15 best places to go off-grid around the world in 2026

After the busy holiday season, we all crave a bit of solitude and serenity. The world’s most remote destinations are sanctuaries of stillness and silence, where you can find equilibrium, disconnect from the glare of a screen, and reconnect with your natural surroundings – and yourself.

The following destinations are highlights from Lonely Planet’s Offbeat, an inspirational travel book that introduces 100 exciting alternatives to the world’s most over-touristed destinations – perfect for anyone looking to step off the beaten track. 

But with travel opening up every corner of the globe, where do you go to find space for contemplation? Hopefully, this guide can provide some answers.

1. Lesotho, Africa

Vibe: A tiny mountain kingdom where welcoming communities are slowly opening up to tourism.
Getting there: International flights to Lesotho's main airport in Maseru usually involve a change in Johannesburg, or you can travel overland from Durban.

Dominated by the Drakensberg and Maluti mountain ranges, tiny Lesotho has a valid claim to being the world’s highest country – even its lowest point, in the so-called Lowlands, stands at around 1400m (4593ft) above sea level. Completely encircled by South Africa, this small kingdom is easy to reach, but enticingly off the trodden path. 

While hiking or trekking on a sturdy Basotho pony through Lesotho's sparsely populated mountains, you’re more likely to meet a shepherd clad in a traditional blanket than a crowd of coach tour sightseers or a circle of safari vehicles. In 2024, just 960,000 international tourists explored its exhilarating 3000m-plus mountain passes, compared with the 9 million who visited South Africa.

Lesotho's capital, Maseru, is an increasingly popular detour from Durban, but the community-run backpacker lodges of this former British protectorate, often set in mountaintop trading posts serving remote villages of thatched rondavel (roundhouse) huts, remain a well-kept travel secret.

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Even the royal connection – Lesotho's ruling monarchy was reinstated in 1995, and Britain's Prince Harry worked here with AIDS orphans on his gap year, co-founding the charity Sentebale – has yet to place this rugged country on the typical sub-Saharan travel itinerary.

2. Tetouan, Morocco

Vibe: Morocco’s overlooked white city – an artistic haven steeped in history.
Getting there: Several airlines fly from Europe to Tetouan's Sania Ramel Airport, or you can fly to Tangier and take a bus or grand taxi from there. 

There’s something immensely appealing about the small city of Tetouan, where white-washed buildings cling to the side of the Rif Mountains beneath blue desert skies. While many head for the blue-washed streets of nearby Chefchaouen, travelers in the know travel slightly further north to Tetouan to escape the crush and find calm.

The Phoenicians established a port here in the 3rd century BCE, while third-century Roman ruins dot the hillsides around the modern city. Today, Tetouan has a cosmopolitan air thanks to centuries of immigration – Jews and Moors escaping 15th-century Spain settled here, as did later Ottoman-era Algerians fleeing the French. Between 1912 and 1956, Tetouan was the capital of northern Morocco’s Spanish Protectorate.

Settle into one of the city's riad (courtyard hotels) and wander the atmospheric lanes of its small, UNESCO-listed Medina, and you'll get a taste of Morocco as it existed before packaged holidays. There's plenty more to do – myriad museums explore Tetouan's long history, while the surrounding hills call out to hikers.

3. Con Son, Vietnam

Vibe: New trails and marine conservation put this tropical dot on the map.
Getting there: Flights run to the small airport on Con Son from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho, or you can travel by boat from Vung Tau or Tran De near Can Tho. 

Green mountains crash into a turquoise sea along the shoreline of Con Son, a coral-fringed island off the coast of southern Vietnam. One of 16 volcanic islands and islets in the Con Dao archipelago, Con Son feels a world away from the bustling market towns of the Mekong Delta across the water.

After the noise of the mainland, this 52-sq-km island offers a quiet escape, with its population of 7000 inhabitants mostly concentrated along the southern coast. Historically, the island was used as a prison, discouraging large-scale development. Modern-day visitors will find pristine coral reefs, untouched forests, lotus-flower-covered lakes and deserted beaches fringed by casuarina trees.

