Maldives

With its location on a gigantic underwater mountain range, the island nation is absolutely unique in terms of geography and topography. The Maldives consists of 1,200 islands and sandbanks lined up like pearls on a string, stretching over 26 natural atolls and covering an area of almost 300 square kilometers. The country has approximately 200 inhabited islands and 140 "resort islands" while the rest are uninhabited. All islands are surrounded by a lagoon of crystal clear water, which is protected by a reef structure. The "one island - one resort" concept only exists in the Maldives, because the land mass of each island is only 1 to 2 kilometers in total.