Soneva Secret Opens With 14 Villas in the Northern Maldives
Soneva's most private resort opened in April 2024 in the far north of the Maldives, with 14 villas, a chef for each, and a villa that floats in the lagoon.
Soneva Secret opened in April 2024 on an island in Haa Dhaalu Atoll, in the far north of the Maldives, a part of the archipelago that few resorts have reached. It has just 14 villas, which makes it one of the smallest resorts in the country and, at the time of opening, among the most expensive.
Soneva was founded by Sonu and Eva Shivdasani, whose first resort, Soneva Fushi, opened in 1995 and established much of what is now expected of a Maldivian island: no shoes, no news, buildings of timber and thatch, and a serious attention to the environment. Soneva Secret, described by the company as three decades in the making, takes the idea of privacy further than its predecessors.
The villas are of six types, on the beach and over the water. They include the Castaway Villa, which floats in the lagoon and is reached only by boat, and the Crusoe Villas, set apart on the sand. Bedrooms have roofs that slide back so that guests can sleep under the stars, and several villas have slides from the upper deck into the lagoon.
The service is organised around each villa. Guests are looked after by a barefoot guardian, Soneva’s name for a butler, and an assistant, and each villa has its own chef, so that meals are cooked to order and eaten wherever the guests wish. There is no restaurant in the usual sense. The shared spaces are few: the Living Room, with a library and a boutique and rooms devoted to chocolate, ice cream, cheese and charcuterie; a tower for dining high above the lagoon, called Out of This World; and a firepit on the beach.
The resort produces its own water and solar power and was built in certified timber, and it runs a coral nursery with the Soneva Foundation. The surrounding waters are little dived, and the marine biologists on the staff lead excursions to see manta rays, dolphins and, in season, whale sharks.
The island is reached from Malé by seaplane or by a domestic flight and a speedboat. Soneva’s longer-established island, Soneva Fushi, received the Art of Hospitality Award at The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2025. Other notable Maldivian openings of recent years include Patina Maldives and Joali Being.