Many of you know that I spent a week at Necker Island for the second time last week. I’m still working on the blog post for that, but I wanted to first share with everyone that Sir Richard Branson’s other island, Moskito Island, is now publicly available for booking at more than half the cash cost of Necker Island and a lower minimum-night requirement. It’s previously been used for Necker Island’s overflow guests, but is now publicly available for booking on its own as its own proper Virgin Limited Edition property.
CNN did a great article about it during my trip, and I saw that a bunch of well-known names in the miles & points blogger space are currently at Moskito Island right now (TFTI, guys!!), so I thought I would steal their thunder and say I got to visit it first. LOL…just kidding, but it did remind me that I need to write a separate post about Moskito Island as well for anyone else considering getting some friends together to book a trip there. My post about my second trip to Necker is getting too long so it makes sense to break this one out.
Our Necker group had a wonderful day trip to visit all the now-publicly bookable estates on Moskito Island, so here goes my opinion and comparison to Necker Island!
Table of Contents
What’s included
Just like Necker Island, Moskito Island is an all-inclusive, hyperpersonalized experience:
- Truly luxurious accommodations for approximately 20 people (depends on the estate you book)
- A private chef makes all 3 meals per day plus food throughout the day (afternoon tea, snacks, etc) – you enjoy these meals together with your party at huge tables in your estate and around the island
- Unlimited alcoholic beverages – help yourself to the open bar!
- All staff is included
- Pickup/dropoff at Tortola
- Free laundry daily
- Shared recreation areas
- A personal coordinator for your itinerary – meal planning and preferences, spa treatments, activities
- All activities – including expensive ones like diving, are included, but also many other watersports (kitesurfing, paddleboarding, snorkeling, kayaking, sailing, etc)
Spa treatments, babysitting, and COVID tests are not included (they are not included at Necker either). For your return COVID test to the USA, I recommend eMed’s BINAXnow rapid antigen testing kit with telemedicine services. It costs about $30 per kit and may be reimbursable by your insurance if you file a claim. However, if you choose to do your rapid antigen test at Necker/Moskito, I believe it costs $75 per person.
It looks like one major difference is that motorized watersports (waterskiing, wakeboarding, off-island excursions in the BVI) at Moskito are not included in your rate, whereas they were included for Necker. Since they can bend the rules, it could be possible that they end up including these for the bloggers to write about.
Getting there
Getting to Moskito Island is the same process as for Necker: fly into Tortola (EIS) on Beef Island, or Virgin Gorda (VIJ). I recommend Tortola even though it is a bit farther away, because it has a longer runway, whereas the Virgin Gorda one is super short.
Americans usually fly through San Juan, PR (SJU) or the US Virgin Islands (STT) to Tortola (West Coasters will likely need to connect somewhere on the East Coast first too). The British usually fly through Antigua (BBQ) to Tortola.
Once you arrive (after you do your arrival COVID test and go through immigration and pay the environmental levy tax), you’ll get picked up in a taxi and taken to the Loose Mongoose restaurant, which has a dock that the Necker/Moskito boat will pick you up at. Then you will be whisked away, champagne in hand of course, to Moskito Island! The boat ride is approximately 30 min from Tortola (from Virgin Gorda would be maybe 10 min).
Three estates to choose from
Moskito Island is owned by Sir Richard Branson, but he has divided it up into 10 lots and sold them to other millionaires/billionaires. Since as you can imagine many of the owners don’t live in their properties year-round, three of the lots, including his own estate, are now publicly bookable and managed through Virgin Limited Edition:
Branson Estate
This estate is located at pretty much ocean level. It has a bright and well-lit cozy beachy feel to it, completely different from the buildings at Necker. The main building contains the residences for Richard and his wife, and there are two buildings for their children Sam and Holly, and the grandchildren. All of the buildings in the Branson Estate are connected by elevated walkways on the second floor.
