Edge of the World: 7 Remote Islands Worth the Journey
Some of the best travel experiences on Earth are found on remote islands - the kind of places that take three flights, a ferry, and a stubborn streak to reach. That effort is exactly the point. When a destination is hard to get to, it stays wild: the wildlife has no fear of people, the culture has evolved on its own terms, and you can stand on a headland for an hour without seeing another soul. These are the islands where "off the beaten path" isn't marketing copy - there simply is no path. Here are seven of the world's most remote islands worth the journey, with what to do on each and the best time to visit.
Faroe Islands, North Atlantic
Halfway between Iceland and Norway, this 18-island archipelago is a stack of green, cliff-edged mountains rising straight out of a grey-blue sea, populated by more sheep than people. The must-see is Gásadalur, where the Múlafossur waterfall pours off a cliff beside a village of a dozen houses, but the real Faroes reveal themselves on the hiking trails - the walk to Kallur lighthouse on Kalsoy, or the surreal "floating" Lake Sørvágsvatn that appears to hang above the ocean. Book a table at KOKS, the world's most remote Michelin-starred restaurant, for fermented lamb and sea urchin. The best time to visit is May to August for long days and puffin season, though the weather changes roughly every twenty minutes year-round.
Easter Island (Rapa Nui), Chile
Rapa Nui sits 3,700 kilometres off the coast of Chile, making it one of the most isolated inhabited islands on the planet - and home to nearly 900 moai, the monolithic stone figures carved by the Rapa Nui people between 1250 and 1500 CE. Watch sunrise behind the fifteen restored moai at Ahu Tongariki, then hike the quarry at Rano Raraku, where hundreds of unfinished statues still lie half-buried in the volcanic slope. Don't miss Orongo, the ceremonial village perched on a crater rim where the Birdman competition once decided who would rule the island for a year. Visit between October and March for warmer weather, or come in February for the Tapati festival of dance, body painting, and traditional sport.
Svalbard, Norway
At 78° north, Svalbard is the northernmost place on Earth with a permanent population - a scattering of Arctic islands where polar bears outnumber residents and you're legally required to carry a rifle outside the settlements. From Longyearbyen you can dog-sled across frozen valleys, snowmobile to the blue ice caves inside a glacier, or take a summer expedition ship north to the pack ice in search of bears, walruses, and beluga whales. The island runs on extremes: the midnight sun blazes from late April to late August, then polar night swallows the archipelago from mid-November to late January, making it one of the best places anywhere to see the northern lights at midday. Visit in March for the surreal combination of returning light and full winter conditions.
Socotra, Yemen
Nothing prepares you for Socotra. Isolated in the Arabian Sea for around six million years, this island evolved its own ecosystem - roughly a third of its plant species exist nowhere else, including the umbrella-shaped dragon's blood trees that make the Dixam Plateau look like an alien planet. Camp beneath them, swim in the freshwater pools of Wadi Dirhur, and walk the white dunes of Arher, where sand piles hundreds of metres up against a mountain right beside the sea. Getting here means a charter flight from Abu Dhabi and a local guide, and travel to Yemen carries real risk, so check government advisories carefully and book through an established operator. The best time to visit is October to April, outside the fierce monsoon winds.
The Azores, Portugal
A volcanic archipelago floating 1,400 kilometres off the coast of Portugal, the Azores deliver crater lakes, hot springs, and whale-filled ocean without the long-haul commitment of the Pacific. On São Miguel, look out over the twin green-and-blue lakes of Sete Cidades, soak in the iron-rich thermal pools at Terra Nostra, and eat cozido das Furnas - a stew slow-cooked for hours in volcanic soil. Hop to Pico to climb Portugal's highest mountain at sunrise, or to Faial for the moonscape left by the 1957 Capelinhos eruption. Roughly a third of the world's whale and dolphin species pass through these waters, with April to June the peak window for blue and sei whales.
Aitutaki, Cook Islands
If your idea of a remote island involves an impossibly blue lagoon, Aitutaki is the one - a triangular reef enclosing water so clear that boats appear to hover above the sand. A lagoon cruise is non-negotiable: you'll snorkel with giant trevally, wade across sandbars, and land on One Foot Island, where a tiny post office will stamp your passport with a footprint. The Cook Islands are a New Zealand-associated nation of just 15,000 people, and the pace here is genuinely slow - rent a scooter, circle the island in an hour, and go to an island night for drumming and ura dancing. The best time to visit is May to October, the dry season, when humidity drops and the trade winds keep things comfortable.
St Helena, South Atlantic
Marooned 1,900 kilometres from the nearest mainland, St Helena spent centuries as one of the hardest places on Earth to reach - accessible only by a Royal Mail Ship until the airport finally opened in 2017. This is the island where Napoleon was exiled and died, and you can still tour Longwood House and his original tomb site among the pines. Climb Jacob's Ladder, a brutal 699-step staircase straight up from Jamestown, then meet Jonathan, a Seychelles giant tortoise hatched around 1832 and widely considered the oldest living land animal in the world. Whale sharks gather offshore between December and March, which is also the warmest, calmest window to visit.
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