There’s not a lot we can say to sum up the Maldives without sounding like another travel brochure, but put it this way – everything you’ve seen, read and heard is absolutely and completely true. Perfect circles of blonde, velvet beaches are lapped by water the colour of lapis; megawatt hotels range from marooned-island dreaminess to mind-boggling ritz, glitz and glamour; and no matter where you look, there’s a hammock to sway in and a cocktail to sip. So far, so beachy – but what else is there to know about this Indian Ocean utopia? In total, there are almost 1,200 islands in 26 atolls, scattered around 35,000 square miles of prime ocean real estate. They range in size from tiny dots of swirling sand to larger, palm-fringed masses, and every one of them is uniformly brilliant. Accommodation-wise, you’ve got around 100 hotels and resorts to choose from, each occupying their own private islands (did someone say James Bond?) and accessed by sea plane or helicopter. The words ‘holiday of a lifetime’ seem to fit the bill rather nicely…