Beyond the atlas

Six shores the world has not crowded yet.

Our fifteen iconic shores are the classics. These six are the ones we reach for when a client has already seen the Mediterranean: remote, protected, expensive to access — and empty. Each entry shows why it works, when to go, how you arrive and what a day truly costs.

French Polynesia

Tetiaroa & the Tuamotu Atolls

A ring of coral that was once a royal family's private retreat.

Tetiaroa belonged to Tahitian royalty and later to a single film star; today a handful of villas share thirteen motus with nesting seabirds and a lagoon that changes colour four times a day. The Tuamotus beyond it are emptier still — atolls where a charter can anchor for a week without meeting another vessel.

Why here

Total seclusion with genuine five-star service; the most private water on earth for a wedding of under forty guests.

Season

May – October

Access

20-minute private air transfer from Tahiti; seaplane or charter yacht within the atolls.

Indicative cost

From €38,000 per day, whole-island programmes

Indonesia

Raja Ampat Archipelago

Fifteen hundred karst islands, and almost no one in them.

Raja Ampat holds the richest marine biodiversity ever recorded and fewer visitors in a year than Capri sees in a week. Celebrations here run from a private phinisi or explorer yacht: mornings in hidden lagoons, evenings on a sandbank lit only by lanterns, and a crew that has been sailing these channels for generations.

Why here

The most cinematic anchorage in the world for guests who have already seen the Mediterranean.

Season

October – April

Access

Private jet to Sorong, then helicopter or tender to the vessel.

Indicative cost

From €12,000 per day, fully crewed phinisi

Norway

Lofoten & the Northern Fjords

Midnight sun over black water and granite walls a kilometre high.

Northern Norway is the antidote to the Mediterranean summer: light that never fully leaves in June, fjords deep enough for any vessel, and a coastline where an explorer yacht can host a black-tie dinner under peaks with no road to them. In winter the same shore delivers the aurora above the deck.

Why here

Unrepeatable light, zero crowding, and an arrival no guest will have experienced before.

Season

June – August (midnight sun) · January – March (aurora)

Access

Private jet to Bodø or Evenes, then helicopter to the vessel.

Indicative cost

From €16,000 per day, ice-class explorer yacht

Saint Vincent & the Grenadines

Mustique & the Grenadines

A private island owned by its homeowners, closed to day visitors.

Mustique is governed by a company owned by the villa holders, which is why there are no cruise ships, no hawkers and no press boats. Around it the Grenadines scatter into Tobago Cays and Petit Saint Vincent — sand bars, reefs and anchorages made for a fleet of sailing yachts moving between islands each evening.

Why here

Old-money discretion in the Caribbean, with villa buyouts instead of hotel blocks.

Season

December – May

Access

Private jet to Barbados or Saint Lucia, then light aircraft or helicopter.

Indicative cost

From €9,000 per night, villa estate with full staff

Philippines

Palawan Hidden Lagoons

Limestone cathedrals standing in water the colour of green glass.

Bacuit Bay and the Calamian group hide lagoons reachable only at certain tides, through gaps in the rock barely wider than a tender. Private-island resorts here take fewer than a hundred guests in total, and a catamaran fleet turns the archipelago into a moving celebration that ends each night on a different beach.

Why here

Extraordinary beauty at a fraction of Caribbean cost — the best value per guest in the whole atlas.

Season

November – May

Access

Private jet to Busuanga or El Nido, then tender or seaplane.

Indicative cost

From €5,500 per day, crewed catamaran fleet

Italy

Panarea & the Aeolian Islands

A volcano erupting on the horizon while dinner is served.

Panarea is the smallest and most fashionable of the Aeolians: no cars, whitewashed terraces, and Stromboli throwing fire into the night sky twelve nautical miles away. Yachts anchor off Lisca Bianca; guests dine on a cliff terrace and watch the eruption between courses. It is the single most theatrical dinner setting in Europe.

Why here

Mediterranean convenience with drama nowhere else can stage.

Season

May – September

Access

Private jet to Catania or Naples, then helicopter or fast tender.

Indicative cost

From €7,500 per day, charter and terrace buyout