Maldives
Maldives
Around 1,200 coral islands on the equator, few of them more than a metre or two above the sea.
- DestinationMaldives
- CountryMaldives
- TypeInternational holiday
Overview
About Maldives
The Maldives is mostly water. Around twelve hundred islands are grouped into twenty-six natural atolls scattered across a vast stretch of the Indian Ocean, and the total land among them is under three hundred square kilometres. Almost nothing rises more than a couple of metres above sea level.
The structure is what makes it: each atoll is a ring of coral reef around a lagoon, so the water is shallow and still inside and drops away into open ocean outside. That is why the sea reads two colours at once, and why the snorkelling starts at the beach.
Good to know
Worth Knowing Before You Go
- The country comprises around 1,200 islands grouped into 26 natural atolls.
- It is the lowest-lying country on earth, with an average ground level of about 1.5 metres.
- Most resorts occupy a single island, reached from Male by speedboat or seaplane.
- The English word 'atoll' comes from Dhivehi, the Maldivian language.
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