What Are The Least Visited Tourist Spots?

[ralph124c]

As I have mentioned before, I don't like crowds, and I prefer a slower tempo for my vacations. Therefore, I ask the question-where are the least visited places? Of course, i want a decent hotel, and adequate food. But, I don't want to go to any "in spots"-I would rather go to some place ignored by most travelers.
Can anyone recommend a place where I am unlikely to be bothered by crowds?

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

The bottom of the Marianas Trench.

[Simplicio]

The International Space Station

[postcards]

My house.

[Airman Doors, USAF]

The Gaza Strip
Beirut
Baghdad
Tehran
Pyongyang
Mogadishu

Be sure and have a good time, and don't forget your ransom money.

[Chefguy]

The Bandiagara Cliffs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandiagara_Escarpment) in Mali. I've been there. You'll need a guide to get you there from Mopti, and will have to go back to Mopti to stay in a hotel. But it's wild and the culture is very old. You can climb to the top of the cliffs, if you wish. Also, Timbuktu is not all that popular, what with the heat and the sand and all.

[Gfactor]

While there is a factual question in the OP, it seems better suited for In My Humble Opinion than General Questions. I'll move it for you.

Gfactor
General Questions Moderator

[Gfactor]

I found this:

Top 10 least visited (yet amazing) locations and attractions (in Australia)

Blyth, ClareValley
Millmerran, Toowoomba and The Golden West
Banrock Station, Riverland
Penwortham, ClareValley
Norton Summit, Adelaide Hills
Malmsbury
Daylesford
Norah Head, Central Coast
Flinders Chase National Park, Kangaroo Island
Waikerie (Soaring Centre), Riverland http://www.adventurepro.com.au/news/?action=details&id=1197946436Australiantourismreport

A search for least visited tourist in Google Books also shows that "Maria Island [is] the least-visited tourist destination in Tasmania." Governing the Antarctic: The Effectiveness and Legitimacy of the Antarctic http://books.google.com/books?id=hGC6ShBYdy0C&pg=PA206&dq=least+visited+tourist&ei=bDUNSI7nGJOkiwG_6-iTAQ&client=firefox-a&sig=W_gcs0Efc0WmmO2-kIevQAq8ZeU

and "Africa is the least developed and least visited region of tourism in the world." http://books.google.com/books?id=MyGjpyNAur0C&pg=PA380&dq=least+visited+tourist&ei=bDUNSI7nGJOkiwG_6-iTAQ&client=firefox-a&sig=LSf_E8sn0ot3ooldGoRWfO41O1M

[NightRabbit]

The world's largest ball of twine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biggest_ball_of_twine). Actually no, I'm sure that one's PACKED.

[kunilou]

I'm guessing you don't mind going a little off the beaten path, as long as there's a hotel relatively close. Here are a few actual suggestions.

Dodge City, Kansas (http://www.dodgecity.org/)

The Badlands in S. Dakota and Wyoming (http://www.blackhillsbadlands.com/)

Death Valley (http://www.nps.gov/deva/)

Some of the lesser-known Civil War sites. (http://www.nps.gov/fodo/)

And the Cadillac Ranch. (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/TXAMAcadillac.html)

[Justin Credible]

If you are wanting to go to the ocean, you could try the Outer Banks of North Carolina. There are tons of places there to rent that are quiet and pretty secluded from the rest of the beach-going crowd.

[Zsofia]

I'm guessing you don't mind going a little off the beaten path, as long as there's a hotel relatively close. Here are a few actual suggestions.

Dodge City, Kansas (http://www.dodgecity.org/)

The Badlands in S. Dakota and Wyoming (http://www.blackhillsbadlands.com/)

Death Valley (http://www.nps.gov/deva/)

Some of the lesser-known Civil War sites. (http://www.nps.gov/fodo/)

And the Cadillac Ranch. (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/TXAMAcadillac.html)
I went to the Badlands ten years ago and it's amazing and there's nobody there. It's like the moon, only you can climb on it!

[Darryl Lict]

I'm the only person I know whose been to Escalante (http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/grand_staircase-escalante.1.html) National Monument, because it's really a bitch to get to, and in a state that is chock full of awesome National Parks. It's completely worth it if you've got the time and happen to be in southern Utah. It's spectacular, but just not as spectacular as Bryce, Arches or Zion.

[fusoya]

According to The Simpsons, it's the Jefferson Memorial (which apparently is pretty far away from the other DC attractions).

