Incredible places you aren't allowed to visit

Next-to-impossible destinations

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Some of the world’s most fascinating places can be impossible – or nearly impossible – to get to. War, natural disasters and overtourism can turn a previously popular destination into a no-go area. But, sometimes, the reasons a place becomes off limits are quite bizarre – here we reveal the locations unlikely be on your bucket list any time soon...

Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Norway

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Svalbard Global Seed Vault could be a lifesaver for anyone who survives the apocalypse... if they can find it that is. It’s hidden inside a mountain on the remote island of Spitsbergen in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago (pictured here). The mysterious vault stores duplicates of almost all the world’s crop collections.

Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Norway

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The temperature and thick rock around the vault ensure the seeds stay frozen without the need for power. Although you can see its door – and take tours that pass close to the entrance – the actual vault is some 394 feet (120m) inside the mountain. Only the team working on it can visit.

Varosha, Cyprus

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Pre 1974, Varosha was the place to be if you were in Cyprus. The beachside resort was popular with celebrities including Elizabeth Taylor and Brigitte Bardot. But in 1974, Turkish troops invaded the island after tension with Greece reached breaking point.

Varosha, Cyprus

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The inhabitants fled and although tensions have calmed down, the Turkish military fenced off the resort and no one’s been allowed in since. Visiting Varosha is strictly forbidden and anyone crossing the wire risks being shot – those who have snuck in report seeing a ghost town of abandoned hotels and homes. Recent reports suggest the resort may soon undergo controversial redevelopments, but nothing has been set in stone just yet.

North Sentinel Island, India

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North Sentinel Island, a small island in the Indian Ocean, is officially off-limits to all visitors. Its inhabitants, the Sentinelese, live their life completely untouched by the outside world. The Indian government forbids contact with the tribe, principally to protect them from contracting diseases they have no immunity against.

North Sentinel Island, India

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The island's tribespeople do not welcome visitors. American missionary John Allen Chau was killed when he illegally landed on the island in 2018. Attempts to retrieve his body have now been called off due to fears of further attacks and the risks it could post to the Sentinelese too.

Pine Gap, Northern Territory, Australia

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All sorts of rumours swirl about this remote and covert Australian-American military base set in the central Australian desert just southwest of Alice Springs. Commonly known as Pine Gap, it’s officially called the Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap and is totally off limits to anyone but officials. Exactly what goes on in there is a closely guarded secret, but it inspired a Netflix series called Pine Gap.

Pine Gap, Northern Territory, Australia

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The US satellite surveillance base was founded in the 1970s. It now employs around 1,000 people and it collects a wide range of signals intelligence as well as providing information on early warning of ballistic missile launches.

Poveglia, Italy

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The curious island of Poveglia, in the Venetian Lagoon, has long been off limits to tourists. When the bubonic plague hit Italy in the 17th century, thousands of patients were quarantined on the island – no surprise, then, that it’s purportedly one of the most haunted places on Earth. It’s also rumoured that an asylum opened here in the 1920s, and that a doctor performed macabre experiments on his patients. This remains no more than a local legend.

Poveglia, Italy

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In 2014, the island made the headlines when it was sold to businessman Luigi Brugnaro. Brugnaro suggested he would renovate the island’s buildings, including its derelict, crumbling hospital, and put Poveglia to some sort of public use. His plans are yet to be realised. Now check out these incredible photos of the world's abandoned islands.

Heard Island, Australia

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This remote, volcanic island in the Subantarctic belongs to Australia. Stark and inhospitable, it’s dominated by Big Ben – a 9,000-foot (2,743m) high active volcano that is linked to the famous London landmark by name alone. The last recorded eruption here was in 2016. Needless to say, the island remains uninhabited by humans.

Heard Island, Australia

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In order to protect the island’s rare and delicate ecology (including the resident penguins), visits are strictly regulated – you’re highly unlikely to be able to go unless you’re part of a scientific expedition. Should you be granted access, you face a two-week voyage from Australia across some of the planet’s roughest seas.

Ilha da Queimada Grande, Brazil

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This Brazilian island almost makes for the perfect escape: it’s warm, unspoiled and its rocky expanse is carpeted with lush, green vegetation. But there’s a good reason it's off limits. Aptly nicknamed “Snake Island”, it’s home to around 4,000 venomous vipers – that amounts to approximately one snake per square metre. They’re called golden lanceheads (or Bothrops insularis) and their bite is deadly.

Ilha da Queimada Grande, Brazil

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It’s illegal to visit the island without the express permission of the Brazilian army or government – and given the sheer perilousness, it’s probably best left off the bucket list anyway.

