What are your favorite islands?

[GNews]

Travelers are here in this forum, i've noticed.

I wanted opinions from people who have tripped a bit.

I've been so far to:
Curacao
Sint Marteeen
Aruba
Dominican Republic
Trinidad

I've been to Italy but didn't do any Euro-islands. I'm wondering if it's worth it.

The Maldives is on the bucket list.

Chime in!

 

[BCN]

- Isla Grande south of Rio de Janeiro
- Caye Caulker outside Belize city
- Svalbard North-West of Norway

Are my favorites, in no particular order. Also been to some islands in Lake Victoria in Africa, but can't remember names. Just remember Jinja in Uganda which is near the river delta, but not an island.

Also been to many others, Greek islands, Hawaii etc. Canaries are supposed to be nice due to very stable climate and fauna which is quite unique, but I've never been.

I want to go to Greenland, Zanzibar, and Islands in the pacific like Vanuatu.

 

[Ryuzaki]

You ever been to Little Saint James Island?

 

[Olov]

I hope it's ok to comment even if I've never been to the place, but I'd say: Iceland!

Amazing scenery, baths like in the picture below and great viking history. Their language is the closest to what vikings were speaking.

I am from Scandinavia and I have no idea why I haven't been to Iceland yet. I know a lot of people who have been there and they thought it was great. Especially people who enjoys hiking were keen on Iceland.

Remember that it's a small and expensive country with a lot of wind.

 

[ToffeeLa]

Sicily is great. Sunshine, culture, history, food and wine. And you get to walk up two live volcanoes or visit Corleone which looked exactly like I imagined it should from the films (and even though they shot the scenes elsewhere).

There was a good series about Greek island hopping in the Guardian recently, taking me back to a misspent youth...
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/greek-islands

We have plans to go to the Orkneys and Shetlands at some point...

 

[BCN]

Ah yeah, I forgot that Iceland is an Island.

A few years ago we drove the highway/road #1 around the island in winter. I've never seen weather change this fast. Within 10-15 min you could have sunshine, blizzards, fog and strong winds.


Shetland I've been to once many years ago. I sailed from Scandinavia and spent 2 days there or so, rented a car. It's really small, but sort of unique.

 

[GNews]

I thought about going to Iceland (Rji) to do those pools exactly. I've never heard of it mentioned however as a top plce to visit.

The land terrain sounds much like Carribean islands.. You can cross a shadow and be in/out some serious climate changes in places like the Dominican Republic

 

[darkzerothree]

+1 For Greece
The Greek islands are great!

 

[Poplanu]

Amazing scenery, baths like in the picture below and great viking history.

I thought about going to Iceland (Rji) to do those pools exactly.

Did a 10-day trip there in 2018. Great country and memories.

We rented a car and just drove around the island, camping in tents because everything else was expensive (student life). Heck, even for a tent spot you'd have to pay 15 euros per person in some of the spots. Eating supermarket food, cooking up beans on the portable stove.

We actually skipped out on the baths on the picture (Blue Lagoon) because they're a pricy tourist magnet and instead visited smaller natural hot springs across the country during the journey. You can find a map of them if you Google for "iceland hot springs map".

They're mostly hidden away in the countryside, so it was cool parking the car on the side of a country road and just going out on a hot spring hunt. Some are better than others.

Other highlights included:

• Driving through the desolate center of the country (it's like real-life Mordor - ZERO life, haven't seen that anywhere else)
• Visiting those small "secret" hot springs
• Swimming inside a dormant volcano
• Driving on the Fjords
• Southern coastline

Definitely rent a 4x4 if going there and don't do less than 7 days. Without a rental car you'll miss out on 80% of the country, and some spots you can only access with a 4x4 (like the dormant volcano) because you need to drive through rivers.

It's also a cold country and it gets dark real fast after the summer, so keep that in mind.

 

[andreint]

Hurawalhi / Maldives.

