A PLACE TO CALL HOME

Is it possible to find kinship thousands of miles across the water in the heart of the Indian Ocean? Not just another ultra-luxury resort, Cheval Blanc Randheli shows us how.

- YANNI TAN

Many luxury travellers would be familiar with the destination of Maldives, which is home to nearly 1,200 small coral islands of which only about 200 are inhabited. While all manner of resorts - from affordable to swanky - each take up over 100 islands, the tourism-focused country is well-known for high-end travel.

Guests are known to island-hop or try out various resorts across different stays to indulge in each individual hotel brand's kind of hospitality, but how many properties feel more like a home than a transient escape? This is where Cheval Blanc Randheli shines.

Having visited nine properties for work and leisure across the past decade prior to Randheli, I thought I knew how things were at the top-end resorts. Service would be attentive, transfers painless, spa of a high standard, and food excellent despite land-scarce Maldives' remoteness and need to import nearly everything.

Nevertheless, I jumped at the opportunity to experience Randheli. After all, aren't the LVMH hotel brand's super-exclusive properties totalling just five in the world the playground of not just the rich and famous, but European royalty? Also, there's the draw of the resort's secluded and pristine location: in the government-protected reserve of Noonu Atoll, far north from the island city of Malé surrounded by the main cluster of tourist resorts, and about 40min away on the resort's own seaplane. Perfect for a sea lover like me.

Perhaps I expected to be blown away by Randheli, but what I didn't anticipate was how this three-night trip would change my mind about the meaning of luxury. No matter what the glossy brochures say, you'd never believe it when hotels claim to be "a home away from home". Sure, the tropical marine paradise could feel like a haven, but how could it be home? The resort answers it readily.

SANCTUARY WITHIN A SANCTUARY