Great Barrier Reef Resort

This resort on its own 726-acre island at the northern end of the Whitsunday archipelago is enjoying its second, make that third, heyday. Adventure writer and keen fisherman Zane Grey was a regular visitor in the 1930s, while the early 1980s saw a tourism boom here as Australians started to embrace the idea of luxury vacationing. The latest reinvention, in 2002, ushered in a breezy, chintz-free style that has given the modernist low-rise a new lease on life. Meandering along the sprawling man-made lagoon on the beachfront, the large 256-room resort has a beach-club feel that appeals to five-star first-timers and honeymooners.