All Destinations

Croatia's sunniest island receives over 2,700 hours of sunshine per year — more than anywhere else in the country. The Stari Grad Plain (UNESCO) was laid out by Greek colonists in 384 BC in a geometric field system unchanged for 2,400 years. Hvar Town's limestone piazza, backed by the Fortica fortress and facing the Pakleni Islands, is the most glamorous harbour scene in the Adriatic.

The third-largest Balearic Island wraps two completely different identities into one Mediterranean idyll — the UNESCO-listed Renaissance walls of Dalt Vila, the most complete coastal fortifications in the Mediterranean, sit above an island that hosts the world's most influential club scene (Pacha since 1973, Amnesia, Ushuaïa, DC10, Hï Ibiza). Two-thirds of the island is protected: Ses Salines Natural Park where Phoenicians have harvested salt for 2,700 years, the underwater Posidonia seagrass meadows that produce the clearest water in Spain, and the rural north of pine-forested fincas and almond groves. Cala Comte sunsets, Es Vedrà mythology, and 30-minute ferry rides to Formentera's white-sand beaches round out an island that delivers everything from teenage stag weekends to UNESCO archaeology.

The largest of the Inner Hebrides at 1,656 km², connected to mainland Scotland by the Skye Bridge since 1995 (the toll abolished in 2004 after a long civil-disobedience campaign by islanders refusing to pay). The population is just 10,000 but the island receives 600,000+ tourists a year — a 60-to-1 ratio that has caused real strain on infrastructure (Fairy Pools car-park gridlock is famous). The Old Man of Storr basalt pinnacle, the Quiraing landslip ridge, and the green Trotternish hills define the photogenic north; the Cuillin range divides into the technical Black Cuillin (gabbro and basalt, the Inaccessible Pinnacle is the only Munro requiring rock climbing) and the walkable Red Cuillin. Skye is the spiritual heartland of Gaelic Scotland — about 30% of residents have some Gaelic, and Sabhal Mòr Ostaig on Sleat is the main Gaelic-medium college. Talisker (founded 1830) on the western shore is the island's only legal distillery. Closest airport: Inverness (INV), then a 2.5-hour drive across the Skye Bridge.

South Korea's volcanic island paradise holds a UNESCO triple crown — biosphere reserve, world natural heritage, and global geopark — for Hallasan (1,950m, Korea's highest peak), Seongsan Ilchulbong (a tuff cone rising from the sea), and Manjanggul (one of the world's longest lava tubes at 13 km). The busiest air route in the world runs Seoul–Jeju; 15 million visitors come annually. Jeju has its own visa exemption — 30 days for most nationalities without a Korean visa.

The oldest of the main Hawaiian islands at 5.1 million years — long enough for erosion to carve the cathedral-green Na Pali Coast cliffs (1,200 m straight from the Pacific) and Waimea Canyon, the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific". Mount Waiʻaleʻale at the centre is among the wettest spots on Earth (~9,500 mm of rain a year), feeding seven rivers that pour out across taro-field valleys to Hanalei Bay’s 3-km golden crescent. The county forbids any building taller than a coconut palm, half the island remains undeveloped, and the only road around it dead-ends 27 km short of completing the loop — making the Na Pali Coast accessible only by foot, boat, or helicopter. The "Garden Isle" is the slowest-paced and most photogenic of the Hawaiian islands.

Koh Phi Phi is six islands in the Andaman Sea between Phuket and Krabi, the most famous of which are Phi Phi Don, the inhabited backpacker hub with no roads and a maze of pedestrian sois, and Phi Phi Leh, the uninhabited limestone fortress whose Maya Bay starred in The Beach. Maya Bay reopened in 2022 with daily caps, mooring bans, and a strict no-swimming-on-the-bay-side rule that lets the coral recover. Ferries take 90 minutes from Phuket or Krabi. Days revolve around longtail island-hopping and snorkel stops; nights revolve around fire-show beach bars on Loh Dalum Bay and the cheapest bucket cocktails in Thailand.

