I've driven all over the Western Australian outback - the kind of place you can drive at 110km/h for a day and barely even see a bend in the road - and every time I've done it, there's always some crazy Dutch fucker on a bicycle in the middle of nowhere.
I’ve seen Dutch cyclists at 4500m above sea level riding their cycles on sleet filled roads in the northern Himalayan regions bordering Tibet, in the depths of the Danakil Desert in Ethiopia, and more such crazy places 😅
I love the Dutch. There are really some adventurous people, and likewise French people. I think that the percentage of people doing extraordinary things is much higher in those two countries than in all other countries. They can really tell some stories.
I worked at an aquarium in college and part of my daily duties was cleaning the penguin exhibit. That smell is burned into my brain. Feeding them was always fun though
I'm here right now.
I'm living in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, Canada. The weather ranges from -40C in the winter to +20C in the summer (today is a sunny -5C). The Inuit mostly populate the town
Edit: forgot to put more detail on how this place is isolated. Rankin Inlet (population 3500) is a 2.5hr flight from Winnipeg, Manitoba, the next closest city (population 750k). The cheapest flight ticket is about $1300 round-trip. There is almost zero tourism, except for those looking for beauty in desolation and those wanting to experience the Inuit culture. Most non-inuit come here for work, where salaries are very lucrative in order to offset the equally lucrative price of groceries and everything else
I remember Rankin Inlet fondly from my early days with Calm Air back in the 1970's. Char fishing by helicopter at a little lake about 20 minutes outside of town. I think that it was Coast Guard doing a survey and they would park at our hangar, use our power, and come in for coffee.
When they wrapped up they invited me along for an afternoon of char fishing, Screaming along 50 feet above the tundra until we got to a little lake, the pilot hovered at about 100 feet and you could see the bright red char scattering from the down wash of the blades.
Needless to say fishing was great!
Hopefully you are having a great time and are able to bank some good money. Enjoy!
I've spent some time on random islands in Faroe, which is already thinly populated, then you go to the almost empty islands, pretty relaxing place, weird though, no native trees.
The Faroes is my dream destination! Need a seperate visa though given my nationality, as the Danish visa isn’t sufficient- hope to go there next year! How did you travel around, did you rent a car?
Mostly car, there are maybe idk 4 islands including the one w/ Torshaven and the airport connected by tunnels if I remember correctly, but ferries and/or helicopter are needed for some islands/areas. I managed to go to almost all the islands including one that is only open a few weeks a year (I was there for like 2 months), very slow paced but nice place. I hear the amount of tourists have drastically increased there in the last 5-10 years (though its still relatively low, but when I was there in the summer for 2 months I met exactly 0 tourists and only a few non Faroe/Danish people, I wasn't staying at a hostel/hotel though which probably helped see no tourists... funny enough most were soccer players trying to get their foot in the door of pro football lol).
The island that’s only open part of the year is probably Mykines. I was lucky to get there only once in my 2 trips to the Faroes, on the last day of the season we got the last seats on the ferry :) Photographing puffins there all day was one of the best photo experiences of my life.
im almost certain it wasn't mykines as around a dozen people live there, it was an unpopulated island with a historical site that had a dig going on (this was 15 years ago so...) I can't remember the name I'll have to ask my friend I stayed with. I remember going to mykines by helicopter since you can only use the dock at certain tide (and took boat back) and the tiny village and pretty hike to the waterfall (I hear they have made the trail and other trails more tourist friendly with rails and such as before they were a bit fall to your death in some spots lol).
Oh, I think I remember where you’re talking about now. In fact, I think that may have been my first intro to the Faroes. I can’t remember the original source. It was a few years later that I encountered some landscape photographers and did some workshops, so I just focused on our itinerary. When I go back I’ll focus on the more remote places. Thank you for mentioning it :)
A few very isolated places,in the Australian outback for example,or in the Sahara... but probably the most isolated for me was in the Amazon region.
Bolivian side,we spent a week on a little canoe going along tributaries of the main river.After the first day we didn't see another person at all...no houses, nothing visible, though tribes do live there they stay away from contact with outsiders.
The wildlife was amazing and the jungle there was still pristine.
The Australian outback has always been a subject of enigma for me! There’s something truly fascinating about places like that; I think Namibia is the closest I’ve come to experiencing that sort of desert isolationism, an unforgettable feeling.
The absolute furthest point on the planet away from my current geographical location, so a bit of a challenge to get there! Would love to go though. The fact that it’s a biosphere on its own right with ‘island isolationism’ is fascinating!
It is easy to get to the Galapagos and once you do, there are hotels and restaurants everywhere. Thousands live there. It is other-worldly but doesn’t feel like you are away from everything.
Wow, how did you even get to Diego Garcia in the first place? Flight from Mauritius I’m guessing? Please describe your experience there, super interested
And how does one get to Ascencion?!
There’s not a lot to describe. It’s a navy base, but in paradise. You can play golf for $4 or have $2 drinks at one of the two bars that are reliably open. They have some nice beaches but mostly everyone is too busy to enjoy them much. There’s great fishing. Everyone who makes up the support staff is Filipino.
A thousand years ago, I had to choose between a year in Diego Garcia or Adak, Alaska. I went to Adak (loved it). I always wondered what life would have been like on Diego Garcia. The fact that there are civilians, and golf, makes me think it would have been a very different experience. Can I ask what was your most surreal experience, or best memory, while on the island?
Probably the time we were drinking in the bar and the weather turned bad. So they couldn’t operate the launches as scheduled. We had to scramble to arrange hotel rooms. There’s only one small hotel on the island.
Northern Mongolia, close to the Russian border. It was two days of tough off road driving and then 6 hours of horseback riding to get to the nomadic Reindeer herders
The Tsataaan herdsmen? Wow, sounds amazing, been plotting a Mongolia trip for years now without much progress, I’ve struggled to identify operators who do tours in the region without charging a bomb - been wanting to visit Western Mongolia and the Altai Tavn Bogd national park, sounds like a dream. Not too comfortable with the idea of driving there; how did you manage to get around?
Yeah, it was incredible! I would definitely recommend it.
We self drove and spent about three weeks there. We didn’t make it to western Mongolia unfortunately, but spent a lot of time in the north and then through central to the Gobi. The only tough part for the driving was up to the Tsaganuur where you meet the tribe, we got stuck for about 7 hours and had to be pulled out of a ditch, but the rest of the driving was relatively easy off roading (if you’ve done it before you’d be okay)
Wow, I’m from India and haven’t been there myself yet! Did you go to Lachen and Lachung? What month did you visit, and how did you manage transportation in that region?
That’s correct - I visited last October and had a guide/driver. I was due to fly into Pakyong Airport but cancelled flights meant that I had to go to Bagdogra instead.
My favourite place was Temi Tea.
I’ve always wondered what life is like out there on those Northern isles of Canada; I’ve heard it’s really challenging and expensive to travel between towns up there!
That's pretty isolated. I passed through Nanisivik airport when First Air had the Iqaluit - Nanisivik - Resolute - Yellowknife flights with the 727-100C.
4 days driving through the Simpson Desert in the Australian outback, camping out under the stars each night. Pantelleria, a volcanic island off the coast of Sicily (but closer to Tunisia)
Concordia station Antarctica
I believe the nearest station is Vostok which is over 600km away
When I was there I was told the International Space Station is in orbit about 400km above the earths surface. So when the ISS passes above the station the astronauts on board are actually the closest humans to you.
