The four islands covered here share warm water and long-haul flights from Europe, but they make for very different holidays. The Maldives is a country of one-resort islands where you rarely leave the hotel. Seychelles is granite, forest and ferries, best enjoyed by moving between two islands. Mauritius is a large, easy island with lagoon resorts, golf and day trips by car. Zanzibar adds Swahili culture and Stone Town, and pairs naturally with a Tanzanian safari.
Their weather also runs to different calendars. The Maldives is driest from December to April. Seychelles is calmest in the April–May and October–November changeovers between trade winds. Mauritius, in the southern hemisphere, is at its best from October to early December and in April and May, while Zanzibar's main dry season runs from June to October. With some care, one of them is in good shape in almost any month.