Emerald Maldives Resort & Spa

Emerald is on Fasmendhoo in Raa Atoll, and it publishes two ways of getting there: a forty-minute seaplane from Velana, or a thirty-minute domestic flight to Ifuru followed by a thirty-minute speedboat. The second is longer on paper and is the one the resort itself recommends for anyone whose flight home leaves in the evening, because a domestic flight is not bound by daylight and a seaplane is.

The villas divide into beach and water, with pool and two-bedroom versions of both, so this is one of the atoll's larger properties rather than a dozen-villa island.

It runs a deluxe all-inclusive formula across all its restaurants, and describes itself as suiting couples and families equally — which is a different proposition from the adults-only islands it is usually priced against.