The lagoon here is so extravagantly blue it reads as fiction. Bora Bora is the splurge of this list, but the formula — a volcanic peak wrapped in a turquoise moat, rays and reef sharks gliding under your breakfast — justifies the airfare and then some. May to October is the dry season. Honeymooners dominate, yet the snorkelling alone rewards anyone who makes the journey.
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The default screensaver of married life begins here: Mount Otemanu rising from a lagoon so blue it looks retouched, with overwater bungalows fanned out beneath it. Rays and blacktip reef sharks patrol under your deck; breakfast arrives by outrigger canoe if you ask nicely. It is eye-wateringly expensive, so book eight to twelve months out and travel May to October, when the dry season keeps the lagoon glassy.
Featured in Ten dreamy honeymoon islands worth the long flight · Tropical