Fiji
Yasawa Islands
Volcanic spines pierce the Pacific, each island ringed by its own shade of turquoise.
From the ferry's bow the Yasawas unspool for hours, ridge after volcanic ridge dropping to lagoons that hold a different blue at every stop. Step ashore anywhere and the island sets its own scale: a village, a footpath, a reef you can reach from the sand.
Around twenty volcanic islands make up the chain, more than half of them home to Fijian villages where a visit still begins with sevusevu, kava presented formally to the chief. One catamaran threads the whole group from Port Denarau, calling at island after island along the chain, which is why backpacker bures, village homestays and private resorts all share the same waters. Between May and October manta rays funnel through the channels between the islands to feed, and snorkellers slip in beside them. At the chain's northern end, swimmers at Sawa-i-Lau cross a sunlit limestone pool and duck through an underwater passage into a hidden inner chamber.
Solo
The island-hopping ferry turns the whole chain into one route: arrive alone, stay in a dorm bure or village homestay, and move on when an island is done with you.
Couple
The quieter northern islands pair beach bures with lagoons that empty out by late afternoon, and the same ferry ticket reaches genuine luxury if the budget stretches.
Family
Several islands have sheltered lagoons where children can snorkel straight from the sand, with reef fish and turtles cruising the coral just off the beach.
Friends
Manta swims, cave trips and kava bowls are all shared experiences here, and groups split a dorm bure, reuniting around the same lovo pit at night.
- Twenty-odd volcanic islands sit on a single catamaran route, so village homestays, backpacker bures and private resorts share one ticket.
- Manta rays feed in the channels between the islands from May to October, with guided snorkel trips putting you in the water beside them.
- Coral gardens, reef sharks and turtles lie within a fin-kick of the beaches, no boat required.
- At Sawa-i-Lau, an underwater passage links a sunlit cave pool to a hidden inner chamber.
Lovo nights bury the morning's catch and root crops in an earth oven, lifted out smoking at dusk.
Village fishermen deliver the catch straight to island kitchens; order it grilled the same day, ocean to table.
Paracas
Peru
Red sand meets turquoise Pacific where sea-lion colonies roar off the desert's edge.
Bangaram Atoll
India
Teardrop coral atolls where bioluminescent plankton washes up on uncrowded sand in the Arabian Sea.
Loch Lomond
Scotland
Oak-covered islands scatter across the loch where the Highlands begin and the Lowlands end.
Golfo Dulce
Costa Rica
A tropical fjord of bathwater-warm calm, ringed by primary rainforest and cruised by dolphins.
Taveuni
Fiji
Stand astride the 180th meridian in rainforest, one foot in today, one in yesterday.
Savusavu
Fiji
Hot springs cook the town's dalo beside anchored yachts and a bay farmed for black pearls.
Labasa
Fiji
A cobra-shaped rock at Labasa's snake temple has outgrown its roof twice.
Suva
Fiji
South Pacific hustle where Hindu temples share streets with Fijian markets and colonial verandahs.