Cocoa Island

Class: Deluxe

Style: Modern design

Rooms: 20

The Maldives seem a bit like an over-the-top parody of an island holiday destination — not an island or an archipelago, but an atoll of a thousand Robinson Crusoe-sized islands, in the shallow water of a coral reef in the Indian Ocean. Cocoa Island is one of these, just a ten minute walk from end to end (and two minutes across), with absolutely nothing on it but the hotel.

All of Cocoa Island's suites and villas are over the water in the form of a dhoni, a traditional fishing boat, with a short staircase out the back door, leading from a tiny balcony straight down into the ocean's shallow waters. The “boats” are firmly moored to the sea floor, as you can see at low tide, but at high tide the gentle waters lap against the edges of the balcony. The view from the bed, through large French windows, is nothing but calm and unbroken Indian ocean as far as the eye can see.

Don't come here to be entertained, as there is nothing at all to do, aside from the standard array of water sports (actually quite a bit better than standard, given the stillness of the waters — the diving here is fantastic), and the relative inactivity of the spa. There is no nightlife to speak of, no town to visit, nothing but yourself, your dhoni (or villa) and your traveling companion, whether a loved one or a good book. A restaurant and a bar alongside the infinity pool, right on the beach, see to your dining and drinking needs. But in terms of getting away from it all, it is difficult to imagine a more delightful sort of seclusion, or a better place to be shipwrecked.