Maldives

The Maldives is barely land at all — 1,192 coral islands scattered across 26 atolls in the Indian Ocean, most no bigger than a beach and a fringe of palms, each turquoise lagoon ringed by a living reef. The model is simple and seductive: one island, one resort, reached by speedboat or a low seaplane hop over water so clear the reefs show from the air. Days dissolve into a rhythm of overwater villas, house-reef snorkelling and long swims in impossibly warm water; the diving is world-class, from the manta-ray gatherings of Baa Atoll to gliding whale sharks. It is the honeymoon at its most iconic — but no longer only for the very rich, as a newer scene of guesthouses on local islands like Maafushi opens the same lagoons to smaller budgets, with modest-dress and no-alcohol rules ashore. Come in the dry season, November to April, and let one of the flattest, most fragile nations on earth undo your sense of time.

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