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35 matches

Andaman Islands

Northern Indian Ocean

Closer to Myanmar than to mainland India, with one island that no one is allowed to visit.

Hidden gemsDivingBudget
INRHindi

Azores

Macaronesia

Flores and Corvo sit on the North American plate; the other seven islands do not.

Eco leadersAdventureHidden gems
EURPortuguese

Bali

Lesser Sunda Islands

Indonesia's Hindu island, where Nyepi closes the airport for 24 hours.

WellnessCultureBudget
IDRIndonesian

Bermuda

North Atlantic

Not Caribbean at all — it lies about 1,000 kilometres off North Carolina in the North Atlantic.

LuxuryRomanceSailing
BMDEnglish

Big Island

Hawaii

Measured from its base on the seafloor, Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain on Earth.

AdventureEco leadersHidden gems
USDEnglish

Bora Bora

French Polynesia

Its airstrip is a 1943 American wartime airfield, French Polynesia's only air gateway until 1960.

LuxuryRomanceDiving
XPFFrench

Cape Verde

Macaronesia

Cidade Velha, founded in 1462, was the first European town built anywhere in the tropics.

FestivalsBudgetHidden gems
CVEPortuguese

Cook Islands

Polynesia

Rarotonga's bus timetable has two entries: clockwise and anticlockwise.

RomanceHidden gemsDiving
NZDEnglish

Corsica

Western Mediterranean

The GR20 runs 180 kilometres along the island's spine and is rated Europe's hardest waymarked trail.

AdventureHidden gemsSailing
EURFrench

Cyprus

Eastern Mediterranean

Nicosia is the last capital in Europe still split by a buffer zone.

CultureBudgetFamily
EURGreek

Fiji

Melanesia

The 180th meridian runs straight through Taveuni, marked by a signpost in a field.

FamilyDivingRomance
FJDEnglish

Fuerteventura

Canary Islands

The oldest and windiest of the Canaries, sitting about 100 kilometres off the African coast.

AdventureBudgetHidden gems
EURSpanish

Galápagos

Eastern Pacific

Ninety-seven per cent of the land is national park, and most of it needs a licensed guide.

Eco leadersAdventureDiving
USDSpanish

Gran Canaria

Canary Islands

Columbus stopped here in 1492 to repair the Pinta's rudder before crossing the Atlantic.

FamilyBudgetRemote work
EURSpanish

Kauai

Hawaii

No road crosses the Nā Pali Coast; its twenty-seven kilometres are reached on foot, by boat or by air.

AdventureEco leadersRomance
USDEnglish

Lanzarote

Canary Islands

A single eruption ran for six years, from 1730 to 1736, and buried about a quarter of the island.

Eco leadersAdventureHidden gems
EURSpanish

Madagascar

Western Indian Ocean

Every lemur species on Earth lives here, and only here.

Eco leadersAdventureHidden gems
MGAMalagasy

Madeira

Macaronesia

More than 2,000 kilometres of hand-cut irrigation channels double as the island's footpaths.

AdventureEco leadersRemote work
EURPortuguese

Maldives

Northern Indian Ocean

The flattest country on Earth — its highest natural point is about 2.4 metres.

LuxuryRomanceDiving
MVRDhivehi

Maui

Hawaii

Sunrise from the Haleakalā summit is by reservation only, booked in advance.

FamilyAdventureRomance
USDEnglish

Mauritius

Western Indian Ocean

The only island the dodo ever lived on, and it was gone less than a century after sailors arrived.

FamilyLuxuryDiving
MUREnglish

Moorea

French Polynesia

Visible from Papeete's waterfront, and 17 kilometres away by a half-hour ferry.

RomanceDivingAdventure
XPFFrench

New Caledonia

Melanesia

Its barrier reef encloses a lagoon of 24,000 square kilometres, UNESCO-listed since 2008.

DivingEco leadersSailing
XPFFrench

Oahu

Hawaii

Hawai'i's third-largest island, carrying about two-thirds of the state's population.

FamilyNightlifeCulture
USDEnglish

Réunion

Western Indian Ocean

Mafate has no road in; the cirque is reached on foot or by helicopter.

AdventureEco leadersHidden gems
EURFrench

Samoa

Polynesia

In December 2011 Samoa jumped the date line and deleted 30 December from its calendar.

CultureHidden gemsAdventure
WSTSamoan

Santorini

Eastern Mediterranean

Villages perched on the rim of a caldera left by an eruption around 1600 BCE.

RomanceLuxuryCulture
EURGreek

Sardinia

Western Mediterranean

About 7,000 Bronze Age stone towers stand here — a density found nowhere else.

SailingLuxuryFoodie
EURItalian

Seychelles

Western Indian Ocean

The coco de mer, the heaviest seed of any plant, grows wild in two valleys and nowhere else.

LuxuryRomanceEco leaders
SCREnglish

Sicily

Western Mediterranean

Some of the best-preserved Greek temples anywhere are here, not in Greece.

CultureFoodieBudget
EURItalian

Sri Lanka

Northern Indian Ocean

A fig tree planted at Anuradhapura in 288 BCE is the oldest planted tree with a written record.

CultureBudgetAdventure
LKRSinhala

Tahiti

French Polynesia

Teahupo'o, on the south coast, staged the surfing events of the 2024 Olympics.

CultureAdventureDiving
XPFFrench

Tenerife

Canary Islands

Spain's highest mountain is on this island, and the last stretch to the top needs a permit.

FamilyAdventureBudget
EURSpanish

Vanuatu

Melanesia

Land diving on Pentecost, done with vines rather than elastic, is where bungee jumping came from.

AdventureHidden gemsDiving
VUVBislama

Zanzibar

Western Indian Ocean

The shortest war on record was fought here in 1896 and lasted about 38 minutes.

CultureBudgetDiving
TZSSwahili