In short
Malé occupies less than two square kilometres and holds nearly a quarter of the Maldivian population. It is one of the most densely populated cities on the planet, and it looks nothing like the country's photographs.
The Maldives have twenty-six atolls and more than a thousand islands. Resorts each occupy a whole island; the inhabited islands have been open to visitors since 2009.
What it really costs
The country has a reputation for being out of reach, and that is true of the one-island-one-resort model. Since guesthouses opened on local islands — Maafushi, Thulusdhoo, Dhigurah — a stay costs a fraction of that.
Internal transport dominates the budget: the public ferry is slow and cheap, the speedboat fast and expensive, the seaplane reserved for distant atolls.
What nobody tells you
On inhabited islands, Islamic law applies: no alcohol, no pork, and swimwear is confined to designated bikini beaches. Private resorts are the exception.
The public ferry does not run on Fridays, the day of prayer, and its timetable is reduced. Many itineraries come unstuck on this point.
The country's high point is under three metres above sea level. Rising seas are not an abstraction here: they shape national politics.