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Resorts on private islands offer seclusion, luxury and romance. Here's a guide to finding the perfect tropical paradise.

For many couples, it's as clear as a bottle of Fiji water: Private island resorts are dream honeymoon spots. After all, these far-flung tropical getaways offer the winning combo of casual, barefoot style paired with over-the-top luxury and a unique sense of place. What's often less straightforward, however, is which of these retreats (there are about a dozen scattered throughout the 333 Fijian islands) best matches your travel style. To help make it easier for you to select the right one, we've created this handy primer.

The Basics

There are a few elements common to every private island experience. First, getting to the place you're staying adds another leg to your transpacific journey. Be prepared to board either a small private plane (Wakaya and Vatulele are a short hop from the mainland) or a luxurious launch (to reach Vomo, you have a choice of a 15-minute heli flight or a one-hour cruise) to arrive at your ultimate destination. Nukubati is so remote, it actually requires a combination of both plane and boat to get you there. But trust us—the extra trek is worth it.

Next up, your accommodations. At all of Fiji's private island resorts, guests stay in bures, extravagant riffs on the traditional Fijian thatched-roof house. (Vomo calls theirs villas, but the setup and style are basically the same.) Inside these iconic houses, guests will find a private haven with glossy hardwood floors, soaring ceilings and lavish furnishings such as gauze-draped four-poster beds (at Turtle Island Resort, you also get a dreamy daybed on the veranda). They also boast wonderful spa bathrooms; among my favorites are the private showers in the bure's garden at Yasawa. What you will not find, regardless of the resort you choose, are phones, TVs or wi-fi—this is paradise, after all.

Finally, all of these places maintain a strong focus on their fantastic natural settings and cultural heritage. At private island resorts, nature is revered, ancient Fijian traditions are treasured and most of your surroundings remain essentially as nature created them eons ago. Travelers are regarded as honored guests of the genuinely hospitable and warmly welcoming Fijians, who regard visitors not as strangers, but rather as part of their family.

Seclusion

Because most of these private islands are remote and fairly inaccessible, you're safe in assuming there won't be a lot of outsiders dropping by to trample on your solitude. Just remember: Some of Fiji's private island resorts are more off the beaten path than others. For example, Nukubati occupies its own island, which is a plane, boat and car ride from anywhere, so nobody just "drops by." The Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort, on the other hand, occupies a portion of a large (and despite being categorized as a private island resort, not private) island. It's only a short car ride from Savusavu, and non-guests are welcome to dine at the resort's restaurant and dive with the Cousteau scuba teams. So if the tranquillity that comes with total and complete seclusion is important for your honeymoon plans, check ahead to be sure your resort isn't too accessible to the outside world. On the other hand, if you don't feel the need for complete isolation, you'll probably enjoy a resort with close proximity to civilization and all the shopping, restaurants, attractions and activities that come with it.

Size

To determine how many fellow guests you'll likely be sharing your island paradise with, simply count the number of bures and multiply by two. Nukubati, for instance, has seven bures, so the biggest crowd you could ever encounter there would be only 12 other guests. A larger resort like Vomo, with its total of 29 villas, means you could be part of a group of 58 people.

Fellow Guests

These places are remote and romantic, so the majority of visitors at any of these resorts will be honeymooners or others with similarly dreamy plans. But if being surrounded by lovers is important to you, know that only Turtle Island enforces a "couples only" policy, and some of these resorts do accept children as guests (children over the age of 12 are welcome at Vatulele; at Wakaya they must be older than 16).

Couple Time

Most honeymooners have strong ideas about how much time alone they'll crave on their trips. So it's important to note that these resorts have different philosophies regarding the amount spent off on your own and that spent with the other lodgers. Some resorts, like Wakaya, consider your privacy to be sacred and leave you to enjoy their outrageous luxuries at your whim (each bure's private beach is so remote that staff bring your beverages and snacks by boat (when you need service, you raise a flag to let them know). Others, like Turtle Island, prefer to orchestrate your experience, even assigning your own personal "Bure Mama" to steer you toward what Turtle considers its most appealing experiences. And still others, like Yasawa, operate more along the lines of a traditional luxury resort—albeit one with such charmingly Fijian extras as boating out to snorkel through the caves and coves made famous in movies like The Blue Lagoon and Cast Away.

Mealtimes—especially dinners—seem to underscore these different attitudes regarding privacy. Private island resorts in Fiji are divided into two groups: those that encourage a communal table and those that let you decide with whom you want to dine. Turtle's and Vatulele's policy presumes that gathering everyone around a single table encourages a dinner party atmosphere in which you'll make new friends, exchange ideas, swap stories and enjoy togetherness. There are no individual tables for two available at dinner (though you can request a romantic picnic for two at a remote setting on the island). Of course, some couples prefer having a little flexibility regarding dinner arrangements. My husband and I dined romantically alone for several nights at Wakaya, but when another couple invited us to join them one evening, we also enjoyed the change of pace.

Money Matters

All these private island resorts are generally all-inclusive, meaning that just about every indulgence you can think of is part of the deal: meals, champagne, brand liquors, sports, entertainment. And most of them even include high-end excursions like deep-sea fishing and scuba as part of your personal paradise. But be sure to check ahead, because some, like Vomo, charge extra for certain activities and excursions. And while all of the resorts ban tipping, they also gently suggest making a contribution to the staff's Christmas fund if you really want to reward great service.

Focus on Tradition

You'll find that singing accompanies just about every activity, from meals to gardening to the making of a bed. Fijian melodies, usually sung a cappella, are a haunting blend of harmonies, the men's bass voices balanced by the women's bell-clear sopranos. So be sure to savor the moment at the end of your honeymoon when you are serenaded with "Isa Lei," the traditional Fijian song of farewell. Look over the assembled choir and recognize everyone who helped make your trip so unforgettable: the gardener, the scuba guy, the cook and the boat captain—all singing with obvious heartfelt emotion. It's extremely touching—and the perfect conclusion to a private-island stay.

Your resort will also introduce you to a kava ceremony. The ancient ritual involves sitting on the ground in a circle and quaffing numerous bowls of yaqona (pronounced yahn-GO-nah), a mildly anesthetizing and non-alcoholic beverage made from the root of the pepper tree. Culturally akin to a Japanese tea ceremony, the kava ceremony is an everyday practice throughout Fiji, a calming way of celebrating the day.