Kudadoo Maldives Private Island

Kudadoo is a private island in the Lhaviyani Atoll with just fifteen residences. The New York architect Yuji Yamazaki drew a single curved jetty of residences in timber and glass and, at its head, The Retreat, a two storey pavilion whose entire roof is a field of 984 solar panels. On a clear day that roof powers the whole island, the pools, the kitchens and the spa, which makes the place quieter than a diesel driven resort in a way you notice at night.

The operating idea is called Anything, Anytime, Anywhere, and it is meant literally. Meals are not tied to a restaurant or a clock; the chef cooks what you ask, where you ask, and the butler assigned to your residence organises it. Food, most drinks and spa treatments are part of the rate, while premium wines, the seaplane and the undersea restaurant on Hurawalhi are charged extra. Sulha Spa has treatment rooms over the water and a Himalayan salt chamber, and because treatments are included, a daily appointment is easy to justify.

The reef begins a few metres from the deck ladder, so snorkelling needs no boat, and the sister island Hurawalhi, five minutes away by speedboat, has the glass walled 5.8 Undersea Restaurant.