Maldives
Niyama Private Islands

You won’t be short of things to do here, from water activities to cooking classes. The informative and fun expeditions with a marine biologist are a particular highlight. You can choose from several options, such as night snorkelling, or ‘adopt a coral’, which sees you tie pieces of live coral to a frame and place this in the coral nursery to grow (for an additional charge).

Guests are allocated a “thakuru” (a kind of butler), which is a helpful and luxurious service – they do everything from whisking you around the islands on a golf buggy to booking a dinner table for you.

The excellent Explorers Children’s Club has a big playground, a sunken trampoline and a kitchen for cooking lessons, as well as air-conditioned indoor areas for arts and crafts. It is one of the few kids’ clubs to take babies from 12 months, and it takes children up to 12 years (split into four different age groups).

The Drift Spa features six treatment rooms with lagoon views and offers family and child spa treatments. There is a sauna, steam room, plunge pool and juice bar, as well as a yoga area.

Water sports on offer include scuba diving, sailing, windsurfing, paddle boarding and kayaking, as well as sea bobbing, jet skiing, water skiing and wakeboarding. Big game fishing is also available, and you can set sail in a Dhoni (traditional boat). There’s also a handful of boutique shops, a 24-hour gym, two infinity pools and a games zone, kitted out with everything from Wii consoles to table tennis.