SAPELO ISLAND — Figure out what you want, then pick your island.

If you want to be pampered like royalty, choose Sea Island.

STEPHEN MORTON/Special (ENLARGE)
A horseshoe crab makes its way along the beach on Sapelo Island. The state Department of Natural Resources offers half-day tours of Sapelo, in which you can see the beach, Hog Hammock, the lighthouse, and the old Reynolds mansion.
STEPHEN MORTON/Special (ENLARGE)
Loblolly pines and live oak trees form a canopy on Sapelo Island, once the private domain of tobacco lord R.J. Reynolds Jr. and now owned by the state.
STEPHEN MORTON/Special (ENLARGE)
A group of visitors from the Friends of Sapelo organization tour the island on the back of a flatbed truck. There are only a few paved roads on the island, and most are lined with a tree canopy commonly found on the undeveloped island.
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On a tight budget but want to play some golf and soak up some sun on the beach? Opt for Jekyll Island.

Want a beautiful beach nearly all to yourself? Head for Sapelo.

Lying between the mainland and the Atlantic Ocean, Georgia's barrier islands can fulfill a variety of desires for a vacation or weekend getaway — from unabashed luxury in a five-star resort to primitive camping in a wilderness area.

There are 14 of these hauntingly beautiful islands, known collectively as the Golden Isles of Georgia.

All have sweeping salt marshes, maritime forests, hard-packed sandy beaches. All are rich in natural splendor and human history. All have been shaped — and are still being altered — by winds, tides and other natural forces.

But in their own special way, including the ways they are owned and managed, they are different from one another. Most of them are open to the public, though visitor restrictions apply on several of them.

Bridges and causeways connect Tybee, Sea Island, St. Simons and Jekyll to the mainland, but the rest are accessible only by boat. Three of them — St. Catherines, Little St. Simons, Little Cumberland — are privately owned, and you need permission from the owners to step onto them. Essentially, you must be invited to go there.

The quickest way to this domain is to fly into Savannah or Jacksonville, depending on which island you want to see first, rent a car and drive along I-95, which parallels the coast.

The wonders of Cumberland Island

If you're coming up from Jacksonville, Cumberland, the largest of the barrier islands and a national seashore, is your first stop. Actually, you have to make your way to the town of St. Marys, where you catch the double-deck ferry boat operated by the National Park Service to the island.

With its herd of 250 wild horses, 17-mile-long beach and ruins of old mansions, the wild and undeveloped Cumberland is unsurpassed for historic and natural treasures.

Make sure you call ahead to reserve a spot on the ferry. The Park Service allows only 300 visitors per day on Cumberland. Most visitors are day-trippers who stay on the island five to seven hours. Take your own food and water.

If you want to stay longer, you can pitch a tent at Sea Camp, which has some amenities such as showers and toilets. If you want something more rustic, primitive camping is available in Cumberland's wilderness area. You will have to hike there — visitors who ride the ferry cannot bring over cars or bicycles.

You should call well in advance to reserve a camping spot.

If you want a roof over your head — and an exclusive roof at that — you can check into the island's private 1901 Greyfield Inn, operated by descendants of the Carnegie family, which once owned most of Cumberland.

Plenty of activities

Next up from Cumberland are Jekyll, St. Simons and Sea islands. Jekyll is a state park with comfortable hotels, restaurants, shops and a challenging golf course. Tennis, bicycling, sailing, fishing, nature exploring and other activities also are available.

St. Simons is the most heavily populated and the most commercial of Georgia's barrier islands. Still, with its historic lighthouse, its funky village of shops, restaurants and antique stores, and its tree-shaded streets lined with weathered frame houses, it lures the casual stroller and window-shopper.

A short drive over a causeway from St. Simons is Sea Island, where the leaders of the Group of Eight nations will meet in June. Sea Island is a quiet, manicured, exclusive resort. Its cushy Cloister Resort showcases golf courses, spas, swimming pools, horse trails, tennis courts and other services.

Little St. Simons, just off the northern tip of St. Simons, also is a private resort island but markedly different from Sea Island. The resort offers lodging, hunting, fishing, horseback riding, nature tours and other activities. But forget about golf and tennis. You won't find them on Little St. Simons. This is a place for relaxing, unwinding, reading and observing nature in abundance.

Nature at its best

Then there is Sapelo, once the private domain of tobacco lord R.J. Reynolds Jr. and now owned by the state — except for the 434-acre Hog Hammock village, one of the last remaining Gullah-Geechee communities on the Georgia and South Carolina coasts. Most of the 70 or so residents are descendants of slaves who once worked on the island's plantations.

Sapelo is undeveloped, and the state intends to keep it that way. The island is served daily by a state-operated ferry that departs from Meridian on the mainland, where the Sapelo Island visitors center is located.

The state Department of Natural Resources offers half-day tours of Sapelo, in which you can see the magnificent beach, Hog Hammock, the restored Sapelo lighthouse, the University of Georgia's Marine Institute and the old Reynolds mansion, refurbished by the state.

But if you want to stay longer, several Hog Hammock residents provide comfortable lodging at reasonable prices.

Next to Sapelo is Blackbeard Island, a national wildlife refuge. It and its sister islands, Wolf and Wassaw, are part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's coastal refuge system.

Wolf is not open to the public, but Blackbeard and Wassaw are open from sunup to sundown. You'll have to make a special effort to get to them — they are accessible only by private or charter boat. For charters, inquire at local marinas.

If you make the effort to get to them, you'll be rewarded with some of the finest wildlife viewing on the coast. Wassaw, never disturbed by development, represents what barrier islands probably looked like to early European explorers.

Ossabaw is another beautiful barrier isle permanently protected from development. It is reserved primarily for education and research, but the general public can access it by private or charter boat.

There are some restrictions on visitation to Ossabaw, however, so check first with the DNR at 912-262-3173 to find out where visitors are allowed.

Finally, there is Tybee Island, a 20-minute drive from Savannah. Like St. Simons, it also is developed and commercialized but has its own coastal charm and allure. It offers public beaches, fishing piers and historic sites.

So, choose your island. Georgia's barrier islands have a place for everyone.