Overwater spa treatment rooms at Ozen Life Maadhoo
I’d always dreamt of going to the Maldives. I’d imagined sipping cocktails at sunset with my husband, Jesse, walking hand in hand down white-sand beaches and sharing romantic candlelit dinners. I definitely hadn’t pictured packing up iPads, snacks and swimming goggles and bracing myself for an 11-hour night flight with our three children during October half-term.
Yet the moment we stepped off the 35-minute speedboat transfer from Malé airport to our hotel, Ozen Reserve Bolifushi, I stopped worrying that I’d made a terrible mistake. The kids — Basil, 12, Sonny, 9, and Inca, 5 — were wide-eyed at the deep blue water, the icing-sugar-white beach and the traditional boduberu drumming that greeted us. Even as I braced myself for complaints when they were handed fresh coconut water to drink straight from the shell with a straw, they happily sipped away — though I know they’d flat-out refuse to go near a coconut at home. Stepping onto the island seemed to cast a spell on everyone.
And that was before we saw our Earth Pool Pavilion, a huge villa-of-dreams with three bedrooms, plenty of living spaces so that we never got under each other’s feet, and even a snooker table with sea views. It was impossibly chic: all whites, wood and marble, with brightly coloured rugs and cushions and expansive floor-to-ceiling windows that opened onto a palm tree-lined private pool and the beach a few steps beyond. I expected the kids to be exhausted after hours of travelling yet, on seeing that pool, they went straight to the suitcase to rummage for their swimming trunks.
It really did feel like heaven, and not least because we had a butler who unpacked our cases and hung up all our clothes in immaculate colour-coordinated order. Days proved gloriously simple: we spent hours on the beach, building sandcastles, eating picnics and running in and out of water that was as warm as a heated pool. Though we’d been on beach holidays before, the kids were stunned at how clear the sea was, and at the lack of seaweed and all the other things that usually annoy them. Even I swam happily with them every day, and I’m usually the one on the shore waiting with towels. “Mummy,” Sonny said at one point, gazing out on a sea so turquoise it almost hurt my eyes. “Is this fake?”
Before we left home, friends had voiced concerns that the children might be bored in a place more used to welcoming couples. But there was so much for them to do, both in our first hotel and at its sister property Ozen Life Maadhoo, where we moved after three nights. There were dolphin-spotting cruises, banana boat rides, outdoor cinema evenings and bikes that we borrowed every day to cycle from one end of the island to the other. We went out fishing together on a boat at sunset and zipped over the waves on an inflatable crazy couch; my sons even ended up in the staff quarters, playing football with some of the staff. Plus, both hotels had excellent kids’ clubs where Inca made new friends and spent contented afternoons painting or making Halloween decorations for that evening’s beach party. While she was happily occupied and the boys were splashing around the large communal pool with their dad, I slipped away to the spa for a massage overlooking the water. Apparently a family holiday could be relaxing after all.
One of the overwater villas at Ozen Reserve Bolifushi
My highlight was taking Basil for his first scuba-diving session, swimming alongside him while he spotted fish darting in and out of the coral reef. It was like something from The Little Mermaid, seeing all those colours shimmering in the clear water. Experiencing something new like that with your child is truly magical. Basil couldn’t wait to rush back to tell the others what he’d seen and look up all the fish he’d encountered. It had opened up a whole new world for him, one he hadn’t known existed. He still tells the story to anyone who will listen and is begging to go diving again.
One morning we ordered a floating breakfast at our villa. I had to pinch myself, standing in the sunshine in our private pool with the kids as my orange juice glided past. Then they all started swimming and splashing the tray of food, making this possibly not the best thing to do with children (though it’s undoubtedly very romantic if you’re on honeymoon).
An all-inclusive package is generally a stress-free godsend, and not just in case you end up dealing with soggy croissants. At Bolifushi we had the run of pan-Asian, fine-dining and international restaurants offering everything from hand-tossed pizzas to seafood paella, plus a beach option serving Moroccan mezze and tagine that we enjoyed while sitting with our toes in the sand. The kids love curries at home so the Indian restaurant was a favourite, but Inca still only ate chicken nuggets and pasta dishes all week and no one batted an eyelid.
Though I never expected my first time in the Maldives to involve children, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it as a family-friendly holiday.
I was a guest of Best at Travel, which has seven nights’ all-inclusive at Ozen Life Maadhoo from £1,840pp, including flights, transfers and two spa treatments per villa, and seven nights’ all-inclusive at Ozen Reserve Bolifushi from £2,575pp, including flights, transfers and two spa treatments per villa (bestattravel.co.uk)
This article was written for The Times – read the full article here.