Maldives Honeymoon

The defining Maldives experience — bungalows built over a lagoon on stilts, with glass floors, private decks and steps directly into the reef. Waking up to that view, then jumping into turquoise water before breakfast, is something you'll describe for the rest of your life.

Every resort island sits atop a coral reef teeming with life — sea turtles, manta rays, reef sharks and clouds of tropical fish visible within meters of the shoreline. The Maldives has some of the world's best diving, with pristine coral walls dropping hundreds of metres into the blue.

Some Maldivian beaches — notably Vaadhoo Island — glow electric blue at night thanks to bioluminescent phytoplankton in the shallows. Walking on glowing sand while stars fill the sky above is one of those experiences that redefines 'travel moment'.

Most resorts will arrange a private boat to a deserted sandbank — a strip of white sand surrounded by nothing but ocean — for a champagne picnic just for two. Nothing around you in any direction, warm water, and a horizon that goes on forever.

The Maldives sits in one of the Indian Ocean's richest marine corridors. Spinner dolphins ride boat wakes at dawn; whale sharks — the ocean's largest fish, harmless to humans — cruise through Ari Atoll year-round. Swimming alongside one is bucket-list territory.

Ithaa Undersea Restaurant at Conrad Maldives sits 5 metres below the ocean surface — a clear acrylic tunnel surrounded by the reef, where you dine while fish swim overhead. The world's most surreal restaurant, and the food is genuinely excellent too.