Bahamas

The Bahamas is not one destination, it is seven hundred of them, scattered across water so luminous that astronauts photograph it from orbit. Nassau and Paradise Island do the famous version: mega-resorts, casinos, swimming pigs a boat ride away. But the Out Islands are where the spell really lands. The Exumas string dozens of private and near-private cays down a sandbank the colour of a swimming pool, best explored by boat with a picnic and no plan. Harbour Island keeps golf carts, pastel cottages and a beach that is genuinely pink. Eleuthera offers surf, farm stands and pineapple fields. Fishing, diving and sailing are all world-class. Fly between islands in small planes, or better, charter a boat and let the blue lead. The Bahamas rewards wandering.