1. Sylt, North Frisian Islands, Germany
Near the coast of Denmark but belonging to Germany, Sylt is where the German glitterati go to hang out in the summer months. Essentially, it's the Teutonic equivalent of Martha's Vineyard, with atmospheric sand dunes, lighthouses, reed-thatched cottages that house Hugo Boss and Louis Vuitton boutiques, and a Jekyll and Hyde beach life. Sylt's eastern side is gentle enough for families, while the west has a strong enough surf to make it an annual fixture in the Surf World Cup. The village of Kampen is home to Gogartchen, one of Germany's best restaurants, and is often described - not always ironically - as Sylt's St Tropez.
Who goes: Boris Becker, Claudia Schiffer, Ralf Schumacher
Getting there: fly to Hamburg then take a three-hour train ride to Westerland, or fly to Sylt from Munich or Frankfurt. Interhome (020 8891 1294; www.interhome.com) has a house sleeping eight near the village of Keitum from £1,023, not including travel. Alternatively, the Hotel Benen-Diken-Hof (www.benen-diken-hof.de) has both hotel rooms and apartments. An apartment for two starts at €280 per night
2. Kea, Greece
Kea, the closest of the Cyclades to the mainland, has a reputation as the island that the Greeks were clever enough to keep to themselves. It is a place with a laid-back atmosphere, great walking, good swimming and nice beaches, while Ioulidha, the town at the centre, has a collection of delightful tavernas.
Who goes: Athenian families, yachting types
Getting there: Ferries to Kea leave from the port of Lavrio, a 90-minute bus ride from Athens. Sun Isle (0871 222 1226; www.sunisle.co.uk) has rooms at the Keos Hotel from £336 per week, including breakfast but not flights.
3. Lopud, Croatia
Croatia is awash with minute, barely populated islands but Lopud, one of the Elafiti islands, with its handful of bars, shops and restaurants and a couple of hotels, is one of the most charming. There are no cars on the island, hand-pulled wooden carts being the preferred form of transportation. Unusually for Croatia, Lopud has sandy beaches, the largest of which is Sunj, reached by boat or forest path.
Who goes: Croatians, increasing numbers of French
Getting there: Fly to Dubrovnik, 45-minute ferry to Lopud. Simply Travel (0870 405 5005; www.simplytravel.co.uk) has seven nights at the Lpudski Dvoir Apartments from £315 including flights and transfers.
4. Giglio, Italy
Part of the charm of this island off the coast of Tuscany is that there's actually very little to see; one interesting church, the remains of a Roman villa, partly excavated, partly redistributed around the town, plus a nice beach at Campese on the western side. Keen walkers make repeat visits to Pardini's Hermitage, a delightful hotel run by an eccentric family in the middle of the National Park on the southern part of the island. A hotel without any road access, if the sea is calm, it can be reached by boat, otherwise only by walking or donkey. Most of the (superb) food comes from the adjacent farm, local fishermen, or the island's vineyards.
Who goes: Roman academics, Peter Gabriel
Getting there: Fly to Rome, train to Ortobello, bus to Porto Stefano, hour-long ferry to Giglio. Pardini's Hermitage (00 39 0564 809034; www.hermit.it) charges from £110 a day, half board.
5. Comino, Malta
Gozo's smaller sibling. So small, in fact, that there are only four permanent residents and a hotel that is only open between April and October. However, what Comino lacks in human interface, it makes up for in nature reserves, a bird sanctuary, beaches and the much-feted Blue Lagoon. Limited sights include the old isolation hospital, a tower, and a chapel dating back to the 14th century.
Who goes: Madonna (the execrable Swept Away was partly filmed in Comino)
Getting there: Fly to Malta, ferry to Comino provided by the hotel. Malta Direct (020 8561 9079; www.maltadirect.com) has seven nights at the Comino Hotel from £306pp, half board.
6. Iles d'Hyeres, France
This collection of three islands off the Cote d'Azur is kept crowd-free through impressively high levels of French bureaucracy - numbers allowed to visit the island have been reduced (ferries stop running when a certain number of people are on the island) and smoking is usually banned in summer. Crack the rules and regulations, however, and you discover a particularly French idyll. Porquerolles, the largest of the islands, produces an acclaimed rose wine and has fabulous fish restaurants. Le Mas du Langoustier is one of France's most romantic hotels, while the Notre Dame beach is rated as one of the best in Provence.
Who goes: naturalists, naturists (Levent is home to France's oldest nudist colony), honeymooners
Getting there: Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) flies into Toulon-Hyeres airport, which is a short drive to one of the ferry ports to the islands. The ferry crossing costs £10 return. Le Mas du Langoustier (00 33 494 583009; www.langoustier.com) has rooms from £130pp, half board.
7. Eilean Shona, Scotland
An island off the coast of Scotland that has stayed off the radar by being privately owned (albeit by Richard Branson's sister, Vanessa). Situated at the entrance to Loch Moidart, between the islands of Mull and Skye, there are five distinctly basic cottages and one substantially grander main house which comes with a cook/housekeeper. Neither cars nor bicycles are allowed on the island but rowing boats are provided free. Two miles long, there are 300 acres of woodland.
Who goes: posh British families anxious to wean their children away from their PlayStations
Getting there: Drive to Castle Tioram in the West Highlands; a daily ferry travels across to the island. Unique Cottages (01835 822277; www.uniquecottages.co.uk) charge from £285 per cottage per week.
8. Egadi Islands, Italy
A group of three islands off the coast of Sicily. Originally settled by Arabs, there are fortresses and Roman villas to explore and some great walks. The most mountainous and least crowded island is Marettimo. Activities are limited to walking and snorkelling, though, happily, both are extremely good, not least because the water is exceptionally clear. There's one hotel and several casually rented rooms, plus a handful of restaurants.