Nature takes the starring role here. Endangered sea turtles nest on the sands, while abundant tropical fish (and several wrecks) can be seen by divers and snorkelers just offshore. The island is also home to more than 80 bird species, as well as the endemic long-tailed macaque, which can be spotted on island treks.

Hints of Con Son's dark past can still be seen in the lush tropical landscape. Thousands of political prisoners were incarcerated here by the French and by the American-backed regime in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) during the 1960s and 1970s, and the island's former prisons and cemeteries serve as powerful memorials to those who suffered here.

4. Nagaland, India

Vibe: Immersive tribal adventures in India’s last frontier.
Getting there: Guwahati in Assam is the nearest major airport to Nagaland, receiving flights from Thailand, Singapore and destinations across India, but you can also fly to Kohima, the state's largest city. Chartering a 4WD and driver is the best way to explore the tribal villages of the highlands.  

For decades, Nagaland was the edge of the known world in India – a mesmerizing last frontier, bounded by misty mountains, studded with the bamboo-thatched villages of Adivasi (Indigenous) people, and tantalizingly off-limits to travelers thanks to lingering red tape dating to colonial times.

The last decade has seen the obstacles to travel slowly whittled away, but the message has been slow getting out – only around 5000 foreign visitors made it to Nagaland in 2024, compared with a staggering 2.1 million visitors to Rajasthan. If you want to experience India as it was before mass tourism, look no further.

Once (though thankfully no longer) feared as headhunters, the assorted Indigenous groups of Nagaland hold onto many of their fascinating pre-colonial traditions. Most Nagas have nominally converted to Christianity, yet animist traditions such as decorating homes with buffalo skulls still endure.

It’s possible to spend weeks in Nagaland without seeing a single fellow traveler, except during the Hornbill Festival – the state's biggest celebration – in Kohima. Travel is slow, and discomfort levels can be high, but staying in village homestays will immerse you deeply in the life of this fascinating Indian state.

5. Shikoku, Japan

Vibe: An outdoorsy pilgrimage island in Japan that champions zero-waste living.
Getting there: Ferries run to Shikoku from Kobe and Hiroshima, or you can fly to Matsuyama or one of the other smaller airports on the island.

Off the southeast coast of Honshu, the island of Shikoku seldom makes it onto most international visitors’ travel itineraries, even though the island has loads to offer, including thrilling hikes along the famed 88 Sacred Temples of Shikoku pilgrimage route. 

Domestic tourists are drawn by the busy festival calendar, with big events such as Tokushima city’s annual Awa Odori Matsuri, Japan’s equivalent of the Rio Carnival, in August. Every 3 years, Shikoku’s Kagawa Prefecture co-hosts the Setouchi Triennale, a superb contemporary-arts festival covering nearby islands such as Naoshima and Shōdo-shima.

But beyond the headline attractions, there are many under-the-radar experiences. Search out intriguing sustainability projects in the zero-waste village of Kamikatsu. Head to the remote Iya Valley to stay in an 18th-century thatched farmhouse and raft the upper reaches of the Yoshino River. Or hike part, or all, of the island’s 88-temple pilgrimage route

Alternatively, join the surfers tackling the breaks along the rugged Pacific coast, between the two spectacular capes of Muroto-misaki and Ashizuri-misaki. You'll need to be a bit more self-reliant than in Tokyo or Osaka, but this is Japan far from the madding crowds.

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6. Kanchenjunga Region, Nepal

Vibe: Discover the unspoiled Himalaya in Nepal’s silent corner.
Getting there: The gateway to the Kanchenjunga Region is Chandragadhi Airport, but it's a long 4WD trip to the trailhead at Taplejung. Some hikers arrive overland from India via Darjeeling.

The trek to Everest Base Camp may transport hikers two-thirds of the way up the world’s highest mountain, but the trails can often feel mobbed. If you crave equally spectacular vistas with bonus silence, trade the crowded paths of the Everest region for the empty wilds of far eastern Nepal, where 8586m Kanchenjunga – the third-highest mountain on Earth – rises amid a glacial garden of snow peaks.

