News
The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands invites guests to Celestial Festive journey beyond horizon
As the year draws to a close, The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands invites guests to embrace the wonder of the cosmos with Celestial Festive, an experience inspired by the mysteries and harmony of the universe. From December 22, 2025, to January 9, 2026, the resort will transform into a sanctuary of starlight and serenity that celebrates the rhythms of the heavens and the balance between earth, sea, and sky.
Perfectly positioned on the equator, where the Northern and Southern Hemispheres converge, the Maldives offers a rare vantage point to experience the celestial sphere in its full brilliance. Each sunrise traces a perfect arc across the horizon, while nights reveal a dazzling canopy of stars reflected in the calm Indian Ocean. Against this cosmic backdrop, guests are invited to reconnect with nature and themselves through celestial-inspired wellness rituals, immersive dining experiences, and artful celebrations of renewal and connection.
Throughout the festivities, guests will be guided through a collection of experiences that blend relaxation, creativity, and discovery. Mornings begin with restorative rituals such as Cosmic Flow Yoga at Mystique Garden and Galaxy Glow Gua Sha Workshops at The Ritz-Carlton Spa, aligning body and spirit beneath the rising sun. Days unfold with Planet Pulse Cardio, Coral Garden Snorkeling, and Build Your Own Reef Star, a hands-on sustainability experience where guests plant corals to create an underwater constellation of life. Young explorers can delight in Astronaut Helmet Workshops, Galactic Treasure Hunts, and DIY Star Projectors, while teens and adults immerse themselves in cosmic-inspired fitness and creative adventures.
The celebrations on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day bring an added touch of magic to the celestial season, blending holiday traditions with the resort’s signature cosmic flair. Guests can begin the day with energizing sunrise rituals and moments of mindfulness before joining festive workshops and family experiences inspired by the wonders of the sea and sky. As evening falls, a Christmas Eve Cocktail in Mystique Garden and a Celestial Christmas Dinner under the stars at EAU Bar set the stage for joyful connection, highlighted by a Christmas Concert that fills the island with music, starlight, and holiday spirit.
A highlight of the celebrations will be the arrival of Michelin-starred MINIMAL Gelato, the world’s first Michelin-starred ice cream shop, bringing its acclaimed mastery of purity and flavor to the Maldives from December 18–25. Renowned for transforming simplicity into art, MINIMAL will take over the Island Creamery to showcase six signature flavors: Olive Oil, Oolong Tea, Magnolia Leaf; Pine Needle, Camellia Oil, Oriental Herbs; Yakult, Shiso, Apple; Biluochun Tea, Sugarcane, Mountain Angelica Root; Summer Pavilion Pear Soup; and EAU Bar Chocolate Finger. Each creation offers a serene sensory journey defined by balance and refinement. Guests may savor these at dining venues across the resort or experience the MINIMAL Tasting Menu at The Tasting Room at La Locanda, featuring their Ice Trio – a three-course frozen exploration of temperature, texture, and time.
As night falls, the island transforms into a living constellation of sound and light. Exquisite culinary events illuminate the evenings, including a Starlight Dinner at EAU Bar on December 27, the Penfolds Wine Dinner at Beach Shack on December 30, and Ocean Aroma Dinner on January 2. Guests can also revel in the Ruinart Art Dinner at Summer Pavilion on January 5, blending fine wines, art, and gastronomy.
The celebrations culminate on December 31, 2025, with the Galactic New Year Countdown, a celestial soirée of fine dining, live music, and spectacular performances beneath a sky ablaze with constellations and fireworks. The evening will feature celestial-themed art performances by the visionary artists who captivated guests last year with theatrical, enchanting, and boldly experimental works that fuse movement, light, and sound into a cosmic spectacle.
As the first sunrise of 2026 dawns, guests can embrace renewal through Cosmic Sound Baths, Zodiac Crystal Alignment Sessions, and the Ocean Pearl Raw Bar, a seaside celebration of Mediterranean indulgence and serenity.
Each thoughtfully curated experience in Celestial Festive at The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands honor the universal balance between heaven and earth that invites guests to reconnect with the infinite beauty that surrounds them.
