Kandima Maldives

Kandima Maldives is a long island, about three kilometres end to end, and that scale shapes the stay. You cycle to dinner, the pool and the sports fields rather than stepping out to them. It is busy and sociable by design, with tennis, a football pitch, an art studio and a very large pool.

There is no snorkelling off the beach. The reef is reached by a free boat to a platform at the reef edge, and the boat does not run across the middle of the day. The lagoon is the better water for small children: shallow and calm, with baby sharks and rays in the shallows. Bring water shoes, as there is dead coral near the shore.

Getting there is a domestic flight to Dhaalu and a short boat, about fifty minutes of travelling in all. It runs into the evening, so a late landing at Velana usually still reaches the island the same day.

Who it suits: families with young children, and anyone who wants plenty to do. Not for anyone after a small, quiet island or a reef from the beach.