The other day I was looking on Google Earth at the meeting point of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, and that place literally looks like the middle of nowhere. It's 100 miles from the nearest highway or actual town and only has a rural road which connects to it. I can't imagine too many people wanting to go out of their way just to stand in 4 states at once.

[LiveOnAPlane]

OK, on a more serious note, I'd suggest some of the spots in Micronesia.

For instance, Kosrae does have hotel facilities, is pretty, fairly civilized and I doubt you'll be bothered by crowds.

For a litle more stuff to do, there's Pohnpei. For less, there's Bikini, but other than the dive operation there, I don't think there are any hotel/motel facilities.

[movingfinger]

Amid the superstars of Southern Utah (Zion, Bryce, ) it's easy to overlook the little jewel that is Cedar Breaks National Monument, near the Brian Head ski resort.

Also, there is a part of Zion National Park that is physically separate from the main Park and can only be accessed from Interstate 5. This is Kolob Canyon, and a short but dramatic drive will take you to spectacular overlooks. Well worth a side trip.

[Queen Bruin]

According to The Simpsons, it's the Jefferson Memorial (which apparently is pretty far away from the other DC attractions).

The other day I was looking on Google Earth at the meeting point of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, and that place literally looks like the middle of nowhere. It's 100 miles from the nearest highway or actual town and only has a rural road which connects to it. I can't imagine too many people wanting to go out of their way just to stand in 4 states at once.
It IS in the middle of nowhere, but at least it's on its way to somewhere. I lived in the area for a while, and passed through last year on the way to visit relatives after dilly-dallying all over Monument Valley. Hubbo thought it was a real hoot; I was jaded. You'd be surprised at the masses that line up for the same goofy picture. The Navajo have made pretty good on it; when I was a kid it was a few shacks and a little brass marker, now it's a much larger complex catering to a pretty decent headcount. They even charge by the car, now.

Darryl, I've always wanted to go to Escalante! I'll have to get out there on my next Southwest Adventure.

ETA: which reminds me, no one goes to Monument Valley. Probably because it is in the middle of BFE, and for 90% of Americans the sight and condition of the Navajo Reservation would probably implode their worldview.

[DangleYourModifier]

Lot's of places in Africa.

For example, the Victoria Falls (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Falls) (on either the Zambia or Zimbabwe side) is beautiful and never that busy. Definitely in comparison to major European toursit sites. The Zambia side is now the place to go as the Zimbabwe town of Vic Falls is a almost a ghost town. However it's still quite safe and all the facilities are still there. You could very well be one of a handful of tourist in a 5 star hotel - where else can you get that.

There are many other places. Cape Town (http://www.capetown.gov.za/) has lots of tourist attractions and although they get busy, they never get as busy as tourist spots in many other places.

There's the Cradle of Humankind (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_of_Humankind) , a World Heritage Site, where the earliest known homonid skeletons where found and on any given day there might be 20 people there.

I can go on and on. In fact compared to Asia, Europe and America, Africa is positively barren of tourists.

[Hanna]

Big Bend National Park in Texas, especially in summer. There's a lodge there if you're not into the camping thing.

[St. Urho]

You might consider Isle Royale National Park (http://www.nps.gov/isro/). It's the least visited national park in the lower 48 states. (http://audubonmagazine.org/features0803/wildlife.html) It's stunningly beautiful, too.

The least-visited national park in the lower 48 states, Isle Royale annually attracts about 17,000 tourists who arrive by boat or floatplane—the only ways to get there—during its three-month summer season.

[blondebear]

Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park in the middle of Nevada might be your kind of place.

[Gatopescado]

Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park in the middle of Nevada might be your kind of place.

Just stay off my lawn, ya damn Hippy! :D

[Ranchoth]

Volgograd.

Visit Pavlov's House (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavlov%27s_House), or the Statue of the Motherland! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Motherland_Is_Calling)

[Ravenman]

Sigh. Yet another thread where the OP shows no interest of returning and explaining how a tourist spot is a place where tourists don't go.

By the way, I'm looking for a McDonalds that doesn't feature the Golden Arches. Any suggestions?

[Darryl Lict]

Darryl, I've always wanted to go to Escalante! I'll have to get out there on my next Southwest Adventure.
While you're at it, hit Canyonlands. There's an unbelievable 100 mile off road loop, I haven't done it yet, as you need reservations a year in advance. You can see the route from the top plateau. Another place sort of nearby is Goblin Valley, where the pictures look pretty great. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to hit that either.

