The Best Private Island Resorts in the World

The Best Private Island Resorts in the World

There is a specific moment on a private island that you cannot get anywhere else. It usually happens on the second morning. You walk out for coffee, you look down the beach, and there is nobody on it. Not “not many people.” Nobody. That is the thing you are actually buying, and it is the reason this category has a hold on people that no city hotel ever will. I have spent the last several years booking clients onto islands that require a boat, a seaplane, or a very particular phone call to reach, and I have learned that the gap between the brochure and the reality is wider here than anywhere else in luxury travel. Some of these places are true buyouts, where you rent the entire island and it is genuinely, completely yours. Others are single-resort islands where you will share paradise with forty other couples who all had the same idea in the same month. Both can be extraordinary. They are not the same trip, and the marketing photos look identical. So this is the honest version. Every island below, who it is actually right for, what it realistically costs, what nobody tells you until you have already paid the deposit, and where I can get you perks for booking the exact same room at the exact same rate. If you are still deciding on the shape of the whole trip, start with my step-by-step guide to planning a honeymoon and the best luxury resorts in the world. One note on pricing: private islands almost never publish rates, and the ones that do change them constantly. Every number below is the most recent figure I could verify, and several come from published reporting rather than the property itself. Treat them as a sense of the neighborhood, not a quote. Message me for live pricing on your dates and I will get you a real number.

First, why you should never book a private island direct

This is the part most people get wrong, and it costs them real money. Nearly every property on this list is bookable through me at the identical rate you would pay booking direct. Same room, same nights, same price. The difference is what comes attached to it. Depending on the property, that can mean complimentary daily breakfast, a $100 resort credit, a complimentary room upgrade when one is available, VIP recognition on property, and early check-in or late checkout when available. On a private island, those are not small. Breakfast for a family of four on a remote island can run a few hundred dollars a day. A resort credit at a place where there is exactly one restaurant and no alternative is real money back in your pocket. And VIP recognition matters most precisely where the staff-to-guest ratio is high enough that being flagged as a repeat-advisor client actually changes how your week goes. The bigger value is the part you cannot put a number on. Which of the four estates suits your group. Whether the boat transfer times line up with your inbound flight or strand you overnight in Tortola. Whether the all-inclusive rate includes wine or is about to surprise you with a five-figure bar tab. Whether the island you have fallen in love with on Instagram is quietly closed for two months of the year. That is the job. Fill out this inquiry form here and I’ll help you plan your trip, or you can go directly to my travel portal and see my exclusive travel advisor rates and book yourself with all of my perks included! The password is always JETSETTERS (save this page to your bookmarks for future trips!)

The Best Private Island Resorts in the Caribbean and the Americas

If you have less than ten days, this is where I would point you. Every island in this section is reachable from the US East Coast in a day, which means you spend your week on the beach instead of in transit.

Moskito Island, British Virgin Islands

Moskito is Richard Branson’s other island, and it is the one I find myself recommending more than Necker. 125 acres in the BVI, about two miles from Necker and roughly 30 minutes by boat from Tortola. Branson carved the island into estate lots, and a few come onto the rental market. There is no lobby, no check-in, no restaurant menu. You book an estate and you get a dedicated estate manager, private chefs and a full staff team, with the island’s shared facilities there when you want them: a beach pavilion and bar, a wrap-around pool, two floodlit tennis courts, a watersports centre and spa treatments on request. What makes it work for families is scale. Most private islands top out at a suite with a plunge pool. Moskito hands you a multi-bedroom compound with its own beach and someone making eggs at 6:15am for the toddlers and again at 10am for the grandparents. Once you have had that, adjoining hotel rooms feel like camping. The three estates, quickly:

• The Branson Beach Estate is the one Virgin Limited Edition staffs and markets directly, so it is the most straightforward to book. Three villas linked by elevated walkways, eleven bedrooms, up to 22 guests, its own beach, closest to the shared facilities. Balinese-influenced and open-air, warmer and more lived-in than the newer estates. Best for families.
• The Oasis Estate is nine bedrooms for up to 18, roughly 17,500 square feet across four storeys, built to look like a very expensive yacht ran aground. Rooftop deck, swim-up bar, billiards room, cinema. Best for big celebrations. Worth asking which bedrooms sit on which floor if anyone in your group struggles with stairs.
• The Village is nine bedrooms for up to 18 across 3.5 acres of clifftop thatched cottages, with a two-storey infinity pool, a hot tub in a crow’s nest and an underwater dining table for eight. The scattered layout means the people who wake at seven and the people who wake at noon do not ruin each other’s week. Best for multigenerational groups and teenagers. Properly hilly, so not ideal with a toddler.

