Maldives

The Maldives perfected a very specific dream: a villa on stilts above water so clear that rays glide beneath your breakfast table. It remains the world's great switch-off. Each resort is its own island, which means choosing well matters more here than anywhere, and that is where we earn our keep. Barefoot castaway chic or polished contemporary design. House reef snorkelling straight off your deck or overwater spas and underwater restaurants. Some islands are made for honeymoons, others genuinely brilliant for families. Days assemble themselves from swims, sandbank picnics, dolphin cruises and the firm decision to do nothing at all. Nights end with bioluminescence flickering in the shallows. The Maldives is not about seeing things. It is about how completely the world lets go of you.