JOALI Maldives

JOALI sits on Muravandhoo in Raa Atoll. It is the country's first art-immersive island: commissioned installations by Porky Hefer, Misha Kahn and Sophie Kitching across the island, an Art Studio with a resident artist running ceramics and glazing workshops, and a treehouse woven into the canopy that you can eat dinner in.

JOALI or JOALI BEING?

The same owners run both, in the same atoll. They are close to opposites. JOALI BEING is a wellbeing island designed for adults, with children admitted only during set retreat periods. JOALI is the art island, it has the Muramas kids' club, and families are welcome all year. If you have been quoted both, that is the difference that should decide it.

Getting there

Seaplane from Velana, and seaplanes fly in daylight only. A domestic flight and speedboat combination is also possible. Send us your flight times before you book them and we will confirm the routing and whether you lose a night in Malé.

What the rate covers

We quote JOALI on half board: breakfast and dinner. Lunch, drinks and the specialist experiences are settled on the island. Every villa has a private infinity pool and a Jadugar, the resort's own butler.

The villas

Seventy-three in total. The beach villas are worth understanding before you choose: their interiors are similar in size to the water villas, but the plots are enormous, so you are buying garden rather than indoor space.

Above these sit two-bedroom villas, family beach villas with two pools, and residences up to a four-bedroom at 500 m² indoors. There is one of each of the largest, so ask early.

One thing families miss: the standard Water Villa with Pool and Beach Villa with Pool take two adults and only one child. For two children you need a Luxury category. That single line decides most family bookings here.

Eating

Four restaurants and a bar. Vandhoo is the one to know if you are travelling from India: it runs Southeast Asian, Chinese and Indian, and it does breakfast. Saoke is Japanese, suspended over the water, designed by Noriyoshi Muramatsu, with sushi, sake and teppanyaki. Bellinis is Italian. TUH'U is Levantine and alfresco. Mura Bar runs lunch through to midnight and holds a whiskey and cigar lounge.

Beyond those: a wine cellar with daily guided tastings, Chef's Garden for lunch among the vegetable beds, Her Kitchen for Maldivian cooking classes, and La Joie for chocolate and ice cream. Destination dining runs to a private sandbank or the Manta Treehouse.

The spa

JOALI BEING Cure, which brings the sister island's programme here: treatments built around the same four pillars of mind, skin, microbiome and energy, alongside sound therapy and natural skincare rituals.

Families and activities

Muramas is the kids' club, built around treasure hunts, cooking workshops and hands-on art rather than screens. For adults there is tennis, padel, archery, dhoni sailing and manta snorkelling.

Who it suits

Couples and families who want a design-led island with something to look at beyond the lagoon. Anyone who would rather spend an afternoon at a potter's wheel than at a bar. Honeymooners who want Raa Atoll without the structured programme JOALI BEING builds around you.

Who it does not

Anyone chasing the lowest rate in the atoll. Anyone landing too late for a daylight seaplane who cannot absorb a night in Malé. Families of four looking at the entry-level villas, for the occupancy reason above. And anyone who wants a plain barefoot island, because the art is the point here and it is everywhere.

Location

Muravandhoo Island, Raa Atoll, Maldives

For current rates, villa availability and transfer costs, message our Maldives specialists on WhatsApp or send us an enquiry. We reply within 24 hours.