While some 40,000 trekkers make it to Everest Base Camp every year, the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area sees just 1300 visitors annually. Don’t expect to find wi-fi and apple pie at every stop. Most trekkers stay in simple teahouses (mountain lodges) or tents, and you'll need to make arrangements through a trekking agency to obtain the necessary permits to follow the rough trails that climb to the base camps for mountaineers above Pang Pema and Ramche.

To soften the blow, remote farming villages provide welcome hot meals for the adventurous hikers who make it out to this remote corner of the Himalaya. In exchange for the effort and expense, you’ll get to enjoy a truly unspoiled vision of Nepal, as you pass through some of the most dramatic terrain on the planet.

7. North Luzon, Philippines

Vibe: Headhunter history and Spanish relics in the tropical highlands north of Manila.
Getting there: Travel overland from Manila, or connect by air to Baguio, then get around by bus, jeepney or chartered car. 

While the sugar-white beaches and world-class dive sites around Boracay, Cebu and El Nido are renowned worldwide, North Luzon – north of Manila at the top of the Philippines archipelago – is often overlooked. Yet it captures the amazing variety of the country better than any other area.

Along the sea-hugging highway north of Baguio, surfers hit the waves at San Juan (La Union), Pagudpud and Baler. The 16th-century city of Vigan on the west coast has some of the finest Spanish colonial architecture in Asia, while the impenetrable jungles of the east coast shelter many of the country’s rare endemic animals.

Inland, the forest-clad Cordillera mountain range beckons, with its white-water rivers and UNESCO-listed rice terraces – some of the oldest in the world – plus hanging coffins and skull-filled caves that hint at ancient animist beliefs. The highland villages of Kalinga Province – where headhunting has taken place within living memory – ring with myriad languages and dialects. Further out to sea, the sleepy Batanes Islands feel a world away from Manila’s skyscrapers and nightclubs.

8. Tubagua, Dominican Republic

Vibe: Thatched jungle cabins and community tourism beyond the beaches.
Getting there: The nearest town to Tubagua is Puerto Plata, accessible by road from either of the two main airports in the Dominican Republic.

In a country where few tourists make it beyond the swim-up bar of their all-inclusive resort, Tubagua offers a refreshing alternative. Perched on the cusp of the Cordillera Septentrional mountains and bisected by the Ruta Panorámica – a serpentine road linking Puerto Plata and Santiago de los Caballeros – this lofty outpost is home to one of the Caribbean’s best eco-lodges.

Within the small, strung-out village of Tubagua, where simple one-story houses are interspersed with cow pastures, the Tubagua Ecolodge sits in a spectacular position, built in the traditional Dominican style overlooking the jungle. Here, amid lush foliage and rolling hills, pop-up roadside stalls sell an A to Z of tropical fruit, and villagers on motor scooters fill up on gas sold in recycled rum bottles.

Radically different from the coast in tempo and culture, Tubagua is a perfect place to absorb the nuances of Dominican life and participate in community tourism projects. If you’re willing to trade air-con for gentle mountain breezes and a poolside merengue show for a shrill chorus of cicadas, this could be your nirvana.

9. Suriname

Vibe: Discover Maroon and Amerindian culture in a wild pocket of South America.
Getting there: Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport, close to the capital, Paramaribo, is the most popular place to arrive in Suriname, but you can also travel overland from Guyana or French Guiana. 

Suriname isn’t just South America’s smallest country; it’s also the least visited. Which means this little-known corner of the continent, well off the Gringo Trail, offers a refreshingly different South American experience.

Despite coups and a civil war in the 1980s, modern-day Suriname is statistically one of South America’s safest countries to visit. Tucked inside the mouth of the Suriname River, the sultry capital, Paramaribo, is packed with UNESCO-listed Dutch-colonial architecture, buzzy nightspots and some excellent restaurants serving the spicy fusion cuisine of its ethnically diverse population. 

