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The Maldives boasts some of the best scuba diving in the world, between coral reef gardens and the rare opportunity to dive with whale sharks and manta rays. Not surprisingly, every top resort has PADI certified instructors who can teach children as young as eight as well as offer advanced courses such as Rescue Dive training. Experienced divers should bring documentation of their ability. Beginners can often complete some training online in advance of their arrival so they can speed up certification. Check with your resort ahead of time. In busy periods, it is wise to book dive times, especially for special activities like night dives, in advance of arrival.


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Diving

With some of the richest marine life in the world, the Maldives must be viewed from within the water. If you don’t dive, you must snorkel. You will see tropical fish in the lagoons surrounding your resort from the beach and the overwater structures but nothing beats the experience of being in the water, especially on some of the lagoons and coral gardens that the resorts arrange daily excursions to. Sign up for a guided snorkel or shark safari and learn from passionate marine biologists who can read the sea scene as a safari guide does the savannah.


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Snorkeling

A number of resorts do more than simply employ marine biologists but they let them work on marine conservation programs. The <a title="Four Seasons Kuda Huraa" href="/destinations/asia/maldives_region/maldives-maldives//hotels/four-seasons-kuda-huraa/">Four Seasons Kuda Huraa</a> has launched a turtle rearing program, where they raise baby turtles to juvenile size and then release them with satellite trackers. The <a title="Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru" href="/destinations/asia/maldives_region/maldives-maldives//hotels/four-seasons-landaa-giraavaru/">Four Seasons Landaa Giravaru</a>, meanwhile, runs a turtle rescue center to rehabilitate injured turtles (most often those that have been caught in fishing nets or that have ingested plastic bags that they mistook for jelly fish). Both programs offer a great educational opportunity to learn more about the endangered creatures and see them up close.


Turtle at Turtle Rescue Program , Maldives

Turtle Rescue Program

If you are staying at a resort within a speedboat trip of the airport, you should consider a seaplane excursion just to get an aerial view of the islands and lagoons, whose many shades of blue can best be appreciated from the sky on a sunny day.

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Seaplane Trip

See & Do

The 46 thatched-roof villas designed by architect Jean-Michel Gathy seamlessly marry land and sea, with spectacular views.

three islands lined with overwater bungalows

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Cheval Blanc Randheli

A thirty-minute seaplane ride north of Malé brings you to a floating platform with a sign that reads “Welcome to Baa Atoll, UNESCO Marine Biosphere. Altitude: 0 meters. Population: Happy.” This is not your typical Four Seasons, though all of the amenities and service that you expect from the brand are here. For example, the lowest category room is an 800-square-foot beach bungalow with its own plunge pool, private garden and sundeck. But every room—whether it’s a beach villa or an overwater bungalow—comes with guest bicycles, the old-fashioned kind that brakes by pedaling backwards. (Honeymooners can request tandem bikes, and tots are given tricycles or ones with training wheels.) Yes you can always call for a buggy but experiencing a Four Seasons by bike sets the tone for this natural paradise.

Beaches surround the 44-acre island and its lush jungle interior, traversed by sand pathways that are just wide enough for a buggy and a bike to pass. Hidden within the greenery are the fifty-some beach bungalows and villas, ranging from bungalows to two-bedroom family villas, including the Royal Villa with its own lap pool. Amongst the fifty overwater options are villas with and without pools and two bedroom suites. For those who cannot choose between beach and overwater, there is even a Land & Ocean Suite with its living and dining pavilion on land with overwater bedrooms reached via wooden walkway. The designs incorporate Maldivian traditions such as thatched roofs, coral walls and outdoor showers as well as modern comforts like enormous bathrooms, plasma Tvs and Nespresso machines. Cotton throw rugs, bright pillows and organic wood lamps lend a modern beach house feel to the rooms.

The island’s two main activities revolve around its state-of-the-art Ayurvedic spa and its two-kilometer lagoon. Based on the Indian healing traditions of Ayurvedic medicine, the glorious spa (with ten treatment pavilions, including some overwater) offers beauty and wellness treatments, most of which begin with a consultation with one of the two on-island Ayurvedic doctors. There are 7-, 14- and 21-day healing and detox programs. Resident yogis teach complimentary group and private yoga classes, and an herbal garden supplies natural ingredients for many of the treatments.

For more active pursuits, most guests head to the beach, though there is a tennis court. In addition to offering a slew of water sports activities, including kayaking, snorkeling, windsurfing and sailing, guests can water ski, parasail, kite surf, banana boat and, of course, dive. The five-star PADI dive center makes the most of its access to Baa Atoll’s UNESCO marine reserve, which includes 30 coral gardens and Hanifaru Bay, where manta rays and whale sharks gather in the summer months. Regular excursions include dolphin cruises and turtle safaris. Five marine biologists work at the resort’s Marine Discovery Center on such innovative projects as a turtle rescue and satellite tracking program, a coral regrowth program and a hatchery for breeding tropical fish. The first project of its kind, the fish nursery was the idea of a local and the hope is that communities might raise tropical fish for export to retail aquariums as a means of income as well as to provide an alternative to aquariums’ current practice of taking fish from reefs. The center shares its knowledge and research in daily talks and interactive exhibits for children and adults. In fact, the Kids’ Club incorporates sessions with the resort’s biologists, yogi and chef. For older kids who have had enough beach time, there is a club with ping pong, pool, PlayStations and other teen-age diversions.

The four dining options at the property range from the Middle Eastern restaurant, Al Barakat where Lebanese mezze and Moroccan tagines are served in an exotic ambiance by the water, to Blu, a beachy blue and white Italian restaurant with curtains strung with sea glass. Café Landaa near the main pool area features Indian and Asian specialties, while Fuego Grill serves fresh seafood and meats grilled on the beach. And for really special meals, the resort organizes private dinners on the beach or on sandbar all your own.

Tip: Be sure to book a trip over to the nearby Anantara <span style="color: #222222;">Kihavah Villas' underwater restaurant. You will dine under the sea, which may be an expensive meal, but it will be unforgettable. 


Bedroom at Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru, Maldives

Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru

There’s a reason celebrities and honeymooners have been hiding away at Reethi Rah, the largest resort in the Maldives.

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One & Only Reethi Rah

Stay

Once a tiny fishing village at the edge of an empty desert, Dubai has skyrocketed into a bastion of mega malls, five-star hotels and wildly elaborate real estate projects. It is a cosmopolitan city with an international vibe, great dining and shopping, and a gorgeous coastline. Despite its much-discussed Westernization, this Middle Eastern metropolis has a strong undercurrent of Arabian tradition that imbues its modern landscape with cultural nuance.

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Dubai

Roughly the size of Ireland, Sri Lanka hangs like a beautiful pendant on a necklace draped around India, and to explore its many different parts—from beaches to rock temples—requires time and savvy itinerary planning.

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Sri Lanka

Few countries in the world stimulate the five senses in such a vibrant way as does India. Given the country’s size, complexity and varied terrain and experiences, it can be daunting to start planning a trip there, but Indagare has over a decade of experience crafting itineraries and personally traveling to the great subcontinent.

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India

Great Combinations

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~ Elena Bowes, member since 2007

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