Some places you can’t just fly to. This is our guide to twelve of the hardest places on Earth to reach, from an island six days from the nearest city to a cave with its own weather, and exactly how to get to each one.
Every route was checked against official sources in October 2026. Use the journey ladder below to see how far each one really is, and at the end you’ll find seven more places we’d love to send you but can’t, at least not yet.
How we travel
- Go for the thing only that place has.If you could see it at home, save the airfare.
- Slow beats far.On most of these trips, the boat ride is half the story.
- Ask first.Many of these places need a permit, a guide or a council’s blessing. We like them better for it.
- Let some doors stay shut.Where travel is unsafe right now, we admire from here.
- IThe end of the line3 places
- IIDoors that open a crack3 places
- IIIShaped by extremes3 places
- IVWorlds of their own3 places
- VBehind closed doors, for now7 places
Chapter I
The end of the line
Islands where a ship is the only way in, and the ship doesn’t come often.
Pitcairn on the horizon. Photo: wileypics, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Tristan da Cunha
Open, by approval and by ship
The most isolated settlement on Earth sits 2,810 kilometers from Cape Town, with no airstrip. Its 220 residents share just seven surnames, and when the volcano behind the village erupted in 1961, every one of them left for England. Most came home two years later.
Our favorite detail is the official passenger priority list, where tourists come eighth of eight. A medical evacuation or an islander heading to a wedding can take your berth, and the next ship might be weeks away. Pack a very long novel!
Getting thereSail about six days from Cape Town on one of two fishing vessels that take 12 passengers each. Every visit needs approval from the Island Council.
When to goPlan a year ahead. The big annual supply voyage arrives in September.
From our archive: Timbuktu, the town whose name came to mean far away
Pitcairn Island
Open, by supply ship
The mutineers of HMS Bounty landed here in 1790 and burned their ship so nobody could follow. About 35 of their descendants live on Pitcairn today, still speaking Pitkern, a mix of 18th century English and Tahitian, on an island inside one of the largest marine reserves on Earth.
Getting thereFly to Tahiti, then on to Mangareva, then sail 32 hours on the supply ship Silver Supporter. A return berth is NZ$6,000.
When to goAny time the ship runs. It pauses for freight runs, next from November 3 to December 8.
From our archive: the moai of Rapa Nui, Pitcairn’s famous neighbor in the Polynesian triangle
St Kilda
Open in summer, if the swell allows
The last 36 islanders asked to be taken off in 1930, and the village street has stood empty since, below the highest sea cliff in Britain. Before they left, islanders mailed letters by sealing them in a small boat tied to an inflated sheepskin and pushing it out to sea. About two thirds of them arrived!
Getting thereFly Glasgow to Stornoway, drive to Leverburgh on Harris, then take a day boat from £310 that gives you about four hours ashore.
When to goLate April to August, when the boats run and the seabirds nest.
Chapter II
Doors that open a crack
Places that let you in on their terms, with a permit, a guide or a long wait.
Upper Mustang, Nepal. Photo: Samrat Khadka / Unsplash
Upper Mustang
Open, by restricted area permit
The old Kingdom of Lo was closed to outsiders until 1992. Its ochre valley walls hold an estimated 10,000 man-made sky caves, and in 2007 a shepherd climbed into one and found 55 paintings of the life of the Buddha. We’d make the trip for the caves alone.
Getting thereFly Kathmandu to Pokhara to Jomsom, then go north by jeep or on foot. You need a restricted area permit, a licensed guide and a companion.
When to goSeptember to November, or May for the Tiji festival.
Lunana
Open, late September and October
A village of 56 people at 4,800 meters, six days’ walk from the nearest road, and the setting of Bhutan’s first Oscar-nominated film. The trek in passes Gangkhar Puensum, the tallest mountain nobody has climbed. Bhutan has banned mountaineering since 2003, so it may stay that way.
Getting thereFly into Paro, drive to the trailhead and walk the Snowman Trek, about 347 kilometers over 11 high passes. Bhutan charges a US$100 nightly fee.
When to goLate September to October only. The rest of the year it can be snowed in.
From our archive: the timber airport BIG designed for Bhutan
Hang Son Doong
Open, sold out until 2028
The largest cave on Earth, with a passage around 200 meters tall and a jungle growing where the roof fell in. It even makes its own clouds! The man who found it in 1990 lost track of the entrance and didn’t find it again until 2008.
Getting thereFly to Dong Hoi, or take the overnight Reunification Express from Hanoi, about ten hours in a sleeper berth. One operator, Oxalis Adventure, runs six-day expeditions for about US$3,000, after a fitness test.
When to goJanuary to August. Every place for 2026 and 2027 is taken, so get on the 2028 list.
From our archive: our first look inside Earth’s biggest cave
Chapter III
Shaped by extremes
Too dry, too cold, too far south. Here the weather is the reason to go.
Icebergs off the Antarctic Peninsula. Photo: Matthew Stephenson / Unsplash
The flowering Atacama
Open, in bloom years
The driest desert outside the poles has weather stations that have never recorded rain. But in wet years its southern edge breaks into flower, more than 200 species, most found nowhere else. Chileans call it the desierto florido, and 2026 is one of those years!
Getting thereFly Santiago to Copiapó, then drive 30 kilometers south to Parque Nacional Desierto Florido.
When to goSeptember to November, in rain years only. This year’s bloom was forecast to peak in late October.
