I’ve been to over six resorts in the Maldives, and can confidently say The St Regis Maldives is the best of the best when it comes to luxury, five star holidays. Every I is dotted, every T is crossed. The attention to detail is impeccable. If you want over the top luxury, the highest level of service, and style that’s straight out of architectural digest, you’ll want to stay here.
TRAVEL LOGISTICS: I get a lot of questions about when one should travel here. Peak season in the Maldives is roughly November – May, which is ideal for Honeymooners, half term breaks, or in our case, a trip with the whole family. If you want to take your chances, come in September like we did. While it was technically “rainy season”, we had full days of sunshine with only an hour or two of rain during our seven day stay.
The instant life of Instagram makes the travel look easy — fair warning, it does take a very long time to get here, so I’d recommend staying at least five nights. Once you get here, you’ll never want to leave, and the clear turquoise color of th water makes every hour of travel time worth it. When you make your reservation, book your flights into Male Airport (MLE) and send your flight details directly to the team at the St.Regis Maldives. They are extremely helpful and will book all of your seaplanes for you. From there, they coordinate pick up times, organize logistics, and arrange a hotel representative to take you to the St.Regis Maldives airport lounge to freshen up after your long haul flight. Once refreshed, they’ll help you check into your sea plane which is a quick one hour and cost roughly $395 per person and $250 per child.
PROPERTY: Once you finally get to the St. Regis, the pampering immediately begins. Starting with welcome drinks and fresh, cold hand towels… Truman’s personal favorite. Right away they put you in a golf cart with your butler and take you around the property, straight to your room. Every single detail is taken care of, you don’t have to worry about anything.
ROOMS: We stayed in one of their gorgeous private family homes with the most chic furnishings and incredibly comfortable beds. It’s everything you’d want when seeking luxury comfort, and exceptionally great for families. Between the five of us —my mom, sister, myself, Gigi and Truman, there was more than enough room. You can fit five very comfortable, and could even do six. All the rooms here are on the water with a beach a sea view. There’s tons of space, an outdoor deck, mini dip pool…. The whole five-star experience.
ARCHITECTURE: Even just looking at the photos, you can pick up that the St.Regis is an architectural masterpiece. From the houses, to the restaurants, pools, spa — it’s truly an experience unlike any other.
SPA: The spa is one of the most insane things about the St.Regis Maldives – it feels like you’re on mars. Their thermal water pool leads into the ocean with color therapy and even if you don’t book a treatment you’re welcome to use the amenities.
RESTAURANTS: The food here is absolutely incredible. I’m usually not one for eating three meals a day on vacation, but I made sure not to miss one here. During breakfast, they have a mimosa and bloody mary cart with all the trimmings. It’s not like I’m a big boozer on these family vacations but the whole set up makes you want to keep drinking! At night, their wine list is out of this world. They have craft beers with lunch during the day — something that’s actually hard to come by when you’re on these far off islands. Last but not least, our favorite place on the island – the pizza restaurant. This pizza hut is not like pizza hut! Seriously the best pizza of my life…New York eat your heart out. You can see the main restaurant in the right just below, the main beach, and the pizza hut to the left of me!
FITNESS – Because the food was so good, it made me work out every day. I tried aerial yoga which was hilariously fun. The have a really nice gym where I did some running, and the overall gym space is connected to the kids club. Usually they’re separated by houses all over the island but here they’re connected under one compound, which I loved.
KID’S CLUB – The kids LOVED the Kid’s club. Georgie was always happy making things, creating projects, and baking in the classes that they offer. I had to keep Truman limited in time he was in the games house. They have all sorts of activities —- table tennis, PS2 games, everything kids want from a club.
HIGHLIGHTS | We took a dolphin excursion which was wonderful – we saw dolphins and a rainbow, does it get better than that? The kids LOVED paddle boarding – the water sports team was SO nice. They helped Georgie and Truman learn how to do a lot of the water sports, and they loved every minute of it.
ADD ON| For a very special night, we all enjoyed the most delicious Indian gourmet meal + movie night watching Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure in our own private jungle. It was quite the splurge at $250 per person, but unforgettable and an experience we’ll always remember.
For more about the stunning St. Regis Maldives, go to their website and see more about what all they offer – We truly had such an amazing vacation, I couldn’t recommend it enough!