Hotels in Maldives

The Maldives is a chain of roughly 1,200 coral islands scattered across 26 atolls in the Indian Ocean, of which fewer than 200 are inhabited and around 170 are private resort islands. It is the flattest country on earth - the highest natural point is under three metres - and almost all of the appeal is what surrounds the land rather than the land itself: house reefs a few strokes from the beach, manta and whale shark aggregations, and water clear enough to see the shadow of your own overwater villa on the seabed.

The country has two very different price ceilings. One-island-one-resort properties reached by seaplane remain among the most expensive accommodation anywhere, but guesthouse tourism on inhabited local islands, legal since 2009, has opened up the Maldives to travellers on far more modest budgets who take public ferries and speedboats instead.