With nearly 1,200 islands sprinkled throughout 26 sun-baked atolls in the Indian Ocean, the Maldives are the last great outposts of tropical perfection. Movie stars, beach bums, scuba junkies and Asia- and Caribbean-weary Europeans have been flocking here for the better part of a decade. Americans are just beginning to discover these slice-of-paradise islands southwest of India, so get there fast.
What makes the 17-plus-hour trek worth it? Aren't there equally gorgeous islands located much closer to home? The answer is a definitive "no." These 1,190 islands - 202 of which are inhabited, including 87 exclusive resort islands - are unequaled in untouched splendor. Most of the Maldives are quite small, so guest rooms are often built on stilts over lagoons rich with sea life. The islands are teeming with exotic birds and tropical forests spilling over with plants and flowers.
But what make these islands so unique are the shallow lagoons that ring each island, making swimming, wading or snorkeling virtually perfect. The color of the water varies from lime green to navy blue, depending on how deep the water is. When flying over these majestic islands, the colors are mesmerizing. From the deck of your room or from a sandy shoreline where waves hit the shore at about the speed of a bathtub splash, you can swim, wade and snorkel with sea life painted neon and perfectly reflected in the equatorial sun.
Nowhere is this more evident than in four high-profile resorts, varying from rustic luxury to squeaky clean and mere months old. In a country where tourism is less than 30 years old and has really caught on in the last seven years, the Maldives are a study in grass-roots tourism. This feels like what Hawaii and Southeast Asia must have felt like in the '70s. [Read More]
Source: Bend Weekly
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