The update that changes everything: Branson Beach Estate villas can now be booked individually rather than only as a full-estate buyout. That drops the entry price dramatically and puts Moskito within reach of a family of six or eight instead of only a group of twenty. If you wrote Moskito off as fantasy pricing, this is the thing that changed. What it costs: published reporting has put low-season starting rates for the full nine-bedroom estates in the region of $17,500 to $19,000 per night, but that coverage is a few years old and I would not treat it as current. Individual villas come in well below that. Rates generally include the estate manager and staff, private chefs, all meals, drinks and non-motorized watersports, which changes the math once you divide it across eighteen people. Getting there: fly into Beef Island (EIS) on Tortola, or St. Thomas (STT) and transfer, then roughly 30 minutes by boat. Jetset tip: build a buffer day if you are connecting through San Juan or St. Thomas in winter. Missed island transfers are the most common way a Caribbean private island trip starts badly, and boats do not wait. What my clients get here: daily breakfast for two per bedroom, a $100 resort credit, complimentary round-trip private airport transfers, a designer Moskito beach bag and travel bag for the principal guest, and early check-in and late checkout when available. Note that Moskito does not offer room upgrades, so anyone promising you one is guessing. Book it yourself in my travel portal (password JETSETTERS) or email me and I will handle the whole thing.

Necker Island, British Virgin Islands

The original, and still the most famous private island on earth. Up to 28 bedrooms across the Great House and thirteen Balinese-style houses scattered over the hillside, hosting up to 48 guests on exclusive use and more with the extended configuration. Everything is included: meals, premium drinks, watersports, transfers. Tennis, kitesurfing, the lemurs, the flamingos, the whole Branson circus. Here is the thing almost nobody writes, and it matters enormously if you are a honeymooner: Celebration Weeks are communal by design. You dine with strangers. You do activities with strangers. Private dining is actively discouraged because the shared table is the entire concept. If you are two extroverts who love the idea of a week making friends with interesting people from around the world, it is genuinely magical. If you are two people who booked a honeymoon specifically so you would not have to talk to anyone, you have booked the wrong island and you will be miserable in paradise, which is the worst place to be miserable. Best for: full-island buyouts for large social groups, and outgoing couples who actively want the shared experience. The honest downside: a half day of connections from most of the US, real hurricane-season exposure, and a staff-to-guest ratio that is lower than a comparably priced traditional resort because so much of the operation is communal. What it costs: Virgin Limited Edition quotes on request. Third-party reporting has put Celebration Week rates around $6,000 per night for a standard room and roughly $9,400 for a Great House room, with full buyouts reported from around $130,000 per night. Those are secondary sources, so treat them as directional only. Jetset tip: Necker is bookable with Virgin Points, which is one of the great underused luxury redemptions out there. If you or your partner have been sitting on a Virgin balance, ask me about it before you pay cash. What my clients get here: daily breakfast for two per bedroom, a complimentary one-hour massage for two during Celebration Weeks (on exclusive-use bookings the lead couple receives it), an upgrade on arrival when available, and early check-in and late checkout when available. There is no resort credit at Necker. You can book this in my travel portal with the password JETSETTERS, or email me and I will do it for you.