Surtsey, Iceland

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If you’re looking at an old map of Iceland, you won’t find Surtsey. This island was created after a series of earthquakes in the late 1960s, and scientists have kept it as a pristine laboratory ever since. If you’re not part of a very select scientific community, you can’t visit.

Surtsey, Iceland

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You certainly wouldn’t want to allow humans to trample this untouched environment anyway. It’s far too valuable to scientists studying the wonderful flora and fauna that have made their home here.

Area 51, Nevada, USA

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The darling of conspiracy theorists, Area 51 is a highly-classified US Air Force base in southern Nevada. The Americans are very secretive about what’s done on the base and plenty of people are convinced that aliens are somehow involved.

Area 51, Nevada, USA

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You can’t go on the base, naturally, but that hasn’t stopped a small tourism industry from springing up nearby along the self-proclaimed Extraterrestrial Highway. Eyes are glued to the skies for sightings of anything usual – preferably something from another planet.

Sana'a, Yemen

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Yemen’s capital is one of the oldest and highest cities in the world. Sana’a is also one of the most enchanting, its Old City crammed full of Islamic and Ottoman buildings. People have been living in Sana’a for more than 2,500 years, and its exquisite architecture has earned it a place on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

Sana'a, Yemen

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Many of the houses here are built of rammed earth known as pisé, and most of its Old City was built before the 11th century. But civil unrest and then Saudi-led air strikes have put the city in danger. Today the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the US Department of State advise against all travel to Yemen.

Lascaux Cave, France

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Back in the 1940s, a teenage boy stumbled upon a cave in the Dordogne filled with prehistoric paintings of more than 2,000 figures. But, after France opened the caves to the public in 1948, it wasn’t long before the effects of all those visitors started to destroy the paintings.

Lascaux Cave, France

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The cave was closed but, in order that tourists could still enjoy a version of the paintings, the French built an exact copy nearby. Now on the UNESCO World Heritage List, the cave is a compelling record of mainly animal paintings from the Upper Palaeolithic period – about 17,000 BC.

Point Nepean National Park, Victoria, Australia

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While you can hike around much of this stunning national park in Victoria, large sections are off limits thanks to conservation and potential hazards due to its past as a military firing range. The remote and protected location, set on the western tip of the Mornington Peninsula, is home to rare species, such as the white-footed dunnart, long-nosed bandicoot, black wallaby, singing honeyeater, blue-winged parrot and hooded plover, and native coastal plants.

Point Nepean National Park, Victoria, Australia

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As the entrance to Port Phillip Bay, this point was important strategically and the site of many forts and military buildings, including the 19th-century Fort Nepean. A quarantine station was also established on the wild and windswept spit in 1852. The waters are notoriously treacherous along the southern part of the park and boats are not permitted to land.

Chapel of the Ark of the Covenant, Ethiopia

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It's said that, sometime before Christ, the Ark of the Covenant disappeared from Jerusalem and ended up in Ethiopia. The Ark is significant in Christian belief since it holds the tablets of the Ten Commandments, and it's now thought be kept in a special chapel in Aksum.

Chapel of the Ark of the Covenant, Ethiopia

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Throughout time, the Ark has reportedly been guarded by a series of monks, so you won't be able to visit the sacred relic. However, you can still explore the streets of the ancient town it lives in.

Timbuktu, Mali

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There’s always been a mythical air about this ancient Saharan town, which was one of the most important seats of Islamic learning for centuries. But this UNESCO World Heritage Site has since come under attack by Islamist rebels, and tourist numbers to Timbuktu have plunged.

Timbuktu, Mali

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Its significant place along Africa’s major trade routes gave Timbuktu its wealth, and salt traders still travel this route in spite of the dangers. Before the Islamist insurgents appeared, the town was the focus of fighting from its Tuareg population. Now discover 50 stunning photos of no-go destinations for tourists.

Heart Reef, Queensland, Australia

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This cute heart-shaped formation near the Whitsundays in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park has become one of Australia’s most familiar landmarks, appearing in numerous tourism campaigns – but you won’t get to see it up close.

Heart Reef, Queensland, Australia

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Heart Reef has protected status so it’s forbidden to sail or snorkel near it. You can however circle above to admire it on a scenic flight or helicopter tour. Now discover the world's landmarks under threat from climate change.

Ni’hau, Hawaii, USA

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Are you a member of the Robinson family of Ni’hau? If not, you’ll find it immensely tough trying to visit this western outpost of Hawaii. It’s been a private island for more than a century, and visitors can come only by special permission. And it’s useful if you speak the local Hawaiian dialect, as that’s what the residents use.

Ni’hau, Hawaii, USA

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If you do manage to make it to the island, don’t expect anything as modern as plumbing or paved roads. Solar energy keeps things going. But the local wildlife – which includes frolicking seals – is sure to keep you entertained.

