Soneva did not invent the Maldives. But it did invent the modern Maldives — the one without lobbies, without keycards, without television in the bedroom, without the assumption that more service is always better service. When Sonu and Eva Shivdasani opened Soneva Fushi in 1995, the design brief was a six-word sentence: barefoot luxury, no news, no shoes.
Thirty years later, the three Soneva properties — Fushi, Jani, and Secret — read as a family. Each was sketched by Sonu himself before the architects took it on. Each has a star observatory, an open-air cinema floating on the lagoon, and an ice-cream parlour where the children eat for free. Each has a sustainability office that has been retiring carbon for two decades.
""What we have to keep designing for is the moment a guest stops counting days.""
Fushi
The original island — Kunfunadhoo, in Baa Atoll — is the largest Soneva runs. Sixty-four villas across a sprawling jungle interior with a lagoon perimeter, including the Soneva Fushi Private Reserve: nine bedrooms, three thousand square metres, a sliding pool wall, a children's wing with its own entrance, a butler hub, and a dedicated dhoni. The Reserve is the most expensive Maldives stay we book; the smallest beach villa here is still 411 square metres of villa for two.
Jani
Soneva Jani opened in 2016 in Noonu Atoll — a lagoon five times the size of Fushi's with twenty-six overwater villas, each with a slide from the bedroom into the sea. The 4 Bedroom Island Reserve here is 1,788 square metres on a private islet, retractable roofs over the master suites, a private chef's kitchen, and a cinema that holds twelve.
Secret
The newest property, opened 2023 in Haa Dhaalu — Soneva's northernmost island, four hours by seaplane, fourteen villas total. Designed to be inaccessible. Designed to be the last call.
