What does your perfect island look like?
What does your perfect island look like? Paul Fleet/Alamy

Who hasn’t occasionally daydreamed of leaving it all behind and running away to your own very special island?

Today Atlas Obscura is kicking off Islands Week, our five-day dive into the best and most unusual stories from beyond the mainland. To celebrate, we’re issuing a challenge to our readers: we’re asking you to draw us a map of your personal fantasy island.

If you could make an island to your exact specifications, what would it look like? What would make it unique—the true island of your individual dreams?

Maybe your island is made entirely of recycled bottles, or only accepts currency featuring Darth Vader. Perhaps your island is set up as a villains’ lair, or populated with magical creatures that don’t exist anywhere else in the world. Is your island an expansive paradise that will take years to explore, or a simple spot of sand surrounded by boundless ocean? Does it have a treehouse? A mansion? Is there a skull-shaped cave? A water park? A hidden base in a volcano? Mischievous monkeys? Pirate ghosts? A lost society of evolved super-beings?

Send us a map or illustration of your perfect dream island, no matter how crude, and include a short description of what makes your island special. Email your image and description to [email protected] with the subject line “My Fantasy Island” by Thursday at 2 p.m. EST, and we’ll publish our favorites on Friday. Please include your full name and location, and if you include your Instagram handle, we’ll be able to tag you on our account as well.

Islands Week
Stories from beyond the mainland