Is this the most unlikely place for an ice rink?
A tropical island nation in the Indian Ocean, the Maldives is best known for its 1,000-some islands and over-the-top experiences.
The Conrad Maldives Rangali Island offers an "Instagram Butler" service and an all-glass, underwater restaurant; Soneva Jani provides private water slides for all its overwater villas; and The Private Reserve is the world's largest overwater villa.
But this spring, there's another reason to visit: the destination's first ice rink.
Dubbed "Ice Ice Maybe...," the1,829-square-foot (170-square-meter) rink opened in March at the Jumeirah Vittaveli resort, located about 20 minutes by boat from the capital of Malé.
"We named it 'Ice Ice Maybe...' to imply that it's not a traditional cool-down ice skating rink," Amit Majumder, general manager of Jumeirah Vittaveli, tells Travel.
"It's a synthetic rink that's built on the beach, so you can go swimming in the tropical waters then go skating right after -- or vice versa."
"We had some regular guests who have been staying with us for many years now," says Majumder.
"The family's daughter sort of challenged us to build the rink. She said she wanted to have a skiing and adventure holiday, but her parents wanted to keep coming back to the Maldives."
So Majumder set out to deliver the best of both worlds.
"The project was challenging in the Maldives -- it's not like Europe, where people already know about ice rinks," says Majumder.
"It was a steep learning curve. We did a lot of research to learn about the equipment we'd need, how high the safety boundaries should be, the optimum size of the rink ...."
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