An eccentric underwater SPAquarium, exceptional cooking, and understated boho style with genuine Maldivian character make this small luxury island in the North Malé Atoll well worth the flight. Here is our full review
„Dream island“ is a phrase that has been worn smooth by a thousand brochures, yet it sounds rather less tired, and considerably more exotic, in Dhivehi, the national tongue of the Maldives. It is also mercifully shorter than the resort’s original mouthful, Nakachchafushi: Huvafenfushi. When it opened in 2004, Huvafenfushi made international headlines with the world’s first underwater spa.
The experience remains genuinely singular. You walk roughly eighty metres out to sea along a jetty, then past several bungalows beneath which the surf slaps and gurgles, before a steep staircase carries you eight metres into the depths. There you arrive in a treatment room enclosed entirely by tall panoramic windows, everything washed in a blue-green light.
While Sunam, a therapist from Bhutan, drives her thumbs with unexpected force into the fascial knots in my neck and shoulders, I find myself staring at dozens of surgeonfish and angelfish. They stare back, as does the occasional grotesque unicornfish, entirely unimpressed by the whole performance.
The panoramic windows wrapped around the two treatment areas of the Lime spa, along with the generous relaxation zone, offer an uninterrupted view of life eight metres below the surface. Now and again one of the reef sharks that call the island’s long house reef home glides past on its daily patrol.
Huvafenfushi at a Glance
The island sits only a few kilometres from the edge of the North Malé Atoll, which means the water runs slightly cooler, with stronger currents than usual. This encourages both biodiversity and the vivid colours of the long house reef.
Between Huvafenfushi’s overwater restaurant, Salt, and the overwater gym stretch more than five hundred metres of first-rate snorkelling, complete with hawksbill turtles and reef sharks. Safe entry points remain accessible even at low tide, marked with red buoys so that even the most well-fed snorkeller need not run aground.
On the house reef you’ll see parrotfish, all manner of surgeonfish, butterflyfish and anemonefish, unicornfish, titan, Picasso and clown triggerfish, sweetlips and fusiliers, Napoleon wrasse, as well as emperorfish and trumpetfish.
Huvafenfushi is pleasantly compact, almost pocket-sized, and remarkably green. The central area has the feel of a Maldivian village square, taking in the beach bar, Umbar, and the beach restaurant, Fogliani’s, where you can dig your toes into the sand over lunch while being observed, at arm’s length, by cunning and perpetually hungry grey herons.
When thirsty, they help themselves to a few sips from the handsome twenty-five-metre Horizon Pool, which is long enough for a proper swim. Adjoining it is Celsius by the water, and beneath tall trees sits the sizeable library, soon to make way for the gym. Presiding over the lot is a magnificent old banyan tree.
Particularly striking is the single floating pool at the end of a small pier. The high salt content, drawn from the island’s desalination plant, lets you float almost as you would in the Dead Sea.
Wine and Dine on Huvafenfushi
The standout dishes across the island’s restaurants are those built around fresh reef fish or tuna, whether raw as ceviche (with chilli, lemon or coconut, plus pico de gallo and avocado), sashimi or tataki, or grilled as catch of the day or tempura. I have rarely eaten better fish anywhere, Huvafen sushi, you might call it.
The finest of it was at Salt, which devotes itself to Japanese cooking with Peruvian influences. Everything arrives in relaxed izakaya style on the terrace, with a view of sharks in the spotlight who, thankfully, are no longer permitted to be fed.
What sits on the menu at Salt? Yellowtail with jalapeño ponzu, pickled grapes, avocado cream and kaffir lime oil, for one. Or sashimi of Japanese unagi, local yellowfin tuna and reef fish. Exceptionally tender was the black cod with yuzu, apple and celery purée, baby pak choi tempura and a miso-radish salsa. There is also a small selection of Japanese sake in honjozo, junmai and junmai daiginjo grades, surprisingly sourced from Yumegokoro in Fukushima, alongside a substantial wine list.
Accommodations at Huvafenfushi
The island, measuring 420 metres from its outermost sandy spit to the spa jetty and no more than 150 metres wide, together with a 650-metre jetty carrying over twenty-five overwater bungalows, is remarkably easy to navigate and harmoniously laid out.
Guests in one of the sixteen handsome Deluxe Beach Bungalows can reach every major facility within a five-minute stroll. Bicycles, accordingly, are not provided, unlike on other islands where they are either a necessity or a small obsession.
