Maldives

The Maldives is the lowest-lying nation on earth — a chain of around twelve hundred coral islands grouped into atolls, with an average elevation of barely a metre and a half above a rising sea. That fragility is not a footnote here; it is the context for everything, including the decision to visit.

The country's tourism runs almost entirely on a single model: one island, one resort, reached by seaplane or speedboat from Malé. It produces a particular kind of holiday — sand-floor villas, house reefs, a horizon with nothing on it — and the better operators now back it with genuine marine conservation and coral restoration rather than the language of it.

Beneath the water is the real argument. The atolls hold manta rays, whale sharks and reef systems that, where they have been protected, remain extraordinary. Choosing a resort here is, increasingly, a choice about which reef gets funded.

November through April is the dry season and the reliable window — calm seas, clear water, the best of the diving. The wetter months trade some of that for lower rates and a quieter country.