Musha Cay and the Islands of Copperfield Bay, Bahamas

David Copperfield’s private island, and the most gloriously excessive entry on this list. Musha Cay does not rent individual villas. Ever. It is the whole island or nothing, one party at a time, no two reservations ever overlapping. Rates start at $57,000 per night for up to twelve guests with a five-night minimum, and the property accommodates up to 24. All meals, beverages and island amenities are included. The detail I love, because it tells you everything about the place: transportation, massage, fishing and “special entertainment” are billed separately. Special entertainment. On an island owned by the world’s most famous illusionist. I have never wanted to see a line item more. Best for: milestone birthdays, big multigenerational buyouts, and anyone who has reached the stage of life where the point is that nobody else is there. The honest downside: catastrophic value for two people, and the $57,000 is not the all-in number once the extras land. Why it earns its spot: it is in the Bahamas. A short flight from the East Coast for a true whole-island buyout is a rare combination, and most of the properties that offer it are on the other side of the planet. Booking with Jetset Christina Travel: this one sits outside the consortia programs, so there is no published amenity package to promise you. What I can do is get you the right villa, handle the transfers, and make sure the property knows exactly who is arriving. email me and I will quote it for you.

Cayo Espanto, Belize

If you want a private island and you want to go in the next few months rather than the next few years, this is my answer. Seven villas, each with a name and a personal butler: Casa Ventanas, Casa Solana, Casa Brisa, Casa Mañana, Casa Olita, Casa Aurora and Casa Estrella. Two of them convert to two bedrooms. Full island is eighteen guests. 2026 rates run roughly $2,395 to $4,195 per night for a one-bedroom depending on villa and season, with the full island buyout between $18,995 and $25,995 per night. Three tailored meals a day are included, and here is the part that gets people: you submit your food preferences before you arrive and they stock the island to them. Your snacks. Your brand of everything. It is a small thing that feels enormous when you are three miles offshore and the thing you wanted is already in the fridge. There is also an overwater bungalow at the end of a 150-foot dock that comes with its own butler, its own sailboat, and all meals. It is one of the more romantic rooms in the Caribbean and it books out a long way ahead. Best for: honeymooners and couples who want the private island feeling without the 24-hour journey. Belize is a short direct flight from Houston, Miami, Dallas and Atlanta. The honest downside: rack bar drinks, beer, soda and juice are included but wine, champagne and cordials are not, which meaningfully changes your real spend. And the Christmas and New Year minimum stay runs to fourteen nights, which is either a dream or a dealbreaker. Jetset tip: the standard minimum is four nights, which is short enough to bolt onto a longer Belize trip. Cayo Espanto plus a few days in the jungle is one of my favorite honeymoon structures for couples who cannot sit still for a full week. What my clients get here: an upgrade on arrival when available, daily full breakfast for two per bedroom, a $100 resort credit, a complimentary three-course lunch or dinner for two once during your stay, and early check-in and late checkout when available. On a four-night minimum, that dinner alone is a real chunk of your food budget back. Grab it in my travel portal (password JETSETTERS), or email me if you would rather I sort the details.

Calala Island, Nicaragua

The most under-known island on this list, and the most attainable full-island buyout by a wide margin. A handful of beachfront suites on a tiny island off the Nicaraguan Caribbean coast, which means you can take the entire island for a group of friends at a number that will not require a conversation with your accountant. Five-star food, proper cocktails, and a genuine castaway setting. Best for: couples, and small groups of friends who want the whole island and do not need marble bathrooms to feel spoiled. Jetset tip: Calala is a Small Luxury Hotels member, which means it is bookable on World of Hyatt points through the SLH partnership. A private island on points is one of the best value plays in luxury travel right now, and almost nobody knows it exists. Ask me before you pay cash for this one.

Getting there: Managua, then a 50-minute flight to Bluefields, then a 90-minute boat. Helicopter is available at extra cost and worth pricing if you are short on time. Booking with Jetset Christina Travel: this one sits outside the consortia programs, so there is no published amenity package to promise you. What I can do is get you the right villa, handle the transfers, and make sure the property knows exactly who is arriving. email me and I will quote it for you.