Just came back from a short vacation and I must say that I'm impressed. 100/100.

 

[GNews]

Did a 10-day trip there in 2018. Great country and memories.

We rented a car and just drove around the island, camping in tents because everything else was expensive (student life). Heck, even for a tent spot you'd have to pay 15 euros per person in some of the spots. Eating supermarket food, cooking up beans on the portable stove.

We actually skipped out on the baths on the picture (Blue Lagoon) because they're a pricy tourist magnet and instead visited smaller natural hot springs across the country during the journey. You can find a map of them if you Google for "iceland hot springs map".

They're mostly hidden away in the countryside, so it was cool parking the car on the side of a country road and just going out on a hot spring hunt. Some are better than others.

Other highlights included:

• Driving through the desolate center of the country (it's like real-life Mordor - ZERO life, haven't seen that anywhere else)
• Visiting those small "secret" hot springs
• Swimming inside a dormant volcano
• Driving on the Fjords
• Southern coastline

Definitely rent a 4x4 if going there and don't do less than 7 days. Without a rental car you'll miss out on 80% of the country, and some spots you can only access with a 4x4 (like the dormant volcano) because you need to drive through rivers.

It's also a cold country and it gets dark real fast after the summer, so keep that in mind.

Drive through rivers or streams?

 

[DD1]

Travelers are here in this forum, i've noticed.

I wanted opinions from people who have tripped a bit.

I've been so far to:
Curacao
Sint Marteeen
Aruba
Dominican Republic
Trinidad

I've been to Italy but didn't do any Euro-islands. I'm wondering if it's worth it.

The Maldives is on the bucket list.

Chime in!

Not many details on what you are searching specifically, but from your choices I'd guess sunny and tropical, right?

Ten years ago (!!) I went to Thailand. I hated Bangkok with a passion (humid, smelly, too much traffic) but I really loved the beaches there. Since you asked about islands, I'll start with a two-for-one: I went to a small island called Koh Tao, which is next to an even smaller island called Koh Nang Yuan.

Most people stay in Koh Tao and spend the day in Koh Nang Yuan. I did the opposite. During the day, the tiny island is super crowded. At night, there was just 3-4 personnel, a couple of dogs, my GF and I. At that time I hadn't even brought my mobile with me, and there was no internet, just a tube TV on our room.

It was extremely isolated and super-laid back. I was in a terrible place in my life back then and those were a few peaceful days. I guess it was November and the weather was really good.

Should you ever go there, avoid the cheapest Thai boats to visit Koh Tao. I took a wooden boat on my way to Koh Tao and almost puked my guts out. Returning to the peninsula I took a catamaran service, which was faster and more stable.

Another two-for-one deal: Sicily is pretty damn cool too, but the summer is over. I live near Mt Etna and the weather here today was shitty. You can either visit next summer for the summer experience you seem to enjoy or visit the Aeolian Islands during the winter - it's a small archipelago just north of Sicily. I heard that in Vulcano island the water is warm during the winter due to volcanic activity, but I've never been there myself.

I also lived in Japan for 4 years. I have heard nice things about Okinawa - weather and so on - but I haven't visited it. I lived in the Kansai area and I traveled quite a bit throughout Honshu (the main island), sometimes to Shikoku, and once to Kyushu (south). I'm currently planning to take my mother later this year, if everything works out (fingers crossed) so we can see my Japanese grandpa - 88 years young and still rocking. TBH I'd only recommend it if you really like Japanese food, gardens, and so on - my experiences with beaches there are almost none, I hated Tokyo too - you are either a millionaire who can enjoy the city or a peasant who needs to GTFO ASAP. I really like Japan in early April (cherry blossoms) and mid November (autumn looks spectacular).

And here's another island/archipelago that hasn't been mentioned yet but is a dream of mine: Hawaii.

BTW, so many marketers here and nobody is experienced with the Philippines? LOL

 

[Poplanu]

Drive through rivers or streams?

It's something like this