Necker Island is a 74-acre island in the British Virgin Islands, lying just north of North Sound. It was bought in 1979 by Richard Branson — for, according to his own account, about £180,000 — when he was a young record-label owner with limited resources but a determined offer. He spent the following decades developing it into one of the most expensive resort properties in the world, with a Balinese-style main house and a scattering of cottages and tents.
The island is not open to casual visitors. It rents as a single property for up to 34 guests at a price (at the time of writing) of around US$80,000 per night, though there are several "Celebration Weeks" each year when individual rooms can be booked at lower (still substantial) rates. The main house was destroyed by Hurricane Irma in 2017 and rebuilt over two years.
Even if you cannot land, the island is a notable feature of any sail or kayak in North Sound — its fringing reef holds some of the most-photographed flamingos in the Caribbean (introduced as part of a conservation breeding programme) and the silhouette from neighbouring waters is iconic.