You won't find sandcastles on the mile-long Caribbean crescent of white sand at Galley Bay in Antigua (except at Christmas when children are allowed). Caribtours (020 7751 0660) has 14 nights for the price of 12, staying in palm-thatched cottages with overhead fans and wooden walkways at £2,445 all inclusive from Gatwick 18-31 August, saving £308. Beachfront suites are £3,116, saving £700.

It's a splash-free zone round the pool at the adult-only Hacienda de San Rafael 25 miles from Seville. Surrounded by olive groves and sunflower fields, the 11 antique-filled rooms in the traditional white hacienda surround a courtyard bursting with geraniums, jasmine and bougainvillea. Kirker Holidays (020 7231 3333) has five nights in August from Heathrow or Gatwick at £762 half board, including car hire.

Enjoy a child-free safari in South Africa's Ulusaba Game Reserve at Rock Lodge, where the roughly hewn stone rooms with wooden roofs are built into the rock face. Kuoni (01306 747 001) features the hotel from £279 per night or as part of a South Africa tour. Scott Dunn (020 8682 5010) has six nights' full board at the adult-only Mara Explorer tented camp in Kenya's Maasai Mara National Park for £1,554 in August with flights from Heathrow.

Do Crete without kids with Explore Worldwide (01252 760 000), which does not allow children under 14 on its trips. The company's eight-day Cretan Rambler trip avoids the main tourist spots and features hidden villages, deserted beaches and wild mountain scenery. August trips in groups of about a dozen cost £549 B&B from Heathrow.

Head to the Victorian creeper-clad Pennyhill Park (01276 471 774), an hour from London in the Surrey countryside, with tennis court and open-air heated pool. The country-house hotel has rooms with four-poster beds and timbered roofs for £475 per room in a junior suite half board, with one hour's clay shooting tuition and unlimited golf at the hotel's nine-hole course.

For the ultimate luxurious kids-free zone, hit the Banyan Tree Seychelles whose 37 Victorian-style bungalows with verandas are surrounded by beaches, mountains and tropical rainforest. Worldwide Journeys & Expeditions (020 7386 4646) has seven nights' room only at £2,645 leaving from London. Or head to Turtle Island, Fiji, where the Blue Lagoon was filmed. With room for just 14 couples, seven nights' all inclusive holiday with dives and seaplane transfers costs £4,230 with Seasons in Style (0151 342 0505).