Cayo Espanto

Cayo Espanto is a four-acre private island around three miles off San Pedro, off Ambergris Caye, with just seven fully-staffed villas sleeping up to eighteen — the kind of place sold on the island itself, not on a rating. Every villa sits beachfront or overwater with its own heated plunge pool, private dock, alfresco shower, king bed convertible to twins and a dedicated butler, from around a thousand square feet up to the two-floor, two-bedroom Casa Estrella for families and groups. Casa Ventanas waits at the end of a hundred-and-fifty-foot dock with three-hundred-and-sixty-degree Caribbean views and a ladder into the sea. Dining is all-inclusive and made-to-order by a private chef, served wherever you like, on the villa deck, the beach, the dock or overwater, and spa treatments are brought to your villa on the beach. The all-inclusive rate folds in an airport greeting and transfer, your butler, three tailored meals a day, water, juice and beer, daily boat trips to San Pedro and non-motorised watersports, with scuba, fishing charters, windsurfing and catamaran sailing on offer and the whole island available for a wedding or retreat. Reached by a domestic flight to San Pedro and a boat or a private helicopter direct to the island, with four-to-seven-night minimums, it is made for couples, honeymooners, weddings and small groups.