Beach Rouge, LUX* North Malé Atoll

The Best New Hotels in the World: 2019 Hot List

"Long-time travelers to the Maldives will know the second they glimpse this Lux* that it is unlike any other hotel they’ve stayed at here, including its more traditional sister property in the south. But then, white stone villas that resemble something in Greece or Ibiza have never been done over these waters before. Isabelle Miaja, the diving-enthusiast designer who was also behind Ozen by Atmosphere on neighboring Maadhoo, wanted it to feel like the type of place Bond (Craig, not Connery) would escape to post-mission, when needing a hit of punched-up sexy solitude. Bathrooms are decidedly modern and concrete, and have tubs that sink down deep in that way only hotel bathtubs ever do. The sapphire-blue pool has pops of red and an ice-cream cart straight out of South Beach, while the Barium private dining room has aquariums for walls. And then, well, there is INTI restaurant where the eye-roll-inducingly fresh ceviche blows the typical menu of grilled fish out of these turquoise waters. This is a place where the children of families who used to come to the Maldives every year are now choosing to return to themselves as grown-ups." - CNT Editors