Islas Secas, Panama

The one I recommend to people who say they want a private island but actually want an adventure. Seven casitas plus Casa Cavada, a four-bedroom, 8,300 square foot residence, on a fourteen-island archipelago in the Gulf of Chiriquí. You can book a single casita, the full resort for 24 guests, or the entire island for 32. And unusually for this category, they publish their rates openly, which after months of “price on request” I find almost emotionally moving. 2026 and 2027 rates run from $3,500 per night for a tented casita in low season up to $32,000 for Casa Cavada in high season. Full resort buyout runs $38,750 to $79,000 per night. Full island buyout for 32 guests runs $54,750 to $111,000. All meals are included, and so is all the mixology, everywhere on the island. Dining is at Terraza under a vaulted thatched roof, cocktails at the Balboa Bar surrounded by historic maps, and the Secascent Spa works out of two tented treatment areas. Best for: adventurous couples and small groups, conservation-minded travelers, and anyone put off by seven-night minimums. Three nights is enough here. The insider detail nobody else will tell you: Islas Secas closes seasonally every year, roughly from the end of September through the middle of November. I have watched people fall in love with this place and then discover their dates are inside the closure window. Check first. Getting there: a private Twin Otter runs three to four scheduled flights a week from Panama City, at roughly $750 to $1,300 per person depending on group size. That flight schedule dictates your arrival and departure days, so plan the trip around it rather than the other way round. Booking with Jetset Christina Travel: this property runs a preferred-partner amenity package that is not published publicly, so I will not guess at it here. email me with your dates and I will send you the exact inclusions in writing before you commit. Book direct through my travel portal using JETSETTERS, or email me and I will take it from here.

COMO Parrot Cay, Turks and Caicos

A thousand unspoiled acres and a mile-long beach, and the easiest island on this list to reach from the US East Coast. Yoga at the COMO Shambhala spa, scuba, windsurfing, a catamaran, or absolutely nothing at all in a hammock. What makes Parrot Cay work is that it is a genuine wellness property that has never made you feel like you are being punished for ordering a cocktail. The food is exceptional and the beach is one of the great ones. Best for: wellness travelers, and anyone who wants a private island four hours from home rather than twenty. The honest note: this is a resort on an island, not a buyout. You will see other guests. On a beach this long, that turns out not to matter much.   What my clients get here: an upgrade on arrival when available, daily breakfast for two per bedroom, a $100 resort credit, and a further $100 credit if you book a Beach House or higher, so $200 total. Plus early check-in and late checkout when available. Book it yourself in my travel portal (password JETSETTERS) or email me and I will handle the whole thing.

Petit St. Vincent, Grenadines

Founded fifty years ago by sailors who found the island uninhabited and set out to build somewhere nobody would want to leave. Twenty-two cottages on 115 volcanic acres, and a commitment to disconnection that they take extremely seriously. There are no phones in the cottages and no wifi in your room. You communicate with the staff by raising a flag outside your door. Yellow for service, red for leave me alone. It sounds gimmicky until about day two, when you realize you have not looked at a screen since you landed and you feel like a different person. Best for: couples who genuinely want to disappear. The downside: the flag system and the no-wifi policy are either the entire appeal or an absolute dealbreaker, and there is almost no middle ground. Be honest with yourself about which one you are. Booking with Jetset Christina Travel: this one sits outside the consortia programs, so there is no published amenity package to promise you. What I can do is get you the right villa, handle the transfers, and make sure the property knows exactly who is arriving. email me and I will quote it for you.

Little Palm Island Resort and Spa, Florida Keys

Thirty miles east of Key West, reachable only by seaplane or boat, and the reason you do not need a passport to feel like you left the country. Thirty bungalow suites across fifteen buildings, a maximum of sixty guests, and a strict no-phones-in-public-areas policy with no televisions in the rooms. It reopened in 2020 after a $34 million rebuild following Hurricane Irma, and it is a Relais and Châteaux member. I wrote up everything you need to know about staying at Little Palm Island if you want the full breakdown, and it pairs beautifully with a few nights in Key West. Important: Little Palm is adults only, 18 and over, no exceptions. I have had to break that news to more than one family and it never lands well, so I would rather you hear it here. Best for: couples who want the private island feeling on a domestic flight, and anyone planning a last-minute anniversary that needs to happen in three weeks. The honest downside: it is not all-inclusive. Food, drink and spa are all a la carte and the bill compounds quickly on an island where there is nowhere else to eat.

