The Best Places to Get Away from It All

Green Turtle Club (Green Turtle Cay, the Abacos): Secluded and private, this sailing retreat consists of tasteful one- to three-bedroom villas with full kitchens. It opens onto a small private beach with a 35-slip marina, which is the most complete yachting facility in the archipelago. Many rooms open onto poolside, and there's a dining room decorated in Queen Anne style.

Rock House Hotel (Harbour Island, off the coast of Eleuthera): A glamorous and stylish inn -- really, a glorified B&B -- this posh little hidectix is drawing more and more of the glitterati to its shores. Set on a low buff above the harbor, it is tranquillity itself with whimsically decorated bedrooms. No one will find you if you decide to hide out here.

Club Med-Columbus Isle (San Salvador, the Southern Bahamas): This was the first large resort to be built on one of The Bahamas's most isolated islands, site of Columbus's first landfall in the New World. It's unusually luxurious, and unusually isolated, for a Club Med, and it occupies a gorgeous beach. The sheer difficulty of reaching it adds to the get-ctix-from-it-all mystique.

Fernandez Bay Village (Cat Island, the Southern Bahamas): The dozen stone and timber villas of Fernandez Bay Village are the closest thing to urban congestion Cat Island ever sees. There's a funky, thatch-roofed beach bar that'll make you feel like you're in the South Pacific, enjoying a cold beer each afternoon after you leave the stunning sands and turquoise waters behind for the day. There's only one phone at the entire resort, and your bathroom shower will probably open to a view of the sky.

• Grand Bahama Island
• Nassau