If what you want is utter seclusion and perfect peace, in a location off-limits to everyone but the resort staff and a few other guests, then a private island is the only place to go. Here are our favourites selection for you from around the world.
BAWAH RESERVE, INDONESIA
Opened in July 2017, Bawah is one of the world’s most exciting hideaways: remote, beautiful and with bar-raising environmental policies. Days can be spent hiking through butterfly-filled primary rainforest, gliding over pink, purple and electric-blue corals and snorkelling. The 36 villas, 11 of which are stilted above the water, are made from recycled teak and local bamboo and fit effortlessly into the scheme of things.
The best time to visit this island is between May and September.
GLADDEN, BELIZE
This is probably the most reclusive island escape out there – and yet also the most indulgent, too. A place where it feels like you are the only people on the planet, but a Daiquiri is only a wave of the hand away. From the roof terrace, the Maya Mountains shimmer in the distance and all around the island is calm blue. This is in a protected marine reserve, with whale sharks and pods of dolphins.
The best time to visit the island is between March and May.
VOAVAH, MALDIVES
Already known for running one of the loveliest hotels in the Maldives (Landaa Giraavaru), Four Seasons has taken things up a notch with the opening of Voavah. With seven bedrooms set across the five acres, it’s an extraordinary all-singing, all-dancing playground of a place. This is in the Baa Atoll, a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, so the best-in-the-world snorkelling is taken as read.
But there are surprises too.
The best time to visit this island is between November and April
CEMPEDAK, INDONESIA
Its 20 villas, peppered across rugged beach and through a jungly interior packed with soaring fig and pandan trees, are the brainchild of hotelier Andrew Dixon, who opened eco-trailblazer Nikoi Island in the same archipelago a decade ago. Regulars clamoured for an adults-only escape, and here is his answer. Dixon’s commitment to environmentalism means solar panels and waste-water gardens, zero plastic waste and no air-con. Indonesian bamboo has been used to build the villas, breath taking raised walkways and a restaurant that stretches oceanward in frond-like tendrils.
The best time to visit this island is between January and February and May to October.
KOKOMO, FIJI
Few places in Fiji combine culture with a barefoot vibe like Kokomo. It sits on the edge of the Kadavu archipelago, encircled by the Great Astrolabe Reef, one of the largest and most immaculate reefs in the world, far away from the mainland crowds. The 21 beachside bures and five hilltop villas are filled with authentic Fijian touched and have walled gardens heady with the scent of frangipani. Kokomo is a feast of a place, putting this speck in the South Pacific on the epicurean map.
The best time to visit this island is between late October to early November.
For more information on the above islands or to make a booking, please contact your travel manager.