Maldives Holiday Packages

The Maldives is 1,192 islands scattered across the Indian Ocean, and the trick is choosing the right one. Resort islands are private — one island, one resort — so once the speedboat or seaplane drops you off, the beach outside your villa is effectively yours.

Water clarity here is genuinely different. Most resorts sit on a house reef you can snorkel straight off the jetty, with reef sharks, turtles and parrotfish in the first ten metres. Add a sunset dolphin cruise, a night of bioluminescent plankton and a sandbank picnic, and you have the whole holiday.

Honeymooners make up most of our Maldives travellers, but the local-island options in Maafushi and Thulusdhoo have made it far more affordable than its reputation suggests. We book both, and we are honest about the difference — including which resorts charge for the seaplane and which do not.