This Maldives Resort Boasts Garden-to-Table Dining and Opulent Digs

There’s something about arriving in style. Skimming along turquoise waters toward resort Gili Lankanfushi aboard a Gulf Craft Touring 36 while sipping a lemongrass and Champagne cocktail, one could be forgiven for imagining oneself a White Lotus guest.

Located 20 minutes by boat from the Maldives’ Malé Velana international airport, Gili gleams with white-sand beaches, idyllic lagoons, and 45 villas made from sustainably sourced teak, palm wood, and bamboo. Ours has an open-air bedroom, a “water garden,” where manta rays and baby sharks glide around, and a bathroom stocked with locally made organic toiletries scented in rosemary and peppermint. (The Maldives has banned single-use plastic.) Seven stand-alone “Crusoe villas” are lacking in shipwrecked sailors but come with their own boats. The most opulent lodging—simply called the Private Reserve—sleeps eight and costs $8,300 per night for your own gym, theater, spa, and waterslide into the Indian Ocean.

Executive chef Harinath Govindaraj, who oversees Gili’s three restaurants, recently introduced a chef’s table vegan experience, joining the ranks of such plant-based fine-dining establishments as London’s Gauthier Soho and New York’s Eleven Madison Park. Doubling down on plant-to-plate fare is a logical addition for a resort known for its commitment to eco-conscious luxury. “The garden is not just a part of the kitchen but the heart of the kitchen,” Govindaraj told VF.

My own family enjoyed a six-course meal made entirely of fruits and vegetables grown on the grounds of Gili Lankanfushi. Signature dishes include beetroot carpaccio, sautéed “vegan scallops” (radishes) on a bed of wild mushroom risotto, and an ambrosial avocado soup.

Composed of 26 atolls stretching across 500 miles of ocean, the Maldives also houses one of the world’s most vibrant reefs—at Gili’s Coral Line Project, 160 rows of coral have been cultivated since Vaidotas Kirsys established it in 2014. The islands’ resorts range from the Cheval Blanc Randheli, where the Prince and Princess of Wales have vacationed, to the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, where Paris Hilton honeymooned in 2022 (the Conrad of name happens to be her great-grandfather).

But the beaches aren’t just for couples. Some locations, like the larger Soneva Jani, which our family of four also visited, are particularly kid-friendly. The swim-up bar at its children’s center, the Den, serves ice cream; a zip line provides hours of entertainment; and the Director’s Cut restaurant offers silent movie nights where headphone-clad kids watch Disney classics projected on a big screen lofted over the ocean.

Back at Gili Lankanfushi, the concierge staff, dubbed Fridays (another Crusoe callback), can arrange fun for the whole family, from massages at the Meera spa and sunrise yoga to surf lessons and private fishing trips with sushi making on board. The Over Water Bar, renovated late last year, offers panoramic sunsets and viewing platforms underfoot.

Castaways be warned: The trigger fish are territorial, the no-bake chocolate avocado cake addictive, and reality hits hard when it’s time to go home.