Best islands to travel: Top 14 islands that offer more than just sand and sun

By Brian Johnston
Updated October 6 2016 - 11:08am, first published October 2 2016 - 12:15am
Marsaxlokk Fishing Village, Malta. Photo: iStock
Marsaxlokk Fishing Village, Malta. Photo: iStock
The remains of an ancient and magnificent greek temple on Cyprus coast . Photo: iStock
The remains of an ancient and magnificent greek temple on Cyprus coast . Photo: iStock
Symi island, Dodecanes, Greece . Photo: iStock
Symi island, Dodecanes, Greece . Photo: iStock
Bar and Restaurant over the beautiful blue waters of the Indian ocean in Zanzibar, an Island just off the coast of Tanzania - Africa. . Photo: iStock
Bar and Restaurant over the beautiful blue waters of the Indian ocean in Zanzibar, an Island just off the coast of Tanzania - Africa. . Photo: iStock
The Church of the Transfiguration and The Church of the Intercession on the Kizhi Island, Russia. Photo: iStock
The Church of the Transfiguration and The Church of the Intercession on the Kizhi Island, Russia. Photo: iStock
Islands in the Baltic Sea near Helsinki in Finland. Photo: iStock
Islands in the Baltic Sea near Helsinki in Finland. Photo: iStock

Islands are magical places that have long had an irresistible allure to explorers and travellers alike. You sail – or these days, more likely fly – across vast expanses of unpromising blue, and then an island appears from nowhere in a looming of cliffs or an effervescence of reefs. Their remoteness is appealing, even if more often in the mind than in 21st-century reality. Chances are an island will be a special place, with its own microclimate and endemic creatures, its own particular history. Islands are coveted for their strategic locations, and the result of their often contested ownership is distinct cuisines, cultures and ethnic mixes.

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