What’s new: as of 2026 there is a culinary partnership with Chef Curtis Duffy, which has raised the food from good to a genuine reason to go. What my clients get here: an upgrade on arrival when available, daily full breakfast for two per bedroom, a $100 resort credit, and early check-in and late checkout when available. At a property this a la carte, the breakfast and the credit are genuinely meaningful. Book it yourself in my travel portal (password JETSETTERS) or email me and I will handle the whole thing.

The Best Private Island Resorts in the South Pacific

Kokomo Private Island, Fiji

If I could only add one island to this list, it would be this one. Kokomo is the rare property that works equally well for honeymooners and for a family of twelve, which almost nothing at this level manages. Twenty-one beachfront villas and five residences on a 140-acre island on the Great Astrolabe Reef, one of the largest barrier reefs on earth, forty-five minutes by seaplane from Nadi. Every single villa has its own infinity pool. Not the suites. Not the upper categories. Every villa, including the one-bedrooms. That is unusual enough at this price point to be the headline. The residences are where it gets interesting for families: Sunset Residence is six bedrooms and 16,394 square feet sleeping twelve, and there are five-bedroom, four-bedroom and three-bedroom options below it. Walker D’Plank is the Asian-fusion sunset restaurant and it is genuinely excellent, and the sourcing here is dock-to-dish rather than a marketing line. Best for: honeymooners in the one-bedroom villas and multigenerational families in the residences, in the same property, at the same time. That combination is why it has become one of my most-booked islands. What it costs: third-party listings have shown a range of roughly $3,487 to $18,281 per night from a one-bedroom Sunrise Villa up to the six-bedroom Sunset Grand Residence. Kokomo quotes on request, so treat those as indicative. The honest downside: Fiji is a long haul and then a seaplane, and the jump from villas to residences is a steep price step with not much in between. Book it with me: Kokomo is a property where advisor perks are worth asking about before you book anything. Send me your dates and I will confirm exactly what I can attach to your stay. What my clients get here: an upgrade on arrival when available, daily breakfast for two per bedroom, a $100 resort credit, a further $200 credit if you book one of the Residences, so $300 total, and on stays of seven nights or more a complimentary 60-minute Kokomo Signature Pacific Mastery massage for two. Plus early check-in and late checkout when available. You can book this in my travel portal with the password JETSETTERS, or email me and I will do it for you.

Laucala Island, Fiji

Twenty-five Fijian villas across 3,200 acres, each with its own pool, owned by the Red Bull founder and run with what is widely reported as the highest staff-to-villa ratio in the world at around sixteen staff per villa. If service is the specific thing you are paying for, this is the answer to the question. There is also an eighteen-hole golf course, a spa and five restaurants, which is a remarkable amount of infrastructure for an island with twenty-five villas on it. Best for: travelers for whom the service level is the whole point, and golfers who refuse to leave the game at home. What my clients get here: daily breakfast for two per bedroom, a complimentary 45-minute Couple Coconut Bath once during your stay (book it at least 24 hours ahead, they collect the coconut milk fresh), 7am early check-in and 5pm late checkout when available. Laucala does not do upgrades or a resort credit, so the ritual is the perk. Grab it in my travel portal (password JETSETTERS), or email me if you would rather I sort the details.

The Brando, Tetiaroa, French Polynesia

Yes, that Brando. And yes, it is an island you cannot refuse. Tetiaroa was a retreat for Tahitian royalty centuries before Marlon Brando ever saw it, and the resort he inspired is one of the few places in luxury travel where the sustainability story is not greenwashing. The cooling system genuinely runs on deep seawater. The villas are modern, sleek and minimal, with plunge pools, media rooms and direct beach access. Best for: honeymooners with a serious budget who want French Polynesia without the Bora Bora crowds, and travelers who care that the eco credentials are real. What my clients get here: an upgrade on arrival when available, daily full breakfast for two per bedroom, a $100 food and beverage credit, a further $100 credit if you book a two-bedroom villa or larger, and early check-in and late checkout when available. Book direct through my travel portal using JETSETTERS, or email me and I will take it from here.

Four Seasons Bora Bora

Private island paradise, perfected, and still one of the best hotels in the world for a reason. The overwater bungalows, the sweeping Mount Otemanu views, the private white sand beach, the pool, the spa, and that impossibly calm lagoon. Four Seasons service delivering the overwater bungalow fantasy is exactly as good as you are hoping.