From our archive: the Atacama in its usual, bone-dry mood
Ittoqqortoormiit
Open, two flights a week
The nearest Greenlandic town is 831 kilometers away. About 330 people live here at the mouth of one of the largest fjord systems on the planet, supplied by two ships a year. There’s no ATM, and anyone leaving town without a guide is told to carry a rifle for polar bears.
Getting thereFly from Reykjavík to Constable Point, twice a week, then take a ten-minute helicopter hop. Miss a connection and you wait days.
When to goFebruary to May for dog sledding and northern lights, or July and August for icebergs by boat.
From our archive: Greenland, a landscape that belongs to itself
Antarctica
Open, November to March, by ship
First comes two days on the Drake Passage, where waves can top 12 meters. Then the rules keep it rare, with no more than 100 people ashore at a site at once. At Port Lockroy, a staff of four runs the southernmost post office in the world, surrounded by penguins.
Getting thereFly Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, then board an expedition ship. Pick one under 500 passengers if you want to land. Fares start around US$7,500.
When to goNovember to March, the austral summer.
From our archive: Antarctica’s strangest landscapes
Chapter IV
Worlds of their own
A stone forest, a shark that walks and a town the desert is taking back.
Near Waisilip, Raja Ampat. Photo: Simon Spring / Unsplash
Tsingy de Bemaraha
Open, May to October
Tsingy roughly means “where one cannot walk barefoot,” and one look explains it. Rain has carved the limestone into a forest of blades up to 100 meters tall, and you cross it on ladders and rope bridges, clipped into a harness.
Getting thereFly Antananarivo to Morondava, then drive eight to twelve hours north by 4×4, with two river crossings by barge.
When to goMay to October. In the rains the road washes out.
From our archive: Madagascar’s razor-sharp stone forest
Raja Ampat
Open, calmest October to April
These islands hold an estimated three quarters of the world’s known coral species, plus a shark found nowhere else that walks across the reef on its fins. It barely travels, too. Researchers have never seen one go farther than about 475 meters.
Getting thereFly Jakarta to Sorong, then take the two-hour fast ferry to Waisai. Bring cash for the park fees.
When to goOctober to April, when the seas are calm.
From our archive: more of Raja Ampat’s reefs and islands
Kolmanskop
Open, by permit
A 1908 diamond find turned this desert camp into a town with a ballroom, a casino and the first X-ray station in the southern hemisphere. By 1956 everyone had left, and the dunes have been moving in ever since. Sand now fills the rooms up to the windowsills.
Getting thereFly Johannesburg to Windhoek, then on to Lüderitz. Kolmanskop is 15 minutes from town, and you’ll need a permit.
When to goAt sunrise, any time of year. Afternoons are windy enough to sandblast you.
From our archive: a longer walk through Kolmanskop
Chapter V
Behind closed doors, for now
Seven places we would send you tomorrow if we could.
Dragon’s blood trees at first light, Socotra. Photo: Andrew Svk / Unsplash
As of October 2026, the US or UK government advises against travel to every place below. We’re keeping them on the map anyway, for the day they reopen.
Socotra
Closed for now. UK and US advise against all travel to Yemen
More than a third of its plants grow nowhere else, including the umbrella-shaped dragon’s blood trees.
From our archive: The magic of Socotra
Lalibela
Closed for now. UK advises against all travel to Amhara
Eleven medieval churches cut downward into solid rock, still filled with pilgrims every January.
Bagan
Closed for now. US advises against all travel to Myanmar
More than 3,500 temples and monuments on one plain, named a World Heritage Site less than two years before the coup.
From our archive: Myanmar’s temples
The Danakil Depression
Closed for now. Foreign visitors currently cannot fly into Afar
The hottest inhabited place on record by yearly average, with acid pools that change color over a matter of days.
The Ennedi Plateau
Closed for now. US and UK advise against all travel to Ennedi
Camels drink every morning in a desert pool shared with some of the Sahara’s last crocodiles.
Mount Roraima
Closed for now. UK advises against all travel near Venezuela’s southern borders
A two-billion-year-old tabletop mountain where you can stand in three countries at once.
Oymyakon
Closed for now. US and UK advise against all travel to Russia
One of the two coldest towns on Earth, where it once hit minus 67.7°C and schools stay open until minus 55°C.
Before you pack
Every place on this map is far from somewhere, and the people of Tristan da Cunha would point out that Portland is very far from them. For more of the planet at its best, start with our guide to the most beautiful places on Earth, or our story on Timbuktu.
As for us, we’d take the six days at sea to Tristan. Somebody save us a berth!
Questions we get asked
What is the hardest place on Earth to reach?
Among inhabited places, Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic. There is no airstrip, the nearest city is 2,810 kilometers away in Cape Town, and the only way in is about six days by ship.
How do you get to Pitcairn Island?
Fly to Tahiti, take Air Tahiti’s weekly flight to Mangareva, then sail 32 hours on the supply ship Silver Supporter, which carries 12 passengers.
Can tourists visit Hang Son Doong?
Yes, with Oxalis Adventure, the one licensed operator, on a six-day expedition after a fitness test. Places for 2026 and 2027 are sold out.
Routes, fees and travel advice were checked in October 2026 and change often, so confirm with the operator and your government’s travel advice before you book. Via the Tristan da Cunha Government, Visit Pitcairn, the National Trust for Scotland, UNESCO, CONAF, Oxalis Adventure, the US State Department and the UK Foreign Office. Photos via Unsplash and Wikimedia Commons.
