Mr & Mrs Smith

Maia Luxury Resort & Spa

Mahé, Seychelles

Offering all the peace and privacy of a monastic cell, but thankfully none of its spartan nature, Maia Luxury Resort & Spa, overlooking Anse Louis beach on the southwest coast of Mahé in the Seychelles, is where thatched roofs sit like dots of corn-yellow in a palette of greens and blues. It’s the ideal place to drag your knotted back and furrowed brow for a spot of proper relaxation. All the Indian Ocean clichés – palms rippling in the warm breeze, white sand abutting turquoise waters – are made reality here, and all you have to do is roll out your rattan sun mat in the midst of them.

Need to know

• Rooms 30 villas.
• Rates Double rooms from $1919.96 (€1,496), excluding tax at 15 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional service charge of 10% per on check-out.
  The price shown represents the lowest nightly rate for a double room available at this hotel over the next 21 days. Any price conversions from the hotel's local currency (€1,496) have been conducted using today's exchange rates from xe.com.
• More details Rates include breakfast, most drinks, transfers, welcome champagne and massage, exercise classes and laundry.
• Facilities Spa, fitness centre, free non-motorised watersports, excursions to neighbouring islands. In rooms: flatscreen TV, DVD player, iPod docking station, La Prairie beauty fridge. Villas all have private infinity pools and sunken outdoor double baths.
• Poolside Made from black lava stone, the main communal infinity pool offers an ideal vantage point over the hotel’s long, white-sand beach.
• Check-out 10am, although this is flexible, subject to availability.
• Children Little ones are welcome in the Ocean Front Villas, where free 24-hour babysitting is available.

Food and drink at Maia Luxury Resort & Spa

• Hotel restaurant

  Five chefs knock up exquisite Indian, Asian, Oriental and Creole cuisine – think stuffed baby squid with ratatouille and lobster, or porcini mushrooms with duck liver and black truffle terrine – in the open-sided Tec-Tec. Maia also has an impressive wine collection, and the resident sommelier will be happy to introduce you to new favourites. Private tastings in the hotel’s wine cellar can be  arranged.

• Dress code Linen trousers for the men; floaty, Jade Jagger-esque dresses for the ladies.
• Top table Intimate tables are beneath a high ceiling dominated by an enormous hanging light. Or ask your private butler to set up a candlelit table for you on the beach, where you can feed each other foie gras by the light of the silvery moon.
• Hotel bar

  Enjoy cocktails on the bleached decking of the informal Sunset Pool Bar, while looking out over both the complex’s main pool and the Indian Ocean.

Maia Luxury Resort & Spa Anse Louis, Mahé