Maldives

The forty-five-minute sea plane transfer to Sun Siyam Iru Fushi is truly spectacular, overflying a succession of dreamy atolls before descending on this remote islet in the far north of the archipelago, where tourism has been comparatively limited. The rooms are all fabulous: very spacious and luxuriously furnished.

The water villas are attached to wooden jetties extending into the lagoon that surrounds the island – you can literally snorkel from your front step to the reef edge – and a superb beach runs all the way around. Families are especially well catered for here, with a lively Kids Club and child-friendly pool – though for quiet couples there’s a ‘child-free’ zone around a dreamy infinity pool. Another commendable feature of this resort is that it employs a healthy quota of locals from the nearby islands, whose traditional Maldivian way of life makes for some interesting day trips.