Get lost: The world’s 10 most spectacularly remote places
From sparsely populated territories to spectacularly windswept islands, here are 10 places that redefine getting away from it all.
Utqiagvik, USA
Utqiagvik is pitch black from mid-November to mid-January.Credit: Alamy
Formerly known as Barrow, this is the USA’s northernmost community and one of its oldest settled sites, largely inhabited by 4000 native Iñupiat people, whose traditions are highlighted in the Heritage Centre. Flights provide the only access but you’ll find a range of activities for tourists, including polar-bear spotting, dog mushing, photography tours and historical sites. Utqiagvik is pitch black 24 hours a day from mid-November to mid-January. See travelalaska.com
Foula, UK
Hiking along Foula’s sea cliffs is splendid.Credit: Alamy
Don’t think you can get remote in places such as Britain? This island lies 32 kilometres west of the other Shetland Islands, which are already beyond northern Scotland in sub-Arctic waters. Foula has just 35 permanent residents, plus sheep and ponies and abundant seabirds. Though battered by wind and waves, the hiking along sea cliffs is splendid. Remarkably, people have been living here since the Bronze Age. See shetland.org
Iquitos, Peru
Iquitos is the largest city in the world not connected to the outside world by road.Credit: Alamy
With a population of half a million, Iquitos in the Peruvian Amazon is the biggest city unconnected to the outside world by road. The only way to get here is by air or river, which provides the main reason to visit, since this dilapidated, former rubber-producing town – whose incessantly buzzing motorbikes are likely to drive you mad – is the embarkation point for many Amazon river cruises. See peru.travel
Iqaluit, Canada
Iqaliut is geographically remote but relatively easy to get to.Credit: Getty
The capital of the sparsely populated Nunavut territory on the southern end of Baffin Island, formerly called Frobisher Bay, is geographically remote but relatively easy to get to, since jet aircraft can land at its airport and do so from several Canadian cities. Iqaliut is well set up for tourists, with abundant activities such as canoeing, dog sledding, snowmobiling, hiking and camping. In winter you can see the northern lights. See travelnunavut.ca
Tanggula, China
Tanggula is literally in the middle of nowhere.Credit: Alamy
This is the world’s highest train station at 5068 metres above sea level on the Tibetan plateau, and one of the stops along the 1956-kilometre Qinghai-Tibet railway line. Sitting near a glacier, it’s literally in the middle of nowhere. There is not another building in sight and the station itself unmanned. You might see a few yaks. The railway line is so high that oxygen is piped into carriages. See chinatibettrain.com
Tristan da Cunha
The only transport to Tristan is by sea.Credit: IStock
This tiny mid-Atlantic island is the furthest permanently inhabited place (population 300) from any other – namely another island, St Helena, 2816 kilometres away. The only transport to Tristan is by sea, making a luxury cruise the only sensible way to visit unless you’re prepared to wait for the three-times-a-year supply ship from Cape Town. There’s no hotel (only guesthouses) and a single café. See tristandc.com
Ittoqqortoormiit, Greenland
Ittoqqortoormiit Village; where icebergs and the world’s largest national park await.Credit: iStock
Some 400 people live here on Greenland’s eastern edge, and visitors arrive by boat, snowmobile or helicopter from the airport 40 kilometres away. In the short summer months, a few expedition cruise ships squeeze in between the icebergs to make a visit. Intrepid travellers are attracted to its location on the world’s largest national park and fjord system. Hunters come for its musk ox. See visitgreenland.com
Kelabit Highlands, Malaysia
Get off the beaten track in the interior of Sarawak on the island of Borneo.Credit: Getty
Even the world’s most populated continent has its lonely places. Get off the beaten track in the interior of Sarawak on the island of Borneo. The highlands are reached on a one-hour flight from Bario; don’t even think about the horrendous five-hour journey by logging road. Most visitors hike from longhouse to longhouse and visit Pulong Tau National Park, which has sumptuous scenery and orchid-rich forests. See sarawaktourism.com
Villa Las Estrellas, Antarctica
Credit: SnowSwan/Wikimedia
It’s little known that Antarctica has two permanent settlements, and this Chilean town and research post on King George Island is one. It retains some 80 people over winter, and twice that in summer. It even has its own churches and a tiddly (currently closed) school, though all the houses are prefabs. Access is on 3.5-hour tourist flights from Punta Arenas in southern Chile or by cruise ship.
Kiwirrkurra, Australia
Though only 100 kilometres from another Aboriginal settlement, this community in WA’s Gibson Desert is often referred to as Australia’s remotest. It lies 700 kilometres west of Alice Springs and 1200 kilometres east of Port Hedland. Contact with non-Indigenous people only occurred in the 1950s and the Pintupi were largely nomadic until the 1980s. You need a permit to enter Ngaanyatjarra Lands and can only stay two nights. See ngaanyatjarra.org.au
Brian Johnston has travelled courtesy of numerous tourism offices and tour companies.
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