Hotel Review: The Emerald Maldives Resort & Spa

The Emerald Maldives Resort & Spa is a sparkling new gemstone amid the glittering jewel that is the Maldives – with its 1192 coral islands grouped in a double chain of 26 coral atolls.

Details

Perched on Fasmendhoo Island on Raa Atoll, Emerald Maldives Resort & Spa is one of the most northerly, and newest, resorts to open in the Maldives. Surrounded by 1.5 km of powder-white soft sand and surrounded by a 100ha lagoon, this resort cost $72 million to build. It is also one of the few deluxe all-inclusive properties in this island nation, and yes, by this we mean all you can eat and drink.

Arrival

It’s a celebrity arrival to Emerald Maldives Resort & Spa: depending on the tides, and time of day, you’ll arrive by seaplane straight to the resort jetty, or close by at a neighbouring property, from which it’s a 10-minute speedboat road – James Bond-style – to Emerald.

Either way, you’ll love the commute. Smartly dressed staff are lined up to greet you with a glass of French Champagne while your luggage is discreetly ferried to your room. Sated, you will then be deposited in a golf buggy and either taken to reception for check-in or straight to your villa, depending on your room category. All up, it’s a fabulous, no-fuss check-in.

The shared resort spaces are alluringly decadent

The Rooms

Boasting 120 villas and 11 different categories, there’s plenty of awe-inspiring accommodation from which to choose. Best of all, even the lead-in beach villas are divine; with your own private slice of sand and outdoor shower, you won’t feel like you are missing out if you don’t splurge on the top end.

Should you feel like the ultimate experience, however, the two-storey Royal Beach Villa may take your fancy: at around $10,000 a night the villa features a green-tiled pool, massage table, jacuzzi, media room and several bedrooms, plus butler service to boot.

Interior details from an overwater bungalow

Most guests opt for somewhere in the middle, and the quintessential Maldivian experience: an overwater bungalow that comes with either a private pool, private spa or timber ladder that leads directly into the aqua ocean below. All villas are tastefully decorated with splashes of colour and wall prints that depict the marine creatures you are likely to encounter while snorkelling or diving here.

The bathrooms are huge, all white and bright with an Art Deco edge and colourful tiles that betray the Italian owners’ tastes.

Eat and Drink

There are five food and beverage options where you can exercise your all-you-can eat-and-drink muscle during your stay. Some top-shelf beverages and items such as lobster do come at an additional cost, however, unless you are hankering for something over-the-top, you will be more than satisfied with what is included here.

Aqua Restaurant – all light and bright with towering ceilings – is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner with a multitude of options (try the Maldivian curries for breakfast before heading to the fruit station for some freshly cut mango). There are live cooking stations where you can sample the tuna for which the Maldives is renowned and the likes of pizza, pasta and sushi.

Le Asiatique specialises in Asian cuisine and features a teppanyaki grill and contemporary bamboo screens; while Amazònico Restaurant, hidden in a slice of rainforest, serves a Brazilian ‘Churrasco style’ barbecue on the sand. There is more barefoot luxury to be enjoyed while dining at the casual Beach Club Grill, which serves up the likes of hamburgers and grilled seafood. The Sunset Bar has a DJ and a bit of a beach club vibe with snacks available throughout the day and night.

There are five food and beverage options to choose from

The Spa

Plonked in the middle of this tiny island – it will take you about 30 minutes to walk the entire circumference – sits the spa. While there are no Maldives’-specific treatments on the menu, your Balinese spa therapists will whisk you away to a private, thatched-roof, airconditioned hut. Here, they will work wonders on your muscles, and apply soothing coconut oil to your body to treat the inevitable sunburn you will receive from being out in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

The Activities

If you can tear yourself away from simply gazing at the bluest water you’ll ever encounter in your existence, not to mention the white sandy beaches, head to the Diving Centre where there’s a range of great tours.