That thought really put into perspective just how isolated the station is
This is a good one— like the Gun Flint Trail ends in the middle of nowhere- then it is by boat. I am from MN, and this region is very foreign and unique.
Not sure for me— also been to Alaska, and northern Norway where it borders Russia.
I spent a week hiking the rockies in Montana along the Canadian border— spent a week without seeing another human.
I've been dropped off by a float plane on a lake in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness and then picked up a week later. No roads, no walking paths, no electricity, no buildings, and no humans for a very long distance.
Not really, just camping in the Alaskan wilderness. I'm sure for some people it would be a survival challenge, but honestly it was really no big deal. We had a lot of gear so we were pretty comfortable and it was a really nice experience.
Yeah in hindsight I can see how that was unnecessary. I’m just all for discovering offbeat places that people don’t consider organically, given the limited extent to which they’re spoken about on such forums as well as on social media, only because of the sheer magnitude of info about the top 10-20 popular destinations. Maybe that’s a good thing overall, and will prevent influxes of tourists crowding to these hidden gems - but as far as I’m concerned, I have a lot of new ideas based on such comments from people who’ve been to these alternate (and far more desolate) destinations, and I’m filled with more wanderlust than I would if I read more posts about the more frequented tourist destinations.
I've gotten that feeling in some areas of Himachal, India. The latest is driving in Lahaul beyond Sissu towards Keylong. A few places in Kullu and Mandi districts were also like that when I lived there a few years ago. We used to be the only travellers there and just a handful of locals.
Forever dream! But so absolutely difficult to get to for me logistically speaking - involves something like My Hometown > Bigger city in India > Qatar > Madrid > Buenos Aires > Ushuaia, which obviously costs thousands of dollars more than it ought to :(
Tajikistan sounds like a wild adventure! I’ve only hit up some rural spots in my neck of the woods, nothing quite as remote as that. Closest I’ve been is this tiny village in the Scottish Highlands. Man, talk about a vibe shift! It’s like stepping into another era with those mountain views and old stone houses. Met this farmer dude who could tell tales for days, and his sheepdog was like my shadow. It's nuts how different life can be just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the hustle and bustle. Your Tajikistan trip’s got me itching for some serious off-grid exploration!
I loved Laos, but was only in Luang Prabang - but rafting on the Mekong was quite the experience, at one point I ran into a bunch of elephants waddling in the river!
Met this Mexican dude who worked at a hostel in Oruro, Bolivia and he knew some locals in the area so we went out into the desert with him and stayed in this small village. The next day we borrowed bicycles and biked further out into the desert and came across a random tiny settlement where this woman was weaving a carpet in the traditional way. Felt like the place must have looked about the same like 1,000 years ago.
Somewhere in Australia, though difficult to say exactly where - I wouldn’t describe the places I’ve been to in the Outback as “isolated” because while it might be a 10-hour drive to a town with a population of more than 100, you’re still on a major sealed road so there’s probably 50-100 vehicles passing a day, it’s not like if you run out of petrol you’ll die.
In fact the more I think about it, by that criteria, I’m not sure I’ve ever been anywhere I’d call truly “isolated” - barring a vehicle breakdown I’ve probably never been more than a 4-5 hour drive away from a police station or a medical clinic.
I’d consider 4-5 hours away from the nearest town pretty isolated, I mean that’s as far away from civilisation I’ve been myself! I guess barring islands, it’s difficult to really get that far by land without running into human settlements, Australia seems to be be a very common answer here so I guess that’s the best bet when it comes to traveling by road
Haha yeah, I guess it is, but there are also so few roads in the interior that they’re relatively busy so it doesn’t *feel* as isolated as it should - I’ve felt much more remote and isolated while driving around on desert roads in e.g. Utah (where I could drive an hour or two and see barely any other vehicles) then I ever did while crossing the Nullarbor (because the Eyre Highway is literally the only road linking Western Australia with the east coast so there’s plenty of traffic), even though on the Nullarbor I was literally thousands of kilometres further away from a sizeable town than I ever was in Utah.
Remote forest village in Unye, Turkey. Was there to visit a friend's family. No experience like it. Everything is on stilts to keep bears and fox out, and they had a large outdoor kitchen built for family and friends to eat together. Other than that, the town of Amasra, while not isolated its far off the beaten track. And then visiting the villages in other areas of the Black Sea region
Worked for UK lighthouse authority. Got to see some obscure islands with lighthouses, Scilly Islands, Skerries Island, Lundy Island. Sometimes lighthouse authority are the only people visiting are lighthouse authorities. Skerries was probably most obscure.
Greenland, Narsaq Glacier, The Australian outback, and the desert in Uzbekistan.
In September I'll visit Tadjikistan with some very remote hiking, where the local guide hunts with his family. I look forward to that even more after your description.
I've driven across northern Nevada several times, and it always amazes me how vast and desolate those stretches of I-80 and US50 are.
Towns like Eureka and Winnemucca really feel like little oases surrounded by vast nothingness.
Also, the Caribbean coast and Corn Islands of Nicaragua feel quite remote and culturally distinct from the Spanish-speaking rest of the country.
Not strictly answering the question as intended but I have a friend who comes from one of the most remote parts of deeper Siberia. Her town had the basic things but twice a year the family would jump on a bus and travel 10 hours to the nearest city to buy clothes or other essentials they couldn't get in their town.
In winter the river freezes and roads became difficult. The airport in the town closed down a lifetime ago and nothing happens there. When she visits home (which is rarely due to restrictions, COVID recently and time it takes) it takes her about 2 solid days of travelling each way.
When she left the town and we became friends, it was amazing to speak about all the things she never knew about that we just assume everyone knows. I remember mentioning hugely popular music artists at the time and never even heard the names.
Eswatini, about 5 miles form the border with Mozambique. I was in a school yard with noting in sight.
Somewhere in the Arabian peninsula, probably 150 miles form the nearest city.
[spar cave Scotland](https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/skye/sparcave.shtml)
We got there late since it’s out on the edge of the isle of Skye which itself is on the edge of Scotland. Tide was already turning against us but we’d driven so long that day I decided to brave it. Super eerie and cool but we didn’t have strong enough flashlights. As we were leaving the tide was coming in and we had to wade out into the ocean to get back. It was a little scary.
In terms of how remote it felt? Five days of backpacking through the Rockies south of the Columbia Icefields.
In terms of how remote it actually was? High Level, Alberta. Roughly equidistant between Edmonton and Yellowknife (in this case meaning "equally really fucking far"), it's about as far north as you can go in Canada and still find arable land. Spent most of the 14 hours of driving as the only car on the road for miles.
Some of the outer islands in Micronesia, parts of Palau. Along the Peruvian/Brazilian Amazon about 5 days by boat east of the Ucayali River. I live in a remote area by most standards but even eastern Oregon is pretty populated and accessible compared to small Pacific islands or the Amazon basin.
I've been to Tristan da Cunha, the most isolated inhabited island. It took forever to get to and had a ton of natural beauty. I don't recommend going just because of the time it took to get there, but it's nice to see remote places like that still exist.
