Ihaa

Thoddoo grows what the rest of the country eats — watermelon, papaya, banana, laid out in fields that run almost to the shore. It is the only island in the Maldives that smells of farmland.

Ihaa takes its name from the fibres at the top of the palm, the ones used for weaving and binding. A handful of villas, each with its own garden and pool, set back in the greenery rather than out on the sand.