Suriname's population is descended from escaped enslaved Africans (known locally as Maroons), Indian, Indonesian and Chinese indentured laborers, English and Dutch colonists and Indigenous Amerindians, creating a fascinating cultural mix.

Old plantation houses recall a darker chapter of Suriname’s history, when this was one of the world’s most brutal slave colonies. Just a few hours away by road or boat along the nation's eponymous river, untamed jungles cover more than 90% of the country, serving up abundant wildlife-spotting opportunities and a window into Maroon culture.

10. Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA

Vibe: Blissful isolation and wild Texas landscapes in a park without the crowds.
Getting there: The nearest airport to Big Bend is in Midland, Texas, but many people prefer to fly into El Paso. Either way, you'll have a long drive ahead to reach the national park.

The mountains meet the desert in Big Bend, a vast national park tucked into a remote corner of western Texas. Defined by steep-walled canyons, craggy peaks and a verdant river corridor carving through the scrubland, this expansive wilderness offers a wide range of adventures to travelers with a bit of frontier spirit.

You can spend your days hiking rugged trails, exploring on horseback, paddling along gentle rivers and soaking in natural hot springs, followed by an evening of stargazing in one of the world’s largest Dark Sky reserves. Big Bend is also a birder's paradise, with over 450 bird species – the most of any national park in the US.

But make no mistake: Big Bend is remote. It’s more than three hours by road from the nearest airport at Midland, and at least an 8-hour drive from Dallas or Houston. Yet it is this very isolation that has saved it from overdevelopment. The national park receives fewer than 10% of the visitors the Grand Canyon receives, and multi-day excursions – such as rafting adventures along the Rio Grande – don’t require booking many months in advance.

11. Kufstein, Austria

Vibe: Trade busy Salzburg for a real Alpine fairy-tale.
Getting there: It's possible to reach Kufstein from many countries in northern Europe by train, but Salzburg airport is less than 70km away by road or rail.

If you like the idea of Salzburg, but not its crowds, detour to Kufstein in Tyrol, snuggling up to the Bavarian Alps just an hour’s train ride west. This town is like something a child who had been binge-reading the Brothers Grimm might draw – pastel-painted, gabled houses and lantern-lit taverns strung along cobbled lanes. 

As you arrive, a cake-topper of a medieval fortress lifts the gaze above the Inn River to peaceful forests of firs and cow-grazed meadows, tucked under jagged, snow-frosted mountains. Resembling a romantic stage set, this town is the Austria of Alpine fantasies.

Kufstein shot momentarily to national glory in the jaunty 1970s folk song “Die Perle Tirols” (“The Pearl of Tyrol”). And, indeed, it has views to make you want to yodel at full volume, whether you’re hiking ever higher into the limestone spires and turrets of the Kaisergebirge, cross-country skiing in quiet exhilaration through the snowy wilds, or lazing on the shores of a jewel-colored lake. 

12. Hyères, France

Vibe: A getaway with Mediterranean vibes, beyond Provence’s busy honeypots.
Getting there: Toulon-Hyères Airport, just outside Hyères, receives seasonal flights, but it's just as easy to get here by train, via Toulon. 

Visitors to the coast of Provence in France inevitably make a beeline for glamorous spots such as Cannes, Cap d’Antibes or St-Tropez. Rarely does the small town of Hyères get a look-in, yet it's packed with historic interest and adjacent to some of the loveliest islands in the south of France. The first settlement here was established by the Phoenicians in the 4th century BCE, and they were later displaced by the Greeks, then the Romans.

Later, Hyères became the property of the Viscount of Marseilles, before the incorporation of Provence into modern France. The medieval center of Hyères is divided from the sea by busy D98 and a modern town dominated by international hotels and casinos, so it's easy to miss the atmospheric, partly walled Vielle Ville (Old Town), but it's worth the detour.

The best of Hyères is concentrated in this historic nucleus and the gardens that sprawl above it. But most alluring of all are the Îles d’Hyères, three offshore sirens also known as the Îles d’Or (Islands of Gold), accessible by ferry from several points along this stretch of coast.

