folder travel guide
Bawah Reserve, Indonesia
Opened in July 2017, Bawah is one of the world’s most exciting new hideaways: remote, beautiful, and with bar-raising environmental policies. Days can be spent hiking through primary rainforest, gliding over pink, purple and electric-blue corals in see-through kayaks, snorkeling with clownfish, triggerfish, parrotfish, and if your lucky you can see turtles. Later can relax in a spa, where daily Indonesian-inspired treatments will make you fresh.
The 36 villas, 11 of which are stilted above the water, are made from recycled teak and local bamboo and fit effortlessly into the scheme of things, with their rustic-smart interiors, balconies, crisp white canopied beds, and hammered-copper bathrooms. The designs are inspired by aquatic life that is a statement defining the main building where a swarm of jellyfish chandeliers is strung across the dining room and a wispy octopus made from discarded fishing line dangles above the bar. The food is sunny and seriously good with 800 square meters of organic gardens the food is brought to your plate. After dark, the stars will stop you in your barefooted tracks, the silvery bay lit not by moonlight but by the glow of the Milky Way.
Website:bawahisland.com
This is probably the most reclusive island escape out there. A place where it feels like you’re the only people on the planet but a Daiquiri is only a wave of the hand away. Krolow has placed a single villa on the first island and tucked the staff onto the second. Guests are left deliciously alone on their little Robinson Crusoe dot to mooch around the sleek, Mayan-inspired house, stretch out on a day bed by the pool or take a dip in the turquoise water. But don’t worry the chef, manager, and concierge are less than a two-minute boat ride away. There’s a privacy light that signals if the housekeeper has popped in to make up the room, the spa therapist is setting up for a massage in the palapa or a barbecue is being lit for a supper of chargrilled lobster and salad from the garden. From the roof terrace, the Maya Mountains shimmer in the distance and all around the island is calm blue. This is in a protected marine reserve, with whale sharks and pods of dolphins. The boat captain can organize mainland excursions (shopping in Placencia, a tour of the Mayan ruins), but the most sensible thing to do is just stay put.
Website: gladdenprivateisland.com
Voavah, Maldives
The Maldives has one of the loveliest hotels. Four Seasons has taken things up a notch with the opening of Voavah. With seven bedrooms set across the five acres, it’s an extraordinary all-singing, all-dancing playground of a place. The vibe is surprisingly boho. Inside both the main house and the over-water villa, textures such as copper, leather, and rattan are mixed with rosewood and mahogany. Woven fishing baskets from Malaysia and Vietnam have been repurposed as lamps and side tables, and there are Rajasthani mirrors and Java teak benches. A sleek bunk room for children sits up on the mezzanine.
But there are surprises too. A motor yacht will take guests out to the ocean proper, where local populations of turtle and manta rays can be spotted. And there’s Baathala, the private island’s private island for picnic lunches, sandcastle-building, and treasure hunts. Water toys include X-Jetblades, jet skis, Seabobs and Bubblemakers. Back on Voavah, the staff appears to whip up basil and lime smoothies and plates of fresh sashimi, and pizzas for the younger members of the gang. And all ages are welcome at the spa, where there’s a kids’ ritual as well as a crystal-singing-bowl experience worth the 12-hour flight in itself. Website:fourseasons.com/maldivesvoavah
Cempedak, Indonesia
Hornbills crash into fruit trees, rare Irrawaddy dolphins swim through the water and sea otters squeak in the surf. Cempedak is where the wild things truly are. Its 20 villas, peppered across the rugged beach and through a jungly interior packed with soaring fig and pandan trees, are the brainchild of hotelier Andrew Dixon, who opened eco-trailblazer Nikoi Island in the same archipelago a decade ago. Dixon’s commitment to environmentalism means solar panels and waste-water gardens, zero plastic waste, and no air-con. Indonesian bamboo (fast-growing and with a tensile strength stronger than steel) has been used to build the villas, breathtaking raised walkways, and a restaurant that stretches oceanwards in frond-like tendrils. Curved thatched roofs shaped like melted boomerangs add a surreal touch. Reclaimed teak furniture sits alongside earthy-toned Pierre Frey fabrics, balconies have bamboo-offcut railings with skeletal patterns, and lava stone steps lead to teardrop plunge pools. Bamboo Benders (cachaça with green tea and soda) are best sipped at sunset at Dodo Bar, its spiral shape inspired by a shell that washed up onshore. A replica dodo holds court and on obsidian-skied nights, a telescope affords glimpses of Saturn’s rings.
Website: cempedak.com
Turtle Island, Fiji
The first guests visited in the early 1980s, but this year has seen a sharp fix-up of the interiors. Bedrooms have been redecorated with traditional carvings and tribal-print fabrics by French-Fijian designers. A commitment to sustainability runs throughout. Hardwood bed frames, coffee tables, and nightstands are hand-hewn from tree limbs gathered in the island’s forests; woven cushions and floor mats use palm and coconut husk, lights are fashioned from driftwood and curtains have been recycled to cover the day beds. The Blue Lagoon was shot on one of the seven seashell-strewn beaches. The island is big enough for on-land adventure – mountain biking, horse riding – and out on the water there’s stand-up paddleboarding, scuba diving, and deep-sea fishing. Supper is served at a communal table and the chef cooks seasonally from his organic gardens and whatever guests catch that day. Afterward, you can take part in a kava ceremony: the mildly narcotic drink makes a cracking nightcap. It’s a clever refresher for a classic hotel.
Website:turtlefiji.com