The Maldives: Looking for paradise

The full Angsana treatment starts at Male airport. All guests are collected and taken to a small villa to wait for their seaplane flights. Here cool drinks, refreshing cold towels and seats with a fantastic view await you. After a short wait, you can board the small seaplane for the last leg of the journey. The views are just amazing, of turquoise water dotted with islands as far as you can see.

The plane stopped twice to drop people off at other resorts, then it was our turn. The seaplane actually stops at a floating pontoon just off the shoreline and the resort boat comes to collect you. We were then dropped off at the hotel jetty, where the hotel management were waiting as a welcome committee.

We stayed in one of the 'Beachfront villas' which includes a private garden, outdoor shower and hot tub at the back, and a decked patio straight onto the beach at the front. The rooms aren't 5 star pure luxury, but they are still nicely decorated and more than comfortable (Angsana manages to use smell as part of its brand, with oil burners and incense sticks in the rooms - lit nightly as part of the turn down service.) Wash basins are at the back of the bedroom behind a partition wall, but the toilet and shower are actually outside the villa on the way to the garden. This felt a bit strange at first, but we soon got used to it!

Our main aim for this holiday was to relax, so most of our time was spent lazing in the sun overlooking the sea and a bit of snorkelling, mixed with the odd walk around the island. There were odd rain showers, but this just meant we decamped for ten minutes to the day bed which was sheltered under the villa eves.

We did also manage to fit in a long visit to the spa, indulging in a 'top to toe' treatment, which included a body scrub, polish, massage and facial. This was up to the usual Angsana high standards, (My husband wasn't that sure about the marmalade body scrub, it took him a long time to get rid of the orange peel!).

A number of excursions were available from the resort and we decided to go on the two hour dolphin trip. We ended up having the boat to ourselves and after about 40 minutes had up to six dolphins swimming around the front of the boat. It was a truly fantastic experience which also allowed us to see more of the surrounding area.

The resort has one main restaurant which has a great selection of food, plus a separate sea food restaurant. For a romantic option you can also dine in your villa or even on the beach! We loved the authentic Maldivian curries so much our lovely waiter even brought us some samples from the staff lunch menu.

Way too quickly it was time to go back home. The Emirates flight from Male wasn't until much later in the evening, but the last seaplane from the resort has to fly before sunset, so we had some time to spend in Male.

The hotel kindly arranged a walking tour of the town. As Male is a tiny capital this didn't take long, but it was certainly an uncut version of the Maldives. Walking by the fishing boats with yellow fin tuna on deck and past the fish market I did feel like we were in a Charlie Boorman adventure; especially when the street turned silver with the coating of fish scales! This was a great end to a fantastic trip to paradise; I really hope to go back...