The Secret Is Out: Huvadhu Atoll Stars in DestinAsian
The secret is out. The August/September 2026 issue of DestinAsian, one of Asia's most respected travel magazines, puts Huvadhu Atoll on its cover with a simple promise: "Why Huvadhu is the Maldivian atoll to visit now." Inside is a ten-page feature titled "As Nature Intended", written by DestinAsian's Christopher P. Hill after a stay in the atoll during the turn of the monsoon.
The magazine has kindly allowed us to share the full feature as a PDF. It is a proper long read, best enjoyed with a coffee and a window seat in mind.
What the story captures
Plenty of writers have called the Maldives beautiful. Hill goes after something harder to find: the feeling of an atoll that tourism has not yet reorganised. His verdict, in his own words:
"Huvadhu is the Maldives before mass tourism: wild, remote, and blissfully uncrowded. It offers a sense of discovery unlike anywhere I've experienced in the country's busier atolls."
The feature ranges right across the atoll, and a few moments are worth teasing:
An island vocabulary lesson. The story opens with the Maldivian words for every stage of an island's life, from a shallow reef to a mature island. It ends on the boaddoo, which is something else entirely. We will let the article explain that one.
Turtle Town. At a snorkel site off Mutteyfushi, Hill counts ten, then twenty, then forty sea turtles before losing track, with the reef entirely to himself.
A forest full of frigatebirds. An uninhabited island whose canopy fills with hundreds of seabirds at twilight, the same birds Maldivian fishermen have followed to tuna for generations.
Rays like a safari. A boat ride through the tidal lagoons south of Gemanafushi, where porcupine rays, eagle rays and cowtail rays move like shadows over the sand.
The people behind it. The story profiles the brother and sister behind Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa, including Shaahina Ali, winner of a 2025 Ramon Magsaysay Award for her marine conservation work, and the resort's push toward carbon neutrality.
Seen the feature, now see the atoll
If the article leaves you wanting more, our own guides cover the same waters in practical detail:
Stay in the atoll: Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa, the resort in the story
About the feature
"As Nature Intended" by Christopher P. Hill. DestinAsian, August/September 2026, pages 64 to 73. Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa appears on the issue's cover. Feature PDF shared courtesy of DestinAsian. Explore more of the magazine at destinasian.com.