Maldives holidaysfrom Nairobi

The Maldives is the easiest holiday to describe and the hardest to choose. Almost every resort has its own island, so the island is the hotel. One decision settles the food, the reef, the pace and the faces at breakfast for a whole week, which is why we spend our time on that decision and very little on anything else.

We start with the transfer, not the room. Some islands are a speedboat from Velana; others take a seaplane, and seaplanes fly in daylight only. Your arrival time into Malé quietly rules half the resort list in or out, so flights and island get booked together, never one and then the other.

What the week looks like

The atolls fan north and south of Malé and the water is the entire point. Most islands put a house reef within swimming distance of the steps, a dive centre on the jetty and a sandbank somewhere within a boat ride. Baa Atoll has been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 2011, and Hanifaru Bay inside it draws some of the largest manta gatherings anywhere. Ari Atoll is the one divers name for whale sharks.

Everything else is deliberately empty. You swim, you eat, you read, you get in the water again. Couples take a villa over the lagoon and disappear for six nights. Families want a shallow reef and a kids’ club that is actually staffed, which is a different island entirely, worth saying out loud in your first message to us.

How it usually fits together

Nairobi to the Maldives is not a short hop, so it rarely goes in the diary on its own. Most of ours are honeymoons and anniversaries, and a good number are built as two stops: a night or two in Dubai on the way through, or a week in the bush first and the reef afterwards, the same shape as our bush-and-beach trips, with a longer flight in the middle.

Board basis matters here more than anywhere else we sell. The island is small and there is nowhere else to eat, so half board, full board and all-inclusive are three genuinely different holidays. We quote them side by side rather than assume.

Practical notes

Draft: awaiting owner verification. Indicative only; confirmed in writing with your quote.

• Resort transfers are scheduled around your international arrival, and seaplanes operate in daylight. A late landing can mean a night in Malé before you reach the island.
• What sits outside the board basis, such as drinks, excursions and dive packages, varies island by island. We set it out before you choose, not after.
• Protected marine sites, Hanifaru Bay among them, have their own access rules. Guiding is arranged through your resort’s dive centre.