A trio of Maldives resorts have been making news of late, and together they sketch a picture of where high-end island travel is heading: race bibs on the beach, reef restoration you can snorkel over, and boat trips to swim with manta rays.
Hideaway Beach Resort & Spa on the island of Dhonakulhi hosted the second Maldives Hideaway Resort Run in September, timed to World Wellness Weekend. Sixty-eight runners took on 5K and 10K races led by athletes Sunny Schippers and Clara Abbona, plus a relaxed shake-out run around the island. But this was more than a footrace — the programme layered in sound healing with Naga Healing, yoga with in-house instructor Shubham, and fitness and physio sessions with trainers from TfG, which handled race timing and registration. Winners in both distances took home trophies, and first-place finishers scored a scale model of a Maldivian airline aircraft. There's still a way in for guests: anyone running at least 5K on the official 2026 route at the resort this year can claim a leftover runner's kit, including goodie bag, T-shirt and medal. A third edition is planned for 2027, flagged as a Visit Maldives Year edition, with the theme announced around February.
Over in Baa Atoll, The Westin Maldives Miriandhoo Resort has completed the first phase of Coral RISE, a reef restoration project built with MARS Sustainable Solutions. Between 18 and 20 September the team installed 100 Reef Stars — hexagonal steel frames that give coral fragments a stable base — carrying around 1,500 coral fragments on the resort's house reef. Guests helped build the structures during World Wellness Weekend, and the site has been deliberately placed where snorkellers can watch the coral recover over time. The resort holds Green Globe certification, and Baa Atoll is one of the country's richest marine regions, so the project doubles as a living classroom.
If mantas are more your speed, Ellaidhoo Maldives by Cinnamon in North Ari Atoll runs a full-day excursion to spots like Genburugau and Maavaru Kandu, where oceanic manta rays gather to feed on plankton. Boats leave at 8am after breakfast and take roughly an hour and 40 minutes to two hours to reach the cleaning and feeding areas; on a good day you might share the water with anywhere from five to 30 mantas. The trip costs USD 130 per person including lunch, with snorkel gear rented separately, and you're back at the resort by about 2.30pm. Timing is luck-driven — plankton, currents and season decide the show — but the resort's own house reef is already considered one of the best in the country, so the day has a strong floor even if the mantas keep their distance.
For anyone who likes their luxury with a pulse, these are useful signals: Maldives resorts are increasingly building active and conservation-focused experiences into the stay, not just overwater villas. Separately, Soneva has rolled out its Soneva Stars residency calendar across Fushi, Jani and Secret through late 2026 — British astronaut Tim Peake hosts stargazing talks at Soneva Fushi from 19 to 29 December, with footballer Andy Cole and tennis pros Marcos Baghdatis and Karen Khachanov running clinics earlier in the season.
