And relax... Islands to fulfil the wooziest of daydreams

tropical island is the perfect environment in which to find it (assuming you include a few accoutrements of the type Crusoe obviously lacks – cocktails, fluffy towels, air-conditioned suites) – waves tiptoeing up amber beaches, trees rustling overhead, birdsong high in the branches.

Of course, the joy of tropical islands is that they are not found solely in the Caribbean. The rarefied mental picture they conjure – lazy afternoons in fine conditions, the sun inching across the sky – is not rare at all. Earth’s “tropical zone” takes up 40 per cent of its surface and 36 per cent of its land mass. It acts as a cummerbund around the planet, its north edge supplied by the Tropic of Cancer, which circumnavigates the globe at 23.4 degrees N; its southern limit by the mirror image of the Tropic of Capricorn at 23.4 degrees S.

Together, these lines of latitude embrace vast swathes of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, as well as the Caribbean Sea – each of these expanses of water sprinkled with islands of varying size. There are surprising exclusions from the club – Bermuda, for example, lies too far north, at 32 degrees N, to be part of the fraternity – but there are also numerous fêted inclusions. From those stalwarts of Caribbean breaks – Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua et al – to the glorious islets of the Seychelles and the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, and the far-flung fantasies of Tahiti, Hawaii and the Cook Islands that decorate areas of the colossal Pacific, the tropical corridor has almost endless options for escape.

So which island is right for you? It is not as strange a question as it sounds. For while there are certain similarities that define the tropical experience – whatever the month and wherever you are in the zone, you can expect temperatures that never drop below a baseline of 77F (25C), nor soar far above 90F (32C) owing to moderating sea breezes; that mix of soft sands and swaying palms, which does not really alter appearance from the South Pacific to the Lesser Antilles – there are variables.

A behemoth of an island such as Phuket, Thailand’s resort hotspot, will always offer a taste of the tropics unrelated to the Caribbean teardrop Bequia – just as Brazil’s “hidden secret”, Fernando de Noronha, has a vibe much removed from the sparkle of a five-star private island in the Maldives. This feature details 30 tropical options across the globe, each offering something a little different to the other 29.

Weather is also a factor. The temperature gauge may not twitch too much, but the meteorological gods do not mind bringing trouble to paradise – as Hurricanes Irma and Maria have lately demonstrated. And while you are unlikely to feel anything more than the occasional angry gust if you visit the Caribbean in Atlantic hurricane season (June to November), it is worth considering the possibility of a furious firmament when you plan your trip. The same applies to the Indian Ocean, whose cyclone season runs May to November – and the South Pacific, where storms can hit between November and April.

While several dots on the Caribbean map – including the British and US Virgin Islands, Barbuda and Dominica – have been hurt in recent weeks, the