Did a fly in fishing trip with my dad and some of his buddies. We were on a couple of lakes in Central Ontario with nobody else a few hundred miles in any direction. That's the most isolated place I've been.
Although road-tripping thru the American west, there's definitely some places in Wyoming, Idaho, and Nevada where it feels like there's nobody anywhere nearby, and it feels pretty isolated too.
Some of my favourite places are Iceland and Namibia (both in my top 3 favourite countries I've been to).
Both places are so vast and empty, and heavily nature based, with the odd bit of civilization every once in a while.
Renting a campervan or 4x4 with roof tents have been some of the best trips I've been on.
I have also flown into barrow Alaska just for fun. Not most isolated but the community is super small. In addition, political isolation , I have been to North Korea via train and ran a marathon Also a good trip.
I’ve crossed the Nullarbor and I’ve crossed the desert from Adelaide to Darwin. The trip from Adelaide Darwin across the center of Australia seemed positively bustling compared to the Nullarbor. I didn’t cross via the freeway but through the centre. Incredible experience and would do it again in a heart beat. I’ve also sailed to some very remote islands in the South Pacific.
Maybe Batangafo in the Central African Republic. It’s a populated village and in terms of outsiders, it’s mostly filled with military and humanitarians. From there, there are missions in the bush. It’s isolation isn’t complete but due to security it’s tough to most to move around there.
Where I was raised and commercial fished-Alaska. Some of the refuge land (geographic harbor, the Aleutian chain) felt like you could boat forever and not see another boat…
I have lived in nowhere in Cambodia along the Thai border. Imagine when the locals amuse themselves asking introspecifically how is it possible to be in such nowhere. Not only nowhere, but a nowhere that tests the fragility of the human condition in heat tropical disease, and semi-starvation. Try sellijg a betel leaf for 25 cents and trying to figure out how to make a dinner for 5.
For me nothing was more isolated than Antarctica. Having traveled to all seven continents and fifty United States, Antarctica is full of penguins, void of humans and reminding me of the vastness and purity of our universe.
Spitsbergen, norder tip.
But also west part of Kazachstan, Australia outback, Gobi dessert, Turkmenistan dessert, nord part of Iceland, Shetland islands, south tip of Chile, Selous in Tanzania, Chobe/Moremi/Delta Botswana, nord of Disco Bay Greenland.
Kwajalein Atoll's north end on Roi-Namur Island, and Wake Island. Not a place a tourist can access, but military installations. I spent about a month at each place, and it was really great to be completely away from everything except the people with me. No cable TV, no reliable phone access to call home.
Svalbard. Though it didn't feel terribly isolated. There's a town and tons of people. That was during winter and polar night. I'm sure the place is packed during the midnight sun season.
The most isolated I felt was along a road in northern Canada. It had dawned on me that I'd been driving for hours and not met another car or seen any trace of civilization.
Namibia. Where we drove for hundreds of miles through the desert on dirt/gravel roads. We started playing a game where we'd check the odometer when we saw a car coming from the other direction, and then see how long it was until the next one. Typically we'd go 100km or more in between cars. And this was on the second-most major road in the country. 220km/136miles was our longest gap....
I've been to the desert of Novaya Chara. I've seen Khodar Mountains. I also stayed in the City of The Sun, next to the house of Vissarion. I broke into the city of Bajkonur in Kazakhstan, I was also very close to Neft Daslari, saw it from the ship. Kökar island felt most isolated/remote place in Europe... Oh also in Central Asia amazing Sibinskiye Ozora! And Sunduki in Khakassia Republic! Also Agdam in Karabach, village Gorelovka.on the border of Georgia and Armenia, abandoned Akarmara in Abkhasia. Bukhta Telyakovskiego maybe felt the most like the end of the world to me.
I spent several months in Svalbard back in 2018. This was one of the most memorable experiences of my life.
Except for a few settlments and a small town (less than 3,000 inhabitants), Svalbard is a beautiful, untouched white desert. Snow, mountains, reindeers and polar bears are the only things you’ll see as soon as you leave Longyearbyen.
Driving a snowmobile in the middle of nowhere is a lot of fun.
Got stranded once in a small german village bordering the Czech Republic called Schirnding, it has just around 1.200 inhabitants. Was en route to Pilsen via Munich-Nuremberg. It was a sunday night, around 23:00, I should pick a train in Marktredwitz (small town near the German-Czech border), but some people got on the train tracks and the train I was in delayed for about an hour, I lost all other trains because of that but managed to get to Marktredwitz.
A guy from the Deutschebahn said that I could try to get to this village called Schirnding, thats literally in the border, and maybe get a taxi there. Had to take the train heading there, the train was literally just about to depart. It was the last train. I ran in and got to Schirnding. It was late february so it was a cold night, temperature at around -2º and droping.
In Schirnding there was no taxi at all, the woman from the train kindly helped me calling a Czech Taxi Company, but to no avail. She then left. I was fully stranded in the middle of the night in a small german village, it was about midnight. Stood there for about an hour, was trying to find some place to shield me from the wind and was fully comited to the idea of just sleeping on the street near the station.
Out of nowhere, a car comes by. I imediately jump wave for him to stop. People say all germans speak english because they never been to this kind of villages. Thank God I know a few words. Guy kindly gives me a ride back to Marktredwitz, its was a 15min (it would have been a 3h walk) ride and it was NOT the way he was heading, but he gave me ride for free anyways. Thank you so much, Volker, I will never forget your kindness.
Marktredwitz has about 17k inhabitants and have an hotel. Paid for a night there and then my travel proceeded acordingly.
Monument Valley, USA
Serengeti, Tanzania
Namib Desert, Namibia
White Desert, Egypt
Random uninhabited islands in the Philippines whose names I don't even know (if they have any)
Probably Khiva in Uzbekistan or Harbin in northern China or eastern Namibia or Kigoma in Tanzania or Sandö in Sweden or a remote beach in the west of Denmark. Or Darwin/Uluru/Kakadu/Broome/Cape Trib/Kangaroo Island/Albany/Hobart/Perth/take your pick in Australia.
Inner Mongolia, China and the country of Mongolia!
Completely different language but a great deal in common! Spent time in gers (yurts) and shared a milk tea with our hosts.
I trekked a few day into the Daintree rainforest west of Cape Tribulation, Australia. It was like being on another planet, there were plants that looked like they were from a sci-fi movie, and it felt like I was in a place where no one had been before.
Easter Island for me. Not too impressive considering how isolated it is as there are pretty frequent fights.
I probably should clarify., Easter Island is absolutely amazing, but despite being one of the most isolated places on Earth, it's quite easy to get to.
For me it was a white water rafting trip in Sayan Mountains, Southern Siberia - it took us about 3.5 days by train from Moscow to Tayshet, where we got on a three hour helicopter ride before we were dropped off at the banks of Kazyr river. Then it took us about couple of weeks going down the river to get to the place where we can hail a logging truck to get to some place we can hop on a train.
For the whole two weeks we only met two other people.
That was in mid-90s.
This sounds absolutely wild; considering it was in the 90s, that must've been quite the experience as I can't imagine you'd have had too much info about the locations you visited beforehand!
I was lucky, I was with my uncle and his friends who did the same trip in late 70s or early 80s through their university white water rafting club, so they knew the river. Back then they had to find a truck with an driver that would drive them + gear for few hours, and then they had to walk 50 miles or so (without GPS, just a map) to get to the river.
