Tropical Escapes: 9 Idillic Retreats

COMPLIED BY Gina Dionisio PHOTOS Dook; Micky Hoyle


If you’re dreaming of a sun-soaked getaway to beat the winter chill, these tropical escapes should be at the top of your list.

Each of these lush getaways offers a unique blend of luxury, adventure, and unforgettable views. From the pristine beaches of Madagascar to the diverse marine life of the Maldives, here are some of our favourite tropical retreats from the VISI Archives that promise the experience of a lifetime.

Miavana on Nosy Ankao

Tropical Escapes – Miavana on Nosy Ankao

Located on the largest of five islands in a remote archipelago off the north-eastern coast of Madagascar, Miavana’s villas look out over a picture-perfect white beach and shallow turquoise waters teeming with coral gardens and exotic tropical fish. To the east are views of the 10km2 island and a limitless ocean; to the west you can see the silhouette of the Madagascan mountains.

Madagascar and its islands remain a place of intrigue and mystery, with legends of undiscovered treasure, dense rainforests and mangrove forests, underground caves, and exotic wildlife – and it’s a feeling echoed in the design of Miavana by architects Silvio Rech and Lesley Carstens, who created playful, carefree, uncomplicated spaces that capture the imagination of childhood.

Read the full story on Miavana.


Moofushi Maldives

Tropical Escapes – Moofushi Maldives

I don’t think you could ever get used to it: the first glimpse of a sleek grey shape below. The pulse of your breath in the snorkel stops. Caught between fight and flight, you float. Two blacktip reef sharks slowly curve their way along the drop-off below. “Relax,” you tell yourself. “Stay calm.” Instead of putting distance between you and the sharks, you follow them. Look at you: David Attenborough in the Maldives!

The sharks remain at a tantalising distance before disappearing into the blue. You swim on through the dizzying variety and proximity – the infinity – of underwater life. You’ve already seen a large octopus, a moray eel, an eagle ray and a turtle, but nothing gets your heart racing like a shark. You turn to watch a jellyfish flap past, and there they are: the same two blacktips, right behind you. They must have circled round and started following you. Checking you out. Hunting you! Your heart leaps into your craw, and stays there until you sit giggling with relief on the beach of the resort.

Read the full story on Moofushi.


Wild Coast Tented Lodge Sri Lanka

Tropical Escapes – Wild Coast Tented Lodge Sri Lanka

A multidisciplinary team created the five-star 36-tent safari camp for Resplendent Ceylon, a subsidiary of Dilmah Tea, whose unique resorts offer curious travellers diverse experiences linked to Sri Lanka’s history, culture and nature. Nomadic Resorts, an interdisciplinary design and project development company servicing the hospitality industry with offices in the Netherlands, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and South Africa, was involved in the architecture and landscape design. The interior design company and manufacturer Bo Reudler Studio worked on the interiors.

The site comprises dryland forests that merge into the rugged sandy coastline overlooking the Indian Ocean. The intention was for the organic architecture to integrate seamlessly with the setting. The boulder-like pavilions of the camp’s main buildings reference natural formations in Yala’s landscape, namely the massive rounded boulders scattered throughout the park, at a macro scale, and termite mounds, at a micro scale.

Read the full story on the Wild Coast Tented Lodge.


Santorini Mozambique

Tropical Escapes – Santorini Mozambique

You’ll certainly clutch at your water bottle when you see the bright-blue domed roofs of the buildings disappear into the azure-blue sky in the shimmer of the heat.

This vision certainly doesn’t seem out of place, glowing in the dazzling sea of Mediterranean blues. It’s these vivid Aegean hues that inspired the name and look of Santorini. Armed with only simple concept drawings, the builders had to build the five-bedroomed villa one manual bucket of cement at a time… not an easy feat on sand and without sophisticated equipment!

A large honeymoon villa was added soon after – called The Chapel, as the design is a dead ringer for one. That was followed by the three-bedroomed Villa da Praia. Now, they’re busy building a spa.

This cluster of detached buildings has contributed to making the property look like an authentic Greek fishing village, only grander… but not intimidatingly so. The Santorini Mozambique villas are comfortably homely yet luxurious. The airy, lavish bedrooms and vaulted public spaces give a sense of generous spaciousness.

Read the full story on Santorini Mozambique.


Xanadu Villas and Retreat

Tropical Escapes – Xanadu Villas and Retreat

At first glance, Xanadu Villas & Retreat could be mistaken for a ’70s Bond film set – the extravagant “groovy pad” that serves as the villain’s hideout. (The large villa even looks as if it could fly into space!) There is something intangibly sensual about its abundant curves and palatial haremness of its Arabic influences. One would be very wrong to label it kitsch.

