Our planet has been shaped just as much by human hands as by nature, leaving us with some incredible metropoles and sprawling civilizations. But even with civilization spreading far and wide, there are some corners of the earth that remain untouched, isolated, and remote.
But what defines a place as ‘remote’? Typically, a remote area is far removed from urban centers, often characterized by extreme weather, interesting landscapes, and generally a tough time getting around.
And while this doesn’t make remote places sound too appealing to most, some offer serenity and natural beauty that cities just cannot provide. They could be the gateway to incredible off-the-beaten-track destinations, home to extraordinary wildlife, or just a chance to disconnect from the digital world.
21. Alert, Canada
Alert sits at the very top of the world, just 508 miles from the North Pole. This tiny settlement perches on Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, making it the northernmost place where people live all year.
The weather’s unforgiving. Winter means four months of unbroken darkness, while summer brings endless daylight—but don’t expect warmth. Even then, you’ll need a heavy coat since the temperature barely creeps above freezing.
About five people live at Alert full-time. The place includes a Canadian military base, a weather station, and an atmospheric monitoring lab. You can’t drive there. If you want to visit, you’ll have to fly in or wait for a rare supply ship. HMS Alert, a British Navy ship that wintered nearby in 1875-76, gave the settlement its name.
20. La Rinconada, Peru
La Rinconada clings to the Peruvian Andes at 16,700 feet above sea level—the highest permanent settlement anywhere. Around 50,000 people call this place home, even though life here is anything but easy. The town sits on Mount Ananea’s slope, right below the La Bella Durmiente glacier.
Most folks come to mine gold. Infrastructure? Not much. Many residents don’t have electricity, running water, or plumbing.
The thin air and bone-chilling cold make daily life a real struggle. Just breathing feels like hard work up here. The town lies about 400 miles from the Bolivian border, tucked away in southeastern Peru. Still, people keep showing up, hoping to hit it big in the gold mines.
19. Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands float in the North Atlantic between Iceland and Norway—a cluster of 18 rocky islands about 200 miles north of Scotland. Roughly 50,000 people live here, scattered across windswept villages. The land’s all cliffs, volcanic rocks, and green hills plunging into the sea. Sheep wander everywhere, grazing on steep slopes above crashing waves.
Getting to the Faroes takes some planning. You can fly into the main airport or hop a ferry from Denmark or Iceland. Once you’re there, smaller ferries and even helicopters connect the islands.
The weather? Unpredictable. Sun, rain, and fog can all show up in a single afternoon. It stays cool year-round, and the wind never really lets up. Traditional turf-roofed houses still dot the landscape, and fishing remains at the heart of island life.
18. Coober Pedy, Australia
Coober Pedy sits 526 miles north of Adelaide in the South Australian desert. The town calls itself the “opal capital of the world”—and it’s not just bragging. Most of the planet’s precious opals come from here.
But what really makes Coober Pedy unique? People live underground. More than half the residents have carved homes—“dugouts”—right into the sandstone hillsides. Why go subterranean? The desert heat on the surface is relentless, but below ground, it stays cool and comfortable all year.
Life underground isn’t just about homes. There are shops, churches, even hotels buried beneath the sand. Some locals have gone all out, adding swimming pools and game rooms to their dugouts. The desert is harsh, but people here have found clever ways to make it work.
17. North Sentinel Island, India
North Sentinel Island sits in the Bay of Bengal, part of India’s Andaman and Nicobar chain. The Sentinelese people have lived here for thousands of years, completely isolated from the outside world. Since 1956, the Indian government has made the island off-limits. Visiting is illegal—meant to protect both the tribe and outsiders.
The Sentinelese have made it clear they want nothing to do with the outside world. They’ve defended their island, sometimes with force, and have no immunity to common diseases. Contact could be disastrous for them.
Dense forests blanket the island, and coral reefs ring the coast. The Sentinelese still hunt and gather, living much as their ancestors did—one of the last truly isolated societies left.
16. Atalaia do Norte, Brazil
Atalaia do Norte sits deep in the far west of Brazil’s Amazonas state, tucked along the Solimões River. Only about 20,000 people live here, making it one of the most remote towns in Brazil.
The town serves as the main gateway to the Vale do Javari Indigenous Territory, a vast region home to several indigenous groups—some with little or no contact with outsiders. No roads connect Atalaia do Norte to the rest of Brazil. You’ll have to travel by boat or small plane to get here.
The Amazon rainforest wraps around the town in every direction. You might spot wildlife along the rivers or trek into the jungle—this is one of the most biodiverse places anywhere.
15. Grytviken, South Georgia
Grytviken lies on South Georgia, a lonely island in the South Atlantic. It used to be a bustling whaling station, but now it’s mostly a frozen ghost town. Old machinery rusts in the snow, and penguins and seals wander through the empty buildings. It’s hard to imagine a more isolated place.
Still, a handful of people work at the small museum and post office. If you’re determined enough to make it here, you can even send a postcard home.
