it's beautiful; plenty of places in the Maldives are beautiful. It's because Soneva never forgot that holidays are supposed to be fun. And honestly, any resort that thinks the quickest way into the ocean should be via a waterslide might be onto something.