Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Kuda Huraa

Thatched pavilions, beach houses, and "water bungalows" built on stilts over a lagoon mingle with the warm waters of the Indian Ocean at Four Seasons Resort, Maldives at Kuda Huraa.

With the right perspective, it's easy to imagine Four Seasons Resort, Maldives at Kuda Huraa as some kind of cosmic fluke. Few places take perfect advantage of the Earth's axis, then top it off with some of the most dazzling geology the known universe has to offer.

Exhibit A: the resort's equatorial location, where the temperature stays between 78F and 88F all year long. Exhibit B: the resort's position on a coral island, itself part of a larger atoll, in the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean.

Space is at a premium on this sliver of an island. It would almost be enough to induce claustrophobia in land-lubbing Westerners (used to entire continents of solid ground) if the result wasn't some of the best diving the world has to offer, along with access to private cruises and nearly every water sport imaginable. Occupying an even smaller island within shouting distance is the Four Seasons, Maldives at Kuda Huraa Spa, where indigenous treatments are administered by expert staff.