Hidden Corners

Destinations

All hidden destinations

Filter by region, interest, season or effort — every guide shows when it was last verified.

Illustration of arched tunnel openings glowing warmly inside a cliff beneath a hilltop town
Underground Place

Orvieto Underground

Italy · Umbria

Beneath one of Umbria's great hill towns, a labyrinth of Etruscan-born caves, wells and workshops carved over 2,500 years.

Access: Easy Visit: Half day to 1 day (underground tour about 1 hour)
Illustration of a calm river at dusk with low hills and shophouse rooftops
Local Food Experience

Kampot

Cambodia · Kampot Province

A drowsy riverside town where the world's most celebrated pepper grows on family farms you can actually visit.

Access: Easy Visit: 2-3 days
Illustration of rust-red eroded canyons with cactus silhouettes under a starry twilight sky
Natural Wonder

Tatacoa Desert

Colombia · Huila Department

Colombia's desert that isn't one: an eroded dry-forest badland of rust-red canyons, grey moonscapes and some of the country's clearest night skies.

Access: Easy–moderate Visit: 1-2 nights
Illustration of a low tropical island with mangroves and a long empty beach under a warm sky
Quiet Island

Koh Thmei

Cambodia · Ream National Park, Gulf of Thailand

A mangrove-fringed island inside Ream National Park where generators still outnumber streetlights.

Access: Moderate Visit: 2-3 nights
Illustration of stone terraces climbing a forested mountain above a wide river plain
Forgotten Ruins

Champasak and Vat Phou

Laos · Champasak Province, Mekong Valley

A sleepy Mekong town beneath a mountainside Khmer sanctuary that predates Angkor's greatest monuments.

Access: Easy–moderate Visit: 1-2 days
Illustration of a narrow canyon opening onto a turquoise cove with steep limestone walls
Secret Beach

Gjipe Beach

Albania · Albanian Riviera

A canyon-mouth beach on the Albanian Riviera that can still only be reached on foot or by boat.

Access: Moderate Visit: Half day to 1 day
Illustration of moss-toned temple towers and carved stone walls rising from forest
Forgotten Ruins

Banteay Chhmar

Cambodia · Banteay Meanchey Province

A vast Angkor-era temple complex near the Thai border, watched over by a pioneering village homestay network instead of tour buses.

Access: Moderate Visit: 1-2 days with an overnight homestay
Illustration of stone houses built among giant rounded granite boulders on a hillside
Hidden Village

Monsanto

Portugal · Beira Baixa, Central Portugal

A granite village near the Spanish border where houses are wedged beneath, between and inside colossal boulders.

Access: Easy–moderate Visit: 1 day or 1 night
Illustration of bald orange granite peaks rising from a flat desert plain under a vast sky
Natural Wonder

Spitzkoppe

Namibia · Erongo Region

Granite peaks older than memory rising sheer from the Namib plains, with community-run campsites, a rock arch and ancient San paintings.

Access: Moderate Visit: 1-2 nights
Illustration of pale mushroom-shaped rock formations in a barren badlands under a huge sky
Mysterious Place

Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness

United States · San Juan County, New Mexico

A trail-less badlands of hoodoos, petrified wood and alien rock in New Mexico's high desert - navigation required, crowds absent.

Access: Challenging Visit: Half day to 1 day