Coco Bodu Hithi

With its white sands and crystal-clear waters, Coco Bodu Hithi is stunning. Its facilities are glorious too – sand paths around the island lead to a cool infinity pool, extensive thatched overwater spa and a variety of chic restaurants. Air is the elegant all-day dining restaurant with views of the infinity pool, while the romantic overwater Aqua serves up seafood specialities with Asian flavours, and Tsuki is an authentic sushi bar.

Watersports include free snorkelling equipment. There’s also a PADI dive centre and some great local dive sites. From December to April, manta rays are abundant at nearby Manta Point, and throughout the year diverse marine life includes black-tip reef sharks and turtles. The surrounding waters also offer some of the best opportunities to spot huge pods of dolphins.

Villas are superbly spacious and all come with their own private pool. There’s just one room type on the island itself – the excellent Island Villas with Pool, which have a private courtyard with pool and a huge circular bathtub in the middle of the room. These villas are deservedly popular, so we recommend booking early. The rest of the villas here are overwater. Water Villas and Escape Water Villas – with a separate living room – are off one long jetty, while Coco Residences have their own separate oval jetty at the other end of the island. The Coco Residences enjoy extra benefits including in-villa check-in, Champagne on arrival, daily sundowner cocktail with canapés 6-7pm and à la carte breakfast at Stars Restaurant.