Seychelles

Scattered like jewels in the Indian Ocean, the islands of the Seychelles are renowned for their picture-postcard beaches, ecological riches and warm, translucent waters.

Far more than just a place to kick back and do nothing, the Seychelles offers a huge amount to do, from rainforest hikes to tumbling waterfalls to stand-up paddleboarding, sailing, fishing, snorkelling and diving. Discover colourful Creole culture on the main island of Mahe. Seek out the world’s largest nut, the iconic coco de mer, in the Vallee de Mai on picturesque Praslin. Admire vast granite boulders, seemingly sculpted by some divine hand, on the beaches of La Digue. Or join conservation teams as they work at the forefront of environmental stewardship.

While no one would blame you for picking a resort and staying put for a week, island-hopping trips allow you to see more of this incredible diversity. It’s easy, for example, to combine the inner granitic islands – whose misty mountain peaks are cloaked in verdant rainforest – with the flat outlying islands that arc out towards Africa. Outcrops like Denis and Alphonse offer some of the best diving and fishing in the world, while UNESCO-listed Aldabra is the world’s largest raised coral atoll, home to giant tortoises that have survived unchanged for 200 million years.