Located in a tiny corner of an uninhabited 1000-acre island within the Turks and Caicos in the British West Indies

Located in a tiny corner of an uninhabited 1,000-acre island within the Turks and Caicos, in the British West Indies. Standard double rooms from £449 per night (low season) to £575 (high) including breakfast. And should all that Garbo-style solitude get a bit much, you can always nip across the lagoon (incognito in designer shades obviously) on the free motor launch for a spot of sightseeing, designer label shopping or a Bellini at Harry’s Bar.Open 18 March-23 October 2005. If you really want to push the boat out, stay in a suite in one of the 15th century Palazzi buildings, which come with a personal butler attached. But in the Cipriani, tucked away on the tiny island of Giudecca, the city has one of the most luxurious hideaways in the world. Far from the maddening crowds, this tranquil haven last year added the Casanova Spa to its already considerable charms – which include pretty gardens, an outdoor heated pool and tennis courts. Contact Covecastles, 001 264 497 6801, 2. With the hordes of tourists visiting Venice each year, it’s not a destination you’d normally recommend as a place to get away from it all.

Every beach house opens on to the sea, the most luxurious of which are the two Grand Villas – vast airy structures with split-level, tree-filled atriums connected by curving staircases just begging for a sashaying descent.
Beach house sleeping two, from £439 per night, room-only. These startling white, geometric beach houses on Anguilla’s north shore are as much Le Corbusier-esque sculpture as they are a place to stay. Taking advantage of the surreal desert-island-castaway landscape of Anguilla (a Leeward island in the north-east Caribbean), award-winning New York architect Myron Goldfinger created his own inimitable vision of castles in the sand, in the shape of the Covecastles resort. SLSouth American Experience (020-7976 5511; ) organises packages to Monteverde Cloud Forest in Costa Rica.

This elevated experience allows visitors the opportunity to see wildlife that is rarely to be sighted from the forest floor, including howler monkeys and many extraordinary birds – and all while travelling at a velocity that some may find alarming. Old cattle ranches, or hatos, offer Jeep, horseback and canoe wildlife safaris. LGJourney Latin America (020-8747 8315, ), organises tailor-made holidays to Venezuela. An 11-night trip taking in Hato Pinero, the Orinoco Delta and Angel Falls starts at £1,889 per person. The price includes all flights, transfers, most meals and guided excursionsDecember – Go zip-wiring in Costa RicaZip-wiring is the Tarzan-esque technique that allows you to “fly” across the jungle canopy, zooming from one platform to another while strapped into a climber’s harness for safety.

During the dry season, from November to May, it’s possible to see howler monkeys, capybara (the largest rodent in the world), anacondas, caiman, river dolphins and even big cats, as well as more species of birds than in the UK and US combined. Covering an area that is 10 times the size of Belgium, and which stretches from the Orinoco Delta to the Andes, the Llanos is the African Rift Valley of South America and is prime wildlife-watching territory. Venezuela’s cowboys, the llaneros, along with Argentina’s gauchos, are the finest horsemen in South America. LGHimalayan Kingdoms (01453 844400; ) offers the 16-day Singalila Ridge Top Walk, departing 1 October, and costing £1,750 including international flights, all transfers, accommodation, most meals and six days trekkingNovember – Wildlife-watching in VenezuelaThe Llanos is the untamed frontier territory of blistering plains and steamy swamps, eulogised by urban Venezuelans and regarded as the spiritual heartland of the country.