By the TipsRead Travel Desk · Updated July 2026 · 14 min read
🌊 The list at a glance
| 🌍 Regions covered | South Pacific, Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia, Mediterranean, Hawaii |
| 💰 Daily cost spread | From about $50 (Palawan, Bali) to $350+ (Bora Bora, Maui) |
| 🏖 Cheapest way in | Maldives local islands and Philippine Palawan |
| 💕 Best for a honeymoon | Bora Bora, Aitutaki, Seychelles |
| 🤯 Biggest wow factor | Aitutaki lagoon and Palawan’s Bacuit Bay |
| 🛂 Watch for in 2026 | New entry fees: ETIAS (Europe), Bali levy, Zanzibar insurance |
I have a rule about the best islands to visit: an island earns a spot on a list like this only if the first sight of the water made me stop walking and say something stupid out loud. All ten of these did.
This is not a ranking of the fanciest resorts or the ones with the biggest ad budgets. It is the shortlist I actually give friends when they text me “where should we go where the water is unreal.” Some are cheap. Two will hurt your card. A couple are genuinely awkward to reach, which is usually the point. I have paired each one with what it is really like, when to go, roughly what a day costs, and the catch nobody mentions.
One more thing before we start, because 2026 is the year of the surprise fee. Europe’s ETIAS permit is due in the last quarter of the year, Bali now charges a tourist levy, and Zanzibar makes you buy a government insurance policy before you land. I have put all of that in a plain-English table near the end so no border desk catches you out. Now, the islands.
How I chose these islands
I weighed four things: the water and the beaches, how easy it is to get out on that water, whether the island has anything to do beyond lying flat, and value for what you pay. I left off a few obvious names on purpose. The Caribbean is thin here because inter-island flights there are brutally expensive for what you get, and I skipped places where the beach is the only reason to show up. Every island below rewards at least three days, and most reward a week.
The 10 best islands to visit, ranked
No. 1
Bora Bora, French Polynesia
A ring of coral reef holds a lagoon in about four shades of blue at once, all of it circling Mount Otemanu, a jagged 727-metre volcanic plug that looks fake in photos and worse-behaved in person. The overwater bungalow was more or less invented in French Polynesia in the 1960s, and Bora Bora is where the idea went fully off the rails. You do not need a bungalow to enjoy it, though. Snorkel the lagoon and you drift over rays and blacktip reef sharks in water that rarely tops your waist.
The catch: it is expensive, and the island itself is quiet. The lagoon does all the work. If the price makes you wince, nearby Huahine and Maupiti are cheaper and, honestly, more relaxed.
No. 2
The Maldives — the local islands
The Maldives spreads more than 1,000 coral islands across 26 atolls, and for years the story was that you needed a private-island resort and a spare fortune to see any of it. You do not. Since guesthouses opened on inhabited “local islands” like Maafushi and Fulidhoo, you can sleep 50 metres from the same turquoise water for a fraction of the resort rate. The green tax tells the story: small local guesthouses charge USD 6 per night, resorts USD 12. The reef life a short boat ride out, whale sharks and manta rays included, is the same either way.
The catch: local islands are Muslim and conservative, so you cover up in the village and save the swimwear for the marked “bikini beach.” A tiny adjustment for a very big saving.
No. 3
Palawan, Philippines
Palawan keeps topping “world’s best island” reader polls, and one boat trip through El Nido’s Bacuit Bay explains why: limestone cliffs shoot straight out of jade water, and you paddle a kayak through a crack in the rock into a hidden lagoon. Up north at Coron, you dive a graveyard of Japanese warships sunk in 1944, then rinse off in Kayangan Lake, routinely called the cleanest lake in the country. It is raw, cheap, and jaw-dropping in roughly equal measure.
The catch: El Nido town is scruffy and the roads are rough. The magic is all offshore, so build your days around island-hopping tours, not the town.
Related guide
→ The Maldives on a budget: local islands vs resortsHow guesthouse islands cut the Maldives dream down to a normal holiday budget.
