UNDER THE AFRICAN SKY

It’s just you and the Big Five when you opt for the treehouse experience at Lion Sands, in the Sabi Sands game reserve, South Africa. Your pretty bush bedroom is 15 minutes from the main lodge and on a platform high in the branches of a 100-year-old jackalberry tree. There’s a four-poster swathed in muslin, a dainty dressing table, a wine cooler for the champagne and - essentially - an ensuite for when the other kind of nature calls.
Details:00 27 11 484 9911, www.lionsands.com ; doubles from £440, full-board. A night in the treehouse costs an additional £122.

ISLAND IDYLL

Phuket may not sound promising for splendid isolation, but the Evason is set in 64 tropical acres, miles from Patong’s no-holds-barred 24-hour go-go bars. The splendidly isolated bit comes if you book a night in the honeymoon suite. A 10-minute ride by traditional Thai boat from the main resort, it’s the only room on Bon Island, a lush bouquet of rainforest trails and powder-fine beaches that are all yours from sunset to sunrise.
Details: 00 66 7638 1010, www.sixsenses.com ; doubles from £106, room-only. A night in the honeymoon suite starts at £447.

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BACKGROUND

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STEPPE AWAY FROM THE HOTEL

The Terelj, 30 miles from Ulan Bator, is Mongolia’s first five-star boutique, a former Soviet summer camp that has had a multimillion-pound makeover. But you can’t visit the world’s most sparsely populated country without spending a night in those wide open spaces, so the hotel will drive you a further three hours out into the steppes to your own beautifully decorated traditional yurt. Admittedly, it’s on the outskirts of a ger camp - but, really, that’s lonely enough, with wild horses roaming about.
Details: 01372 361873, www.slh.com/terelj ; doubles from £100, B&B. A night in the yurt costs an additional £70.

FIND YOUR SPOT ON THE ATLAS

Kasbah Agafay, just outside Marrakesh, is a stylishly converted 150-year-old hilltop fort with commanding views over the Atlas Mountains. You can stay in a five-star, air-conditioned tent in the hotel grounds... if you’re a wimp. Those made of sterner stuff can let a guide lead them deep into the desert, set up an authentic Berber camp on a golden sand dune and see the sun go down as the Moroccans have done for centuries.
Details: 00 212 24 36 86 00, www.slh.com/kasbahagafay ; doubles from £285, B&B. A night in a Berber tent starts at £100.

ROBINSON CRUSOE EXPERIENCE

Petit St Vincent, in the Grenadines, excels in the sort of discreet seclusion that would leave Greta Garbo wondering when the party’s starting. Its cottages are remote enough themselves, but hotel staff can drop you off on a deserted beach with nothing more than a cooking stove to make dinner, two kerosene lanterns and two sleeping bags. Then they go and spoil it all by providing a pop-up tent in case it rains.
Details: 00 1 954 963 7401, www.psvresort.com ; doubles from £355, full-board. The Robinson Crusoe experience costs £40.

WILDERNESS, HOLLYWOOD STYLE

The forests of New Zealand’s South Island have starred in a string of Alist movies, including the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The view from Blanket Bay of Lake Wakatipu’s blue glacial waters, framed by imperious craggy mountains, is equally Oscar-worthy, but for true hideaway heaven, the lodge will helicopter guests to a shepherd’s hut in the remotest reaches of the Southern Alps, with just a couple of prime steaks for the wood-fired barbecue and some seriously good wine.
Details: 00 64 3 441 0115, www.blanketbay.com ; doubles from £350, half-board. A night in the shepherd’s hut costs £1,100, half-board.

Susan d’Arcy

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