13. Freiburg and the Black Forest, Germany

Vibe: An eco trailblazing city swaddled in silent forest scenery
Getting there: Freiburg – officially, Freiburg im Breisgau – is a popular hub for exploring the Black Forest, easily accessible by road or rail.

The Black Forest, isn’t that Bavaria? Nope, though it’s right next door. While Bavaria draws the crowds,  there are wooded hills and half-timbered towns dotted around the Black Forest – Schwarzwald to locals – that hit the same fairy-tale sweet spot, with a fraction of the crowds.

Cuckoo clock and gateau clichés aside, a vast swath of this valley-pleated, fir-cloaked region falls spectacularly under the tourist radar. Feel the magic by roaming its remotest reaches by bike or road, then setting off on foot into the forest.

In the Black Forest National Park, spruce forests bristle above wood-shingled farms and glacial lakes spread out like blue silk sheets. Treading softly through the forest at first light, you’ll find the kind of peace that’s increasingly rare in the modern age. Slip on snowshoes or cross-country skis when winter snows fall, and the fantasy is complete.

Sustainable? Natürlich. The tree-hugging, nature-loving Schwarzwald region is Germany’s original green destination, and its eco star just keeps rising, with a new UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Between baffles of forest, ultra-green towns such as Freiburg shine brightly with solar power, with miles of marked hiking, cycling and e-biking trails for sustainable exploring. 

14. Northern Iceland

Vibe: Experience a land of ice and fire, away from the Golden Circle crowds. 
Getting there: The best way to reach the north of Iceland is to fly into Keflavík and pick up a rental car, but buses travel to northern towns such as Akureyri from the capital, Reykjavík. 

Spectacular as it most certainly is, Iceland has suffered from a serious dose of overexposure. In 2024, this Atlantic island received nearly 2.3 million visitors – nearly five times its population. Though that hardly sounds like the definition of offbeat, the fact is that most of Iceland’s visitors only explore a small corner of the island.

From the capital of Reykjavík, tourists are drawn to big sights around the so-called Golden Circle, like the Gullfoss waterfall, Geysir and the Blue Lagoon near Keflavík – and perhaps Skaftafell’s glaciers or Jökulsárlón’s icebergs for those with time to travel further along the southern Ring Road.

Far fewer venture to North Iceland – but those that do experience a side of Iceland most visitors never see. Coastal roads corkscrew past deserted headlands and end-of-the-world beaches straight out of a Bergman movie. Geothermal hotpots pop up in the middle of nowhere, between peculiar towns, oddball museums and weird lava caves.

Offshore are spooky islands where sea birds outnumber people by 10,000 to one. Sure, it takes a little effort and adventure to escape the crowds – but once you do, you’ll experience Iceland at its rawest and emptiest.

15. North Macedonia

Vibe: A last European frontier of ancient beauty in the Balkans.
Getting there: The North Macedonian capital, Skopje, is connected by air to cities across Europe, or you can travel by train via Serbia, Greece or Kosovo.

Compared to Croatia’s 60 million annual visitors (and even Albania’s 6 million), North Macedonia might seem like a tourist no-man’s land. Indeed, fewer than 800,000 international tourists made it here in 2024. But visit this underexplored corner of the Balkans, and you'll wonder why you ever doubted its appeal.

Undoubtedly, North Macedonia's landlocked status lessens the mass-market appeal, though visitors will certainly feel like they’re gazing out to sea from the beaches that fringe the medieval town of Ohrid. Squeezed between huge Lake Ohrid and Lake Prespa, this is a destination for water-based adventures in summer and scenic hiking year-round. 

Great swaths of North Macedonia are dramatically defined by canyons and mountains, with a string of little-developed national parks crisscrossed by quiet hiking trails. As you hike, you can drop into Ottoman-era villages with pencil-thin minarets, visiting slow food producers and intriguing community tourism projects.

And North Macedonia’s complex past, mixing Greek, Roman, Ottoman and Yugoslav heritage, creates a rich historical backdrop. These deep roots can be explored in the museums of Skopje, one of Europe’s most bonkers and irresistible capital cities.