A one-hour trip by speedboat will have you swimming with the whale sharks, or you may wish to take a dolphin-spotting tour; fishing trip; or sunset cruise. There are also two tennis courts, which can be converted into a football ground, and a gym that is open 24 hours. For those travelling with children, there’s also a cool kids’ club with plenty to keep them entertained from morning to night, including their own dining menu with options such as prawn cocktails.

There are plenty of activities to entertain the masses

Weekly travel news, experiences
insider tips, offers, and more.

The Quirky Stuff

The in-room safe comes with a twist. Sure, you can pin in your own private numeric combination, or you can utilise the fingerprint recognition technology on the safe. And while it might appear bemusing at first to find life jackets and a flare in your villa, Maldivian waters are deceiving and are prone to strong currents.

Even a solid Australian swimmer may be surprised by the pull of the Indian Ocean here, so take care. Bring your own sunscreen to this island or you will be shocked to learn a can of Australian-made sunscreen costs $100 at the resort boutique. And do enjoy that all-inclusive mini-bar, too, replete with another bottle of French Champagne, white wine, red wine, beer and loads of chocolate bars.

The Cost

Villas start from about $1000 a night including the all-you-can-eat-and-drink option.

Getting There

Singapore Airlines flies from most Australian cities with a stopover in Singapore to change planes and either continue with the same airline, or its sister company SilkAir to Male. Upon arrival in Male, you can transfer to the domestic airport for a Seaplane with Trans Maldivian Airways.

On a clear day, this is one of the most beautiful journeys anywhere on the planet, flying low over aqua islands and atolls.

The Verdict

Australians will adore this all-inclusive resort not only for its food and drink options but its outstanding accommodation offerings, selection of water-based activities and superior service from the polite and professional staff. And let’s not forget the brag factor.

One of the most northerly, and newest, resorts to open in the Maldives

The writer was a guest of Maldives Tourism

After youth-led protests in 2025, this year Nepal elected a 35-year-old former rapper as Prime Minister. In a country where tourism is its biggest industry, what’s next for travellers?

In 1986, Nepal changed its clock. It had used India Standard Time since 1920 so, to differentiate, it wound its clock 15 minutes ahead of, not behind, its big-brother neighbour. Boss move. “Nepal is strongly opposed to the idea that our identity is connected to India,” says Community Homestay Network (CHN) guide Bikal Khanal.

Tharu dance is traditionally set to hand drums. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

Today, Nepal is the only independent country with a 45-minute deviation to universal time; an oddity that’s become a symbol of national pride. The quirk is nearly as endearing as Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan airport where carved varnished wood and shiny red bricks rule. One sign points to a ‘Travelator’ and another to a ‘Grievance Handling Desk’ while visas are noisily stamped at customs for US dollars, cash only. When am I?

Spot the endemic Nepal gray langur. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The 15 or 45 minute anomaly sees me tap out completely on timezone calculations. Why bend my brain calculating if it’s quarter to or quarter past elsewhere when I’m in the honking here and now of Kathmandu where the air is high-altitude crisp, the prayer flags flutter and the street dogs howl?

How tourism is changing in Nepal

Bardiya National Park is rich with wildlife. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

India is not the only association many Nepalis would like to shake. With eight of the world’s 10 tallest mountains, including Mount Everest and Annapurna, Nepal has long attracted mountaineers and trekkers, and expedition numbers are continuing to rise.

Tourism is one of the country’s biggest sources of foreign currency, so this growth is not negative, per se. But according to Ang Tshering Lama, who co-founded Phaplu Mountain Bike Club, being reduced to a mere trekking destination is limiting.

“Trekking is just one layer of our identity,” says Ang. “When it becomes the dominant narrative, it limits how we’re seen and how we see ourselves.” Nepal’s recent success, however, in diverting trekkers to less-trafficked areas such as Manaslu mofuntain, where visitor numbers rose by 117 per cent last year, offers hope that tourism can diversify even more radically.

Local men in Bhada village. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The founder of CHN, Shiva Dhakal, wants that change. “The whole idea of the Community Homestay Network is to promote experiences outside of trekking,” he says. “Community tourism changes lives and helps kids stay home instead of coming to the city or migrating to the Middle East.”

