Stay on a Private Island With These Rentals and Villas AFAR 3/5/2021
Courtesy of Fregate Island
When it comes to private islands, Fregate Island in the Seychelles is a leader in conservation. As we dream of travel and start to step back into the world, we’re seeking ultimate wilderness escapes, for those who like a bit of pampering and seclusion. You can book a room or rent entire private islands for that castaway feeling of untouched nature with comfortable, design-forward interiors, the freshest local cuisine, and a sustainable connection to the surrounding areas.
Both in the United States and around the world, here are 18 private islands you can stay on, either entirely to yourself or as part of an exclusive hotel or resort.
For a getaway that truly lets you get away, book a stay on the secluded St. Phillips Island and experience the beauty of a pristine South Carolina sea island.
Marie McAden
A former staffer with The Miami Herald, Marie moved to SC in 1992. She is passionate about the outdoors, and enjoys exploring the state’s many natural treasures from the Lowcountry to the Upstate.More from Marie McAden
Of all the places in the world Ted Turner could have built a beach house, the billionaire media mogul chose a remote South Carolina sea island with no power, no water and no roads.
And that’s precisely what sold him on St. Phillips Island, a 5,000-acre tract of forgotten land left undisturbed along a coastline dotted with luxury golf resorts and bustling beach towns. The wild feel of the barrier island, surrounded by meandering tidal creeks and miles of salt marsh, was the perfect retreat for a conservationist who has spent a lifetime working to safeguard America’s unique habitats and protect endangered wildlife.
Image zoom St. Phillips Island, South Carolina
It s a bit like a fragile family heirloom passed down with care and love. What better way to describe South Carolina s remarkable St. Phillips Island? Jigsaw-puzzled among its marshy sea-isle sisters southeast of Beaufort and just northeast of Hilton Head, St. Phillips lay largely undisturbed other than by temporary Native American habitation, colonial oversight by the Spanish, and well-heeled sportsmen who came here for pig hunts until famed media mogul Ted Turner bought the island for $2.4 million in 1979.
St. Phillips encompasses nearly 4,682 acres of ancient landscape, all of it accessible only by boat, featuring narrow ridges of upland dunes flanking freshwater sloughs, with live oaks and magnolias on the high ground, palmettos and marsh grasses on the low. Here was a strand of pale and shifting sands cradling the boneyard remnants of trees, a salty Eden where dolphins leaped and vivid painted buntings perched