JOALI BEING, Bodufushi

JOALI BEING is on Bodufushi, a small island in Raa Atoll, about 40 minutes north of Malé by seaplane. Its sister resort, JOALI Maldives, is in the same atoll and is the one to choose if you are travelling with children outside the Kids Retreat dates.

By the return shared seaplane from Velana International Airport, which is in the price, with JOALI’s own lounge at the airport. Seaplanes fly in daylight only, so if you land after 15:30 you spend a night near the airport and fly out the next morning. A speedboat or yacht takes six to eight hours, so it is not a realistic option.

It is designed as an adults-only retreat, and children under twelve are welcomed only during the scheduled JOY of BEING Kids Retreat periods. Separately, AREKA and CORE, the wellbeing and fitness halls, are for guests aged twelve and over at all times. B’Kidult is the multi-generational space younger guests use.

Sixty-eight villas and residences. Ocean and Sunset Ocean Pool Villas are 87 m² indoors in a 260 m² footprint. The Grand categories are 92 m² indoors but on a smaller 230 m² plot, so Grand buys interior space rather than garden. Beach Pool Villas are 93 m² on 503 m², and Grand Beach Pool Villas 106 m² on 646 m². Above these sit two-bedroom villas, wellbeing residences and a four-bedroom at 491 m² indoors.

A Grand category. The Ocean Pool Villa, Sunset Ocean Pool Villa and Beach Pool Villa each take two adults and one child only. Grand Ocean, Sunset Grand Ocean and Grand Beach Pool villas take two children, and above those are two-bedroom villas and residences. This is subject to the Kids Retreat dates.

FLOW is an open-plan space with three kitchens: SU for pescatarian, Plantae for vegetarian and vegan, and B’Well for meat and poultry. Yutori is the Japanese restaurant. MOJO serves global plates at lunch and Mediterranean at dinner, with MOJO Bar alongside. SAI Tea Lounge pours 72 teas from 16 countries with a resident Tea Master and Sommelier.

It is organised around four pillars: mind, skin, microbiome and energy. Every stay starts with a 30-minute Wellbeing Consultation, which is in the price. AREKA holds 37 treatment rooms, including CORE for movement and fitness, KAASHI for hydrotherapy and sauna, SEDA for sound therapy and AKTAR, a herbology centre. Further treatments and some workshops are charged.

There is no wifi inside AREKA, the wellbeing zone, by design, and drones are not allowed anywhere on the island. There are floodlit tennis and padel courts, yacht and dhoni excursions, and DJ nights. Every villa has bicycles, housekeeping comes twice a day, and non-motorised watersports and snorkel gear are in the price.

Indian passport holders, on new bookings inside the offer's booking window and stay dates. Ask us whether yours qualify. They cannot be applied to a booking you have already made. They combine with JOALI's Repeater, Honeymoon and Anniversary benefits and the Kids Offer, and nothing else. Later dates are not priced on this page, but we can book them.

Very good. You can swim right round the island, and the overwater villas sit on the reef itself. Expect big shoals, a resident turtle, eagle rays and blacktips. The coral is patchy rather than uniform, so come for the fish rather than a coral garden. Keep clear of the arrival jetties, where boats run.