Cheval Blanc Randheli, Maldives, review: a high-end hideaway fit for royalty

Times

6 days ago

From a private lounge at Velana airport, Cheval Blanc's branded leather-lined seaplane spirits guests 40 minutes north to one of the most expensive resorts in Asia. Owned by the French luxury conglomerate Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy and designed by the lauded Jean-Michel Gathy, the resort is unashamedly aimed at those with deep pockets. Guests arrive to gallery-like spaces between high fluted walls, lines of stone pillars and reflective pools, which combine to create an extraordinary interplay of light and space.
The atmosphere is rarified and hushed, aside from the chorus of 'bonjour', 'merci madame' and 'avec plaisir' from the poised, perfectly put-together staff — an affectation that feels charming from the European employees but a little odd from Maldivians and other international staff. That said, the service can't be faulted, with mind-reading butlers arranging everything from unpacking cases to personal-training sessions with an ex-France team athlete or yacht charters in search of manta rays — all of which leaves you free to channel your joie de vivre.
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Score 9/10There really is no short straw here. Cheval Blanc Randheli's 45 villas are some of the most impressive in the Maldives, in terms of scale and elevated levels of craftsmanship (though if you did have to choose, the stretch of sand outside beach villa No 14 is known to be a favoured spot for nesting sea turtles). Most of the villas are stilted over water, some above the lagoon and others facing out to sea. But the beach villas, which open onto a large private pool and wide swathes of white beach and come with generous outdoor lounging and dining areas — and feel the most private — are the ones to book. All are similarly styled in luxuriant woods, travertine marble and cream veneer, with sky-high vaulted ceilings, wide-screen picture windows and the bedroom and bathroom separated by towering door leaves. Coffee table tomes on Chaumet, Hublot and Louis Vuitton are dotted around, alongside objets d'art and a telescope for ogling the Milky Way.
Grand bathrooms with dinosaur-egg tubs (often drawn upon your arrival back to the villa and kept warm by a targeted patch of underfloor heating), twin vanities and indoor and outdoor showers are stocked with full-size citrus and cardamom-scented amenities specially blended for the resort by Dior. Among the goodies are body scrubs, lip balms, bath salts and hand cream, as well as shampoos and hair masks from Leonor Greyl (all in plastic bottles, which can perhaps be forgiven as you're allowed to take them home). One more niggle, though — the iPad room-control system, which was glitchy to the point of inducing surrender.
On Cheval Blanc Randheli Private Island, which can only be reached by boat, there is a four-bedroom villa, a 25m swimming pool, a grand piano, a screening room, a dining pergola, a gym, meditation pavilions and a spa treatment room overlooking the ocean.
Score 9/10Diners are serenaded with Serge Gainsbourg songs over breakfast at the White, a breezy all-day brasserie that spills out onto a terrace overlooking the bright beach and baby-blue ocean. The breakfast menu runs to 20 pages, from freshly squeezed juices and detox elixirs, to eggs benedict and gravity-defying white omelettes, to warm pastries and artisanal jams, to sushi, dim sum, noodles and dosa. In the unlikely event that there is nothing you fancy, the chefs will whip up whatever your heart desires; you only have to ask.
Tucked behind the White is Le 1947, where complex degustation menus and hard-to-find wines are served at white marble tables under crystal chandeliers.
Deelani is perched at the end of the pier and is the place for Italian Mediterranean cuisine in a more relaxed atmosphere — look out for black-tip reef sharks in the water below.
Completing the set is Japanese fusion restaurant Diptyque, which serves moreish, super-fresh plates of Maldivian red tuna sashimi, reef fish nigiri, king crab crispy rice rolls and black onyx beef tenderloin with a creamy black truffle ponzu from an open kitchen counter. Private dining experiences — floating breakfasts, sandbank picnics, starlit dinners à deux — can also be arranged.
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Score 9/10You could spend your entire holiday holed up in your palatial villa and flitting between the beach and the pool, but Cheval Blanc has some sensational facilities and experiences available. Take up the latest racquet-sport craze with a padel lesson on Tennis Island, which in 2024 added two shiny new padel courts alongside the two Paris Masters-spec tennis courts (Roger Federer comes to practice here at least once a year). Another island is completely dedicated to wellness, with an overwater yoga sala, a quiet swimming pool, a health-led café, a hair and beauty salon and the only Guerlain Spa in the Maldives. Arguably, the country's most glamorous spa, its lavish treatment villas come with sea views and entire Guerlain make-up counters to help you to look your best after your 60-minute Orchidée Impériale facial. The water-sports centre is equipped with every vessel you can think of — Seabobs, Flyboard boots, a surf simulator, wooden dhonis, a deep-sea fishing boat and an Azimut 98 Leonardo yacht. The dive centre has a marine biologist on staff and a coral conservation programme, but otherwise sustainability doesn't seem to be a priority for Cheval Blanc.
Score 10/10Cheval Blanc Randheli sits pretty in the swish Noonu Atoll, which has a private jet terminal. If you don't happen to own a Gulfstream, it's a 40-minute seaplane journey from Malé. Randheli spans three natural islands. The main island has been sensitively expanded to create a full ring of broad, gently sloping beaches and calm lagoons that are suitable for swimming year-round — you might bump into one of the resident sea turtles who like to float around the pier. The house reef is located by the spa island and is resplendent with purply corals, spotted eagle rays, baby sharks and confetti bursts of reef fish (despite the devastating 2024 global coral bleaching event). With no neighbours in the immediate vicinity, the resort feels incredibly private, and the lack of light pollution makes for wondrous night skies.
Price B&B doubles from £2,600Restaurant mains from £29Accessible NFamily-friendly Y
Lee Cobaj was a guest of Cheval Blanc Randheli, Maldives (chevalblanc.com)
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