Montserrat

Montserrat earns its "Emerald Isle" nickname twice over — Irish settlers brought their culture to the island in the 17th century, and the lush volcanic landscape is a brilliant, tropical green year-round.

The island was transformed in 1995 when the Soufrière Hills volcano erupted, burying the capital Plymouth under metres of ash and pyroclastic flow. Today, the exclusion zone around the volcano is open for guided tours — a surreal walk through the buried city, where church steeples poke through hardened ash and the clock on the cathedral tower is frozen in time.

Outside the exclusion zone, Montserrat is thriving. The new capital Little Bay is developing rapidly, the rainforest trails are spectacular, and the island has attracted a community of recording artists drawn by AIR Studios (founded by George Martin, originally built for The Beatles).