Know Before
You Go

The lagoon postcard — overwater bungalows, Mount Otemanu, and a price tag to match.

PPT · Faa'a International Airport

The island people should compare with Bora Bora — a lagoon, a mountain spine, and a ferry from Tahiti.

PPT · Faa'a International Airport

Private-island resorts, house reefs, and seaplanes — paradise with a transfer plan.

MLE · Velana International Airport

Temples, rice terraces, and a coastline for every budget — if you can live with the traffic.

DPS · I Gusti Ngurah Rai International

Trade-wind beaches, a dormant volcano, and the Road to Hana — with US convenience and Hawaiian prices.

OGG · Kahului Airport

The lived-in Hawaiian island — Waikiki, the North Shore, and a real city behind the beaches.

HNL · Daniel K. Inouye International Airport

The wet, green Hawaiian island — Nā Pali cliffs, a canyon, and no road that goes all the way around.

LIH · Lihue Airport

Kona is dry beaches and coffee. Hilo is rain and waterfalls. The volcano sits in the middle.

KOA · Ellison Onizuka Kona International

The Hawaiian island that never built a Waikiki — few hotels, few flights, and a long memory.

MKK · Molokai Airport (Hoʻolehua)

One luxury beach, one plantation town, and not much in between unless you like dirt roads.

LNY · Lanai Airport

The Pitons on the skyline, rainforest in the middle, and a long transfer from the main airport.

UVF · Hewanorra International

Grace Bay's famous sand, easy US flights, and a grocery bill that will humble you.

PLS · Providenciales International

A mainland with buses and markets, plus island groups that still feel far away.

NAN · Nadi International

Limestone lagoons, wreck diving, and a two-hop journey that still rewards the effort.

PPS · Puerto Princesa International

Granite boulders, jungle, and beaches that look invented — with ferry hops between islands.

SEZ · Seychelles International

Stone Town's alleys, spice farms, and an east-coast kite beach — culture and sea on one island.

ZNZ · Abeid Amani Karume International

The Indian Ocean island with a country attached — lagoons, food, and a long airport drive.

MRU · Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International

Outside the hurricane belt, reliably dry, and more desert-island than jungle-island.

AUA · Queen Beatrix International

English-speaking, easy from the UK and East Coast, with a calm west coast and a wild Atlantic east.

BGI · Grantley Adams International

Music, food, and mountains — and a tourist north coast that is a different country from Kingston.

MBJ · Sangster International

Nassau is the easy weekend. The water people screenshot is usually the Exumas.

NAS · Lynden Pindling International

A US island with a real city, a rainforest, and beaches — no passport for US citizens.

SJU · Luis Muñoz Marín International

St. Thomas is the airport and the cruise pier. St. John is the beach. St. Croix is a separate trip.

STT · Cyril E. King Airport

One island, two countries — Dutch beaches and a famous airport on one side, French food on the other.

SXM · Princess Juliana International

Seven Mile Beach, wall diving, and a grocery receipt that reads like a luxury tax.

GCM · Owen Roberts International

A full Thai island with an airport on it — spas, food, and boats to the next gulf island.

USM · Samui International Airport

The Eastern Adriatic island people usually mean — limestone towns, ferries from Split, and a summer that is not tropical.

SPU · Split Airport