When Barack Obama visited Richard in 2017, he and his entourage stayed at the Branson Estate and learned how to kiteboard here.
Oasis Estate
The Oasis Estate is my favorite!! This is currently where the bloggers are staying, judging from their photos. The design and architecture is absolutely stunning. It looks like a giant yacht perched on the highest point of the island. The views are breathtaking, especially from the roof deck, where you can enjoy a nice warm ocean breeze.
…this is quite possibly the most luxurious accommodation I’ve ever physically seen in my life.
However…this is also Richard’s least favorite style. When I was telling him about our visit to Moskito Island and said that we were all really impressed by the Oasis Estate, he said the design wasn’t quite his style, lol. But all the staff at Moskito Island agree with me this estate is their favorite in terms of architecture and design. I guess we just have different tastes from Richard!
Point Estate
This is a gorgeous estate as well with a more wooden boat kind of ambiance. It has really comfy and plush oversized couches, and the most gorgeous deck with beach chairs in a shallow infinity pool overlooking the turquoise crystal clear Caribbean Sea.
My ranking
I would rank the estates in terms of luxuriousness as: Oasis Estate > Point Estate > Branson Estate (SORRY RICHARD).
Shared recreation areas
All of the estates on the island have a shared recreational area down near the beach. This includes a common building for lounging and playing games, tennis courts with awesome amphitheater-style seating, a gym (I believe each of the estates has their own gym too), watersports center, pool with swim-up bar, bbq and outdoor dining, and more.
Other estates (not bookable)
We got a glimpse of 3 other privately-owned properties on the island which are not part of the Virgin Limited Edition program (yet?). I’m not even sure what their names are but:
The first one was currently occupied so we couldn’t get a view inside, but we pulled up through the palm-tree lined driveway and it was already a different vibe from the other estates. Kind of felt like California…like Stanford University or Santa Monica.
The next one was under construction and co-owned by 5 millionaires. They’ve been stalled because they can’t agree on the finishings (like the textiles, silverware, etc) for the living room and shared areas. LOL, this is what happens when there are too many cooks in the kitchen, right?
And finally, this one was perched on a cliffside and we viewed it from a boat. Staff told us that that the owner is in the process of building a gravity-defying hot tub with a glass bottom that juts out over the cliffside. Richard told me he heard that the hot tub construction is stalled due to some engineering problems…umm I wouldn’t want to go in that tub LOL.
Distance to Necker
Moskito is only 2 miles away from Necker, so about a 10 min boat ride. That means…you can visit Necker easily! Just ask your coordinator for a day trip tour of Necker.
Main differences from Necker
- Moskito is divided up into 10 separate estates, whereas all of Necker is accessible to you as a guest. However, there are common recreational facilities at Moskito where you could meet people who might be staying at the other estates.
- The vibe is completely different from Necker! Each of the estates at Moskito are designed in a different style, and much more modern and contemporary style, whereas all of Necker has a pretty cohesive Bali style.
- Moskito Island is more suitable for families and groups of friends, whereas Necker Island’s Celebration Weeks are great for getting together with a mix of people you didn’t know before from all over the world, many of whom will become fast friends and potential future travel buddies! That said, you can also book out all of Necker Island for your family/group for $105k per night up to 40 people. The day we left Necker Island, a family of 40 was arriving!
- Necker has over 140 species of animals, many of which are endangered or rare. Moskito doesn’t really have many animals, just a few wild lemurs, but I didn’t even see any while we were there. I would highly recommend requesting a visit to Necker (basically the opposite of what we did) so you can feed the lemurs and have them stand on your head for photos. You can also see the giant tortoises, miniature horses, flamingos and red ibises, BABY tortoises, and more.
- They built a flamingo pond at Moskito, but the flamingoes from Necker rarely go there because there’s no food in the pond for them yet!
- Since Richard Branson lives on Necker Island, there are fewer opportunities to hang out with him at Moskito, but you could probably see him when you request your tour of Necker Island. You should ask to challenge him in tennis or chess!
