Palau Pacific Resort

The Palau Pacific Resort has been the republic's flagship since the 1980s, and its trump card is unanswerable: the finest beach in Palau, a long private curve of white sand on Arakebesang Island facing the sunset, on grounds that once served as a wartime seaplane base. Sixty-plus acres of tropical gardens absorb the low room wings, and the house reef starts at the sand—guests snorkel over coral, clams and reef fish without boarding a boat, a rarity even in this blessed archipelago.

Rooms and suites run from garden wings to beachfront categories a few steps from the water, in warm timber-and-rattan island style; the seaside deluxe rooms and suites are the ones to book. The resort's dive centre and marina put the UNESCO-listed Rock Islands, Jellyfish Lake and the great walls of Blue Corner within day-trip reach, and no property in Koror organises them more smoothly.

Dining moves between an open-air main restaurant, teppanyaki and beach barbecues, with a sunset bar that gathers the whole resort at six. A spa, pools and kids' activities round things out for the honeymooners and families who mix easily here. Prices reflect flagship status and Palau's costs, but as the complete Palau base, the PPR still stands alone.