Who goes: walkers, snorkellers, volcanic enthusiasts
Getting there: Fly to Palermo, bus to Trapani, ferry to Favignana (about three hours). Headwater (0870 066 2650; www.headwater.com) has a seven-night walking holiday from £819pp.
9. Aland Islands, Finland
A veritable smorgasbord of islands - roughly 6,000 of them - that lie between Sweden and Finland, they are a blend of ancient Viking burial mounds and weatherboard house lifestyle fantasy. Unadulterated wholesomeness, with cycling and fishing opportunities galore, along with general Arthur Ransome-esque messing about in boats. The best time to visit is late August, when the Finnish schools have gone back and rental prices dip.
Who goes: Nokia executives
Getting there: Emagine (0870 902 5399; www.emagine-travel.co.uk) has packages to the Aland Islands, including cottage rental for a family of four from £550, including ferry crossing from Helsinki.
10. Monte Isola, Lake Iseo, Italy
Europe's largest inland island (three kilometres long) is in the middle of Lake Iseo. It has a couple of villages, a handful of restaurants and bars, vineyards, a nice walk through the olive and walnut trees to the 13th-century church of Madonna della Ceriola and copious amounts of tranquillity.
Who goes: Italians wanting a weekend escape
Getting there: Fly to Brescia with Ryanair (www.ryanair.com), then take a bus or train to Iseo, followed by a ferry.
There are several hotels on the island, all of them ranging from one to three stars. They can be accessed through www.monteisola.com but most are closed between November and February.
11. Ile d'Aix, France
Just one mile long, the island where Napoleon negotiated his surrender to the British has a more rough and ready feel than the île de Ré, its celebrity-sated sibling to the north. The barracks built for Napoleon's soldiers have evolved into housing and a summer-only cinema, there's a particularly impressive fort, a museum commemorating Napoleon's stay (La Maison de l'Empereur), sandy beaches, a hotel (predictably called the Napoleon), plenty of camping and - this being France - a boulangerie and several very good restaurants, including Cafe de l'Ocean and the more gourmand Les Paillotes.
Who goes:French families (plus a few British ones), Napoleonic enthusiasts
Getting there: Fly to La Rochelle with Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) or Flybe (www.flybe.com). Bus to La Rochelle port, ferry to île d'Aix. Hotel Napoleon (00 33 5 4684 6602) from £45 a night.
12. Losinj, Croatia
Located off Cres, Croatia's largest island, Losinj has attractive Austro-Hungarian and Venetian touches and is peppered with ornate villas. There is a pine forest and a particularly nice harbour with a floating fruit market at one end.
Who goes: discerning Italians, French and Germans
Gettting there: A three-hour ferry from Pula. Holiday Options (0870 420 8372; www.holidayoptions.co.uk) has seven nights at the three-star Hotel Apoksiomen from £389pp, including flights to Pula and car hire.
13. Gotland, Sweden
Bang in the middle of the Baltic, Gotland is a land mass of Scandinavian perfection, offering a staggering array of medieval churches, bucolic farmland, fossil-filled beaches, highly chilled beach clubs and yachting. It is perhaps Europe's most stylish island; the cobbled streets of Visby, Gotland's medieval capital, are fringed with vintage fashion shops, Sixties-inspired coffee shops and frighteningly clever furniture stores. And being almost completely flat, the cycling is superb.
Who goes: Swedish teenagers in the campsites while top politicians and writers, including crime novelist Henning Mankell, rent cottages; Ingmar Bergman lives on the neighbouring island of Faro
Getting there: Flight to Stockholm, then either another flight to Visby with Skyways (www.skyways.se), or a bus ride followed by a three-hour ferry to Visby (www.destinationgotland.se). Scantours (020 7554 3530; www.scantours.co.uk) has a five-night break to Stockholm and Visby including flights from £690pp. Alternatively, Valleviken (00 46 498 25 39 60; www.valleviken.com), a coastal hamlet near Farosund has cottages that sleep four from £418 per week.
14. Rathlin Island, Northern Ireland
Definitely one for the summer months, not least because that's when the two main B&B options are open, Rathlin Island is north of Ballycastle in County Antrim and 14 miles from the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland. Four miles long, it is home to around 70 people and copious seals.
Who goes: naturalists, sea-anglers, bird-watchers
Getting there: Caledonian MacBrayne (028 2076 9299; www.calmac.co.uk) runs twice daily ferries all year round from £3.80 day return. The National Trust operates a B&B, the Manor House, which will reopen after renovations in the spring (028 207 31582). Alternatively, both Coolnagrock B&B (028 2076 3983) and the Rathlin Guesthouse (028 2076 3917) provide accommodation.
15. Porto Santo, Portugal
Located 75km from Madeira, Porto Santo achieved fame late last year when Monarch Airways disgorged a passenger it claimed was being disruptive. Once home to Christopher Columbus, Porto Santo, unlike Madeira, has 8km of fine yellow sand. Although it is not a party island, there's a museum dedicated to Columbus while the volcanic landscape lends itself to good walks in spring and autumn.
Who goes: Madeirans, and an increasing number of British, all but one of them voluntarily
Getting there: Thanks to Nato, a full airport runway was built in 1960; flights are currently via Funchal on Madeira (15-minute flight time) or Portugal.
Cadogan Holidays (023 8082 8300; www.cadoganholidays.com) has seven nights at the Vila Baleira Thalassa from £525pp including flights, transfers and B&B accommodation.
