Cayo Coco, Cuba

If Robinson Crusoe goes looking for an all-inclusive Cuban vacation, Cayo Coco offers the kind of secluded beach holiday he’d love.

This island off Cuba’s north coast can be a paradise for cost-conscious sun worshippers and nature lovers: White, sandy beaches, superb snorkeling and diving, thanks to reefs that run virtually unbroken along the cay’s north shore, and more than 150 species of birds, including the coco bird that gives the cay its name and the Caribbean’s largest flock of flamingos.

You can enjoy nature on hiking and biking trails, or in the clear shallow waters of the Caribbean. Cayo Coco (with 20 dive sites) is like an enormous natural aquarium; there are so many beautiful fish.

The island is connected to the Cuban mainland by a causeway but Cayo Coco airport is within 15 minutes of most of the resorts and has eliminated the long 90-minute drive from Ciego d’Avila.

The low-rise resort complexes are all relatively new and if you’re looking for lazy days around the pool or on the beach, or the chance to marvel at the birds and marine life, Cayo Coco should be your kind of place.

That doesn’t mean it’s perfect, most of the reminders about bland and basic food still apply and your shopping and nightlife is found only the resorts.

And that doesn’t mean it’s boring. If you’re looking for a taste of Cuban life you can always take a trip across the causeway to visit Moron, a town of 45,000 founded in 1750. It’s about an hour from most of the resorts and has a small, well preserved but slightly tattered Colonial centre and a famous bronze statue of the legendary cockerel of Moron.

Other area options include a jungle tour, a catamaran tour, day trips to remote beaches, city tours to Havana, Trinidad and Camaguey, sugar cane tours, Sitio Laguira (a touristy dude ranch) and the Cueva Del Jabali (Boar’s Cave), a restaurant and nightclub carved out of a cave (take bug spray), largemouth bass fishing excursions at La Redonda Lake (the International Fishing Centre is located there) and deep-sea fishing for marlin and dorado. Playa Larga and Playa Colorada are Cayo Coco’s best-known beaches and visitors looking for a secluded beach holiday should choose one of the newer four- or five-star resorts.