Best for: first-time French Polynesia travelers who want the iconic photograph and want Four Seasons standards behind it. If you are torn between oceans, I broke it all down in Bora Bora vs the Maldives. Book it with me: Four Seasons is one of the properties where advisor perks are most reliably meaningful, and Bora Bora is one of the most expensive breakfasts on the planet to be paying for out of pocket. This is a genuinely easy win. Booking with Jetset Christina Travel: this property runs a preferred-partner amenity package that is not published publicly, so I will not guess at it here. email me with your dates and I will send you the exact inclusions in writing before you commit. Book it yourself in my travel portal (password JETSETTERS) or email me and I will handle the whole thing.

The Best Private Island Resorts in the Indian Ocean and Asia

Amanpulo, Pamalican Island, Philippines

The resort that arguably invented this entire category, and a conspicuous gap on any private island list that does not include it. Forty-two casitas and eighteen villas on Pamalican, an island Aman has entirely to itself. Casitas come in beach pool, beach, hillside and treetop categories, with Cebu marble bathtubs. The villas go up to four bedrooms with a private pool, a private chef and a butler, which makes this one of the better large-family options in Asia. You get there on a ninety-minute private flight from Manila on a fourteen-seat twin-engine turboprop that lands on Amanpulo’s own airstrip, with a complimentary car transfer from Manila to the private lounge if you are connecting the same day. Dining is spread across the Lagoon Club, the Beach Club, the Clubhouse, the Picnic Grove and Kawayan Bar, which floats. Best for: design-obsessed couples, and families who want Aman service with genuine space. If you have been quietly waiting for an excuse to try Aman, this is the one. The honest downside: it is the longest journey on this list from the US, and the charter to the island runs on a fixed schedule, so your international connection has to work around it rather than the reverse. What my clients get here: an upgrade on arrival when available, up to a Beach Casita, daily breakfast for two per bedroom served in the restaurant or in your villa, a $100 food and beverage credit, and early check-in and late checkout when available. You can book this in my travel portal with the password JETSETTERS, or email me and I will do it for you.

Baros Island, Maldives

The Maldives have been having a very long moment, and Baros has quietly stayed near the top of my list through all of it. What sets it apart is its own house reef. That sounds like a small thing until you have stayed somewhere in the Maldives where snorkeling means chartering a boat every single time and paying for the privilege. At Baros you walk off the beach into it. Best for: honeymooners who want the classic Maldives postcard without the resort feeling enormous. Still deciding on an island? Start with my ultimate Jetset travel guide to the Maldives and the Maldives honeymoon guide. Booking with Jetset Christina Travel: this one sits outside the consortia programs, so there is no published amenity package to promise you. What I can do is get you the right villa, handle the transfers, and make sure the property knows exactly who is arriving. email me and I will quote it for you.

Six Senses Laamu, Maldives

Read my full Six Senses Laamu hotel review.

Barefoot eco-luxury, and one of my favorite islands in the world. Everything works here: the natural paradise feel rather than the polished one, the food (their dinners are great, but the over-the-top breakfast buffet and the complimentary homemade ice cream bar were the best things ever), the villas that make it hard to leave your room, and the island bikes personalized with your initials if you are a repeat guest. If you are a sucker for a dreamy infinity pool like I am, upgrade to a pool villa. The surfing here is often called luxury surfing, because they have some of the best waves in the Maldives and you will frequently be the only person on them. Any surfer will tell you that is priceless. Best for: travelers who want the Maldives without feeling like they are inside a jewelry advertisement, and surfers. What my clients get here: an upgrade on arrival when available, daily full breakfast for two per bedroom, a $100 food and beverage credit, a complimentary 50-minute massage for two once during your stay, and early check-in and late checkout when available. Grab it in my travel portal (password JETSETTERS), or email me if you would rather I sort the details.

Song Saa Private Island, Cambodia

Read my full Song Saa review, and my wider Cambodia travel guides.

