Amanpulo

The casitas Bobby Mañosa built on Pamalican Island in 1993 are loosely modelled on the bahay kubo, the traditional Philippine dwelling, which seldom ran to a bathroom in Cebu marble. Each has a pair of roofs, pebble-washed walls and coconut-shell tables, and on the sand the Beach Pool Casitas put an infinity pool between the deck and the sea. The island is low coral, just over five kilometres long and never more than 500 metres across, ringed by seven square kilometres of reef and given over entirely to the resort. On a rise at its centre the Clubhouse keeps a library and a 30-metre pool. Everyone arrives the same way: twelve seats on the resort's turboprop from Clark, and ninety minutes later the island's own runway.

Recommended for anyone who wants a private island in the plain sense of the words, and for families whose children are old enough to swim. There is a kids club, and the PADI dive centre takes children from eight, starting with Bubble Maker introductory dives; the named dive sites are under ten minutes out by boat, and at Rocky Cove the schools are jackfish and trevally. The villas on the shoreline, up to four bedrooms each, come with a private pool and their own chef and butler, which settles who cooks. Dinner, in season, is Japanese at the Lagoon Club on the east shore or seafood at the Beach Club on the west, and a boat goes 45 minutes out to Manamoc, a fishing village with a tidal sandbar. For sunset there is the Kawayan Bar, which floats: thatch on bamboo poles, woven stools along the counter, and open water on the side where a wall would be.