Great Basin National Park is in Bumfuck, Nevada, and I have been there. It's not all that great.

The Spiral Jetty (http://www.spiraljetty.org/) is a fantastic earthworks piece of art. It is truly in the middle of nowhere.

I just went to the Carrizo Plain (http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/bakersfield/Programs/carrizo.html) to check out the wildflowers. I was inspired by this Snopes (http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/flowers.asp) article. No, it wasn't nearly that spectacular. However, it is a stunning desolate almost completey undeveloped park. It's wide open vistas make you imagine what the west was like 200 years ago. The San Andreas fault runs right through it.

For example, the Victoria Falls (on either the Zambia or Zimbabwe side) is beautiful and never that busy. Definitely in comparison to major European toursit sites. The Zambia side is now the place to go as the Zimbabwe town of Vic Falls is a almost a ghost town. However it's still quite safe and all the facilities are still there. You could very well be one
of a handful of tourist in a 5 star hotel - where else can you get that.
Really? It was packed when I was there in 2002. I came the closest to death in my life rafting the Zambezi.

[Enginerd]

I'm the only person I know whose been to Escalante (http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/grand_staircase-escalante.1.html) National Monument, because it's really a bitch to get to, and in a state that is chock full of awesome National Parks. It's completely worth it if you've got the time and happen to be in southern Utah. It's spectacular, but just not as spectacular as Bryce, Arches or Zion.
I spent a week there five or six years ago. Didn't see you there. :p

OK, so I didn't see anyone there. That was why I went.

[Sunspace]

How about Mount Thor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Thor)? It's on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic, and features a cliff 1250 metres (4100 feet!) high. You'll have to stay at the Tulugak Hotel (http://www.qikiqtarjuaq.com/) in Qikiqtarjuaq (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qikiqtarjuaq%2C_Nunavut) or the Auyuittuq Lodge in Pangnirtung (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangnirtung%2C_Nunavut), 46 km away.

One traveler's account of visiting Pangnirtung. (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060729.BAFFIN29/TPStory/Travel/?pageRequested=1)

[Capt. Ridley's Shooting Party]

I was in Latvia a few years ago, and I don't think the novelty of tourists had worn off on the locals, yet. We heard several people say "tourist!" as we walked past them.

In particular, Salaspils (http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://galen-frysinger.com/regional/latvia02.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.galenfrysinger.com/latvia_salaspils.htm&h=365&w=576&sz=34&hl=en&start=6&sig2=ECa-4Or0Y6Pge3hdDVohaw&um=1&tbnid=Rc0gBjDzqz__BM:&tbnh=85&tbnw=134&ei=3CgPSMLUMZTigQLmsqSMCQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsalaspils%2Bconcentration%2Bcamp%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox%26rls%3Dorg.mozi lla:en-GB:official%26sa%3DN) concentration camp is perhaps the single most eery place on earth. You get dropped off by train in the middle of a pine forest (the "station" is a piece of wood platforming next to the track) and have to walk for half a mile down a woodland path to get there. The place is deserted and the Soviet era statues are just sinister.

[Martha Medea]

Countries like Haiti have attractions like La Citadelle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citadelle_Laferri%C3%A8re) that receive hardly any tourists because of the situation in the country.

[Tabula Rasa]

According to The Simpsons, it's the Jefferson Memorial (which apparently is pretty far away from the other DC attractions).

The other day I was looking on Google Earth at the meeting point of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, and that place literally looks like the middle of nowhere. It's 100 miles from the nearest highway or actual town and only has a rural road which connects to it. I can't imagine too many people wanting to go out of their way just to stand in 4 states at once.

It's probably the most peed-upon point in North America, except - possibly - right by the Continental Divide signs on I-70.

[Zeldar]

I'm going to answer as if you were serious.

I have no idea how far away from it you are, and how much time you have to spend, but in 1995 Zoe and I drove from Nashville to Natchez (and back) on the Natchez Trace Parkway. This could be among the longest and narrowest National Parks there are. There are B&B accommodations along the way and plenty of pull-offs for sightseeing and reading about the history of the trail. There are some mid-sized towns within a few miles of the road if you need things like gas and groceries and such. But there aren't any big cities to flood the road with traffic unless you count Jackson, MS, which I don't.

It was virtually deserted the whole way down and back in the spring. Some folks on bicycles. A few cars. Hardly any trucks. Really quiet. Nice scenery. Gives you the sense of what it must have been like in the old days when that was the main route to Natchez and Nashville.

