SCOUTING REPORT 2011

Photos: 12 Best Places You've Never Heard Of

There are precious few spots that are both off the grid and out of this world. We asked a dozen professional globe-trotters to take us to their most secret hideaways.

September 2011 issue | Subscribe to the magazine

Source Article: 12 Best Places You've Never Heard of

An aerial view of Australia's Lord Howe Island, a two-hour flight from Sydney.
(R. Ian Lloyd)
Lord Howe's native kentia palms, with views of two volcanic mountains: Mount Gower and Mount Lidgbird.
(Tom Till/ Getty Images)
Thompsons General Store on Australia's Lord Howe Island.
(Ashley Whitworth/ Alamy)
The 12th-century Romanesque Saint-Sylvain Church in Saint-Sauvant France.
(Courtesy Jack Ma/Wikimedia Commons)
The lunar landscape of Keahiakawelo, Lanai, where thousands of years of wind erosion have created spires and towers.
(Maryellen McGrath/ Landov)
A vegetable stall at the central market in Sucre, Bolivia.
(Jerome Lorieau)
The ancient village of Dartio in Georgia's Tusheti region.
(Courtesy Wild Frontiers)
Rare cormorant birds in Senegal's Iles de la Madeleine National Park, a pair of spiky uninhabited outcroppings 2.5 miles off the coast of Dakar.
(TJ Haslam/ Flickr)
The dining room in Castello di Verduno, in Italy's Piedmont Region, where guests can sample Barolo from the castle's cellars.
(Andrea Wyner)
The stonework kitchen at Queareparaenamorarte, a traditional restaurant along the Vuelta al Orienta, a looping day-long drive in Colombia's Eastern Antioquia region.
(Mauricio Granados)
Doe Bay, on Washington State's Orcas Island, which has an unassuming resort of the same name.
(Cameron Zegers Photography)
South Africa's wild Cederberg Mountains, which surround the picturesque town of Wuppertal, four hours north of Cape Town.
(Awie Badenhorst/ Alamy)
The remote Himalayan village of Namje in Nepal, accessible only by footpath.
(Courtesy Stephanie Odegard)
Devils Leap in Wyoming's Bighorn Basin, sitting in the backyard of outdoor-friendly town of Buffalo.
(Iconotec/ Alamy)