WHILE YOU WERE AWAY
ASIA
MUST-STAYS IN THE MALDIVES
Here, we take a deep dive into the best resorts dotted around the Maldives for the luxury-seeking traveller.
Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi
Scattered across three islands, this luxe five-star resort features 119 beach, reef and overwater villas, an impressive 11 dining venues and bars (including a treetop restaurant) and a blissful lifestyle spa and wellness sanctuary. waldorfastoriamaldives.com
The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands
Encompassing four islands, the sleekly minimalist Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands offers guests the requisite beachfront and overwater villas, which come with private infinity pools, butler service and water views to infinity, as well as seven restaurants and bars, an overwater spa and easy access to the shopping and dining of Fari Marina. ritzcarlton.com
Patina Maldives, Fari Islands
Sharing its Fari Islands location with Ritz-Carlton (but at a suitable remove), Patina Maldives is the first Maldives property of luxury hoteliers Capella Hotel Group. Guests can choose from one of 90 private pool villas or 20 studios, which all offer easy access to the social scene of Fari Marina Village and the chic Fari Beach Club. patinahotels.com
The Chedi Kudavillingili
A super-quick 25-minute speedboat ride from the airport in Malé, the boutique Chedi Kudavillingili will have beach villas, overwater villas and double-storey villas, as well as an overwater spa, beach club and exciting food and beverage options that include hawker-style stalls. ghmhotels.com
Le Méridien Maldives Resort & Spa
Located within Thilamaafushi Island in the Lhaviyani Atoll, Le Méridien Maldives Resort & Spa is all about the water, surrounded as it is by fringing reefs teeming with marine life including pods of manta rays and turtles. You can choose from Beach, Sunrise and Sunset categories of bungalows and villas (including overwater options) or live the life of island luxury in the three-bedroom Thilamaafushi Villa. marriott.com
NEXT-LEVEL LUXURY
India is renowned for its luxury accommodation offerings, with any number of former maharajas’ palaces reinvented as five-star hotels, so RAFFLES UDAIPUR had a lot to live up to; it certainly doesn’t disappoint. Located on an 8.5-hectare private island in the waters of Udai Sagar Lake and reached by a leisurely boat ride past flamingos, storks and ibises, the grand facade of cupolas and columns set in lush green gardens houses 101 elegantly grand rooms, suites and signature suites, with hand-crafted furnishings, garden views and private butler service. raffl es.com/udaipur
FOR ART’S SAKE
A cache of new arts venues across Asia embraces everything from photography to robotics to priceless royal treasures within a stunning collection of historic and architecturally impactful buildings. Opening mid-year in the Taiwanese capital, the 59,000-square-metre TAIPEI PERFORMING ARTS CENTER (pictured above right), designed to traffic-stopping effect by Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten at OMA, will be the new home of the country’s leading arts groups. There will be three auditoriums including the Globe Playhouse, a spherical theatre designed to resemble a planet, as well as a plaza that will host public art and cultural events.
SINGAPORE ART MUSEUM ’s (above left) sleek new space at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, in the thick of the city state’s bustling industrial port, has art spread over two levels, with a cafe and bookshop set to join the roster mid-year. singaporeartmuseum.sg The already-open M +, one of the largest museums dedicated to contemporary 20th- and 21st-century visual culture in the world, located within the West Kowloon Cultural District, will this year be joined by the neighbouring HONG KONG PALACE MUSEUM , a starkly modern building that will house some of China’s imperial treasures, permanently on loan from the Forbidden City in Beijing. westkowloon.hk
The passion project of businessman and collector Abhishek Poddar, the MUSEUM OF ART & PHOTOGRAPHY will open in Bengaluru, India, towards the end of the year with a collection that will include more than 18,000 artworks, covering mediums from paintings to photography to textiles and sculptures and spanning the 10th century to the present day. map-india.org With a suitably futurist design by Turkish design studio Melike Altınışık Architects (MAA), and constructed with the use of robotic construction (including 3D printing) and drones, Seoul’s ROBOT & AI MUSEUM (RAIM) will concern itself with all things robotic.
STYLE AND SUBSTANCE
Japan’s intoxicating clash of old and new is vividly on display with this collection of diverse newcomers.
Sitting at the foothills of the Takagamine mountains, ROKU KYOTO (pictured above) has a sleek Japanese aesthetic that marries the modern with the traditional. With soaring beamed ceilings, minimalist yet welcoming rooms and suites looking out to nature and Designed by superstar architect Kengo Kuma, the enigmatically named FIELD SUITE SPA HEADQUARTERS – opening in the mountains of Niigata in April – will present as a luxury spa resort engulfed by nature. Soak in an open-air onsen and stay in one of three villas or choose the , a tiny yet precisely designed mobile hut. Anchored in the pristine Mie Peninsula, new luxury campground NORDISK HYGGE CIRCLES (below) is glamping, Japanese-style (read: impeccably done). Designed by Danish architects Nordisk, the site will have circular cabins and glamping tents, and an area where guests can pitch their own tents.
