OZEN Life Maadhoo: a culinary gem in the Maldives

When you picture a Maldives island resort, you imagine flour-like sand, jade water and palm trees swaying in a sea breeze. But – if you're anything like me – you worry about the food. Will it all be imported? Will there be enough?

That's not a worry at OZEN Life Maadhoo, an exquisite desert island escape. The first of the OZEN Collection, the resort opened in 2016 on a spit of sand in the turquoise lagoon of the South Malé Atoll: 900 metres north to south and 80 metres across, covered in untamed vegetation. Every so often you stumble across white hammocks strung between trees, and you're never more than a dash across the sand from the bath-warm sea.

You might recognise its iconic overwater swing from social media – I had a very Instagram vs. reality moment when it tilted alarmingly under my well-fed weight and threatened to tip me into the sea.

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Why stay here?

The pampering starts the moment you get off the plane: the OZEN Collection has its own airport lounge where you wait for your speedboat transfer. The island is only a 45-minute ride from Malé, the Maldivian capital and its most populous city, but it might as well be in another galaxy. You arrive on the jetty to the sound of a conch shell blowing and traditional boduberu drumming.

The hotel is, as much as a world-class resort can be, sympathetically incorporated into the landscape, so it feels like a deserted island no matter how many guests are there. What makes it unique is the combination of high luxury and the laid-back, feet-in-sand vibe. That's also what makes it romantic: you can imagine you're still two crazy kids on a backpacker trip while enjoying high thread-count sheets and gourmet cooking.

The rooms

Or rather villas – 94 of them, either chic beachfront 'Earth' villas, or 'Wind' villas, on stilts over the water, with steps leading down into the ocean. They are mostly one-bedroom – some with charming private pools – but there are 10 two-bedroom options, and one "Residence": a three-bedroom overwater villa on the end of the pier with an infinity pool, bar and even a private gym.

People daydream of those traditional overwater residences. Kids would love the novelty of jumping into the sea, but you might hear other guests cycling past your room down the causeway. So for couples, the 'Earth' villas offer more of a sense of seclusion. They open on to a terrace and private stretch of beach – you're just metres from bed to ocean. The enormous indoor bathroom and dressing room were almost as big as the bedroom, and there's also an outdoor monsoon shower and tub bath big enough for two.

Eating and drinking

Of course a lot is imported – it's a minute island. But Maadhoo boasts the Maldives' first indoor hydroponic farm, where 16 different herbs and a variety of fresh vegetables grow without soil. That provides fresh produce for the hotel and its sister property, the OZEN Reserve Bolifushi.

The Palms all-day restaurant is very relaxed, more outdoors than in: you can eat with your feet in the sand. The options are seemingly endless: sushi platters, stations for eggs, cheese and pancakes, all imaginable fruit, fresh pasta, a barbecue for the catch of the day – even a pho station. I could have eaten there every day for months. Don't miss traditional Maldivian dishes like roshi (flatbread) and kandu kukulhu (tuna curry) with masmirus mashuni (salad with chillies and dried fish) or kopeefai (collard greens).

For traditional Sri Lankan and Indian food, head to Indoceylon. The partially open-air deck overlooks the sea, with smells of grilled duck, spiced prawns and coconut fish stew wafting through the air. Traditions Peking is the perfect pan-Asian restaurant for anyone who, like me, misses Chinese when they're away. Lonu offers Maldivian recipes in a stylish, small-plate form. Sit at one of only seven tables and sample a traditional set menu of tuna with passion fruit dressing, blood orange carrot and beetroot puree, prawn wrap with tuna jerky, mas bai (like a fish biryani) and a cake made from grilled banana and kanamadhu (a Maldivian nut known as a sea almond).

Joie De Vivre pool bar and pizzeria is perfect for a pre-dinner drink, while Hudhu Bay beach club was my preferred day-time hangout. We learned a lot during our tasting experience at the exceptionally cool gin bar, GIN is IN, and remembered none of it. But the showstopper is M6M (Minus Six Metres), the underwater restaurant, where you dine on salmon and lobster while being circled hungrily by a reef shark.

If the choice is overwhelming, don't panic. On Friday night the Palms hosts a "Gala dinner": the specialty restaurants close and each chef – in traditional sarongs – comes to showcase their food in street trucks on the beach, against the backdrop of Maldivian entertainment and live music. It's not to be missed.

Things to do

The "sunken table" dinner, chairs buried in the sand, looked almost comically romantic, as did the cinema under the stars. But the sunset fishing excursion in a traditional dhoni, which meandered silently around the reef, offered a taste of the "real" Maldives – as well as a chance of catching the next day's dinner.

More active couples can take a kayak or paddleboard out from the non-motorised watersports centre, Dolphin Base, or battle it out on the tennis courts. There's a PADI-certified dive school if you want to explore nearby shipwrecks, but we were content with our unlimited snorkelling. The glass-like water is so teeming with fish that we were practically elbowing them out of the way.

But my top recommendation is the smorgasbord of an in-villa breakfast – because nothing says romance like eating croissants in bed.

The spa

The Indulgence all-inclusive plan includes a 60-minute treatment at the overwater ELE|NA spa, where the only sound is the gentle lapping of the waves.

The treatments (using traditional Maldivian ingredients and premium Ila products) are inspired by five natural elements: earth, water, fire, air, metal. You can choose from sand compress massages, exfoliating scrubs, foot acupressure, a "jetlag facial", sun treatments, guided meditation or Thai stretching. But we recommend opting for one that involves you lying on your front. The floors include a little clear window so you can look down into the ocean. I was tickled by the indulgence of being massaged while deciding which fish I fancied for dinner.

The verdict

There's a reason this ultra-luxurious island won "best romantic resort in the Maldives" at the Travel Time Awards in 2023. You'd be hard-pushed to design a better honeymoon destination, with enough variety of top-class restaurants and gentle activities to keep you satisfied for at least a week.

It's better suited to couples than families, although there is a comprehensive kids' club. But for those who want to escape modern life and live their barefoot desert island fantasy – without compromising on food – this is the place for you.

Harriet was a guest at OZEN LIFE MAADHOO, with flights by Inspiring Travel, a luxury travel operator that specialises in personalised experiences.

Inspiring Travel offers a seven-night stay at OZEN LIFE MAADHOO from £3,702 per person, based on two sharing the all-inclusive 'Indulgence Plan', including return flights from London Heathrow and speedboat transfers.