How to Choose a Maldives Island

Every Maldives resort photographs identically. White sand, a wooden jetty, water in three shades of blue. That is the problem. The photographs are true and they tell you almost zero, because the differences that matter stay invisible in a drone shot.

These are the six questions we work through with every client before naming a single property.

1. How do you get there, and does it cost you a day?

Transfers are the most underestimated factor. A speedboat island sits 20 to 45 minutes from Malé and runs at any hour. A seaplane island means a spectacular 30 to 60 minute flight, but seaplanes fly in daylight only. Land at 4pm from India and a seaplane island can mean an overnight in Malé before you begin, with the same problem in reverse on the way home.

Domestic-flight islands sit in the far atolls and combine a plane with a boat. Remote and extraordinary, and best suited to seven nights or more. On four or five nights the transfer eats too much of the holiday.

2. Do you actually want a house reef?

A genuine house reef means walking off the beach or dropping from your deck and snorkelling within thirty seconds. Plenty of islands go without. Many have a distant reef that needs a boat and a booking, which makes for a materially different holiday.

Where snorkelling matters, this narrows the field faster than any other criterion and it earns every rupee. Where you would rather sit by a pool, spend the money elsewhere.

3. Overwater or beach villa?

Overwater villas are the image everyone carries. They also run hotter in the middle of the day, offer less privacy on a busy jetty, and often sit further from the restaurants. Beach villas with a private pool are frequently the better room, especially for families and for anyone travelling in the hottest months.

Our usual advice: two or three nights overwater, then the rest on the beach. Most resorts split a stay happily, and the change of scene stretches the week.

4. Who else is on the island?

An island holds between forty and two hundred and fifty villas, and that number sets the entire mood. Forty villas is silence. Two hundred and fifty is a small resort town with four restaurants and a nightly programme.

Adults-only islands exist and stay unapologetic about it. Family islands run kids' clubs, shallow lagoons and a different noise level around the pool at four in the afternoon. Both are good. Arriving at the wrong one is the most common Maldives disappointment we hear about.

5. What does the board basis actually cover?

Here is where Maldives budgets go wrong. On a remote island the resort kitchen is the only kitchen, so its pricing becomes the only pricing. A bed-and-breakfast rate at a high-end property can add 250 to 400 US dollars per couple per day in food and drink.

An all-inclusive rate that looks expensive often works out cheaper across the week than a room-only rate that looks reasonable. Compare the full week rather than the nightly headline. We run that arithmetic on every option we send.

6. When are you going?

The dry season runs roughly December to April. Reliable months, and expensive ones. May to November brings the southwest monsoon, which means rain in bursts rather than all day, considerably lower rates, and better marine life. August and September bring manta and whale shark activity in Baa Atoll that peak season lacks.

A May or October trip can land forty per cent below the same villa in February. Whether that trade suits you depends entirely on why you are going.

The short version

Answer those six honestly and the field narrows from 160 resorts to perhaps five. After that it becomes a question of taste rather than research, which is the enjoyable part and the only part you should have to do yourself.