Our Deluxe Beach Bungalow is a fine thing, with an inviting pool and a large wooden deck. The living and sleeping area is lofty and defined by an abundance of wood, the bed large and comfortable. There is a well-stocked espresso and tea bar and a Bang & Olufsen sound system, while the tall wardrobes offer an almost implausible amount of storage. The large, light-flooded bathroom comes with a Japanese washlet, a freestanding tub, a shower and a double vanity.
Outside, a waterfall shower awaits, while a second, smaller pool — complete with daybed — nestles beneath a tall traveller’s palm (Ravenala madagascariensis). In all, the space spans a generous 195 square metres.
Must One Book the Maldives in High Season? Not At All
Even outside the „best“ months, from November to April, the holidaying is very good indeed. Our late-July visit of Huvafenfushi falls firmly in the off-season, a time usually characterised by the monsoon, with heavy rain and strong winds. During our stay, and for the weeks before it, staff assure us there was no hint of either.
We are rewarded with seven days of sunshine and a consistently wonderful cooling breeze. Light rain falls on two nights, leaving the air clearer and cooler the following morning. Temperatures hover between 28 and 32 degrees Celsius.
With a dew point of 25 degrees and humidity above 85 per cent, it would be thoroughly muggy were it not for that constant, lively breeze. With wind speeds of three to four on the Beaufort scale, breakfast, lunch and dinner by the sea become a pleasure — no air conditioning needed. The feels-like temperature generally settles at „only“ 33 to 35 degrees.
Another advantage of the off-season: most resorts run at 40 to 60 per cent occupancy, so whatever you choose to do is calm and unhurried. Prices, meanwhile, fall by as much as 45 per cent. In Huvafen Fushi’s case, that means 930 euros per person per night in a Deluxe Beach Bungalow rather than 1,500.
What You’ll See Underwater Around Huvafenfushi
Splendid underwater experiences await at Turtle Point, a good twenty-minute boat ride northwest of the island: a colourful reef and five sea turtles entirely unbothered by us snorkellers, one of them curious enough to approach within two metres. We are accompanied by a marine biologist. All water excursions are arranged by the team at the Float water sports centre.
Float also offers every kind of PADI diving course and certification, and rents underwater cameras, a genuinely sensible service, since no one need drag an iPhone through the sea in a dubious drybag. There are fishing kayak tours at Rasfari Reef, along with dolphin, whale shark, stingray and manta ray safaris (January to April), and night snorkelling.
The Situation Above Water
Even Huvafenfushi’s position at the atoll’s edge cannot disguise the fact that something is going wrong across the Maldives. In the North Malé Atoll, one artificial island after another is currently being dredged into existence. These in-vitro islets run to 300, 400 metres and more, and this in a country already blessed with over 1,200 natural islands.
A stark example is the Centara Resort, which opened in 2025 and comprises the family-focused Mirage Lagoon and Grand Lagoon. A bridge links the two artificial islands, which measure more than 620 and 440 metres respectively. The jetty of overwater villas reaches almost to the atoll’s edge.
The vast quantities of sand extracted from the seabed drive increased erosion of the natural islands, disrupt currents and cloud the water. Stirred-up particles smother corals and the ecologically vital seagrass meadows.
Yet every guest can do something for the environment on a modest scale, believes Ismail Nasheed, Huvafen Fushi’s resort manager since May 2025. „It starts with not standing on or touching the corals. It’s important, too, to use sunscreens without oxybenzone and octinoxate, because these chemicals cause corals to bleach and die. Sunscreens should also be free of nanoparticles and microplastics.“
The Huvafenfushi Formula for Success
Ismail’s team numbers over 220 people from nineteen nations, nearly 44 per cent of them Maldivian. He describes the resort’s formula as „a subtle mix of quiet luxury and strong Maldivian character.“ The team is currently at work on an intriguing collaboration with a Michelin-starred restaurant from Europe, because „Food is the single most important factor for our guests.“
That philosophy is one you notice quickly, whether over lunch at Fogliani’s, breakfast at Celsius or dinner at Salt: the finest ingredients throughout, with quality plainly favoured over quantity.
Every guest is assigned a Thakuru, a personal butler summoned not by bell but by WhatsApp, in theory around the clock, though one rather hopes most guests allow their guardian angel the occasional night’s sleep.
Huvafenfushi has only forty-six bungalows and beach houses. It carries its subtle streak of hip bohemia lightly, is a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World. Maintaining a standard this high demands serious investment.
In 2023, every overwater villa (also known as an Ocean Bungalow), the Beach Bungalows and three Beach Houses were comprehensively renovated. „Next we’ll tackle the underwater spa, which is due for a refresh,“ says Ismail. Whether it makes headlines a second time, we shall see.
Click here for the Huvafenfushi website with direct-booker perks, photos, menus, and more: huvafenfushi.com
