Margaux Delacroix
Travel Editor at Large · May 5, 2026 · 8 min read
There are 1,192 islands in the Maldives. Six Senses chose the most isolated corner of the most remote atoll. The journey to reach it is the first ritual.
The journey begins in Malé — the world's most densely populated island — and ends 40 minutes later by seaplane, over an archipelago that from altitude looks like turquoise thumbprints on a mirror. Laamu Atoll sits at the southern extreme of the chain, two atolls removed from the tourist clusters of North Malé. The seaplane lands on a lagoon so still it reflects the clouds above.
Six Senses Laamu does not announce itself. The entrance pavilion is a low, thatched structure that could be a fishing village were it not for the evident care of its construction. The overwater villas extend from the island in two directions, their thatched roofs weathering to the same grey as the ocean on an overcast day.
Each of the 97 villas has its own infinity pool and its own stretch of ocean. The design philosophy — local materials, open-air architecture, the minimum possible intervention between guest and environment — sounds like the language of every tropical resort. At Laamu, it is enacted with unusual rigor.
The beds face east for the sunrise. The outdoor showers are screened with volcanic stone collected from the beach. The minibar, notably, contains fresh juices, kombucha, and coconut water alongside wine. There is no branded merchandise, no logo on the pillowcases.
The house reef begins 40 meters from the villa deck. A 3-meter nurse shark patrols the drop-off with the studied indifference of a longtime resident. Schools of spinner dolphins are visible from the restaurant at breakfast most mornings.
This is the promise of remoteness: not amenities, but encounters. Six Senses Laamu understands that the Maldives' luxury is ecological, not infrastructural. The resort's conservation program has documented 79 whale sharks in its database, individually identified by their spot patterns. Guests may join the researchers.
The most expensive villas — the Laamu Water Retreats — cost upward of $3,400 per night. This is not value in the conventional sense. It is a different calculation: what is it worth to be entirely removed, for a week, from everything that is not the ocean?
