Why Visit the Maldives?

Few places set the stage for romance the way the Maldives does. Clear lagoons, powder-white beaches, and skies that shift from gold to violet at sunset. It is a destination that slows you down.

Honeymoon, anniversary, babymoon or simply a week away from everything — the privacy is the point. Private overwater villas, dinner on the beach, breakfast on your own deck. The good resorts are built so that you rarely see anyone you did not arrive with.

The Maldives has been the most requested honeymoon destination for Indian couples for well over a decade, and the resorts have built themselves around that: private pools, overwater villas, in-villa dining, and staff who read the room and leave you alone.

Carry your wedding certificate. Most resorts offer honeymoon complimentaries against it — flowers, a cake, sometimes a sunset cruise. What they amount to varies a great deal between properties, so ask us what a specific resort actually gives before you book on the strength of it.

The setting does most of the work. Warm ocean air, the sound of water, and no traffic, no horns, no notifications you feel obliged to answer.

Beyond that, resorts across the atolls run spa facilities, yoga pavilions, meditation programmes and Ayurvedic treatments, and a handful — JOALI BEING among them — are built entirely around a wellbeing programme rather than offering one on the side. Tell us which of those two you actually want, because they are very different holidays.

Treatments run from traditional Maldivian massage and Ayurvedic therapies through to clinical wellness protocols, and many are performed in overwater treatment rooms with a glass floor over the reef.

Signature experiences include underwater treatment rooms, open-air beach cabanas and couples' rituals. Spa is also where all-inclusive plans stop applying, almost without exception, so budget for it separately.