FAMILY TRAVEL: Q&A - Take the plunge in the Maldives

The Independent Parent: Your Questions Answered

Q.We would like to visit the Maldives next year - my husband is keen to learn to dive - but our son will only be two. We are getting conflicting advice about whether to go there or not. If we do, which island should we choose?

Mrs Y Olivecky

Birmingham

A.There are no problems about taking young children to the Maldives - apart from the long flight - that cannot be overcome with common sense. Indeed, there are several advantages; the lack of malaria, snakes or poisonous insects; there is no violence on the islands, and the people are exceptionally gentle. Even the food - very often bland and Westernised, which many holidaymakers consider a drawback - is suited to children; the water is safe to drink, but it tends to be far too saline for children's palates, so you'll need to buy bottled water.

Your biggest health problem is the ferocity of the sunshine. On many of the beaches there is little shade, and the reflection from the white sand and the sea seem to intensify the glare and heat. So an absolute rule must be to keep your son out of the sun from 12noon to around 3.30pm, and take a mountain of cover-ups, hats, parasols and cream. Firms such as Boots and Mothercare also market a range of sunproof clothing, even baby beach tents, which are worth considering. Baby products are available in the shops, but brands are restricted and like most imported goods in the Maldives, they are expensive. The other rule is to keep up his fluid intake to what would be way above normal at home.

The journey is usually an overnight flight (returning during the day) of about 11 hours, slightly longer if there's a stop in the United Arab Emirates en route. Transfers to the individual islands from the airport are more pleasant than usual - by speedboat or seaplane, but you might baulk at the thought of another four and a half hours on top of the flight - so check this when choosing your island.

In truth, though there are officially 80 or so "designated" tourist islands out of about a thousand - the locals live in their own separate islands - it is really the hotel you should consider rather than the islands themselves, which are all pretty similar: Robinson Crusoe cliches of coconut palm- covered dots fringed first by the haloes of white sand, then calm turquoise lagoons, and finally reefs and the open sea. The larger ones you can walk round in less than 90 minutes, the smaller ones will take you about 20. There is little vegetation, no wildlife or indeed local life of any sort apart from on Male, the capital. So you really need to look carefully at your hotel since the usual ratio is one island, one hotel, and you are entirely dependent on it for all your food and entertainment.

Most hotels have their own diving schools offering PADI open- water beginners' courses which can be pre-booked in the UK or on the spot, and will cost you around pounds 200-pounds 250 for the course of nine training dives and theory lessons, and use of equipment. You yourself could try a complimentary introduction dive, and the great advantage of this is that you can do it in the shallow lagoon instead of a chlorinated swimming pool.

The hotels vary widely from simple "no shoes, no news" islands to all- inclusive and five-star deluxe establishments where you can stroll on manicured lawns and dine off lobster, roast beef, sashimi, apple strudel or French cheese.

The hotel pre-requisites for your son - apart from the distance from the airport - should also include air-conditioning and some form of playground activities for youngsters. At the age of two, you should also avoid one of the stilted bungalows over the water (which are much sought-after and usually more expensive).

My two suggestions are Bandos, only 20 minutes by speedboat from the airport, and one of the larger islands with a lovely beach (with shade at the back) and an uninhabited island you can speed to nearby. The air- conditioned hotel has a 24-hour coffee shop as well as other restaurants, a sports area, a freshwater pool, children's play area and kindergarten. The hotel has its own diving school with snorkelling, windsurfing and catamaran-sailing for beginners.

The more luxurious Rangali Hilton on the Ari Atoll is reached by seaplane and also has a diving school and watersports, floodlit tennis and a separate pool for children. The accommodation is split between two islands, with water bungalows on the smaller islet.

Finally, if you are a real Robinson Crusoe family, consider Ari Beach (two and a half hours by speedboat, 30 minutes by seaplane), where the restaurants are in the open, bars have sand floors, simply thatched family rooms can sleep up to four people, and bathrooms are in the open air. There are several different beaches (with good shade), an excellent diving and watersports school, but no pool.

The best time to visit the Maldives is before the end of May since the weather turns steamy and wet between June and October. Kuoni (01306 743000) is the largest Maldives tour operator, offering packages to 18 islands. A week's B&B in Bandos for example costs from pounds 627 (in January), rising to pounds 964 in July and August.

Look out for family-friendly deals in April and May at Bandos and Ari Beach, when children under 12 who share with parents will pay only pounds 299 for seven or 14 nights, which includes flights and half-board accommodation.

Q.I would like to take my 13-year-old daughter away for a weekend that does not involve physical activities - preferably an art and craft weekend or pottering around a city. As my daughter has a severe peanut allergy, we would need to go self-catering.

Ms T Rust

London W5

A.My first suggestion is to get hold of the dreary-sounding but invaluable booklet "Time to Learn", published by NIACE (National Institute of Adult Continuing Education). This is a directory of learning, study and hobby holidays, printed twice a year and costing pounds 4.95 from NIACE, Publication Sales, 21 De Montfort Street, Leicester LE1 7GE (0116- 204 4200). The summer 2000 version is due out on 21 January.

Each booklet lists about 2,000 different weeks or weekends run by 70 or so centres, some of which offer self-catering. The choice of subjects is vast, from studying still life art or batik to doll-making, enamelling, jewellery-making, fashion designs, goldsmithing, quilting, stained glass and wood engraving. The courses cost anything from pounds 80 to pounds 150 for a three- night weekend, and are run in a variety of college halls, residential centres and summer schools. There are also suggestions for holiday courses abroad.

A Lake District study centre that has its own self-catering cottages, The Field Studies Council's Blencathra Centre (017687 79601) in a great setting on a mountainside near Keswick, offers around 40 courses, including painting and drawing, basket-making and identifying spring flowers. You would pay around pounds 85 each for tuition, while a cottage for two, which you normally have to book for the week, would cost pounds 150 to pounds 230. However, if the cottages are not booked, the FSC allows you to book it just for the weekend at a much-reduced fee.

Two other suggestions: Acorn Activities (01432 830083), in Herefordshire, offers a range of courses, based largely in Wales and the Borders. Among these are beadwork and Bonsai, china painting, fabric sculpture, flower arranging, marquetry, even tapestry and Victorian applique on glass. The firm claims to have catered for many holidaymakers who need special diets, either at specified hotels, or, on request in local farmhouses (where the owners would allow you to use their kitchen) or in cottages. The firm will also supply details on request of caravan sites with good facilities that are close to the various activities.

Acorn's courses cost from around pounds 100 for a weekend's "Watercolours" or "Drawing for the Terrified", pounds 120 to pounds 200 for "Furniture Restoration"or "Silversmith and Jewellery". On top of this, you have to pay for the accommodation of your choice.

If you prefer to head east, Anglian Activities (01603 700770) also uses a range of accommodation - including the Sprowston Manor Hotel in Norwich, which claims to cater for nut allergies - for around pounds 80 per person per night, B&B.

As for courses you might both enjoy, these include needlepoint, mosaics, watercolours or, depending on your daughter's tastes, a Pampering Day - the ultimate luxury body day (pounds 105) - including treatments such as a hydrotherapy bath, hydro-massage, jacuzzi, sauna and manicure. If you took a one-day course, it would leave you a day free for pottering, and few cities are more pleasant to wander around than Norwich.