When I was taking this trip, we hired a helicopter, and they just pointed on the map where we need to land.
The Caracol site in Belize - I was living on Ambergris Caye at the time, and it took around 4 hours one way to reach the site. We were the only tourists there, and it was in the middle of the jungle near the Guatemalan border.
I spent a week in Antarctica. Doesn't get more remote than that. It's kind of always in the back of your mind how remote you are, and that if anything goes wrong no one is coming to help. Really thought hard about that while crossing some rough seas in the Drake passage.
On the other hand I was surprised by how many other boats are down there during tourist season.
I’ve crossed the Amazon on a boat, from Leticia to Manaus, we would go days without seeing any village, but the boat had like 200 ppl, so I didn’t feel isolated at all.
Other than that, Port Alsworth in Alaska, 120 ppl live there, only way in and out is on a bush plane. I spent a week there last year, my friend was working as the nurse for the village.
Australian Outback for me also. I did a road trip from Adelaide to Uluru and back, and desolate doesn’t even really begin to describe it. After passing Port Augusta (About 3.5 hours from Adelaide) there really was no signs of civilization anywhere along the way, except for Coober Pedy where I had to stay overnight in both directions. Straight roads for hundreds of kilometers, you have to get fuel every time you see it (Sometimes it’s 300km between services), and really not even a building in sight.
Bagan in Burma (before the hot air balloons and crowds haha, was completely empty, had all those temples to ourselves, surreal)
Ala Archa mountains in Kyrgyzstan
Uncle Tan's Wildlife camp in Sabah, Borneo
don det, si phon don, laos
Happened this year - I stayed at a camp in Hemis National Park in Ladakh, India. Mission was to spot snow leopards ( I did!).
Although there were roads going into the camp, there were close to no other tourists apart from the locals who've been living there multiple generations. Arid place with minimal vegetation, darkest skies possible. Very different way of living, farmers have to contend with the Ghost Cat stalking their livestock. Despite just a handful of snow leopards in that particular area, one is enough to cause plenty of trouble.
Western Mongolia and south western mongolia near to the china border. Literally nothing going on. Roads are just tire marks that split into new tire marks and it is very easy to get lost. Very barren, no trees and just very desolate.
Ushguli, Svaneti, Georgia
The only way to get to the bigger town, Mestia, is a once a week flight or a 9-hour drive through the mountains. And Ushguli is another two hours from there.
I LOVED Mestia though. It’s really become a cool skier/backpacker town with just the right amount of tourism.
This is exactly where I plan to go this summer!! Did you take the VanillaSky flight? I thought it was more than once a week from Tbilisi-Mestia, maybe I’m wrong?! How did you get to Ushguli, did you hike or hire a taxi?
Not nearly as isolated as others here but camping with no tent in an Icelandic National Park.
Through a series of unfortunate events and a dickish camping store, I didn’t have a tent for my camping trip despite reserving one. I didn’t have a hostel anymore since I had planned on camping. Decided to just roll the dice and go. Took a 6 hour bus ride to the other side of the island. Hiked around ten miles with everything on my back because I didn’t have a place to keep my pack. First night was good, it was pretty cool waking up to a glacier view. Found some lockers for my pack and went hiking again. Slept outside again, but it rained so I moved to a picnic shelter halfway through the night.
I was so happy to be back on the bus to Reykjavik
Easter Island for geographically remote. But it’s a wonderful place and experience.
Australian outback for the feeling of remote. The real worry of breaking down in the van because you’ve not seen another person or sign of life other than kangaroos.
The Arctic Circle in Alaska, in June. Drove hours to get there, camped overnight, nibbled on by the state bird (mosquito). Saw no one anywhere for days.
I've driven all over the Western Australian outback - the kind of place you can drive at 110km/h for a day and barely even see a bend in the road - and every time I've done it, there's always some crazy Dutch fucker on a bicycle in the middle of nowhere.
I’ve seen Dutch cyclists at 4500m above sea level riding their cycles on sleet filled roads in the northern Himalayan regions bordering Tibet, in the depths of the Danakil Desert in Ethiopia, and more such crazy places 😅
I love the Dutch. There are really some adventurous people, and likewise French people. I think that the percentage of people doing extraordinary things is much higher in those two countries than in all other countries. They can really tell some stories.
Speaking of adventurous Dutch folk, check out Itchy Boots on YouTube. She rides her motorcycle all over the world.
She is awesome! My 85 year old FIL lives vicariously through her.
Best YouTube channel! She is so positive and insanely adventurous-she’s our favorite YouTuber.
She is good I love her videos
There only two things in this world I can’t stand, people who are intolerant of other people’s cultures, and the Dutch.
Falkland Islands for me. There’s a couple hundred people, as far as I could tell, and about 2 million penguins. And penguins smell bad.
Would love to see photos from there!
All wild penguins smell bad, no matter where they are
I worked at an aquarium in college and part of my daily duties was cleaning the penguin exhibit. That smell is burned into my brain. Feeding them was always fun though
I'm here right now. I'm living in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, Canada. The weather ranges from -40C in the winter to +20C in the summer (today is a sunny -5C). The Inuit mostly populate the town Edit: forgot to put more detail on how this place is isolated. Rankin Inlet (population 3500) is a 2.5hr flight from Winnipeg, Manitoba, the next closest city (population 750k). The cheapest flight ticket is about $1300 round-trip. There is almost zero tourism, except for those looking for beauty in desolation and those wanting to experience the Inuit culture. Most non-inuit come here for work, where salaries are very lucrative in order to offset the equally lucrative price of groceries and everything else
I remember Rankin Inlet fondly from my early days with Calm Air back in the 1970's. Char fishing by helicopter at a little lake about 20 minutes outside of town. I think that it was Coast Guard doing a survey and they would park at our hangar, use our power, and come in for coffee. When they wrapped up they invited me along for an afternoon of char fishing, Screaming along 50 feet above the tundra until we got to a little lake, the pilot hovered at about 100 feet and you could see the bright red char scattering from the down wash of the blades. Needless to say fishing was great! Hopefully you are having a great time and are able to bank some good money. Enjoy!
I've spent some time on random islands in Faroe, which is already thinly populated, then you go to the almost empty islands, pretty relaxing place, weird though, no native trees.
The Faroes is my dream destination! Need a seperate visa though given my nationality, as the Danish visa isn’t sufficient- hope to go there next year! How did you travel around, did you rent a car?
Mostly car, there are maybe idk 4 islands including the one w/ Torshaven and the airport connected by tunnels if I remember correctly, but ferries and/or helicopter are needed for some islands/areas. I managed to go to almost all the islands including one that is only open a few weeks a year (I was there for like 2 months), very slow paced but nice place. I hear the amount of tourists have drastically increased there in the last 5-10 years (though its still relatively low, but when I was there in the summer for 2 months I met exactly 0 tourists and only a few non Faroe/Danish people, I wasn't staying at a hostel/hotel though which probably helped see no tourists... funny enough most were soccer players trying to get their foot in the door of pro football lol).
