Five crazy man-made islands

Constructed in the 1970s as a flood protection system for Vienna, the 21km-long Danube Island is now a popular open-air park full of hiking and jogging trails as well as restaurants, clubs and bars.

If you had so much money you didn't know what to do with it, I guess you'd build yourself an island. Or heck, maybe you'd save the children. Here are five of the strangest man-made islands in the world.

The Palm, Dubai

It's not like they don't have the land, there is desert as far as the eye can see in Dubai, but it's ocean-front they want, so they built an island with as much beach as possible. Laid out like a palm tree with a road driving up the trunk to the flash Atlantis The Palm resort at the top, hotels and condos have been built on the fronds.

Joyxee Island, Mexico

This trash island is British eco architect Richart Sowa's dream. Built in 2007 and powered by solar panels with a composting toilet, it's his second floating island after the first one was destroyed by a hurricane in 2005. He collected bottles, cans, plastic, wood and used that as a platform layered with earth and more trash "like a lasagne". For 50 pesos you can tour his tiny island and two-story house surrounded by garden and beaches that hold the whole thing together in a lagoon off the Cancun coastline.

Khazar Islands, Azerbaijan

This $100 billion project will be made up of 50 artificial islands 23km south of Azerbaijan, over 3000 hectares in the Caspian Sea. The aim is to create a new city to house up to one million people with 150 schools, hospitals, parks, shopping malls, universities, soaring skyscrapers and even a Formula 1 racetrack. The developers are also planning a 1050 metre tall, $2 billion tower as the centrepiece, which will be the tallest in the world.

No Man's Land Fort, UK

Built in the 1860s in the Solent between the Isle of Wight and mainland United Kingdom as protection against a French invasion, the "island" has now been commandeered as a luxury retreat, arrived at by helicopter. This "citadel in the sea" is currently looking for a manager to run the 22-room hotel complete with museum, gym, nightclub, lighthouse, rooftop jacuzzi and cobble-stoned street.

Danube Island, Austria

Constructed in the 1970s as a flood protection system for Vienna, the 21km-long island, built in the existing river, has been planted with two million trees and shrubs. It is a popular open-air park full of restaurants, clubs and bars, hiking and jogging trails and is home to the Danube Island Festival, which is held each June and attracts around three million people.

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