Overtourism warnings, protests and containment measures again reared their head this summer as hotspot islands said no to their usual hordes of holidaymakers.
In Spain and Italy, locals complained of being priced out of their own sun-drenched beaches. Mykonos and Santorini introduced a cruise tax to cap day trippers, and bar staff in Ibiza pitched up in tents amid a deepening housing crisis on the island.
But, with an estimated 670,000 islands in the world, looking beyond tourist magnets from Maui to Bora Bora to Mallorca will likely see you land in a little more solitude.
From Ireland’s islets to Antarctica’s lesser-seen neighbours, our travel writers have toured the world to see deserted heritage sites and wildlife – not walking tour groups. We’ve rounded up some of the best.
Read more: Seven underrated Greek destinations to head to for October sunshine
Sumba, Indonesia
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The herd of horses at Nihi Sumba (Nihi Sumba)
An hour’s flight from busy Bali, you’ll reach Sumba, an island twice its size, but with a fraction of its population. Here, it’s herds of horses you should look out for, not wayward tourists. During a stay at luxury island hotel Nihi Sumba, global travel editor Annabel Grossman found: “At the soul of Nihi Sumba is its horses – everything that the hotel stands for is embodied in these animals: a sense of spirituality, rugged beauty and connection with nature. The spectacle of a herd of horses galloping along the white sands has, unsurprisingly, become social media-famous. But to stand with your feet in the sand and sea spray from the wild surf crashing behind you as the steady thunder of hooves passes by is completely magical.”
Read more: How this luxury hotel on a remote Indonesian island is using horses for wellness
Kerama Islands, Japan
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The Kerama Islands are a famously good dive spot (Getty/iStock)
Okinawa, Japan’s most southerly prefecture, is blessed with a sub-tropical climate and an island chain dubbed the “Hawaii of Japan”. It’s here that travel writer Marianna Hunt found “one of the best diving and snorkelling spots in Asia” – the Kerama Islands.
On a snorkelling tour of Kerama, she said “the pristine lagoons fringed with coral reefs could have come straight out of a travel brochure for the Maldives”, adding “in parts, you can see 40 or 50 metres deep and the water is a crystallised aquamarine colour so distinctive it has its own name: Kerama Blue.”
Read more: Japan is the beach holiday you’ve never thought of – but should have
Delos, Greece
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Delos is a world away from the crowded party island (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Just a half-hour ferry ride from Mykonos, uninhabited Delos is a world away from the crowded party island. Ferries visit Delos, a designated Unesco World Heritage site, from Mykonos four times a day between April and November. Cruise writer Marc Shoffman says, “what Delos lacks in facilities, it makes up for in wonder”.
Marc writes: “I was surprised at how little traffic there was on the island, especially as our cruise was in port with two other large ships. There were a few guided tours on offer, but unlike other must-see sites around the North Cyclades, such as the Acropolis and Ephesus, in Delos, you barely notice the crowds.”
Read more: I cruised around 8 Greek islands this summer and this was my favourite
Channel Islands, California
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California’s Channel Islands are an isolated paradise (Visit Ventura)
An hour off the California coast, the Channel Islands – an eight-island archipelago divided into two groups: the southern Channel Islands, and the northern Channel Islands national park – are an isolated paradise for those who love to hike, camp and kayak in peace.
For travel writer Ellie Seymour, a trip showed just how abundant in life the islands and the waters around them truly are. She writes: “Despite how close the islands are to the California mainland, few residents – let alone tourists – visit here or even realise you can. Those who do will experience a remote, ancient landscape of rocky cliffs, elegant arches, sandy beaches and grassy hills, once home to the Native American Chumash people, and a reminder of how California once was.”
Read more: The secret Californian islands that escape most tourists’ radars
South Georgia Island
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King penguins congregate on South Georgia (Getty Images)
If intense wildlife watching is what you seek, Mark Stratton says South Georgia, the subantarctic British Overseas Territory, is the greatest island on Earth. On his fourth visit to the remote island, he called South Georgia, “a paradigm for ecosystem recovery that offers a blueprint for how humanity might just protect global biodiversity via non-intervention. For any wildlife-lover considering a trip of a lifetime to Antarctica, I’d recommend the extra time and cost to include it in your voyage. Biologically, it’s like Antarctica on steroids.”
The island is only reachable by expedition cruise vessel because there is no airport nor tourist accommodation ashore, but tied into an Antarctic adventure offers “waters that fizz with diving whales and feeding penguins skimming along like bouncing bombs”.
Read more: Why remote South Georgia just happens to be the greatest island on Earth
Great Saltee, Ireland
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It’s more about puffins than people on Great Saltee (Nicola Brady)
Every year, on a rugged island off Ireland’s Southeast coast, a colony of puffins migrate to breed and nest. And every year, between April and July, people like travel writer Nicola Brady flock to Great Saltee Island to see them up close. Nicola writes of Great Saltee: “A trail weaves through tall swathes of fern, up and over the headland that looks back over the island, the rocky ridges and arches jutting into and over the sea, the dense lushness of the grass on top scattered with thousands of bright yellow buttercups and bluebells. As we walked further and the puffin-watchers dissipated, we saw seals on the rocks, then three tiny gull chicks, their fuzzy feathers making them look like leopard cubs on the sandy beach.”
On the mainland, Kilmore Quay, where the ferries depart for Great Saltee, is a cute harbour village where you can pick up artisanal breads for an island picnic and delve into top-notch fish and chips from the Saltee Chipper.
Read more: The little-known island off the coast of Ireland that’s filled with puffins
Vieques, Puerto Rico
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Vieques still has pockets of tranquillity (Discover Puerto Rico)
Away from Puerto Rico’s bustling capital, San Juan, a small inlet on the island’s south coast, Vieques, is surrounded by mangrove trees with one of the brightest bioluminescent bays in the world. Journalist Robyn Wilson found: “Vieques has 15 beaches dotted around its 21-mile circumference, each with its own unique draw or requiring a little effort to reach (we’re talking bumpy car rides and woodland walks), but for those who persevere, they can be idyllic pockets of tranquillity.”
Read more: This remote Puerto Rico island is an idyllic Caribbean getaway
Vallisaari, Finland
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Vallisaari Island has art nestled in its wilds (Vallisaari Island in Finland)
For three months of summer, Finland basks in sunlight accompanied by festivals, foraging and the water.Writer Matt Charlton says: “Who needs the beating heat of various costas when there’s a country that knows how to wring every last precious drop out of the warmest season?”
On his dart around the Helsinki coast, Matt found the island of Vallisaari, where the Helsinki Biennial art event “invites reflection on the relationship between humans and nature, with sculptures nestled amongst the island’s wilds”.
Read more: How a trip to ‘Moomin island’ made me rethink summers in the Med
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