Raivavae is one of the Austral Islands, French Polynesia’s southernmost island group. Surrounded by a dreamy lagoon scattered with sandy islets known as ‘motu’, this little piece of paradise is one of the most beautiful spots in the South Pacific, and is also home to numerous seabirds.

Mangareva is the largest of the Gambier Islands, over 1,000 miles to the south east of Tahiti, and is set on a beautiful lagoon used by the locals to farm black pearls. Don’t miss the 19th-century St Michael’s Cathedral, famous for its intricate altar decorated with mother of pearl shells.

The flat, low-lying Oeno Island is part of a beautiful coral atoll, rarely visited except by Pitcairners on their holidays. As well as the unspoilt white sand beaches, the atoll is home to bird species including Murphy's petrels, sooty terns and brown noddies.

The remote South Pacific island of Pitcairn was settled by a party of British sailors and Tahitians following the famous mutiny on the HMS Bounty in 1789, and their descendants still live on the island. The tiny capital, Adamstown, has a population of around 50 people.

The enigmatic moai statues of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) remain one of the world’s most intriguing archaeological mysteries. Descendants of the Polynesian settlers who carved them still live here, though these days the island belongs to Chile, despite being separated from the mainland by over 2,000 miles of Pacific Ocean.

Situated 400 miles off the coast of mainland Chile, Robinson Crusoe Island is part of the Juan Fernández archipelago, a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. The sailor Alexander Selkirk was marooned here from 1704 to 1709, and his story is thought to have inspired Daniel Defoe’s famous novel.