Maldive islands on top and Maui falls from top, no longer best island

Maui fell off its perch as the Best Island in the World this week, finishing second to the Maldives, which are not one island but about 200 tiny islets a few hundred miles from Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean.

It’s fortunate that the tourists who read Conde Nast Traveler magazine like the Maldives, because aside from tourism, the only export is a local form of bagoong popular in India. It is also the lowest country in the world – the highest hill is less than 8 feet above sea level – and the government is alarmed that rising sea levels will erase it within a century.

That total score also made Maldives the highest-rated destination in the world in the magazine’s Readers Choice poll. At the same time, Maldives is not nearly as much competition for Maui as lower-rated but bigger and closer resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean – or even Kauai, which was ranked the second best Pacific island.

The complete list of winners will not be revealed until Conde Nast Traveler’s November issue is on newsstands Tuesday, but Four Seasons Resort Lana’i, The Lodge at Koele was picked by 21,000 readers as the top resort in the Pacific Rim. Don’t rush over yet; the lodge is closed for renovations.

The Maldives was not really on Vencl’s radar screen, although she never expected that Maui would lose its top ranking.

Source: gnatoll .com