Still one of the best hotel experiences I have ever had, anywhere. Twenty-four villas on a private island off the coast of Koh Rong. The beaches are perfect, the infinity pools drop into endless turquoise, and the hospitality is the best of anywhere I have been. Everything from the five-star food to the water activities to the cocktails and wine is included once you set foot on the island. You will have to pinch yourself occasionally to confirm it is not a dream.

Best for: travelers who want a private island without a Maldives price tag, and anyone pairing it with Angkor Wat. Song Saa is now dramatically better value than almost everything else on this list, which makes it the smartest entry point into the category. What my clients get here: an upgrade on arrival when available, daily breakfast for two per bedroom, a $100 resort credit, and early check-in and late checkout when available. Stay four nights or more and it gets better: an extra $100 spa credit and a private one-hour yoga session per villa. Two-bedroom villas double both credits to $200 each. Book direct through my travel portal using JETSETTERS, or email me and I will take it from here.

Lizard Island, Australia

Forty villas on the Great Barrier Reef with twenty-four powdery white beaches to yourself. Island hikes, paddleboarding, secluded five-star picnics, and the reef genuinely at your doorstep rather than an hour’s boat ride away. Best for: divers and snorkelers. The reef access is the reason to come, not a bonus feature. What my clients get here: an upgrade on arrival when available, daily breakfast for two per bedroom, a $100 resort credit, and early check-in and late checkout when available. Book it yourself in my travel portal (password JETSETTERS) or email me and I will handle the whole thing.

Fregate, Seychelles

Read this before you plan anything. Fregate has been closed for roughly five years and is reopening in October 2026 after a complete rebuild. It is being repositioned simply as Fregate, Seychelles, dropping the old “Island Private” suffix, with fourteen private pool villas and three estates. The former Banyan Hill Estate is now The Owner’s Estate. Most private island roundups on the internet still list it as though you could book it tomorrow. You cannot, and if you have been planning around it, that is worth knowing now. Best for: families who want wildlife alongside the beach. The free-roaming giant Aldabra tortoises are a genuinely great reason to bring a seven-year-old halfway around the world. Jetset tip: reopening inventory at a property this small disappears fast, and the first season after a rebuild is when the service is sharpest and the rates are softest. If Fregate is on your list, this is the moment to get in early. Tell me now and I will watch for the booking window opening. Booking with Jetset Christina Travel: this one sits outside the consortia programs, so there is no published amenity package to promise you. What I can do is get you the right villa, handle the transfers, and make sure the property knows exactly who is arriving. email me and I will quote it for you.

Also on my radar for 2026

A few islands that did not get full entries but that I am actively watching, because this category moves fast and the best availability goes to whoever is paying attention. North Island, Seychelles is now a Marriott Luxury Collection property, which means it is bookable through two separate advisor programs and, in some cases, on Bonvoy points. Eleven villas, each over 450 square metres, helicopter or boat access only. Almost nobody has updated their write-up to reflect the rebrand. Velaa Private Island, Maldives has the largest private wine cellar in the country inside its teppanyaki tower, a Patricia Urquiola-designed residence, a snow room, and a football pitch. It is a resort island rather than a buyout, but the design pedigree is unmatched in the Maldives. Jumeirah Thanda Island, Tanzania was quietly rebranded under Jumeirah’s new Privé collection. Whole-island exclusive use off the Tanzanian coast inside a marine reserve, with seasonal whale shark swimming and the flight from Dar es Salaam included in the rate. Perfect back half of a safari. Soneva Secret, Maldives has a castaway dining tower with an observatory and wine cellar that you reach by zipline, and a floating villa that relocates around the atoll. Fourteen villas, each with a dedicated private chef. It is the most theatrical thing to open in the Maldives in years. Time and Tide Miavana, Madagascar has, as far as I can find, the best luxury family economics anywhere in this category: children under thirteen stay free, up to two per adult. Helicopter access only, thirteen villas, and lemurs.