The island that’s only open part of the year is probably Mykines. I was lucky to get there only once in my 2 trips to the Faroes, on the last day of the season we got the last seats on the ferry :) Photographing puffins there all day was one of the best photo experiences of my life.
im almost certain it wasn't mykines as around a dozen people live there, it was an unpopulated island with a historical site that had a dig going on (this was 15 years ago so...) I can't remember the name I'll have to ask my friend I stayed with. I remember going to mykines by helicopter since you can only use the dock at certain tide (and took boat back) and the tiny village and pretty hike to the waterfall (I hear they have made the trail and other trails more tourist friendly with rails and such as before they were a bit fall to your death in some spots lol).
Oh, I think I remember where you’re talking about now. In fact, I think that may have been my first intro to the Faroes. I can’t remember the original source. It was a few years later that I encountered some landscape photographers and did some workshops, so I just focused on our itinerary. When I go back I’ll focus on the more remote places. Thank you for mentioning it :)
A few very isolated places,in the Australian outback for example,or in the Sahara... but probably the most isolated for me was in the Amazon region. Bolivian side,we spent a week on a little canoe going along tributaries of the main river.After the first day we didn't see another person at all...no houses, nothing visible, though tribes do live there they stay away from contact with outsiders. The wildlife was amazing and the jungle there was still pristine.
The Australian outback has always been a subject of enigma for me! There’s something truly fascinating about places like that; I think Namibia is the closest I’ve come to experiencing that sort of desert isolationism, an unforgettable feeling.
Easter Island
I’ve never met anyone else in person who has been there. We loved it.
It geta eerie when you realise you're 6 jumbo jet hours away from any civilizatio
It’s somewhere that I never imagined I would visit, but in 2013, I found an amazing flight deal there and had to jump on it.
Galápagos Islands
The absolute furthest point on the planet away from my current geographical location, so a bit of a challenge to get there! Would love to go though. The fact that it’s a biosphere on its own right with ‘island isolationism’ is fascinating!
It is easy to get to the Galapagos and once you do, there are hotels and restaurants everywhere. Thousands live there. It is other-worldly but doesn’t feel like you are away from everything.
That’s not isolated then.
Diego Garcia & Ascension
Wow, how did you even get to Diego Garcia in the first place? Flight from Mauritius I’m guessing? Please describe your experience there, super interested And how does one get to Ascencion?!
There’s not a lot to describe. It’s a navy base, but in paradise. You can play golf for $4 or have $2 drinks at one of the two bars that are reliably open. They have some nice beaches but mostly everyone is too busy to enjoy them much. There’s great fishing. Everyone who makes up the support staff is Filipino.
A thousand years ago, I had to choose between a year in Diego Garcia or Adak, Alaska. I went to Adak (loved it). I always wondered what life would have been like on Diego Garcia. The fact that there are civilians, and golf, makes me think it would have been a very different experience. Can I ask what was your most surreal experience, or best memory, while on the island?
Probably the time we were drinking in the bar and the weather turned bad. So they couldn’t operate the launches as scheduled. We had to scramble to arrange hotel rooms. There’s only one small hotel on the island.
I’m a merchant mariner
Did you find MH370?
wow that’s interesting. all the indigenous population got kicked off for the military base
Northern Mongolia, close to the Russian border. It was two days of tough off road driving and then 6 hours of horseback riding to get to the nomadic Reindeer herders
The Tsataaan herdsmen? Wow, sounds amazing, been plotting a Mongolia trip for years now without much progress, I’ve struggled to identify operators who do tours in the region without charging a bomb - been wanting to visit Western Mongolia and the Altai Tavn Bogd national park, sounds like a dream. Not too comfortable with the idea of driving there; how did you manage to get around?
Yeah, it was incredible! I would definitely recommend it. We self drove and spent about three weeks there. We didn’t make it to western Mongolia unfortunately, but spent a lot of time in the north and then through central to the Gobi. The only tough part for the driving was up to the Tsaganuur where you meet the tribe, we got stuck for about 7 hours and had to be pulled out of a ditch, but the rest of the driving was relatively easy off roading (if you’ve done it before you’d be okay)
Northern Sikkim, touching the Bhutan/China/India border.
Wow, I’m from India and haven’t been there myself yet! Did you go to Lachen and Lachung? What month did you visit, and how did you manage transportation in that region?
That’s correct - I visited last October and had a guide/driver. I was due to fly into Pakyong Airport but cancelled flights meant that I had to go to Bagdogra instead. My favourite place was Temi Tea.
Arctic Circle, and Antarctica
Ellesmere Island, northern Canada.
I’ve always wondered what life is like out there on those Northern isles of Canada; I’ve heard it’s really challenging and expensive to travel between towns up there!
Alert or Eureka? Furthest north I made it was Resolute but just at the airport passing through from Iqaluit to Yellowknife.
Neither: Grise Fiord.
That's pretty isolated. I passed through Nanisivik airport when First Air had the Iqaluit - Nanisivik - Resolute - Yellowknife flights with the 727-100C.
Isla del Sol on Lago Titicaca. I have never been anywhere that was quieter. They didn’t have plumbing or electricity.
Possibly Aniakchak National Monument in Alaska. Maybe 100 people make it there per year.
Antarctic Peninsula and Svalbard. Beautiful places, I like polar regions a lot.
Prince town victoria Australia Stewart island New Zealand Okavango delta Botswana
4 days driving through the Simpson Desert in the Australian outback, camping out under the stars each night. Pantelleria, a volcanic island off the coast of Sicily (but closer to Tunisia)
Damn, never knew about the existence of Pantellaria before!
The remote areas of Papua New Guinea Remote areas of tibet
PNG is my dream destination to visit. Still in the planning phase as it requires quite a bit of that
100% out takes a lot of planning!
Yeah can't seem to understand how to travel around PNG without running into trouble at some point! Seems like the most fascinating place to visit
Concordia station Antarctica I believe the nearest station is Vostok which is over 600km away When I was there I was told the International Space Station is in orbit about 400km above the earths surface. So when the ISS passes above the station the astronauts on board are actually the closest humans to you. That thought really put into perspective just how isolated the station is
Boundary Water National Park. We had multiple campsites where we were the only humans. It was very beautiful and peaceful.
My answer would probably be Isle Royale National Park. So quiet and serene.
This is a good one— like the Gun Flint Trail ends in the middle of nowhere- then it is by boat. I am from MN, and this region is very foreign and unique. Not sure for me— also been to Alaska, and northern Norway where it borders Russia. I spent a week hiking the rockies in Montana along the Canadian border— spent a week without seeing another human.
Rishiri and Rebun Islands off the coast of Hokkaido
The highlands and mountains of Timor/East Timor
Some parts of west Texas.
Center of the pacific
Mongolian countryside and Greenland.
I've been dropped off by a float plane on a lake in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness and then picked up a week later. No roads, no walking paths, no electricity, no buildings, and no humans for a very long distance.
Some of these answers here are absolutely mindblowing! That sounds like quite the adventure, were you doing a survivalist challenge of sorts?
Not really, just camping in the Alaskan wilderness. I'm sure for some people it would be a survival challenge, but honestly it was really no big deal. We had a lot of gear so we were pretty comfortable and it was a really nice experience.
Solitary confinement in jail for a month.
