Five more private island hotels

Parrot Cay, Turks & Caicos

Though not technically in the Caribbean – the waters here are Atlantic and chillier – the 1,000-acre Parrot Cay is arguably the loveliest, most laid-back private-island hotel in the Americas. Created by Christina Ong, whose Como group of hotels includes the Metropolitan in London, there’s an Asian flavour to the New England-style beach houses and a high proportion of Asian staff, so to some extent it lacks a sense of place. But its atmosphere is cool and utterly relaxing; it’s flawlessly run; its spa is outstanding; and its mile-long, powdery white sand beach is among the finest.

Doubles from $696. www.parrotcay.como.bz

Bedarra, Australia

Australia’s Queensland coast is also rich in private-island hotels, notably Lizard Island, Hayman in the Whitsundays archipelago, and Bedarra, a speck of a place 2.5 miles offshore, cloaked in a luxuriant jungle of banyans, tree ferns, lianas and vines, and girded with white-sand beaches. With just 16 villas (opt for one of the treetop Pavilions, where the plunge pools appear to be suspended from the decks), there are never more than 32 guests, so you have a good chance of having a beach to yourself.

Doubles from A$2,888 (£1,782) including all meals, drinks and dinghy use; four-night minimum stay, www.bedarra.com.au

Nikoi, Indonesia

Back in 2003, three expats working in Singapore heard of an island for sale 8km east of the mass-market resort island of Bintan in the South China Sea. They set out to explore in a fishing boat and found 15ha of white shell-strewn beaches, rock formations, virgin rainforest, as well as colossal banyan trees and mangroves. So they bought it, intending to use it as a private retreat. When the pleasures of camping began to pall, they built a “kampong” or village; then half a dozen beach houses; and hired staff. By 2007 it made sense to open it as a hotel, so a sand-floored clubhouse with a restaurant and bar, as well as a pool and nine further beach houses have been added, though the environmentally sensitive, boho, family-friendly vibe remains intact.

Doubles from SGD$330 (£160); www.nikoi.com

North Island, Seychelles

The northernmost of the 115 islands that make up Seychelles, this is both a nature conservancy and a very private resort of 11 ruinously expensive thatched villas. Attracted by its “potential as a sanctuary where natural habitats could be rehabilitated”, the South African company Wilderness Safaris cleared the island of cats, rats, pigs and half its vegetation, restocking with endangered plants and wildlife – giant tortoises, fruit bats, birds – which now number 200,000 species.

€1,835 per person per night, including all meals, drinks, spa treatments, scuba diving etc; www.north-island.com

Taprobane Island, Sri Lanka

Just 200m off Sri Lanka’s south coast – you can wade across the narrow strait at low tide; otherwise it’s an elephant ride – this 2.5-acre islet, once owned by the writer Paul Bowles, has one fine colonial beach house from the 1920s with five rooms and five staff, surrounded by gardens and the Indian Ocean. The only hitch: you have to book the whole place.

From $1,000 (sleeps 10); www.taprobaneisland.com