Explorer Ernest Shackleton is buried at Grytviken. He died here in 1922 during one of his Antarctic expeditions, and visitors often stop by his grave. Getting to Grytviken isn’t for the faint of heart. There are no regular flights or ferries. You’ll need to join an expedition cruise.
14 Point Nemo
Point Nemo sits in the South Pacific at 48°52.6′S 123°23.6′W. No place in the ocean is more remote. The nearest land is 1,670 miles away in every direction. That’s even farther than New York to Denver. Antarctica lies to the south, Ducie Island to the north, and Motu Nui near Easter Island isn’t much closer.
Hrvoje Lukatela, a Croatian engineer, pinpointed Point Nemo in 1992 using a computer program to find the spot farthest from any land. The name comes from Captain Nemo in Jules Verne’s novels—and, fittingly, means “no one” in Latin. Space agencies crash old satellites and space stations here, since there’s just no one around to notice.
13. Socotra, Yemen
Socotra floats in the Arabian Sea, far off Yemen’s coast. Over 700 species here exist nowhere else. The island’s famous for its dragon’s blood trees—strange, umbrella-shaped plants with thick trunks and wide, flat tops. Their red sap has been prized for centuries in medicine and dye-making.
You can wander white sand beaches, explore limestone caves, or hike rugged mountains. Since mass tourism hasn’t arrived, Socotra’s landscapes remain largely untouched.
Isolation has protected Socotra’s ecosystems for millions of years. Visiting feels like stepping into a lost world. The local culture’s stayed surprisingly unchanged, too—offering a rare glimpse into ancient ways of life.
12. Cape Horn, Chile
Cape Horn juts from the tip of South America on Hornos Island, part of Chile’s Tierra del Fuego archipelago. Here, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans collide. Just getting there is an adventure. You’ll pass through landscapes streaked with green and blue. The seas are legendary for their fury, and countless shipwrecks have happened in these waters.
A metal sculpture, the Cape Horn Monument, stands in memory of sailors lost to the waves. Only a few people actually live here now. The area belongs to Cabo de Hornos National Park—one of the wildest, most untouched places left. The cliffs are dramatic, the ocean views wild and raw. Somehow, wildlife still finds a way to thrive in all that wind and salt.
11. Ounianga Lakes, Chad
You’ll stumble across these lakes in probably the last place you’d ever look for water—right in the heart of the Sahara Desert in northeastern Chad. This area barely sees 2mm of rain a year, but somehow, 18 lakes manage to hang on in two separate clusters.
And we’re not talking about little puddles, either. The lakes come in all sorts of sizes, depths, and colors. Some shimmer deep blue, others look green or even reddish if you catch them at the right time. They draw their water from ancient underground reserves—so-called “fossil” water left behind from thousands of years ago, back when this place was a lot wetter than today.
Long ago, one huge lake covered this region, somewhere between 14,800 and 5,500 years ago. Now, only scattered lakes remain, dotting the desert and surrounded by endless sand dunes and rocky outcrops. UNESCO named Ounianga Chad’s first World Heritage Site in 2012. Local people—and animals, too—still rely on these lakes to get by in the brutal desert.
10. Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile
Robinson Crusoe Island, the second-biggest island in Chile’s Juan Fernandez Archipelago, got its name from an interesting piece of literary history. Between 1704 and 1709, the island served as the isolated refuge of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor whose story of survival inspired Daniel Defoe’s creation of the fictional character Robinson Crusoe.
Less than one thousand people call the island home and getting here requires a two-and-a-half-hour flight from Santiago in Chile, followed by an hour-long water taxi.
With so few visitors to disturb the natural flow of things, its isolation has played a part in successfully preserving the unique flora and flora endemic to the island. With rugged volcanic peaks and dense forests, it’s home to species found nowhere else on Earth – especially when it comes to birds.
But diving is the best way to be transported to Daniel Defoe’s fantasy world of pirates and treasure. With crystal clear waters and incredible marine life, the seas here will leave you with a newfound connection to nature.
9. Ittoqqortoormiit, Greenland
Ittoqqortoormiit is a remote municipality in Greenland that is as difficult to visit as it is to pronounce. Founded in 1925 by Inuit settlers, it’s one of the country’s most isolated settlements. And let’s be honest, Greenland is remote, as it is. Ittoqqortoormiit’s remote location, perched on the edge of the world’s largest national park, means it is almost surrounded by unspoiled Arctic wilderness.
It’s located within the Arctic Circle at the mouth of the largest fjord system in the world. So, as expected, this spot is on the receiving end of some of the planets most extreme weather. And with the nearest city more than 500 miles away, its isolation from civilization is all part of its charm.
The landscape is dominated by ice-covered fjords and rugged mountains. Winters are long and harsh, with temperatures plummeting below freezing and, on some days, seeing around four hours of daylight.