Your pretentious edit is wow
Right? It’s laughably ridiculous
Yeah it’s very pretentious indeed to want to hear more about places that aren’t frequently talked about on an almost daily basis down here, lol chill
I love the main topic. Just that the edit is unnecessary
Yeah in hindsight I can see how that was unnecessary. I’m just all for discovering offbeat places that people don’t consider organically, given the limited extent to which they’re spoken about on such forums as well as on social media, only because of the sheer magnitude of info about the top 10-20 popular destinations. Maybe that’s a good thing overall, and will prevent influxes of tourists crowding to these hidden gems - but as far as I’m concerned, I have a lot of new ideas based on such comments from people who’ve been to these alternate (and far more desolate) destinations, and I’m filled with more wanderlust than I would if I read more posts about the more frequented tourist destinations.
I've gotten that feeling in some areas of Himachal, India. The latest is driving in Lahaul beyond Sissu towards Keylong. A few places in Kullu and Mandi districts were also like that when I lived there a few years ago. We used to be the only travellers there and just a handful of locals.
Spent a few months north of Manali in the mid 90’s. Amazing part of the world. Very remote. Super rugged!
Patagonia - specifically Torres del Paine and Ushuaia
Forever dream! But so absolutely difficult to get to for me logistically speaking - involves something like My Hometown > Bigger city in India > Qatar > Madrid > Buenos Aires > Ushuaia, which obviously costs thousands of dollars more than it ought to :(
Tajikistan sounds like a wild adventure! I’ve only hit up some rural spots in my neck of the woods, nothing quite as remote as that. Closest I’ve been is this tiny village in the Scottish Highlands. Man, talk about a vibe shift! It’s like stepping into another era with those mountain views and old stone houses. Met this farmer dude who could tell tales for days, and his sheepdog was like my shadow. It's nuts how different life can be just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the hustle and bustle. Your Tajikistan trip’s got me itching for some serious off-grid exploration!
Haines Junction, Yukon, Canada
Ascension Island (a real desert island) and Saint Helena (lush and green, beautiful). Tristan da Cunha is still on my bucket list.
I stayed overnight at a small village in Laos along the Mekong River. The night sky there was amazing, I'd never seen so many stars.
I loved Laos, but was only in Luang Prabang - but rafting on the Mekong was quite the experience, at one point I ran into a bunch of elephants waddling in the river!
Met this Mexican dude who worked at a hostel in Oruro, Bolivia and he knew some locals in the area so we went out into the desert with him and stayed in this small village. The next day we borrowed bicycles and biked further out into the desert and came across a random tiny settlement where this woman was weaving a carpet in the traditional way. Felt like the place must have looked about the same like 1,000 years ago.
Thingeyri, Iceland. It was stunning to see such a small village and much of the land untouched by man.
Somewhere in Australia, though difficult to say exactly where - I wouldn’t describe the places I’ve been to in the Outback as “isolated” because while it might be a 10-hour drive to a town with a population of more than 100, you’re still on a major sealed road so there’s probably 50-100 vehicles passing a day, it’s not like if you run out of petrol you’ll die. In fact the more I think about it, by that criteria, I’m not sure I’ve ever been anywhere I’d call truly “isolated” - barring a vehicle breakdown I’ve probably never been more than a 4-5 hour drive away from a police station or a medical clinic.
I’d consider 4-5 hours away from the nearest town pretty isolated, I mean that’s as far away from civilisation I’ve been myself! I guess barring islands, it’s difficult to really get that far by land without running into human settlements, Australia seems to be be a very common answer here so I guess that’s the best bet when it comes to traveling by road
Haha yeah, I guess it is, but there are also so few roads in the interior that they’re relatively busy so it doesn’t *feel* as isolated as it should - I’ve felt much more remote and isolated while driving around on desert roads in e.g. Utah (where I could drive an hour or two and see barely any other vehicles) then I ever did while crossing the Nullarbor (because the Eyre Highway is literally the only road linking Western Australia with the east coast so there’s plenty of traffic), even though on the Nullarbor I was literally thousands of kilometres further away from a sizeable town than I ever was in Utah.
Remote forest village in Unye, Turkey. Was there to visit a friend's family. No experience like it. Everything is on stilts to keep bears and fox out, and they had a large outdoor kitchen built for family and friends to eat together. Other than that, the town of Amasra, while not isolated its far off the beaten track. And then visiting the villages in other areas of the Black Sea region
Chatham Islands - a two and a half hour flight off the coast of New Zealand.
Scoresby Sound in Greenland.
Worked for UK lighthouse authority. Got to see some obscure islands with lighthouses, Scilly Islands, Skerries Island, Lundy Island. Sometimes lighthouse authority are the only people visiting are lighthouse authorities. Skerries was probably most obscure.
Namibia's Skeleton Coast and Mongolia's Gobi Desert
Greenland, Narsaq Glacier, The Australian outback, and the desert in Uzbekistan. In September I'll visit Tadjikistan with some very remote hiking, where the local guide hunts with his family. I look forward to that even more after your description.
Antarctica or Rapa Nui
Eastern Iceland will make you think you’ve traveled to a different planet.
I've driven across northern Nevada several times, and it always amazes me how vast and desolate those stretches of I-80 and US50 are. Towns like Eureka and Winnemucca really feel like little oases surrounded by vast nothingness. Also, the Caribbean coast and Corn Islands of Nicaragua feel quite remote and culturally distinct from the Spanish-speaking rest of the country.
I did feel like I was very, very, very far from home when wandering around Bluefields
Not strictly answering the question as intended but I have a friend who comes from one of the most remote parts of deeper Siberia. Her town had the basic things but twice a year the family would jump on a bus and travel 10 hours to the nearest city to buy clothes or other essentials they couldn't get in their town. In winter the river freezes and roads became difficult. The airport in the town closed down a lifetime ago and nothing happens there. When she visits home (which is rarely due to restrictions, COVID recently and time it takes) it takes her about 2 solid days of travelling each way. When she left the town and we became friends, it was amazing to speak about all the things she never knew about that we just assume everyone knows. I remember mentioning hugely popular music artists at the time and never even heard the names.
Eswatini, about 5 miles form the border with Mozambique. I was in a school yard with noting in sight. Somewhere in the Arabian peninsula, probably 150 miles form the nearest city.
Greenland, nothing but snow and musk ox to keep me company
[spar cave Scotland](https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/skye/sparcave.shtml) We got there late since it’s out on the edge of the isle of Skye which itself is on the edge of Scotland. Tide was already turning against us but we’d driven so long that day I decided to brave it. Super eerie and cool but we didn’t have strong enough flashlights. As we were leaving the tide was coming in and we had to wade out into the ocean to get back. It was a little scary.
In terms of how remote it felt? Five days of backpacking through the Rockies south of the Columbia Icefields. In terms of how remote it actually was? High Level, Alberta. Roughly equidistant between Edmonton and Yellowknife (in this case meaning "equally really fucking far"), it's about as far north as you can go in Canada and still find arable land. Spent most of the 14 hours of driving as the only car on the road for miles.
Diego Garcia
Casey Station, Antarctica
Pitcairn island for me. Stayed with family there for a week.
Some of the outer islands in Micronesia, parts of Palau. Along the Peruvian/Brazilian Amazon about 5 days by boat east of the Ucayali River. I live in a remote area by most standards but even eastern Oregon is pretty populated and accessible compared to small Pacific islands or the Amazon basin.