Thailand's second-largest island after Phuket (228 km²), in the Gulf of Thailand off the eastern coast — circled by a single 50-kilometre ring road that takes about 90 minutes to drive in full and connects every major beach. There were no roads on Samui at all until 1970, and the Bangkok Airways-built Samui Airport (USM, 1989) transformed the island in a single generation. The 12-metre golden Big Buddha (Wat Phra Yai) on the connected islet of Koh Faan has greeted arriving flights since 1972 and remains the most visible landmark. Chaweng Beach is the longest and liveliest stretch on the east coast; Lamai is the second beach, calmer; Bophut's Fisherman's Village preserves Chinese-Thai shophouses. The Full Moon Party rave is on neighbouring Koh Phangan (20 minutes by ferry); Koh Tao for diving sits two hours further north. Crucially, Samui's weather is opposite to Phuket's — wet October through December (when Phuket is dry), dry January through September.

Home of the Komodo dragon and some of Indonesia's best diving. Pink beaches, manta rays, and the dramatic Padar Island viewpoint make this a nature lover's paradise.

A duty-free island paradise in the Andaman Sea — UNESCO Geopark with dramatic limestone formations, SkyBridge, mangrove kayaking, and pristine beaches at a fraction of Thailand island prices.

Bali's quieter neighbor offers pristine beaches, world-class surf, the challenging Mount Rinjani trek, and the idyllic Gili Islands just offshore. Less developed and more affordable than Bali, with a distinctive Sasak culture.

Portugal's "Island of Eternal Spring" in the Atlantic has never had a winter — subtropical laurel forests (UNESCO World Heritage), 400 km of levada irrigation channels converted into hiking trails, the highest sea cliff in Europe at Cabo Girão (580m), and wicker-basket toboggan rides down Funchal's hills. Cristiano Ronaldo was born here. Madeira wine is made nowhere else on earth; poncha (local rum, honey, lemon) is the island's contribution to cocktail culture.

The Maldives is the ultimate tropical escape — 1,190 coral islands scattered across the Indian Ocean, with some of the clearest water on earth. Overwater villas, world-class diving and snorkeling, and sunsets that defy description. While luxury resorts dominate, guesthouses on local islands offer a more affordable and authentic experience.

The largest of the Balearics — Palma's Gothic cathedral La Seu rises straight from the harbour, the Serra de Tramuntana's UNESCO cultural landscape protects 1,000-year-old terraced olive groves, and Cap de Formentor's lighthouse marks the dramatic northern tip. Deià was Robert Graves's village; Valldemossa hosted Chopin and George Sand for one famous winter; Sa Calobra and Cala Mondragó are the headline coves. Spring (April–June) and autumn (September–October) are the sweet spots before German charter season.

A 100-square-mile triangular island seven miles south of Cape Cod, reached by a 45-minute Steamship Authority car ferry from Woods Hole. Six distinct towns share the island, each with its own personality: white-clapboard Edgartown of sea-captain mansions, the working ferry port of Vineyard Haven, the gingerbread-cottage Methodist camp meeting at Oak Bluffs, the Wampanoag tribal lands and 150-foot striated clay cliffs at Aquinnah, plus rural Chilmark and West Tisbury inland. The Vineyard's Camelot legacy runs from JFK summers through the Obama family's recurring August stays at Blue Heron Farm.

Hawaii's second-largest island — the Road to Hana's 620 curves and 59 bridges past waterfalls and bamboo forests, sunrise above the clouds at Haleakalā's 10,023-ft summit crater, winter humpback whales in the Auʻau Channel, and the snorkel-famous Molokini crater. Lahaina's historic town was devastated by the August 2023 wildfire — visiting West Maui responsibly supports recovery. Kāʻanapali, Wailea, and Kīhei host the resort zones; Pāʻia and Upcountry Makawao are the laid-back alternatives.

