10 most-secluded international beaches

4. Long Bay, British Virgin Islands
The third largest in the British Virgin Islands’ 60-plus island chain, Virgin Gorda (or, the “Fat Virgin,” named so by Christopher Columbus because of its reclining, feminine shape) lures in-the-know seclusion seekers to its largely off-the-radar Long Bay. Accessible either by the steep, rugged road past Nail Bay or via anchored boat off the coast, this isolated inlet’s white sands and secluded beaches make the perfect land base for further swimming and snorkeling adventures into the lagoon-like waters. Also primed for bird lovers, Long Bay provides habitat to blue herons, spotted sandpipers, black-necked stilts, pelicans, and more. Though an occasional sailboat or two anchored offshore might translate to a few extra visitors, this stretch of paradise can most often be enjoyed in near solitude.

5. Palmetto Point Beach, Antigua
While popular Antigua boasts 365 beaches along its shores, none is as removed as the magnificent swaths of secluded beaches found on its sister island of Barbuda, some 25 miles to the northeast. A rarity in the Caribbean, where building big resorts on spectacular sands is more the norm, Barbuda’s miles of white- and pink-hued beaches have been largely left untouched, with only a handful of full-service resorts to share them. Even the island’s finest stretch, a 7-mile expanse from Palmetto Point to Coco Point, is typically so deserted that you can expect to share your day with seashells instead of people. Seclusion like this certainly appealed to Princess Diana, who vacationed here four times during her lifetime.

6. Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
While Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula may already be a bona fide surfer-haven, mainstream tourism has yet to discover the largely untrammeled stretch of secluded beaches along Santa Teresa’s coast on the peninsula’s southernmost tip. You’ll have to endure a nearly 6-hour trek to get here — a car-ferry combo from San José, much of which is on a barely drivable dirt road — which may be why the jungle-swathed stretch from the beach villages of Malpais to Santa Teresa is still so preserved. Fronted by the Pacific’s unruly waves and backed only by jungle, even the few bungalow boutiques and hammock hotels are set beneath the lush canopy, unseen from the sand. Besides a few surfers out by the breaks and perhaps some mischievous monkeys pillaging for fruit in the canopy, you’re likely to have the beach to yourself. Come in the off season (summer through fall) for even more solitude; September brings migrating whales just offshore, often visible from the sand.

7. Shipwreck Beach, Greece
One of the most picture-perfect stretches of sand in Greece is also one of its most secluded beaches, thanks to the towering cliffs that surround Shipwreck Beach’s sandy cove and make it accessible only by boat. Stunning and secluded indeed, the Ionian island of Zakynthos is famous for its trademark beach — a perfect milky-white crescent where the wreckage of a marooned vessel, dating back to 1983, remains half-emerged in the sand; the beach was originally called Agios Georgios before the wreck became a fixture on the idyllic stretch, and Navagio (“Shipwreck” in English) beach was born. Cruise tours departing from the villages of Volimes or Porto Vromi will ferry passengers to the famous shore, as well as to the island’s other treasure, the Blue Caves at Skinari — massive airy grottos that are big enough to snorkel, swim, and boat through.

8. Trou d’Argent, Mauritius
Situated off the coast of Africa in the southwest Indian Ocean, visitors to Mauritius’s Rodrigues Island can uncover a small swath of shoreline with a name that translates to “Money Hole,” a testament to the treasure that is rumored to be buried here. We’d argue that the treasure may very well be the beach itself — Trou d’Argent’s off-the-beaten-path sands tout striking views of and east access to the Indian Ocean from within a horseshoe-shaped, cliff-hugged cove. Access to this secluded beach is far away from the resort crowds — the 45-minute hike departs from the beaches at St. Francois along a rocky cliff-top path shaded by filao trees (on Rodrigues’ eastern coast).

9. Uoleva Island, Tonga
This hidden island gem’s far-flung locale — situated within the South Pacific archipelago of Tonga’s (aka the “Friendly Islands”) Ha’apai Group — ensures that visitors who make the journey here will be rewarded with perfectly pristine secluded beaches, designed with solitude in mind. Swim, fish, or snorkel the day away (don’t miss the reef-peppered shores along the western end of the island), or opt to charter a boat from the capital at Pangai, situated on Lifuka Island, just a couple of miles to the north. Though known for their inviting and pleasant nature, there are no more permanent island inhabitants here than you count on your fingers, so distractions from your time on the beach — aside from the sprinkling of fellow tourists who may have opted to bunk down at the small handful of island hotels — are guaranteed to be few and far between.

10. Whitehaven Beach, Australia
Tucked away on Australia’s idyllic Whitsunday Island (the largest of the Whitsunday chain), Whitehaven Beach seems impossibly pure. The dove-white, 4-mile-plus stretch owes its silky, talcum-powder softness to the 99.8-percent pure silica grains that swath its shore. Backed by lush acacia forest and fading into pristine, cerulean waters, the setting simultaneously calls to mind and transcends island clichés. Best of all, the secluded beach’s sands border on deserted thanks to exacting visitation limits enforced by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (individuals must sign up with a tour operator to access the area). Consequently, Australia’s oft-photographed beach appears almost exactly the way it does in the pictures — inviting, relaxing, and refreshingly empty.