Volume V

Islands and atolls

Which atoll, which villa, which side of the island. The details that decide a week.

Written up

Two stays, with the five notes on each.

Baa Atoll, Maldives

Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu

A Maldivian-owned island in Baa Atoll, ninety-eight thatched villas hidden under the trees it was built around. I have been back four times, which is the review.

Huvadhoo Atoll, Maldives

Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa

An island with nothing on the horizon, fifty kilometres north of the equator.

Outside the groups

Houses here that belong to no chain.

They are a mix. A hotel run by the family that owns it, a villa, a house of a few rooms on an island, and here and there a larger place that sits outside the programmes anyway. No group stands behind any of them, and several appear on no booking portal at all. I have stayed in all of them, several over a number of years. Tell me what the trip has to do and I will say which one fits, and where there is nothing to book online I write to the owner myself.

A turquoise open jeep lettered Hotel Wailea, with striped seats and a fringed canvas canopy, parked in front of a shingled building — Maui, Hawaii

Loungers and a palm thatch shade on white sand, with ochre and yellow cottages on the wooded hill above — Long Island, Bahamas

Woven lanterns strung between two palms over a terrace of wicker chairs, turquoise parasols on the sand beyond — Turks and Caicos

A long table on a veranda under a lattice ceiling, the day's things left on it — Cat Island, Bahamas

A weathered brass plaque reading The Landing on a white rendered wall, beside a white colonnade under palm fronds — Harbour Island, Bahamas

A four poster bed draped in white mosquito netting in a timber villa under a thatched roof — Maldives

A lounge with surfboards slung from the white boarded ceiling, long green banquettes and rattan armchairs — Oahu, Hawaii

The sea seen from a shaded balcony over a clipped hedge, palms and white parasols on the sand — Turks and Caicos

Two log armchairs on a timber veranda looking along a turquoise bay to the far point — Long Island, Bahamas

Dozens of woven lanterns lit among the palms over a lounge at night — Turks and Caicos

A pool above the sea at dusk, seen through the trees — Rarotonga, Cook Islands

Two canvas beach cabanas open to the sand and the sea — Providenciales, Turks and Caicos

A pale blue beach house with a fretted roof on the dune, a thatch parasol on the sand in front of it — Harbour Island, Bahamas

A single striped lounger on white sand framed by the thatch eave of a villa — Maldives

A bed under a mosquito net in a timber cabin, a striped rug on the floor — Cat Island, Bahamas

A long dark reflecting table set with glass hurricane lamps, palms and the sunset doubled in its surface — Turks and Caicos

Two parasols seen from underneath against a hard blue sky, a palm crown at the edge of the frame — Maui, Hawaii

White wicker armchairs on a shaded timber veranda with louvred shutters and palms beyond the rail — Harbour Island, Bahamas

A glass-gabled pavilion behind a long pool with white parasols and loungers, framed by palms bending in the wind, with a planted bed in the foreground — Turks and Caicos

Looking out over a dense palm canopy and two thatched roofs to a white beach, a turquoise lagoon and a long row of overwater villas on a jetty, with open ocean and a far island behind — Maldives

Yellow, white, blue, green and red parasols over tables on a timber deck above the turquoise shallows — Long Island, Bahamas

A single deckchair on an empty beach under a palm frond — Cat Island, Bahamas

A timber boardwalk with rope rails running straight out of the dune grass onto the beach and the turquoise shallows — Turks and Caicos

A caned sleigh sofa and a tall pedimented bookcase in a white boarded room on a dark timber floor — Harbour Island, Bahamas

A restaurant table of live edge timber set with chopsticks on a terrace above an infinity pool, palms and the sea beyond — Oahu, Hawaii

A long pool at dusk with a row of white loungers and a gabled glass fronted pavilion behind it — Turks and Caicos

A yellow timber room with a kitchen counter and red stools, green painted floor — Cat Island, Bahamas

A white sail canopy strung between poles over two loungers on the sand, with overwater villas across the lagoon — Maldives

Two loungers dressed in red and purple towels under a lilac parasol, pale blue cottages on the dune above — Harbour Island, Bahamas

A pool in a lawn under tall palms, green hills rising behind — Rarotonga, Cook Islands

A long pool running towards the sea between palms, with loungers and a timber cabana along one side — Turks and Caicos

A small fishing boat at anchor on flat turquoise water off an empty white beach — Long Island, Bahamas

A single parasol on an empty white beach above turquoise water — Providenciales, Turks and Caicos

A wooden daybed with red cushions under a lattice pergola, the sea beyond the palms — Cat Island, Bahamas

A timber boardwalk running down through sea grape to a pale blue beach house and the water beyond — Harbour Island, Bahamas

A path between two white four storey wings, palms and the last of the sunset in the gap between them — Turks and Caicos

A row of timber loungers under white sail canopies on an empty beach — Maldives

The names stay off this page. They come with the inspection, or by email. More of them here.

On foot

The ground, where I stood on it.

Burgundy velvet slippers on a weathered wooden jetty above turquoise water

Park Hyatt Maldives HadahaaMaldives

Olive fringed loafers on grass beside a cluster of frangipani flowers

Four Seasons O'ahu at Ko OlinaHawaii

Blue espadrilles on a cobalt mosaic pool edge

Le VeleTurks and Caicos

Ask about Islands and atolls

Tell me the month and who is travelling.

I come back with one or two properties, the room I would take in each, and the notes that stay off the site. In English, Italian or Spanish.

Write to me →

Or the other way

Book it yourself, with the benefits attached.

Register once through Classic Travel, and where the house sits inside one of the programmes the hotel's own rate comes with breakfast, a credit, and an upgrade when one is free.

Register with Wheresnik →