No. 4
Aitutaki, Cook Islands
If one lagoon on this list looks Photoshopped in real life, it is Aitutaki’s. A triangular lagoon studded with tiny sand-and-palm motus, it is the sort of blue you assume a filter did. A half-day lagoon cruise drops you on deserted sandbars and, at One Foot Island (Tapuaetai), a shack of a post office will stamp your passport with a little footprint. The Cook Islands use the New Zealand dollar and everyone speaks English, so the logistics are painless once you are there.
The catch: it is small. Two or three days is plenty, so pair it with a few nights on the main island of Rarotonga, a 50-minute hop away.
No. 5
La Digue & Praslin, Seychelles
The Seychelles is 115 islands off East Africa, and two of them carry the whole reputation. On La Digue, Anse Source d’Argent lines pink-tinged granite boulders along shallow water and lands near the top of every “world’s best beach” list going, and you reach it by bicycle because that is how you get around here. Next door on Praslin, the Vallee de Mai is a UNESCO palm forest that grows the coco de mer, the largest seed on earth. Aldabra giant tortoises wander the place like slow furniture.
The catch: it costs more than you expect once you are there. Self-catering guesthouses and the local supermarket keep the food bill sane.
No. 6
Zanzibar, Tanzania
Zanzibar earns its “Spice Island” name, and it gives you more to do than lie on sand. Stone Town is a UNESCO maze of carved wooden doors, call-to-prayer at dusk and clove-scented markets. Out on the coast, Nungwi has proper swimming beaches and Paje is a world-class kitesurfing flat. In Jozani Forest you can find the red colobus monkey, which lives nowhere else on earth. It works beautifully bolted onto a Tanzania safari.
The catch: the east-coast tides are dramatic, so at low tide you walk out a long way to swim. Check a tide table before you book a specific beach. New for 2026, you also need a government insurance policy to enter (details below).
No. 7
Maui, Hawaii
Maui packs an absurd amount into one island. You can watch sunrise from the 10,023-foot summit of Haleakala, standing above the clouds in near-freezing air, then be snorkelling with turtles by lunch. The Road to Hana threads waterfalls and black-sand coves along the coast, and from December the humpback whales show up offshore in numbers. It is the easy pick if you want a dream island without leaving the reach of American road trips and rental cars.
The catch: Lahaina is still rebuilding after the 2023 wildfire, so visit that side with care and spend your money with local businesses. And a Haleakala sunrise needs a reservation (a $1 permit plus the $30 park fee) that you should book the moment your dates firm up.
No. 8
Santorini, Greece
Santorini is a drowned volcano. The whitewashed villages of Oia and Fira cling to the rim of a caldera left by a giant eruption around 1600 BC, and the sunset over that flooded crater is the postcard for a reason. The beaches are volcanic too, black sand at Perissa and Kamari, rust-red cliffs at Red Beach. There is good news for 2026: to fight the crush, Greece now caps cruise arrivals at 8,000 a day and charges a peak-season cruise levy, so scheduled ship traffic has actually dropped.
The catch: midday in high summer is still a scrum. Stay overnight, be at the viewpoints for sunrise or after the day boats leave, and aim for May or late September when it breathes.
You may also like
→ Aitutaki lagoon cruises and One Foot IslandHow to plan the day trip that gets your passport stamped on a sandbar.
No. 9
Capri, Italy
Capri is small, steep and unapologetically glamorous, sitting off the Amalfi Coast. Row into the Blue Grotto (Grotta Azzurra) and sunlight bouncing under the surface turns the whole cave electric blue. The Faraglioni sea stacks rise out of the water off the south coast, and a slow chairlift lifts you to the top of Monte Solaro at 589 metres for a view down the entire Bay of Naples. It is a proper Mediterranean fantasy, and it knows it.
The catch: day-trippers flood it from late morning. Stay the night and the island empties after 5pm, leaving the piazzetta to the people who slept there.