The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands continues to offer an unparalleled escape that caters to every traveler’s desires, from luxurious dining experiences to engaging family activities and rejuvenating wellness sessions.
Action
Gili Lankanfushi Maldives expands wellbeing offering with tennis pro, visiting practitioner
At Gili Lankanfushi Maldives wellbeing is a deeply personal journey. This season, the award-winning eco-luxury resort is enriching that journey with the arrival of two exceptional specialists, each bringing a unique approach to helping guests reconnect with themselves through movement, mindfulness and transformative experiences.
Joining the resort as Resident Tennis Pro, Nikola Vučković offers bespoke tennis lessons tailored to players of all ages and abilities. With more than 15 years of international coaching experience, Nikola combines technical expertise, tactical insight and personalised guidance to help guests build confidence and elevate their game. His distinguished career includes coaching players to success at European Championships, ITF tournaments and national-level competitions. In partnership with Tipsarevic Luxury Tennis, the personalised lessons cater to all skill levels, providing professional instruction and expert guidance to help guests improve their technique, develop their confidence and enhance their overall game. Whether stepping onto the court for the first time or refining advanced skills, guests can enjoy a rewarding and engaging tennis experience in a relaxed island setting.

Complementing the resort’s active lifestyle experiences is Dr Aradhana, a visiting wellness practitioner in residence until the end of September. With more than a decade of experience in holistic wellbeing, she offers a nurturing and personalised approach designed to help guests restore balance between the body, mind and emotions. Through bespoke therapies and immersive wellness sessions, Dr Aradhana creates a supportive space for relaxation, self-discovery and renewal, encouraging guests to reconnect with themselves and cultivate a deeper sense of wellbeing that extends beyond their stay.
Guests can also take part in E-Motion Flow: Moving Body to Release Emotions, a complimentary wellness session led by Aradhana that combines movement and breathwork to support emotional release, inner balance and overall wellbeing.

Together, these experiences reflect Gili Lankanfushi’s belief that luxury travel should nourish both body and soul. Whether discovering the joy of tennis, embracing holistic wellness practices or simply taking time to reconnect with oneself, guests are invited to embark on a journey that is as restorative as it is inspiring.
By bringing together experts from the worlds of sport and wellness, Gili Lankanfushi continues to create meaningful experiences that encourage guests to return home feeling refreshed, empowered and renewed.
Awards
.Here Baa Atoll recognised for landscape and suite design at AHEAD Asia 2026
.Here Baa Atoll has been named a winner in two categories at the AHEAD Asia 2026 Awards, receiving honours for Landscaping & Outdoor Spaces and Suite. The recognition celebrates the private island retreat’s distinctive approach to hospitality design, where architecture, interiors and landscape have been conceived as a unified response to one of the Maldives’ most extraordinary natural settings.
The wins follow .Here’s selection among the 2026 AHEAD Asia shortlist, which was drawn from a record field of more than 220 entries from across the region. The project was recognised alongside its creative collaborators Kulör Group, Muza Lab and Topo Design Studio.
Set within the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of Baa Atoll, .Here takes an intentionally intimate approach to island hospitality, comprising just nine expansive residences across two natural islands, Somewhere and Nowhere. Rather than treating the landscape as a backdrop, the design places it at the centre of the experience, creating an architecture that responds to light, movement, material and the changing relationship between land and ocean.
The architectural vision was conceived by Christopher Chua of Kulör Group, with interiors by Inge Moore of London-based Muza Lab. The two disciplines were developed around a shared principle: spaces should feel grounded in their environment rather than imposed upon it. Indoor and outdoor areas flow into one another, while natural materials, muted tones and tactile layers create interiors that are deliberately restrained. Views towards the horizon, lagoon and sky become part of the composition, with architecture serving to frame rather than compete with the landscape.
That dialogue with nature extends through the residences themselves. Carefully considered proportions balance openness with intimacy, while transitions between beach and ocean, shade and sunlight, and interior and exterior spaces are designed to feel fluid. The architecture follows the contours of the islands, with residences positioned to maximise views and the experience of sunrise and sunset. Passive cooling strategies and responsibly sourced materials also form part of the project’s environmentally sensitive approach.