I've been to Tristan da Cunha, the most isolated inhabited island. It took forever to get to and had a ton of natural beauty. I don't recommend going just because of the time it took to get there, but it's nice to see remote places like that still exist.
Did a fly in fishing trip with my dad and some of his buddies. We were on a couple of lakes in Central Ontario with nobody else a few hundred miles in any direction. That's the most isolated place I've been. Although road-tripping thru the American west, there's definitely some places in Wyoming, Idaho, and Nevada where it feels like there's nobody anywhere nearby, and it feels pretty isolated too.
Some of my favourite places are Iceland and Namibia (both in my top 3 favourite countries I've been to). Both places are so vast and empty, and heavily nature based, with the odd bit of civilization every once in a while. Renting a campervan or 4x4 with roof tents have been some of the best trips I've been on.
Breezy point, NY.
Siwa Oasis, in the Sahara Desert
Easter island 10+ years ago on a LAN business mistake fare from NYC. One of the best trips. After 3 days I felt like I knew everyone on the island.
I have also flown into barrow Alaska just for fun. Not most isolated but the community is super small. In addition, political isolation , I have been to North Korea via train and ran a marathon Also a good trip.
I’ve crossed the Nullarbor and I’ve crossed the desert from Adelaide to Darwin. The trip from Adelaide Darwin across the center of Australia seemed positively bustling compared to the Nullarbor. I didn’t cross via the freeway but through the centre. Incredible experience and would do it again in a heart beat. I’ve also sailed to some very remote islands in the South Pacific.
Some places in Alaska and the upper peninsula of michigan
Maybe Batangafo in the Central African Republic. It’s a populated village and in terms of outsiders, it’s mostly filled with military and humanitarians. From there, there are missions in the bush. It’s isolation isn’t complete but due to security it’s tough to most to move around there.
Where I was raised and commercial fished-Alaska. Some of the refuge land (geographic harbor, the Aleutian chain) felt like you could boat forever and not see another boat…
Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada. The landscape in that part of Canada is STUNNING. straight out of National Geographic.
Really does look stunning! I believe you can see the Northern Lights up there as well in the right season?
Mrauk-U in Myanmar. Took a 24 hr bus ride to get there. Was bumpy all the way there. Amazing temples. Well worth the visit!
Antarctica
I have lived in nowhere in Cambodia along the Thai border. Imagine when the locals amuse themselves asking introspecifically how is it possible to be in such nowhere. Not only nowhere, but a nowhere that tests the fragility of the human condition in heat tropical disease, and semi-starvation. Try sellijg a betel leaf for 25 cents and trying to figure out how to make a dinner for 5.
For me nothing was more isolated than Antarctica. Having traveled to all seven continents and fifty United States, Antarctica is full of penguins, void of humans and reminding me of the vastness and purity of our universe.
Spitsbergen, norder tip. But also west part of Kazachstan, Australia outback, Gobi dessert, Turkmenistan dessert, nord part of Iceland, Shetland islands, south tip of Chile, Selous in Tanzania, Chobe/Moremi/Delta Botswana, nord of Disco Bay Greenland.
Antarctica
Probably Petermann Island, Antarctica.
Kwajalein Atoll's north end on Roi-Namur Island, and Wake Island. Not a place a tourist can access, but military installations. I spent about a month at each place, and it was really great to be completely away from everything except the people with me. No cable TV, no reliable phone access to call home.
Also Tajikistan. The Pamir Highway. I also traveled to Isakanderkul and Panjakent and the Seven Lakes. Stunningly beautiful places. East Timor.
Svalbard. Though it didn't feel terribly isolated. There's a town and tons of people. That was during winter and polar night. I'm sure the place is packed during the midnight sun season. The most isolated I felt was along a road in northern Canada. It had dawned on me that I'd been driving for hours and not met another car or seen any trace of civilization.
Micronesia Islands. Never felt so far away to everything else on earth.
For me, it would be Safari Beach Lodge in Gnaha, a true piece of paradise, and Mole National Park, also in Ghana.
Pangnirtung, Nunavut Pond Inlet, Nunavut Inukjuak, Nunavik Im forunate that my work sends me to northern Canada at times
Halfway between Xining and Lhasa. Nothing but yak turd for 1000 miles. Oddly though, the 3G signal was strong and consistent (2009).
Namibia. Where we drove for hundreds of miles through the desert on dirt/gravel roads. We started playing a game where we'd check the odometer when we saw a car coming from the other direction, and then see how long it was until the next one. Typically we'd go 100km or more in between cars. And this was on the second-most major road in the country. 220km/136miles was our longest gap....
As a parent who hasn’t been on their own for more than 1.5 hours in 3 years, this thread both excites me and makes me green with envy 😂
Same!
Sakhalin for me. Nearest sign of non compound civilisation is a two day train ride away
I've been to the desert of Novaya Chara. I've seen Khodar Mountains. I also stayed in the City of The Sun, next to the house of Vissarion. I broke into the city of Bajkonur in Kazakhstan, I was also very close to Neft Daslari, saw it from the ship. Kökar island felt most isolated/remote place in Europe... Oh also in Central Asia amazing Sibinskiye Ozora! And Sunduki in Khakassia Republic! Also Agdam in Karabach, village Gorelovka.on the border of Georgia and Armenia, abandoned Akarmara in Abkhasia. Bukhta Telyakovskiego maybe felt the most like the end of the world to me.
I spent several months in Svalbard back in 2018. This was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Except for a few settlments and a small town (less than 3,000 inhabitants), Svalbard is a beautiful, untouched white desert. Snow, mountains, reindeers and polar bears are the only things you’ll see as soon as you leave Longyearbyen. Driving a snowmobile in the middle of nowhere is a lot of fun.
Same answer from me. Worked in Ny-Ålesund.
Got stranded once in a small german village bordering the Czech Republic called Schirnding, it has just around 1.200 inhabitants. Was en route to Pilsen via Munich-Nuremberg. It was a sunday night, around 23:00, I should pick a train in Marktredwitz (small town near the German-Czech border), but some people got on the train tracks and the train I was in delayed for about an hour, I lost all other trains because of that but managed to get to Marktredwitz. A guy from the Deutschebahn said that I could try to get to this village called Schirnding, thats literally in the border, and maybe get a taxi there. Had to take the train heading there, the train was literally just about to depart. It was the last train. I ran in and got to Schirnding. It was late february so it was a cold night, temperature at around -2º and droping. In Schirnding there was no taxi at all, the woman from the train kindly helped me calling a Czech Taxi Company, but to no avail. She then left. I was fully stranded in the middle of the night in a small german village, it was about midnight. Stood there for about an hour, was trying to find some place to shield me from the wind and was fully comited to the idea of just sleeping on the street near the station. Out of nowhere, a car comes by. I imediately jump wave for him to stop. People say all germans speak english because they never been to this kind of villages. Thank God I know a few words. Guy kindly gives me a ride back to Marktredwitz, its was a 15min (it would have been a 3h walk) ride and it was NOT the way he was heading, but he gave me ride for free anyways. Thank you so much, Volker, I will never forget your kindness. Marktredwitz has about 17k inhabitants and have an hotel. Paid for a night there and then my travel proceeded acordingly.
The Empty Quarter in Oman
The Rub Al Khali! Amazing. Went only as far as the Wahiba Sands when I was in Oman; pretty gorgeous in its own right!
