Nearly 800,000 travellers have spoken. Condé Nast Traveler's 39th Readers' Choice Awards drew 798,867 votes this year, and the resulting best-resorts list is a globe-spanning mix of Caribbean private islands, Gulf overwater villas, alpine palaces and one car-free American classic. Here's what made the cut and why it's worth a second look.

In Saint Lucia, Sugar Beach sits on a 100-acre hillside estate wedged between the famous Petit and Gros Piton peaks, its 130 white villas spilling down toward one of the island's best white-sand beaches. Over in the British Virgin Islands, Peter Island Resort occupies the largest private island in the chain and has rebuilt its reputation since Hurricane Irma — sustainability credentials include wind turbines that can cover up to 75% of the island's power. Also post-Irma and thriving: Cheval Blanc St-Barth Isle de France, which expanded by absorbing its neighbour, Hotel Taïwana, and now spreads along Flamands Beach with interiors by French designer Jacques Grange.

Dubai's entry is Anantara The Palm, which opened on Palm Jumeirah in 2014 and still holds the title of the Emirates' first overwater villas, with Thai design and staff reflecting the brand's origins. Oman's Six Senses Zighy Bay takes a different tack: 82 stone-walled, palm-roofed villas modelled on a traditional Omani village, backed by a desalination plant, its own farm, and boat trips that regularly turn up dolphins and eagle rays.

Europe is represented by Switzerland's Hôtel Royal on Lake Geneva, a 1909 palace with 150 renovated rooms, Carrara marble, and Les Fresques, a Michelin-starred restaurant under painted blue-and-gold ceilings.

The United States shows its range. Montage Laguna Beach puts all 263 rooms oceanfront on 30 acres of California coast, with a 20,000-square-foot spa and direct access to Treasure Island Beach. San Ysidro Ranch near Santa Barbara keeps its old Hollywood mystique — the Kennedys honeymooned there, and John Huston wrote part of The African Queen on the property. In Michigan, Grand Hotel on car-free Mackinac Island has billed itself as America's Summer Place since 1887; guests still arrive by foot, bike or horse-drawn carriage and dance to a live orchestra at night. Florida lands two spots: the family-friendly JW Marriott Orlando with its waterfall lazy river, and Maryland's Inn at Perry Cabin on the Chesapeake Bay, complete with a 1902 historic skipjack in its boat fleet.

Bermuda scores twice with Hamilton Princess — the bright pink "Pink Palace" in downtown Hamilton since 1885 — and Rosewood Bermuda, whose 88 rooms are the largest on the island and overlook Castle Harbour's pink-sand shoreline.

The takeaway? Readers this year rewarded places with a strong sense of identity: sustainability, history, or sheer drama of setting, rather than generic polish. Whether your style is a mountain-ringed spa town, a private island, or an old-fashioned summer resort, there's a vote-backed pick for you.