Inside, Muza Lab draws on the maritime character of the Maldives through bespoke furnishings, artisanal detailing and natural textures. References to traditional dhonis, celestial navigation and the shifting colours of the Indian Ocean are interpreted subtly rather than literally, creating spaces that feel contemporary while retaining a strong sense of place. Even the names of .Here’s residences look beneath the waterline for inspiration, referencing the coral reefs and marine formations that shape the ecosystem of Baa Atoll.
The Landscaping & Outdoor Spaces award places particular emphasis on another important element of the project: the relationship between the built environment and the existing island landscape. Working alongside Kulör Group and Muza Lab, Topo Design Studio approached the landscape as an extension of the architecture, retaining native vegetation and shaping pathways, gardens and shared spaces around the connection between land, sea and sky.
The Suite award, meanwhile, recognises the residential experience at the heart of .Here. Rather than conventional hotel accommodation, the retreat is composed entirely of large-scale private residences designed around space, privacy and a close relationship with the ocean. Across the project, architecture and interiors move between expansive living areas and quieter, more intimate spaces, allowing the experience of the surrounding landscape to remain ever-present.
The two awards mark a progression from .Here Baa Atoll’s earlier recognition as an AHEAD Asia finalist across multiple design disciplines and underscore the strength of the collaboration between Seaside Hotels & Resorts, Kulör Group, Muza Lab and Topo Design Studio. The official AHEAD shortlist credits the same project team across .Here’s Landscaping & Outdoor Spaces and Suite entries.
With the Asia winners now advancing to compete with winning projects from other regions, .Here Baa Atoll will progress to the next AHEAD Global edition, where the programme’s worldwide champions will be determined.
For .Here, the recognition ultimately reflects a design philosophy that is intentionally quiet: architecture that gives precedence to its surroundings, interiors informed by place rather than decoration, and a landscape allowed to retain its own identity. The result is a retreat where the experience of design is inseparable from the experience of Baa Atoll itself.
To learn more about .Here Baa Atoll, visit www.here-maldives.com.
Awards
Three years, three wins: Siyam World retains Most Innovative Resort title at TTM Awards
Siyam World Maldives, part of the Lifestyle Collection at Sun Siyam Resorts, a collection created for travellers looking for something less traditional. It probably explains a few things about us.
Apparently, once was not enough. Or twice.
For the third consecutive year, Siyam World Maldives has been named Most Innovative Resort at the TTM Awards 2026. We must be on to something here.
Three consecutive wins is starting to look less like a coincidence and more like a habit.
With one of the most extensive collections of experiences in the Maldives, there is a lot going on here. Guests can spend their entire holiday doing absolutely nothing.
They can also spend it doing almost everything.
The choice is rather the point.
Siyam World is home to 16 different villa categories, from Beach Villas with Pool to Over Water Villas with Slides, giving guests plenty of ways to find their own version of island life. Then there is the food. Guests can move around from one dining experience to another without feeling like they are eating at the same place twice. Different cuisines, different settings and enough choice to make deciding where to have dinner feel like a game of roulette.
And then there are the experiences.
This is where the Most Innovative Resort title starts to make a little more sense.

Siyam World is home to the largest floating water park in the Maldives, the first and only horse ranch in the country, and an ever-growing line-up of experiences that are not exactly what you would expect to find on a Maldivian island. There’s a Jetcar, a first-of-its-kind electric go-kart track, extensive sports facilities, overwater villas with slides and pools, and a 24-hour premium all-inclusive concept designed to keep the choice going long after dinner.
Even the reef has become part of the story, with the new Shipwreck project bringing together an unusual mix of adventure and reef restoration.
And the innovation does not stop at what is already here. Football camps have become a regular part of life at Siyam World, bringing international football legends to the island to work with young guests. The idea has always been bigger than a photo opportunity. It is about creating experiences that guests, especially the little ones, will actually remember.
Innovation at Siyam World has never been about introducing something new just for the sake of saying it is new. It is about asking what a Maldivian holiday could be if we stopped assuming there was only one way to do it.
Three years. Three wins.
Still doing things differently.
But an award for innovation comes with an interesting question.
What are they doing next?
With Halloween around the corner, the festive season already taking shape and another line-up of football camps on the horizon, one thing is certain, Siyam World is already busy dreaming up its next big idea.
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