With sands as white as the sparkling smiles of the friendly locals and water so blue and clear you’d think you were floating in thin air, the Maldives can knock the wind out of you at first sight. Made up of almost 1,200 perfect islands, this paradise in the Indian Ocean attracts visitors from around the world for its beaches, its luxury accommodation that could charm the socks off the Queen, and its almost cellophane-like cerulean waters.

Warm almost all year round, the shallows around here are teeming with exotic marine life, walls of coral and caves waiting to be explored, while the inky blue depths hold the allure of sharks, manta rays, turtles and even majestic whale sharks. For divers and snorkellers, this is as good as it gets.

The beaches offer the kind of picture-postcard perfection unrivalled by any other place in the world. Time your trip right and you can enjoy the soft, white shores in all their glory with no one else around to ruin the tranquility.

Hotels and resorts in the Maldives have the singular distinction of having whole islands to themselves, and the ones at the top of the line compete for the title of most luxurious. So you can, if you choose, have a pillow menu, a private plunge pool, in-room massage, and even a butler waiting on you hand and foot.

Other accommodation options are also aplenty. Choose from traditionally built beachfront houses, ocean-top rooms that are perched above the turquoise waters, estates that come with their own private patch of beach, rooms with hammocks suspended over the water, under the warm embrace of the sun, or even personal villas with private pools.

You can, if even for a few days, enjoy the utter bliss of total isolation.