[tdn]

If you're looking for something close by for just a weekend, go to Rowley, MA. Not far from Newburyport, if you want touristy. There are some amazing restaurants nearby, and the place is the very definition of secluded.

Also look at the Wayside Inn in Sudbury, though it may be hard to get reservations.

[WhyNot]

Sigh. Yet another thread where the OP shows no interest of returning and explaining how a tourist spot is a place where tourists don't go.

I know exactly what he means. I hated the southern coast of Bali - loud, party all night, heckled by vendors every three feet crazy Australian surfer overrun icky place. But go a bit north, and it's paradise. Still touristy enough that people speak English and they have Western style ammenities in hotels like porcelain toilets (although the "toilets" at some of the attractions are holes in the ground you squat over), without huge crowds.

Ubud was my favorite place of all - great food, great people, a lot of art and music. We spent almost a week of our two week vacation there because it was so wonderful and non-"touristy", but totally accommodating to tourists. The hotel we stayed at featured individual huts for "rooms" with a huge bed with draperies and (functional) mosquito netting and gorgeous wood carvings. Every morning, we'd wake to the gentle sounds of the birds singing and the quiet steps of the woman who came by with a tray full of incense and offerings to place outside our door, and then we'd wander down to the pool where she'd make us a hot breakfast to order with intricately hand carved fruits as a side dish. Then we'd spend some time in the pool and gaze at the mango trees, nestled among all the vibrant flowers surrounding the pool, wishing they were in season so we could see what mangos on the tree look like. The fee for the place, per night, for two of us, breakfast included? $26. Awesome.

[Caricci]

The bottom of the Marianas Trench.

That's so 48 years ago!

[Spezza]

Greece, the Peloponnese, in late April.

We went there last year at that time and it was basically empty. Athens was as busy as any city, though it's attractions were maybe 25% of capacity. In Olympia the town was desolate. And it is pretty cheap and definitely worth seeing.

Basically any touristy spot during the off-season is a good bet.

[ralph124c]

Well, i like the suggestions about 4 Corners, and escalante NP, Big Bend and such. maybe i'll write a travel guide-call it "Boring places"!

[Colophon]

The Gaza Strip
Beirut <------- :confused: :confused:
Baghdad
Tehran
Pyongyang
Mogadishu

Be sure and have a good time, and don't forget your ransom money.

Why on Earth have you included Beirut on that list? Fifteen or twenty years ago, maybe, but nowadays it's a normal, safe, cosmopolitan city, and a pretty big tourist destination. It doesn't even belong in the same ballpark as Somalia and Baghdad. I think "Beirut" is just one of those names that will always provoke a knee-jerk reaction, like "Sarajevo" (another perfectly safe and burgeoning destination).



Slightly more controversially, I'd also dispute that Tehran belongs on that list, but I haven't been there and can't comment. I've looked into it though and can't see any reason not to go, safety wise.

[matt_mcl]

How about this?

Parc national des Pingualuit (http://www.nunavikparks.ca/en/parks/pingualuit/index.htm), Nunavik, extreme northern Quebec, site of the Pingualuit (formerly Nouveau-Québec, formerly Chubb) Crater.

In Québec’s far north –in Nunavik– the exceptionally clear, blue waters of a circular lake lie confined within the walls of an ancient but well-preserved meteorite crater.

Located 1800 km north of Montreal and close to 100 km northeast of the park, Kangiqsujuaq (meaning large bay) is the gateway to the parc national des Pingualuit. With a population of roughly 600, the village is nestled on the shores of Wakeham Bay, a majestic fjord of the Hudson Strait. The airline companies First Air and Air Inuit offer regular scheduled flights from Montreal, Quebec City and Ottawa to Kuujjuaq. Air Inuit provides regular and charter flights from Kuujjuaq to Kangiqsujuaq.

Access to the park from Kangiqsujuaq is ensured by an approximately 90-km corridor. In summer, the corridor is open to hikers, and ATVs are permitted between the village and Lake Qulusuttaliq. In winter, cross-country skiers, snowmobiles and dogsleds all share the trail. Hikers and cross-country skiers should be in excellent physical condition: the terrain is rocky and often wet and slippery in summer; in winter strong winds can test the endurance of even the hardiest trekkers.

[bbs2k]

If you're looking for something close by for just a weekend, go to Rowley, MA. Not far from Newburyport, if you want touristy. There are some amazing restaurants nearby, and the place is the very definition of secluded.
I'm actually going to look into this suggestion. I love places <1 one hour away to escape to.