Monument Valley, USA Serengeti, Tanzania Namib Desert, Namibia White Desert, Egypt Random uninhabited islands in the Philippines whose names I don't even know (if they have any)
Spent some time in my own head once, probably won't go back any time soon 😂
Probably Khiva in Uzbekistan or Harbin in northern China or eastern Namibia or Kigoma in Tanzania or Sandö in Sweden or a remote beach in the west of Denmark. Or Darwin/Uluru/Kakadu/Broome/Cape Trib/Kangaroo Island/Albany/Hobart/Perth/take your pick in Australia.
Huayhuash region in Peruvian Andes - most beautiful place on earth imo
[Petit Forte, Newfoundland](https://maps.app.goo.gl/aJjyQ5xUsR5k4LNq9)
Newfoundland
Kings Canyon, Australia.
I suppose Easter Island.
Kaza valley in Himachal.
Papua New Guinea.
Death Valley, parts of Nepal and India, and an island in Indonesia that we boated to and were the only ones on the island.
Been pretty far into Northern Ontario. Fly in only (either helicopter or float plane). No communities for a hundreds of km.
Inner Mongolia, China and the country of Mongolia! Completely different language but a great deal in common! Spent time in gers (yurts) and shared a milk tea with our hosts.
I trekked a few day into the Daintree rainforest west of Cape Tribulation, Australia. It was like being on another planet, there were plants that looked like they were from a sci-fi movie, and it felt like I was in a place where no one had been before.
Easter Island for me. Not too impressive considering how isolated it is as there are pretty frequent fights. I probably should clarify., Easter Island is absolutely amazing, but despite being one of the most isolated places on Earth, it's quite easy to get to.
For me it was a white water rafting trip in Sayan Mountains, Southern Siberia - it took us about 3.5 days by train from Moscow to Tayshet, where we got on a three hour helicopter ride before we were dropped off at the banks of Kazyr river. Then it took us about couple of weeks going down the river to get to the place where we can hail a logging truck to get to some place we can hop on a train. For the whole two weeks we only met two other people. That was in mid-90s.
This sounds absolutely wild; considering it was in the 90s, that must've been quite the experience as I can't imagine you'd have had too much info about the locations you visited beforehand!
I was lucky, I was with my uncle and his friends who did the same trip in late 70s or early 80s through their university white water rafting club, so they knew the river. Back then they had to find a truck with an driver that would drive them + gear for few hours, and then they had to walk 50 miles or so (without GPS, just a map) to get to the river. When I was taking this trip, we hired a helicopter, and they just pointed on the map where we need to land.
Parts of Alaska
Northern Labrador.
Wyoming
Henley in ladakh and komic in Himachal, India.
The Caracol site in Belize - I was living on Ambergris Caye at the time, and it took around 4 hours one way to reach the site. We were the only tourists there, and it was in the middle of the jungle near the Guatemalan border.
Kinuga, Papua New Guinea. The Stone Age is alive and well.
Mustang, Nepal. Took a lot of effort to get there n bacck
Kalahari Desert. Botswana. Camping safari. We went 3 days without seeing power lines or another human. Magical.
Corn Islands Nicaragua. Do not recommend
Aswan, Egypt
Wadi Rum
Samoa is probably the most isolated place I’ve ever been to.
Pangnirtung and a hut on Baffin Island
I spent a week in Antarctica. Doesn't get more remote than that. It's kind of always in the back of your mind how remote you are, and that if anything goes wrong no one is coming to help. Really thought hard about that while crossing some rough seas in the Drake passage. On the other hand I was surprised by how many other boats are down there during tourist season.
I’ve crossed the Amazon on a boat, from Leticia to Manaus, we would go days without seeing any village, but the boat had like 200 ppl, so I didn’t feel isolated at all. Other than that, Port Alsworth in Alaska, 120 ppl live there, only way in and out is on a bush plane. I spent a week there last year, my friend was working as the nurse for the village.
Australian Outback for me also. I did a road trip from Adelaide to Uluru and back, and desolate doesn’t even really begin to describe it. After passing Port Augusta (About 3.5 hours from Adelaide) there really was no signs of civilization anywhere along the way, except for Coober Pedy where I had to stay overnight in both directions. Straight roads for hundreds of kilometers, you have to get fuel every time you see it (Sometimes it’s 300km between services), and really not even a building in sight.
Little corn island off the coast of Nicaragua. No motor vehicles exist on the island.
I wonder if -kul is a derivative of “göl” which is Turkish for lake. Meaning Iskenderkul would translate to Alexander Lake.
Fjords of norway onboard cruise ships also the northern most point of norway forgot the name though
Idk how isolated this really is but ive been in Northern Pakistan in the Himalayas, where youre basically in the clouds
Bagan in Burma (before the hot air balloons and crowds haha, was completely empty, had all those temples to ourselves, surreal) Ala Archa mountains in Kyrgyzstan Uncle Tan's Wildlife camp in Sabah, Borneo don det, si phon don, laos
Koh Rong in Cambodia. An island with electricity only from 6pm to midnight. An amazing temporary stop from the world
Happened this year - I stayed at a camp in Hemis National Park in Ladakh, India. Mission was to spot snow leopards ( I did!). Although there were roads going into the camp, there were close to no other tourists apart from the locals who've been living there multiple generations. Arid place with minimal vegetation, darkest skies possible. Very different way of living, farmers have to contend with the Ghost Cat stalking their livestock. Despite just a handful of snow leopards in that particular area, one is enough to cause plenty of trouble.
Far northern Ontario near the Quebec border
Doubtful Sound, in New Zealand's South Island.
Western Mongolia and south western mongolia near to the china border. Literally nothing going on. Roads are just tire marks that split into new tire marks and it is very easy to get lost. Very barren, no trees and just very desolate.
Ushguli, Svaneti, Georgia The only way to get to the bigger town, Mestia, is a once a week flight or a 9-hour drive through the mountains. And Ushguli is another two hours from there. I LOVED Mestia though. It’s really become a cool skier/backpacker town with just the right amount of tourism.
This is exactly where I plan to go this summer!! Did you take the VanillaSky flight? I thought it was more than once a week from Tbilisi-Mestia, maybe I’m wrong?! How did you get to Ushguli, did you hike or hire a taxi?
Not nearly as isolated as others here but camping with no tent in an Icelandic National Park. Through a series of unfortunate events and a dickish camping store, I didn’t have a tent for my camping trip despite reserving one. I didn’t have a hostel anymore since I had planned on camping. Decided to just roll the dice and go. Took a 6 hour bus ride to the other side of the island. Hiked around ten miles with everything on my back because I didn’t have a place to keep my pack. First night was good, it was pretty cool waking up to a glacier view. Found some lockers for my pack and went hiking again. Slept outside again, but it rained so I moved to a picnic shelter halfway through the night. I was so happy to be back on the bus to Reykjavik
Easter Island for geographically remote. But it’s a wonderful place and experience. Australian outback for the feeling of remote. The real worry of breaking down in the van because you’ve not seen another person or sign of life other than kangaroos.
The Arctic Circle in Alaska, in June. Drove hours to get there, camped overnight, nibbled on by the state bird (mosquito). Saw no one anywhere for days.
Deep inside Okavango Delta