Top 10 Offbeat Islands to Visit in 2026
Chasing Quiet Shores Before the Crowds Find Them
Some places just get under your skin. For me, it’s islands — not the packed resort strips everyone already knows, but the odd, out-of-the-way ones with their own stubborn personality. There’s something about being surrounded by water that changes a place. It draws a line around a community, and somehow that makes the people on the other side of it warmer, weirder, and more themselves.
After years of chasing these hideaways, here are ten that still feel wonderfully undiscovered heading into 2026.
1. Denman Island, Canada — Tucked in British Columbia’s Northern Gulf Islands, Denman is little more than a general store, a bistro, and a lot of forest silence. Whale-watching beaches and quiet lakes make it a retreat, not a destination.
2. Dominica, Caribbean — No resorts, no crowds — just rainforest, black-sand coastline, and the world’s second-largest boiling lake. This is the Caribbean before the package tours arrived.
3. La Gomera, Canary Islands — Tenerife’s overlooked neighbor trades white sand for volcanic black beaches, a UNESCO-listed cloud forest, and a whistling language still spoken between villages today.
4. San Blas Islands, Panama — A scattered necklace of islets governed by the Kuna people, reachable only by boat. Some islands hold entire villages; others fit only a palm tree and a strip of sand.
5. Grand Manan Island, Canada — Lighthouses, lobster boats, and cliffside whale sightings define this Bay of Fundy gem, a short hop from Maine but a world away in pace.
6. Kangaroo Island, Australia — Kangaroos, seals, and echidnas roam freely across turquoise coves and dramatic sea cliffs, backed by wineries and honey farms that rival anywhere on the mainland.
7. Kalanggaman Island, Philippines — Uninhabited and boat-access-only, this Philippine sandbar island feels like the edge of the earth — just hermit crabs, bleach-white sand, and turquoise water in every direction.
8. Rakino Island, New Zealand — A tiny, pest-free speck in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf with no shops, no town, and ferries that visit once or twice a week — bliss for anyone chasing native birdsong and solitude.
9. Les Saintes, Guadeloupe — This French-flavored island cluster mixes crêperies and hilltop forts with quiet beaches best enjoyed before the day-trip boats arrive from the mainland.
10. Nacula Island, Fiji — No roads, no shops, just coconut palms, glassy water, and reef snorkeling straight off the beach in the remote Yasawa chain.
Bonus: Antelope Island, Utah — Not tropical at all, but wild all the same — buffalo, pronghorn, and the strange buoyancy of the Great Salt Lake make this desert island unforgettable.
Each of these places still feels like a secret, at least for now. Get there before the world catches on.
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