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Hidden Gem Places Most Travelers Skip

15 items

piyusha Trivedi

Fifteen places with jaw-dropping scenery and surprisingly few crowds: quiet US parks, overseas spots that still feel undiscovered, and India's wildlife corners that rarely make the tourist circuit. I love digging past the famous names to find places ...

Sections

USA Hidden Gems

International Hidden Gems

India Wildlife Gems Few People Know

USA Hidden Gems

Big scenery, small crowds. Dark skies, red rock, old-growth forest, badlands and sea caves, all in parks most road-trippers drive past.

Ever seen a sky so packed with stars that the Milky Way looks like a cloud? That's how a friend described Great Basin National Park. After a few relatives and coworkers said much the same, I was impressed enough to share it here. In remote eastern Ne...
https://www.nps.gov/grba/
https://www.instagram.com/greatbasinnp/

Great Basin National Park (NV)

A colleague was the first to tell me about Valley of Fire, and a couple of friends later backed it up. Honestly, I was hooked. Nevada's oldest state park is red Aztec sandstone that seems to glow at sunrise. Look for the Fire Wave, Elephant Rock and ...
https://parks.nv.gov/parks/valley-of-fire
https://www.instagram.com/valley.of.fire/

Valley of Fire State Park (NV)

Some of the tallest trees in eastern North America, a boardwalk through a flooded forest, and fireflies that flash in unison. That was how relatives first described Congaree National Park to me, and a friend later said the same, so I'm passing it on....
https://www.nps.gov/cong/
https://www.facebook.com/CongareeNP

Congaree National Park (SC)

Wild horses along the ridgelines, bison ambling across the road, prairie dogs whistling from their burrows. A relative painted that picture of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, and when coworkers described it the same way, I was truly impressed. Thes...
https://www.nps.gov/thro/
https://www.instagram.com/theodorerooseveltnps/

Theodore Roosevelt National Park (ND)

If your route crosses northern Wisconsin or passes through Duluth, here's a stop that friends and colleagues kept bringing up. Once I looked into it, I was impressed. Apostle Islands National Lakeshore is 21 islands in Lake Superior, with sandstone s...
https://www.nps.gov/apis/
https://www.facebook.com/apostleislandsnps/

Apostle Islands National Lakeshore (WI)

International Hidden Gems

Places abroad that still feel like a secret: windswept islands, a fjord-like bay, volcanic lakes, coral reefs and a quiet alpine lake.

Of every trip on my wish list, the Faroe Islands sit right at the top, and the push came from a relative and a former colleague who both came back talking about nothing else. I was hooked by their stories. Eighteen islands of sea cliffs, grass-roofed...
https://visitfaroeislands.com
https://www.instagram.com/visitfaroeislands/

Faroe Islands

A friend called the Bay of Kotor the highlight of an Adriatic trip, and I was impressed the moment I heard why. Mountains drop straight into a fjord-like bay, with the walled UNESCO old town of Kotor at the water's edge. Climb roughly 1,350 steps to ...
https://www.montenegro.travel/en
https://www.instagram.com/gomontenegro/

Bay of Kotor, Montenegro

Volcanic islands in the middle of the Atlantic for approx. USD 60-85 (EUR 50-75) a day? I doubted it until two colleagues returned from São Miguel and left me amazed. The Azores are nine green islands: twin crater lakes at Sete Cidades, Lagoa do Fogo...
https://www.visitazores.com/en
https://instagram.com/visitazores

Azores, Portugal

"Nothing else comes close underwater" was how a relative who dives summed up Raja Ampat, and that left me genuinely impressed. These 1,500-odd islands off Papua shelter some of the richest coral reefs on Earth: manta rays in the Dampier Strait, baby ...
https://www.indonesia.travel/gb/en/destination/maluku-papua/southwest-papua/raja-ampat
https://www.instagram.com/wonderfulindonesia/

Raja Ampat, Indonesia

Skip Bled's crowds and drive 30 minutes further, a hiking friend told me, and the way Lake Bohinj was described impressed me. Slovenia's largest glacial lake lies inside Triglav National Park, clear enough for summer swims. Walk the 553 steps to Savi...
https://www.bohinj.si/en/
https://www.instagram.com/lakebohinj/

Lake Bohinj, Slovenia

India Wildlife Gems Few People Know

India's wildlife beyond the famous reserves. No jeep traffic jams, just tigers, snow leopards, gharials and hornbills in places few tourists reach.

Two friends kept telling me Satpura was nothing like the crowded tiger parks, and when I finally went, I saw what they meant: it felt wild and unhurried, with no line of jeeps chasing a single tiger. You can walk, canoe the Denwa backwaters and take ...
Official: https://www.satpuratigerreserve.org
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/satpuratigerreserveofficial

Satpura Tiger Reserve (MP)

A trekking friend swears the cold of Hemis is worth every shiver, and I was impressed enough to pass it on. Hemis is India's largest national park and one of the best places on Earth to look for a snow leopard, alongside bharal, Ladakhi urial, Tibeta...
Official: https://tourism.ladakh.gov.in
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/utladakhtourism

Hemis National Park (Ladakh)

Gharials basking on a sandbank, a dolphin surfacing beside the boat, skimmers slicing the water: that's how a colleague described a winter morning on the Chambal, and it stuck with me. This three-state river sanctuary protects the critically endanger...
Official: https://www.mptourism.com/national-chambal-sanctuary.html
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mptourism

National Chambal Sanctuary

Friends talked about Valparai so often that I finally went, once, in the middle of the monsoon, and loved every misty one of the forty hairpin bends up from Aliyar. At the top, tea estates roll across the Anamalai hills at about 3,500 ft. Lion-tailed...
Official: https://www.tamilnadutourism.tn.gov.in/destinations/valparai-hill-station
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tntourismoffcl

Valparai (Tamil Nadu)

This one came from a relative, and the story of horses running free on Brahmaputra sandbars really impressed me. Dibru-Saikhowa is the only place in India with feral horses, believed to descend from Second World War army horses. It also shelters the ...
Official: https://assamtourism.gov.in/Dibru-Saikhowa-National-Park.php
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/awesomeassam

Dibru-Saikhowa National Park (Assam)