No. 10
Bali, Indonesia
Bali is on this list because it does something none of the others do: it mixes great surf and beach clubs with rice-terrace valleys, cliff temples and a living Hindu culture, all on a budget. Watch the sunset dance at Uluwatu’s clifftop temple, wander the Tegallalang rice terraces near Ubud, and take a day boat to Nusa Penida for the Kelingking cliff that everyone’s phone is full of. You can eat and sleep well here for very little.
The catch: south Bali traffic is genuinely punishing, so do not try to base yourself in one spot and see everything. Since February 2024 there is also a small tourist levy of IDR 150,000 (about $10) per entry.
Popular post
→ Greek island hopping beyond SantoriniQuieter Cyclades and Ionian islands for when you want the water without the crowds.
Quick comparison of all 10 islands
Daily costs are rough per-person, mid-range estimates for 2026 and exclude international flights. Treat them as a planning ballpark, not a quote.
Which island for which kind of trip?
Honeymoon
Bora Bora if the budget allows, Aitutaki for the lagoon, Seychelles for the beaches. All three deliver privacy and unreal water.
Tight budget
Palawan and Bali stretch the furthest, and the Maldives local islands get you the postcard for guesthouse money.
Diving & adventure
Palawan’s Coron wrecks, the Maldives’ mantas, and Maui’s Molokini crater keep divers and snorkellers busy for a week.
Families
Maui and Bali have the easiest logistics, calm swimming spots and enough on land to fill rainy afternoons.
2026 entry rules and fees to budget for
Several of these islands added paperwork or fees recently. None of it is a dealbreaker, but a missed step can cost you at the airport. Here is what changed, with the official sources so you can check dates yourself.
🇪🇺 Europe: ETIAS & EES
The biometric Entry/Exit System went live in April 2026. The ETIAS travel permit is due in the last quarter of 2026 (a fee reported at around €20, valid three years) for visa-free visitors to Santorini and Capri. Check the EU’s official ETIAS page before you fly.
🇬🇷 Santorini cruise rules
For 2026 Greece caps cruise arrivals at 8,000 per day and charges a cruise passenger levy of up to €20 in peak summer at Santorini and Mykonos. If you arrive by air or ferry and stay over, none of this applies to you.
🇮🇩 Bali tourist levy
Since February 2024, foreign visitors pay a one-time levy of IDR 150,000 (about $10) per entry. Pay it before you fly through Bali’s official Love Bali portal and save the QR code.
🇹🇿 Zanzibar insurance
Since October 2024, every visitor must buy a government insurance policy (USD 44, valid 92 days) on top of the USD 50 Tanzania visa. Buy it before arrival at Zanzibar’s official visitor portal.
🇲🇻 Maldives green tax
A green tax of USD 6 per night applies at small local-island guesthouses and USD 12 at resorts, plus 17% tourism GST. It is usually folded into your bill, but ask so it is not a surprise at checkout.
🇺🇸 Maui: Haleakala
Sunrise at the summit between 3am and 7am needs a $1 reservation booked on Recreation.gov, on top of the $30 park fee. Slots release 60 days out and again 48 hours out, and popular dates vanish in minutes.
💰 Three ways to spend less on any island
Fly in shoulder season. On almost every island here, moving from July to late September or May cuts room rates and thins the crowds without much weather risk.
Pick the local version. Bora Bora has Huahine, the Maldives has its guesthouse islands, Santorini has Naxos. The cheaper neighbour is often the nicer stay.
Self-cater one meal a day. In pricey spots like the Seychelles and Capri, a supermarket breakfast and picnic lunch frees up your budget for one great dinner.
Best islands to visit: your questions answered
Which island would you add?
I know I left off the Caribbean, and I know someone is furious about it. Tell me the island that should have made the cut in the comments and help other readers plan their trip. 👇
About this guide
This list draws on first-hand visits and research by the TipsRead travel desk across the Pacific, Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean. Costs and entry rules were checked in July 2026 against official sources; fees like ETIAS and the Bali levy change, so confirm the current figures before you book.