Mercure Maldives Kooddoo Resort

Landing on Kooddoo's own airstrip cuts the usual seaplane transfer out of the journey; guests reach the resort by a short domestic flight from Malé, with a discount arranged on that onward leg. The island sits in Gaafu Alifu Atoll, one of the Maldives' more southerly, less-travelled reaches, and the resort spreads along its shoreline in a run of beach and overwater villas. Villas start at 62 square metres over the lagoon and run up to a four-bedroom beach pool villa of 490 square metres, sleeping ten. Each has a flat-screen TV, coffee maker, and Wi-Fi. Over Water Sunset Villas face the day's last light across the lagoon. Beach Pool Villas add a private plunge pool set back from the sand. You can hear the tide from most villa terraces after dark. Two restaurants and two bars cover meals, offered across bed-and-breakfast, half-board or all-inclusive plans, and a tennis court sits inland from the beach. The atoll's dive sites are close by, reachable without the long boat runs some resorts require, and staff arrange snorkelling trips through the on-site dive centre. It is a compact resort, not a sprawling one. Check-in runs from 2pm, check-out by noon.