If your idea of a holiday involves sand, water and a phone left firmly on do-not-disturb, a new round-up of luxury island retreats offers plenty of material. The picks span five continents and range from marina apartments you can actually buy to a restored samurai-era inn on a Japanese citrus island.
In the Bahamas, Palm Cay is a gated resort community on the southeastern tip of New Providence, with paddleboarding, tennis, pickleball, padel, a spa and a beach club serving dinner on the sand. Unusually for a holiday list, it's also a property play: marina apartments and penthouses cost from $700,000 to $6m, with a rental management programme and tax-free residency on the table.
The Maldives features twice. Milaidhoo, inside a Unesco Biosphere Reserve, does lagoon and beach villas with private pools, a lively house reef, and a restaurant set aboard a handcrafted wooden boat with Spice Route-inspired menus. Fushifaru, reached by a 35-minute seaplane flight from Velana International, sits on the largest natural sandbank in Lhaviyani Atoll, with 63 beach and water villas, a Marine Protected Area full of dive sites, and the option of a private dinner for two on the sand. Both currently have 20 per cent discounts running.
Thailand's entry is Six Senses Samui, a cluster of 67 naturally built villas on a headland at the island's northern tip, styled like a Thai fishing village. Most have private pools, guests get a dedicated 'GEM' fixer for boat trips and jungle drives, and the clifftop Dining on the Rocks restaurant is an event in itself. There's 20 per cent off stays of four nights or more.
For something closer to a city break, Éteka on Colombia's Tierra Bomba Island is a 10-room boutique hotel a short boat ride from Cartagena's old town, all grass-roofed cabins, mangroves, Indigenous-inspired spa treatments and Caribbean cooking under the stars.
Mauritius also gets two nods: Le Méridien Île Maurice on the northwest coast, with seven-night September all-inclusive deals from £2,099 per person, and Paradise Cove, an adults-only five-star on the north coast positioning itself as a calm alternative to a festive-season blow-out.
Further afield, Sharazād runs two Zanzibar addresses — a barefoot beach retreat in Jambiani and a hideaway in Unesco-listed Stone Town — while NINE DOTS in Ponta Delgada turns two historic Azorean buildings into an art-filled wellness hotel with a saltwater pool set behind volcanic stone arches. And for a genuinely different island stay, Azumi Setoda on Ikuchijima in Japan's Seto Inland Sea is a 150-year-old family estate reborn as a four-room inn on the 'lemon island', with cycling on the Shimanami Kaido route right on the doorstep.
If booking boats rather than beds is more your thing, Momentum Yachting offers tailored Greek charters from Mykonos and Paros to Crete and Athens.
The common thread is slow, low-key luxury rather than party resorts — so this suits couples, honeymooners and anyone craving a proper switch-off, with options for families (Six Senses, Le Méridien) and even buyers (Palm Cay) mixed in.