Mark Twain wrote that heaven was copied from Mauritius — and the Indian Ocean island earns the comparison. Le Morne Brabant (UNESCO), the seven-coloured earths of Chamarel, Black River Gorges National Park with endemic pink pigeons and Mauritius kestrels, Blue Bay marine park, and the multicultural street food of Port Louis Central Market. The dodo's last home is now one of the world's most welcoming destinations.

The Cycladic island that defines the Greek summer — Chora's whitewashed Cycladic alleyways and 16th-century windmills frame Little Venice's seafront balconies. Paradise and Super Paradise are the loudest beach clubs in the Mediterranean; Psarou and Agios Sostis are the calmest. Boats run hourly to UNESCO Delos, the sacred birthplace of Apollo and Artemis and one of the most extensively excavated sites in the Aegean. June–September is high season; July–August is when prices triple and clubs run until dawn.

A crescent-shaped 48-square-mile island 30 miles south of Cape Cod, named the Faraway Land by the Wampanoag and once the wealthiest port in the world during the 1820s peak of the Nantucket whaling fleet. When kerosene replaced whale oil and the harbour silted up in the late 19th century, the entire town fossilised in place, leaving the largest concentration of pre-1850 architecture in the United States: cobblestone Main Street, 800-plus surviving Federal and Greek Revival houses, and the Whaling Museum in the old Hadwen and Barney Oil Refinery. Daily ferries from Hyannis run one hour by fast catamaran or 2.25 hours by traditional ferry.

A 14 sq km island in the Seto Inland Sea reborn as one of the world's most ambitious open-air contemporary art experiments. The Benesse Art Site has wrapped the south end in Tadao Ando concrete; Yayoi Kusama's polka-dot Yellow Pumpkin sits on a private pier; the Chichu Art Museum is sunk into a hillside to hold three Monet Water Lilies, a James Turrell skyspace, and a Walter De Maria room. The Honmura village houses are themselves the artworks. Reach by ferry from Uno Port, an hour from Okayama on the mainland.

The largest Cyclades island (430 km², 20K residents) is the most agriculturally self-sufficient and the best-value Cycladic base — the iconic Portara doorway from a 6th-century BC unfinished Apollo temple silhouetted at sunset, the Venetian Kastro of Naxos Town, the highest peak in the Cyclades (Mt Zeus, 1,003m, with the Cave of Zas where the king of the gods was hidden), the marble-paved mountain village of Apeiranthos, the 4 km Plaka beach arc, and the unique Kitron citrus liqueur from Halki’s 1896 Vallindras Distillery.

Hawaii's most populated island packs Waikiki Beach's surf, Pearl Harbor's history, the North Shore's legendary winter waves, Hanauma Bay's snorkel reef, and Diamond Head's crater hike into one island you can drive around in a day. Honolulu's Chinatown is unexpectedly great for food and art.

Japan's subtropical island chain has a culture distinctly its own — the Ryukyu Kingdom (1429–1879) left Shuri Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site rebuilt after its 2019 fire, and a cuisine defined by champuru stir-fry, awamori liquor, and the "Okinawa diet" that helped create one of the world's highest concentrations of centenarians. The Kerama Islands 30 minutes by ferry have water clarity among the finest in Asia. The US military controls 30% of the main island's land area — a geopolitical reality woven into daily life.

The Cyclades island that delivers the Mykonos atmosphere at 30–40% lower prices — Naoussa’s photogenic harbour with a half-submerged 15th-century Venetian Kastro at the entrance, Parikia’s marble-paved Old Town centred on Panagia Ekatontapyliani (one of the oldest continuously functioning Christian churches in the world), the marble quarries at Marathi where the Venus de Milo was carved, the Lefkes mountain village and its 1,000-year-old Byzantine Path, Golden Beach’s windsurfing scene, and the 7-minute ferry to Antiparos with its spectacular cave.

Malaysia's food capital is an island of incredible hawker food, vibrant street art in George Town's UNESCO-listed core, colorful temples, and colonial mansions. One of Southeast Asia's best-value food destinations.