- Moskito has tons of beautiful flowers; Necker is mostly green without many colorful flowers.
- Moskito has better quality golf carts than Necker, they actually have suspension lol.
- Every Virgin Limited Edition property has a different rubber duck souvenir you can take home, so you get a different rubber duck than Necker Island – it’s SUPER cute since there’s a baby duck attached! Collect them all!
- Motorized watersports (waterskiing, wakeboarding, off-island excursions in the BVI) at Moskito are not included in your rate, whereas they were included for Necker.
Are there mosquitoes?
Despite the unfortunate name of the island, I didn’t encounter any mosquitoes or get any bug bites while I was at Necker or Moskito Island. While Instagram tags the island as “Mosquito Island” and the Wikipedia entry is also “Mosquito Island”, Richard and the previous owner of the island call it Moskito after the Miskito Indians. Since Richard owns it, we call it whatever he wants, right?
Cost
Low-season rates as of this writing are (click the links for updated rates):
Oasis Estate: $19,000 per night for up to 18 guests
Point Estate: $17,500 per night for up to 14 guests, plus up to 8 more guests at additional rate
Branson Estate: $25,000 per night for up to 22 guests
Children are welcome and there is optional babysitting services at an extra cost.
You can make your booking inquiry here: https://www.virginlimitededition.com/en/moskito-island
Is it worth it?
Since Necker is currently not available on points anymore and requires a 7-night minimum, Moskito is a relative bargain at more than half the nightly cost and a 4-night minimum. Unfortunately, Moskito is also not [yet?] available on points either. Hopefully soon…it’s so new it probably just isn’t on the redemptions list yet. I would predict that it’ll be around 600k for 4 nights.
To me, the main differences from Necker are the animals and quality time with Richard, and both can probably be made up by a quick hop over to Necker while you’re staying at Moskito. However, Richard would not want me to tell you that. When I told him that our group wanted to do a trip at Moskito Island, he pouted and said, “I should ban future tours of Moskito Island, it’s taking you guys away from Necker!” LOL.
At approximately $1000 per night per person, it rivals many luxury hotels in the US and abroad that travel hackers often stay at, which can be $2000+ per night (Ventana Big Sur and Miraval, I’m looking at you guys…), with not even half as many inclusions. Of course, usually we are using points at these types of places, but I’ve seen many travel hackers rack up 4-figure cash bills on top of the points they spent even when staying at places like Maldives or Bora Bora on points. So when comparing to THOSE kinds of places, I would say this is definitely worth it and a better deal.
Caveat
Like Necker did for me (and hence the reason I went again for a second time), I have to warn you that it may ruin the rest of your vacations forever…may I suggest considering it for a special occasion like an engagement proposal or a honeymoon, so you won’t be pressured to “top” it for an actual special occasion later! 😉
I truly believe that Necker (and Moskito, by extension) are not once-in-a-lifetime experiences, but ones that are well worth going to over and over again. Even friends that have gone to Necker who are not usually into islands and don’t even like beaches or water that much have RAVED about the experience. And I am confident every visit will feel like a different but equally magical experience.
Other Virgin Limited Edition properties
I must also mention the other Virgin Limited Edition properties are well worth a visit too. Many travel hackers tell me Ulusaba is an AMAZING experience, and Mahali Mzuri was recently voted best hotel in the world (one of the couples we met at Necker also went there recently and raved about it). And both of these are available on points!! So maybe you can experience the Virgin magic there first before you commit to Moskito/Necker. Make sure you fly out out of/through an airport with a Virgin Atlantic lounge too… 🙂
Let me know if you have any questions! Bloggers, enjoy your weekend at Moskito! I can’t wait to read about your experiences. Don’t forget to ask for a tour to Necker and say hello to the staff and animals for me!
That’s amazing! Can’t wait to book something there. Weird name for an island though.