Loved by celebrities the world over, these slices of paradise are the perfect places for a holiday and honeymoon of a lifetime.
Book in and experience the quiet tranquility of a tropical island experience, and try your best not to stay forever. Plus, you won’t even need your passport for one of them.
1. Huvafen Fushi, The Maldives
When to go
November to April is ideal, with monsoonal rains possible outside these months.
Get there
Fly to Singapore and take a connection to Malé. From Malé, Huvafen Fushi is a 40-minute jet boat ride or you can opt for a seaplane.
Celebrities who have stayed here
Kate Moss, Liz Hurley, George Clooney, Celine Dion.
Don’t miss
Lime, the underwater day spa.
Visit Lime, the world’s first underwater day spa.
At Huvafen Fushi in the Maldives, with its swag of service and design awards, ranging from World’s Best Beach Resort to Best Overseas Spa, uou’re picked up from the airport in a high-speed luxury jet boat and taken to the resort.
Huvafen Fushi means “Dream Island” in Maldivian and features beach bungalows and ocean pavilions to stay in. You can walk a couple of laps around the island (which won’t take long; it’s only a few hundred metres end to end), and spend the rest of your day sunning yourself by the infinity pool, kayaking, water skiing, snorkeling or scuba diving.
Order a cocktail from the comfort of your sun bed for a bargain price, and book in for a treatment at it’s world famous day spa, called Lime. It’s the world’s first underwater day spa (yes, underwater), and it’s the jewel of Huvafen Fushi.
It is located down a steep staircase at the end of a long jetty, resting on the ocean floor. Inside, the glass walled room looks out on an abundance of coral and tropical marine life, which make you feel like you have been transported to another world. Even when you’re face down on a treatment table, angled mirrors mean you won’t miss a single curious fish flitting by.
There are three different types of rooms available, all with their charms. Choose from half on the beach, half in the jungle, or out over the water. Over-the-ocean bungalows or pavilions with private plunge pools are the stuff dreams are made of, so it’s difficult not to go that way when you book. But the beach bungalows do have a lot going for them. Their enclosed rear gardens are incomparably tranquil, with bathtub, private pool and outdoor shower reminiscent of a waterfall tumbling from a darkened rock face. They’re also nice and close to the main lagoon which is where, with its infinity pool, restaurants, bar and wine cellar, you’ll be doing most of your eating, sunbathing, relaxing and socialising with other overawed honeymooners.
Dining options are varied, from the outdoor decking of breakfast favourite Celsius to the protective canopy of shady palms at Fogliani’s, from wine education dinners in the cool underground Vinum cellar to health-conscious Raw and Salt at the terminus of a long jetty cluster.
And most of the drinking, dining and socialising areas feature soft floor coverings of the whitest beach sand, so it won’t take long to forget what wearing shoes ever felt like.
READ MORE: Where to stay in the Maldives.
2. Turtle Island, Fiji
When to go
The dry season between May and October, when there’s lower humidity and less risk of cyclones.
Get there
Most major Australian airlines fly direct from Australia to Nadi, Fiji, along with Air New Zealand and Fiji Airways.
Celebrities who have stayed here
Naomi Watts, Britney Spears, Brooke Shields, Billy Zane, Rob Lowe.
Don’t miss
The Blue Lagoon.
Take a dip in the crystal clear waters of the Blue Lagoon.
On Turtle Island in Fiji, everyone goes by Turtle time. There is a one-hour time difference when guests arrive by seaplane from Nadi to the island, and you would be wise to remember as each night Turtle Island puts on a communal dinner for all guest couples at 7pm sharp.
Guests are gathered together in house-party style. It’s a sort of up-market tropical holiday-camp approach that takes getting used to, especially if you visit thinking it was going to be a hushed island experience.
You might recognise the island from the 1980 film Blue Lagoon with Brooke Shields, but the island doesn’t share much in common with the film apart from the stunning nature.
The island covers 20 hectares and sits in the 90km-long volcanic Yasawa chain (35km off the west coast of Viti Levu, Fiji’s main island). Take an around-the-island tour by electric cart past coconut groves and lush stands of banana trees to beaches with names, such as Devil’s and Nudie.
There are 14 super-spacious thatched-roof bures (a distinctive style of hut) threaded through gardens and divided by a pathway from the beach.
While a popular and undoubtedly romantic honeymoon destination, being a guest at Turtle comes with certain expectations: that you will participate while on the island and share your experiences and inspiration with the other guests.
This is a destination for couples — those newly in love and those seeking to reconnect. There are 14 beaches, divvied up between the guests to ensure whole days of solitude, with only a gourmet lunch and fantasising to break up lying on a beach.
Britney Spears and Kevin Federline chose Turtle Island for their honeymoon, and Britney even wrote a farewell poem — “As we sit and prepare to make our part, I thank you, Turtle Island, with all my heart!”
The water is warm, and has coral formations directly off the beach, which is great for fantastic snorkeling among neon fish.
3. Hayman Island, Queensland, Australia
When to go
May to October is when it sparkles.
Get there
Flights are infrequent to the island, so book in advance. Hayman guests take the island’s luxury launch from airport jetty.
Celebrities who have stayed here
Nicole Kidman, Olivia Newton-John, Jane Fonda, Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Tony Blair.
Don’t miss
Food, glorious food!
Soak up the sun on the Whitsundays.
After landing on a neighbouring island, you’ll be transported to Hayman island by a luxury million-dollar launch, seaplane or helicopters. Not a bad way to start your holiday at one of Australian’s most iconic holidays.
Most people’s views of Hayman are tinted by the ’80s when children were banned and men had to wear a dark suit to dinner. Times have changed, but that’s not to say Hayman has gone downmarket — far from it. It’s still one of the world’s sought-after luxury resorts, and we mean luxury. It’s just that they’ve loosened the top button a little. Nowadays, it’s almost as if there are two Haymans.
You can arrive in a chopper like Alan Bond, Kevin Costner and Sean Connery once did — and stay at the exclusive Beach Villa. It comes with a deck, plunge pool, your own piece of Whitsunday beach and a butler, of course.
If you’re splashing out on this palm-fringed palace, why not hire the seaplane for a candlelit dinner on a sandspit, where the only uninvited guest would be a green turtle.
Alternatively, if you are looking for a slightly more budget-friendly getaway, you could book in to one of the Palm or Pool Suites, which have either tropical garden or pool views over the enormous Hayman pool, and Lagoon rooms overlooking lily-filled ponds. Or opt for the hidden retreat rooms, which must be the island’s best-kept secret. On a resort map, they look like second-best offerings, as they’re on a winding path behind the beach rooms, with limited outlook over the beach. In reality, they’ve had a makeover and are wonderfully attractive.
A shining beacon of excellence on Hayman is the food. The seafood buffet in the contemporary, beachfront Azure restaurant, where breakfast is served each day, is always superb. And there are many other options: Chinese and South-East Asian cuisine at the Oriental, French fare in the more formal La Fontaine and Italian at La Trattoria. Not forgetting, your pick of a secluded location any where on the island.
Hayman is undeniably romantic. It must be all those couples. When they’re not taking romantic picnics on deserted sand spits, or seaplane flights over Whitehaven Beach, they’re booking massages at the spa or in the timber pavilions by the beach — for two, of course.