How to Choose the Right Private Island for Your Trip

The mistake I see most often is booking the island instead of the experience. Four questions sort it out. Do you want a buyout or a resort? If you want the whole island to yourselves, your real options are Moskito, Musha Cay, Cayo Espanto, Calala, Islas Secas and Necker. Everything else here is a resort on an island, which is wonderful, but you will see other people at breakfast. How far will you actually fly? Kokomo, Amanpulo, Song Saa and The Brando are serious long-haul commitments. If you have less than ten days, the Caribbean and Central American options are not a compromise, they are the smarter trip. Who is coming? Couples and families want opposite things from a private island. Couples want small, quiet and remote. Families want space, staff, and something for the kids to do at four in the afternoon. Moskito and Kokomo handle families beautifully. Petit St. Vincent and Little Palm are built for two, and Little Palm will not let you bring anyone under eighteen at all. What is actually included? This is the one that catches people. Some of these islands are all-inclusive down to the wine. Others hand you a bill at the end that is a meaningful percentage of the room rate again. Cayo Espanto excludes wine and champagne. Little Palm is entirely a la carte. Islas Secas includes the cocktails but not the Twin Otter. Ask before you book, not after.

Private Island Resorts: Your Questions Answered

What is the most exclusive private island resort in the world? For total privacy, a whole-island rental like Musha Cay in the Bahamas or an estate on Moskito Island in the BVI is as exclusive as it gets, because there are no other guests at all. Musha Cay never overlaps two reservations. For a staffed resort experience, Laucala Island in Fiji is widely reported to have the highest staff ratio anywhere. Can you rent an entire private island? Yes. Musha Cay is buyout-only. Moskito Island, Cayo Espanto, Calala Island, Islas Secas, Necker Island and Song Saa all offer full-island or full-estate buyouts. Pricing depends heavily on season and group size, and a buyout is often more reasonable per person than people assume once you divide it across a large group and account for included meals, drinks and staff. Which private island resorts are best for families? Moskito Island in the BVI is my first recommendation for larger families, because you get a multi-bedroom estate with a private chef and staff rather than a row of adjoining hotel rooms. Kokomo Private Island in Fiji is the best of both worlds if you have couples and kids traveling together. COMO Parrot Cay in Turks and Caicos is the easiest to reach from the US East Coast. Little Palm Island is adults only and cannot host children at all. What is the difference between Necker Island and Moskito Island? Necker is largely sold as shared Celebration Weeks or as a full-island buyout, and the social, communal atmosphere is deliberately part of the product. Moskito is sold as individual private estates, so your group gets its own house, chef and staff with no shared dining and no group activities. Moskito is significantly more private, and it is the one I recommend for families and for honeymooners who want to be left alone. How much does a private island cost per night? It ranges enormously. Islas Secas starts around $3,500 per night for a tented casita. A one-bedroom villa at Cayo Espanto starts around $2,395. Full-island buyouts run from roughly $19,000 per night at Cayo Espanto to $57,000 at Musha Cay to a reported $130,000 at Necker. Because most of these properties do not publish pricing, the only reliable answer for your dates is a live quote. When is the best time to visit a Caribbean private island? December through April is peak and the weather is the most reliable. May, June and early November are my favorite value windows: still beautiful, meaningfully cheaper, and far quieter. Hurricane season officially runs June through November in the Caribbean, and I would not book a Caribbean island in September without travel insurance. Do private island resorts cost more if you book through a travel advisor? No. This is the single most common misconception in luxury travel. You pay the same rate you would pay booking direct, and you get perks attached on top of it. There is genuinely no scenario in which booking these properties yourself, with no perks and no advocate, comes out ahead.

Ready to Book Your Private Island?

Here is what I would actually do if I were you. Pick two islands off this list that sound like your kind of trip, send them to me with your dates and your group, and let me tell you honestly which one is right and which one you would regret. I have opinions about all of them, I will tell you when I think you are about to make an expensive mistake, and it costs you nothing, because these properties pay me rather than you. What you get out of it, on top of a trip that actually fits: complimentary breakfast, resort credits, complimentary upgrades when they are available, VIP recognition on property, and early check-in or late checkout when the property can swing it. On an island where there is one restaurant and no alternative, those are not small. Fill out this inquiry form here and I’ll help you plan your trip, or you can go directly to my travel portal and see my exclusive travel advisor rates and book yourself with all of my perks included! The password is always JETSETTERS (save this page to your bookmarks for future trips!)

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