8. Oymyakon, Russia
If you fancy the cold, try spending a few days in Oymyakon, the coldest place on earth. This small human settlement in the Sakha Republic of Russia is the official coldest inhabited place on the planet, with temperatures averaging around -58°F.
It was established as a seasonal reindeer herding camp before being permanently settled in the 1930s. Because of the cold, building and development have been slow, which has done well in preserving the area’s remote character.
Reaching Oymyakon involves flying into Yakutsk, followed by a daunting drive on iced-over roads. The village is hundreds of miles from any city, surrounded by a frozen tundra landscape. The few locals who live here rely on reindeer herding and ice fishing, with limited access to running water and indoor plumbing because of the consistent permafrost.
7. Mount Roraima, Venezuela
Located at the junction of Brazil, Guyana, and Venezuela, Mount Roraima sticks out of the landscape at right angles like a giant book. It’s one of the most isolated regions in the world, which has enabled the mountain to foster a unique ecosystem with plenty of endemic flora and fauna.
Rising out of the mist like a giant slab, Mount Roraima is most famous for its prehistoric ecology, which sustains plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. It’s part of the Tepui mountain range and is one of the oldest geological formations on the planet.
While no human settlements exist on the mountain, the area holds a deep spiritual importance for the Indigenous Pemon people, who believe it is the home of the gods. The closest town is Yuruani, a small village that serves as the starting point for many treks up the mountain.
6. Easter Island, Chile
Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, is a small island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, approximately 2340 miles from Chile. It is Chilean-owned, and the closest inhabited neighbor is the Juan Fernandez Islands, which are still 1150 miles away.
Easter Island is most famous for its mysterious monolithic Moai statues carved out of volcanic rock. The island’s original inhabitants, the Rapa Nui people, carved these massive figures around AD 1400 and 1600. But the most fascinating is that the stone figures are carved using volcanic rock found further along the coastline. How they were transported to their current spots still baffles archeologists.
The island’s isolation has left its landscape largely untouched. Its coastline is lined with rugged cliffs and peaceful beaches.
5. Kerguelen Islands
The Kerguelen Islands, also known as the ‘Desolation Islands,’ are the kind of place that give solitude a whole new meaning. Set in the middle of the southern Indian Ocean, over 2000 miles from Madagascar, they’re around midway between Africa and Antarctica.
These French-owned volcanic islands are so remote that no one lives here permanently. The only way to get here is by research vessel.
The landscape is rugged and wild, with towering peaks, glaciers, and grasslands that feel like they extend for miles. And while only a handful of researchers and scientists brave the harsh, windy conditions, wildlife thrives in the isolation.
4. Devon Island, Canada
Devon Island isn’t just remote; it’s massive. Located in the Canadian Arctic, this barren, icy, and rocky expanse is the largest uninhabited island in the world. The landscape here is so otherworldy that NASA has even used the island to simulate missions to Mars.
It’s more than 1000 miles from the nearest town, and reaching the island involves navigating icy waters or flying on a small aircraft over the frozen terrain. Once you’re there, you’re guaranteed frozen tundra and glaciers as far as the eyes can see.
Despite its harsh climate, Devon Island is teeming with Arctic wildlife. Muskox, Arctic foxes, and polar bears call the island home.
3. Pitcairn Islands
The Pitcairn Islands are a group of four volcanic islands that form the sole British Overseas Territory. Located in the South Pacific Ocean, they are almost 1800 miles from any continental landmass and, therefore, one of the most remote island groups.
Only one of the four islands – Pitcairn Island – is inhabited. But only 50 people live here permanently. Getting to the island is no small feat. With no airport on the island, you’ll have to fly to a small French Polynesian Island called Mangareva and then travel the rest of the journey by boat.
Isolation isn’t just geographical; it’s part of the way of life here. There are no malls, traffic lights, or coffee shops. Life is slow here, and locals must be self-sufficient and resourceful to make the off-grid lifestyle work.
2. Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica
Antarctica is remote by definition, and the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station sits at the southernmost point on Earth. It’s a research base in one of the most inhospitable environments known to humankind. Temperatures sit at an average of -56°F but can drop below -112°F in winter.
The South Pole has no native plant or animal life, but you might be able to spot a seabird if it is blown off course.
As the name suggests, this isn’t as much a human settlement as it is a base for scientific experiments studying everything from climate change to astronomy. The population varies from season to season, and it is mostly made up of scientists and researchers. All in all, around 640 people pass through the station each year.
1. Tristan Da Cunha
Tristan Da Cunha is a small group of volcanic islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It’s positioned between Cape Town, South Africa, and Mar del Plata in Argentina, with nothing around it but the neverending ocean.
The main island holds the title as the most remote inhabited island in the world, stretching only 38 square miles across. Under 300 people call this island home, with no way to enter and leave other than taking a six-day ship trip from South Africa.
Being so remote, the residents of Tristan Da Cunha rely on fishing, farming, and a deep sense of community to survive.
Leave a Reply