NIKOI ISLAND:The Best Beach Accommodation

What perfect timing for revealing a new island paradise just off Singapore that will remind you of the Maldives, but is so much easier to get to. The best way to describe Nikoi Island is Five Star meets Robinson Crusoe. This is an eco-friendly resort with the last of 15 beachfront cottages on the small tropical island just completed in late 2009.

The architecture and feeling of freedom is superb. Picture this...you arrive by speedboat onto a beautiful white sandy beach, where check-in is at the thatched beach bar. Next to the bar with panoramic blue ocean views are the two dining rooms with white sand floors, distinctly "no news, no shoes" for the beachcomber in you who also wants five star comfort.

It will take you half an hour to wander around this beautiful island, and only five minutes to walk through a rainforest to the two swimming pools with elevated views and another thatched bar near your beachfront accommodation.

And what accommodation it is! The Australian owners recruited an American named Peter to partner them after he developed and then left another nearby Indonesian island. Peter's development of Nikoi is remarkable, enhancing Nikoi's natural palm-fringed beauty with eco-friendly design. Australian owner Andrew is a frequent visitor and his marketing expertise complements Nikoi's appeal.

Your accommodation near the white coral beach is a perfect, natural experience; open-air two storey thatched cottages that are superb in design, from the gorgeous Queen size beds hanging from chains to the designer driftwood timber. Everything inside is beautiful local timber, past which you gaze blissfully over your stretch of white sandy beach only metres in front of you.

Below your elevated balcony is the white sand ground floor where you can rock from your hanging sofa or relax on your thatched daybed as you contemplate ordering a beachfront massage. You understand instantly why Nikoi's motto is "Relaxed by nature."

These elegant cottages are so open plan that there are no windows, doors or locks. Even if you're a little nervous at first, you quickly get back to nature and become one with the island spirit of honesty and freedom. There are room safes if required, but the wonderful feeling of waking up in daylight, cocooned only by mosquito netting on this island paradise, is a real revelation.

That may sound unprotected, but that's the whole point. Here, you're getting back to nature to enjoy the purest of holidays, and the gentle Indonesian staff become like family members. When you sleep surrounded by nature, cooling breezes and a fan above you make artificial air conditioning obviously unnecessary. Even the elevated al fresco bathroom is all natural, from the solar-powered waterfall shower to the timber toilet roll holder hanging from the ceiling, next to the "loo with a view" of the ocean outside.

And the weather on Nikoi is usually perfect. It's only 1 degree from the Equator and boasts a "blue sky zone" that allows you to watch storm clouds in the distance over Singapore as you bask in sunshine.

Occasionally, the putt-putting of early-morning fishing boats from the village on Bintan Island across the water may wake you, but this also is a pleasurable experience if you lift your head slightly to see the silhouette on the ocean, often by the light of the moon.

And if you're lucky, you'll catch sight of a turtle coming ashore in front of your cottage to scoop out a nest and lay her young. This really is the complete natural experience.