Ang grew up seeing people leave, “not because they wanted to but because there weren’t enough opportunities to stay”, he states. Yet from remote villages to living traditions; food, art, music and emerging subcultures, “there’s so much that’s not being seen.”

CHN is opening some of those doors. It doesn’t own, or fund, any homes. Rather, it promotes homestays to travellers on a single, slick platform, while fostering entrepreneurship in places where women, marginalised castes, Indigenous people and the youth stand to benefit the most.

A new generation demanding more

Dalla Town Hall, where volunteers discuss anti-poaching tactics. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The future prospects of next-gen Nepalis can no longer be ignored. On a Kathmandu tour with 33-year-old guide Monica K.C, we pass buildings torched in the September 2025 ‘Gen Z protests’, including the Supreme Court and Parliament House. Seventy-two people died. “They were anti-corruption protests,” says Monica. “Politicians’ children are living a lavish life but the airports are crowded with youngsters leaving to find work.”

We stop in ‘little Tibet’ at the wondrous sixth-century Boudha Stupa. “The wheel of life is Buddhism in a nutshell,” says Monica. “Things such as hate, ignorance and anger keep you rotating around the wheel, so you must follow the principles of Buddhism to detach. If you can’t, there’s no nirvana for you.”

Boudha Stupa's prayer wheels — Boudha Stupa’s prayer wheels are used to recite Buddhist prayers. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

In a sun-drenched twist to the usual temple visit, we ascend the stupa’s sloping plinth and roam its whitewashed dome. Tendrils of diaphanous prayer flags stream from a steeple-like structure where the Buddha’s unblinking eyes stare out. No nirvana for you…

bouda stupa prayer flags — Tibetan-style prayer flags embellish the whitewashed dome of Bouda Stupa, a Buddhist temple. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

The dome is delightfully free of guard rails or chiding from security. There is, however, a stern ‘No TikTok’ sign, perhaps in response to the youth’s newly flexed power. The booted-out Prime Minister, K.P. Sharma Oli, was replaced in a resounding election victory in March by 35-year-old Balendra Shah of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) – a former rapper and mayor of Kathmandu. The RSP’s manifesto indicates tourism is a priority, and that Nepal’s cultural identity in areas such as gastronomy will be strengthened.

Boudha Stupa vendors — Vibrant souvenir shops and cafes around Boudha Stupa. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

A more confronting stop awaits at Pashupatinath Temple. Today is Bala Chaturdashi, a Hindu festival where thousands of devotees gather to honour their dead ancestors. Vendors hauling foam mattresses do a lucrative trade as people set up for a night of vigil. This includes burning the bodies of recently deceased relatives on bamboo pyres in the Bagmati River, which flows into the sacred Ganges.

A woman at annual Hindu festival Bala Chaturdashi, in Kathmandu. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Wrapped in a shroud, the bodies are positioned with their heads facing north to the Himalayas where Lord Shiva resides. They’re covered with flowers and straw and set alight by male family members.

Hours later, the ashes are swept into the river where devotees will take a holy dip the next day. As much as Monica assures us it’s not voyeuristic to watch, I struggle to do so. “Here you see the reality of life because everyone ends up there,” she says, gesturing to the river.

Life unfiltered in the Terai region

tharu woman — Tharu woman and master weaver Parbati Chaudhary in Bhada Village. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The reality of life needs processing time, which the western Terai region delivers in spades. The Terai is largely separated from India by the Karnali River and Bardiya National Park, where elephants, rhinos and the elusive Bengal tiger roam.

Once a nomadic tribe, the Indigenous Tharu people are now the largest ethnic group here. “They didn’t know their daily life was interesting for international travellers but they’re starting to understand now,” says CHN founder Shiva.

Take a Jeep safari through Bardiya National Park. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

We fly Buddha Air to Dhangadhi airport and drive five hours to stay in Tharu homes. The journey to Bhada village is a blur of roadside fruit stalls, traffic-stopping sacred cows and fields sown with wheat, rice, mustard, spinach, cauliflower and potatoes. Nepal’s agriculture feeds only Nepal.

