12 of the most remote travel destinations on Earth, each with its own superlative
- Not ideal for a weekend getaway, Pitcairn Island is barely more accessible today than it was when the HMS Bounty’s mutineers came ashore in 1790
- Averaging 34.5 degrees Celsius and peppered with acidic pools, Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression is also known as the ‘gateway to hell’
Travel means different things to different people. A short flight followed by a taxi transfer to a stylish resort with an inviting pool satisfies many people’s needs. But for those with time to spare and incurable wanderlust, there are plenty of exotic, hard-to-reach destinations that involve a lot more planning than does a long weekend in Phuket.
Mobile phone signals aren’t guaranteed in the following places but travel bragging rights definitely are. These destinations even come with their own superlatives.
Even in a list of desolate destinations, Pitcairn Island wins by some distance. Best known as the 18th century hiding place of mutineers from the British ship HMS Bounty, no inhabited island is further from a mainland. The British Overseas Territory is barely more accessible today than it was in 1790.
Anyone planning to visit from Hong Kong would need to fly to Tokyo for a connection to Papeete, in Tahiti, from where there are two four-hour flights a week to Mangareva, in the Gambier Islands. It’s then a 32-hour trip to Pitcairn aboard a supply boat that departs only every three months. A few years ago, officials launched a campaign to encourage people to join the isolated community. Only one person applied.
The world’s coldest permanently settled area, Oymyakon shivers in the Siberian permafrost a two-day drive across the Russian tundra from the nearest airport. Winter in the gold mining town is so frigid that drivers leave their car engines running all day to keep them from seizing up.