Introducing British Virgin Islands.
Tortola is the archipelago’s father. It holds most of the population and commerce, and its demeanor is a little bit stern as a result. That doesn’t mean it won’t let its hair down at a full-moon party or out on the bay windsurfing. Virgin Gorda is the BVIs’ beauty, beloved by movie stars, millionaires and yachties. Somehow she’s maintained her innocence, with a clutch of exceptional national parks. Jost Van Dyke is the jovial island, where a man named Foxy is king and ‘time flies when you ain’t doin’ shit, ’ as the T-shirts proclaim. Not-like-the-others Anegada floats in a remote reef; if you’re looking to get away from it all, this atoll has a hammock waiting. Then there are the sprinkling of out islands – some uninhabited, some with just a beach bar, some with shipwrecks to dive on. You’ll need your own boat to reach them, but since the BVIs are the world’s charter-boat capital, you’re in luck.