Marigolds are an important part of Hindu rituals. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

“The only thing we export is young people,” says our guide Bikal. As the light dims and we plunge evermore rural, mysterious mounds of compacted hay – some house-sized – loom like the creatures from Where The Wild Things Are. Even our trusty driver gets flummoxed by a dirt road that abruptly ends and we find ourselves hurtling across a paddock.

On arrival, some are ferried to mud-walled cottages greened by gourd creepers, with thatched roofs and rustic-chic mosquito nets. Myself and two others are ushered to the home of corner store owner, mechanic and mushroom farmer Man Kumar Chilaruwa and his wife Rajkumari.

community homestay entrance — A warm welcome at a community homestay. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

They escort us to a bunker-esque back building with steel doors and a folding security gate, behind which is gleaming linoleum, dolphin-printed tiles and a shower cavity that must be gingerly stepped through to reach the toilet.

The ceiling lights emit a rainbow of colours (the bathroom light gets stuck in, frankly, a quite frightening red). We’re nevertheless touched that our hosts invested in all this bling when the average salary is around $275 a month.

In the coming days, we participate in Tharu traditions such as making moonshine, dancing, weaving straw handicrafts and gold-panning. We’re fed well with staples of rice, mustard greens, lentil pancakes, daal, curried chicken and tomato chutney served on antibacterial saal leaves.

food at community homestay — Dig in. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Sonara community homestay president Indradevi Tharu tells us river snails are often served, and the boiled and pickled flesh of rats hunted in the rice fields. “Perhaps next time?” we say and all have a laugh.

The power of community homestays

community homestay owners in Nepal — Barda community homestay owners Parbati Chaudhary and Ram Krishni Devi Chaudhary. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

Immersing Western visitors in foreign cultural practices is not new. But with the Tharu, I never get that uneasy sensation that I’m being performed for. Despite being the only tourists, there’s no ‘othering’; just warm, composed and ultra-dignified welcomes. Like we’ve always been here.

“I love to have travellers in my village so I can see the world,” says local woman Parbati Chaudhary. “Why would I travel the world when the world comes to me?”

The graceful acceptance the Tharu offer, as well as the slow pace, works miracles on my frazzled nervous system. One day I even take a nap on a vacant homestay bed.

Sonara community room — An authentic stay in the Sonara community. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Roosters strut and goats bray as we sit on the ground in al fresco kitchens, rolling rice flour into cylinders steamed to make dhikri (dumplings). When water is needed, we fetch it using a hand-operated pump as a family of ducks strolls by, side-eying us like curious neighbours.

Animal lovers will delight in Tharu villages. Kind and resourceful inventions are everywhere, such as snacking stations where two posts lean together, with leafy boughs dangling on rope for baby goats to forage from.

CHN’s CEO, Aayusha Prasain, nods knowingly when one in our group says she cried when she left her host, Shayam Chaudhary, in Bhada. Shayam’s 17-year-old son, Prashant, had translated, which deepened the connection.

“Community tourism turns travel into a relationship, not a transaction,” says Aayusha. “It places decision-making power in the hands of local communities, especially women and youth.” Since 2018, CHN has hosted more than 4000 travellers from 52 countries in 408 households, and estimates women’s participation has increased by 381 per cent.

In the Bardiya community, where vexing human-animal conflict has been a balancing act for decades due to elephants raiding crops, long-time homestay operator Salik Ram Chaudhary says young people keep the older ones on their toes.

“We can’t keep homestays stagnant,” he says. “We have to upgrade our service and redefine our product or young people won’t see it as an attractive business. If we can keep evolving with this travelling trend we’re confident the youths will stay and continue it.”

Back in Kathmandu, Monica explains that after the deaths of young protestors in September, a determination had spread to not let their sacrifice be in vain. “We want to keep holding the government accountable,” she says. “We don’t know what situation we’re facing, but we’re ready to face it.”

Interested in Nepal but prefer to experience it in total comfort? Read our guide to luxury travel in Nepal.

This all-inclusive Maldivian resort is perfect for Aussies