The cathedralesque thatch over the main pool dining area is made of makuti panels (the sun-dried leaves of the coconut palm), as tightly packed as fish scales on the inside, smooth and hairy as a prize dog’s coat on the outside. The walls are built of pink fossilised coral blocks. The floor planks, some furniture and all the windows and doors are made of mango wood taken from a hulking old sunken trading dhow, which could only be gradually removed piece by piece every day at low tide. Each plank was then carefully carved by machete to fit, jigsaw-like, into place. The curved boat ribs naturally formed the Arabic-style door and window frames.

Read the full story on Xanadu Villas and Retreat.


Essque Zalu

Tropical Escapes – Essque Zalu

I know I’ve arrived at the five-star Essque Zalu hotel on the north-east coast of Zanzibar when I see the apex of the 40-metre-high makuti thatched roof. Borrowing from the local traditional construction style, the scale of this structure has been dramatically increased to create an airy, modern double-storey landmark.

On first impressions, the reception foyer seems plain inside, the most eye-catching feature being a series of half-funnel metalwork lamps mounted against the walls. The furniture has been kept to a minimum and a large, bare floor area in the centre dominates. Intuitively, I look upwards and it’s then, staring up at the casuarina wood rafters, that the drama hits me, with the sheer vertical scale of the makuti roof. The height – intended to make Zalu stand out from the impending tide of boutique hotels in the area – certainly is impressive.

Passing beyond the freestanding wall that separates the foyer from the rest of the hotel, I’m confronted with the horizontal outward flow of space. Upstairs is an art gallery, a sanctuary of stillness. On the lower level, the walls fan out in gentle curves, fading into a glass-walled restaurant on one side and an open-air bar with its own baobab tree on the other. The wide, flat ceiling, supported by large columns on either side, dramatises the shift in perception.

Read the full story on Essque Zalu.


Guludo Beach Lodge

Tropical Escapes – Guludo Beach Lodge

It’s about a four-hour drive from Pemba (the nearest airport) on the northern coast of Mozambique to Guludo, and when I arrive in the mid-afternoon, it’s obnoxiously hot. The humidity is not helping me maintain my poise.

Thankfully, my private chalet, or banda – a whitewashed half-moon enclosure facing the sea – is a cool and spacious sanctuary. There’s no electricity at the lodge. In other words, no air-conditioning. Using only local materials, and some thoughtful design techniques, the breeze from the sea flows unobstructed through the fishing-basket weave windows and bamboo doorframe to cool the interior.

These passive methods of cooling, used to best advantage in the architectural form, are the type of innovative thinking that earned Cullum & Nightingale the BCCB British International Expertise Award in architectural design in 2005.

Read the full story on Guludo Beach Lodge.


Casa TO 

Tropical Escapes – Casa TO 

The port of Puerto Escondido is an escape. Travellers from all over the world retreat to its golden beaches and waves, to walk, meditate and help release turtles in local sanctuaries.

On the southern tip of town, Casa TO has added an element of thoughtful luxury to this tiny utopia. Completed in August 2022, the hotel was designed by renowned architect Ludwig Godefroy. Working to a very succinct brief of “nine rooms, and lots of freedom”, he and his team have married tradition and the avant-garde in a unique structure, surrounded by a tranquil natural setting.

Made largely of concrete, the materiality of the build was of the utmost importance to Ludwig. “My search for simplicity has led me to create clean and abstract architecture, composed exclusively of mass materials such as concrete, wood and stone. All these materials look better under the action of time,” he says.

Read the full story on Casa TO.


Constance Aiyana on Pemba Island

Tropical Escapes – Constance Aiyana on Pemba Island

When you want to get away from it all – far, far away – the fantasy vision of a tropical Indian Ocean island destination seems idyllic, but chances are you’ll run into an acquaintance there. Ever since Thomas Cook organised his first “package tour” in the 1840s, travel has become accessible to many more of us. The downside is that the “ideal” holiday destinations have become so popular that they no longer offer solitude, personal attention, and rest for body and soul.

Okay, when most of us dream of getting away from it all, we don’t really mean it in the sense of forgoing all our comforts. This is where a resort like Constance Aiyana on Pemba Island pulls off a remarkable feat, offering an isolated retreat complete with all the luxuries and the service you’d expect of a five-star resort – minus the commercial trappings that tend to go with such destinations.

Pemba is reachable via ferry or a small Cessna aircraft, and then it’s a 90-minute 4×4 “safari” (as our driver called it), or much longer in the rainy season, to get to Aiyana on the north-west tip of the island. This trip through villages and settlements and farms and a forest reserve is absolutely worth it.

Read the full story on Constance Aiyana.


Looking for more? Read our feature on 10 Eco-friendly Lodges and Villas. Don’t forget to sign up to our weekly newsletter for the latest architecture and design news..