Mount Athos, Greece

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For more than a thousand years, Eastern Orthodox monks have been living in the monasteries in Mount Athos. They continue to do so, and welcome a limited number of visitors to this Greek peninsula, providing they're men. They’ve never allowed women to visit the mountain, and they have no intention of doing so in the future.

Mount Athos, Greece

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Even female animals aren’t allowed to be kept. That means eggs and dairy products have to be brought in from outside the peninsula. However, they’ve made an exception for cats. After all, someone’s got to deal with the mouse problem.

Plymouth, Montserrat

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The Caribbean island of Montserrat was hit by a double disaster within the past few decades – first Hurricane Hugo in 1989 then, some seven years later, a catastrophic volcanic eruption. The Soufrière Hills volcano had been thought to be extinct, but it destroyed Montserrat’s historic capital, Plymouth.

Plymouth, Montserrat

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There’s an exclusion zone around Plymouth, which remains covered in ash and is rather like a modern version of Pompeii. They generally don’t allow visitors in, but you can take a helicopter ride over the devastated area.

Plymouth, Montserrat

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You're able to visit the rest of the island – understandably, though, scientists are now keeping a close eye on the volcano in case of another eruption.

Cartier Island Marine Park

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This small sand cay, which lies 373 miles (600km) north of Broome and is closer to Indonesia than Australia, is within a 66-square-mile (172sq km) marine reserve where around 16% of Australia's fish species can be found. Cartier Island and its surrounding reefs have been prime fishing grounds for Indonesian fisherman looking to collect birds, bird's eggs, clams, sea cucumber, shells, turtles and turtle eggs for centuries. It is now an official sanctuary zone and entering or anchoring is strictly forbidden.

Cartier Island Marine Park

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The zone not only protects the marine park's biodiversity – it is an important habitat for sea snakes, turtles, whale sharks, corals, sea fans and sponges – but also safeguards vessels against unexploded ordnance. Cartier Island and the water up to a radius of six miles (10km) was used as a Defence Practice Area up to 2011, so there is a real risk that unexploded weapons remain in the area.

Leptis Magna, Libya

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Even before Libya was swept along the tide of turmoil in Africa and the Middle East, its ancient Roman city was well off the tourist radar. Leptis Magna was founded by the Phoenicians in the 7th century BC, and its ruins overlooking the Mediterranean Sea are really quite extraordinary.

Leptis Magna, Libya

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Sadly, though, it will be some time before tourists can visit these little-explored ruins safely, as official advice in both the USA and the UK is against all travel to Libya. Find out more about the world's lesser known Roman ruins.

Navassa Island, Caribbean

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Navassa, an uninhabited island in the Caribbean, has been the subject of a territorial dispute between Haiti and the USA for centuries. While the US claimed the land in 1857, Haitians maintain that it has been in their control since 1697. The conflict shows no sign of abating. In any case, due to the endemic wildlife here, access to the island is heavily restricted. Navassa’s waters teem with rare marine life and boast a rich bed of coral, currently protected by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Navassa Island, Caribbean

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Native wildlife on land includes birds and several rare species of lizard. The isle is also home to a deactivated lighthouse – it now emits little light and is worn and tattered, but it still looks out proud across the water. You’re unable to visit the island without a special permit, and these are rarely granted to the public.

Uluru (Ayers Rock), Australia

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While you can still observe the rock from afar, since October 2019 tourists have no longer be able to climb the famous landmark. The Aboriginal Anangu tribe are the owners of the rock and they’ve always asked visitors to respect their culture and law by not climbing Uluru.

Uluru (Ayers Rock), Australia

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For years, tourist activity on Uluru damaged its fragile surface and distressed the Anangu people who revere it. But, in November 2017, the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park Board and the rock’s traditional Anangu owners decided to ban climbing. While tourists are still welcome at Uluru, you'll no longer be able to climb to the top. Now check out the destinations you could visit in 2010, but can't in 2020.

Maya Bay, Thailand

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You’ve probably seen this idyllic strand in The Beach movie, starring Leonardo DiCaprio – but, if not, you might well have spotted it in a friend's Instagram photo. Maya Bay, the beautiful Thai setting of the popular film, has been overrun with tourists in the past few years.

Maya Bay, Thailand

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An estimated 80% of the bay’s coral has now been destroyed due to pollution from tourism. Things have got so bad that Thai authorities have closed the beach to visitors – tentative reports suggest the beach is likely to be closed until at least summer 2021. The government hopes that this closure will allow them time to recover the stunning beach’s ecosystem. Now read about the destinations that became too crowded in 2019.