Places to stay Explore our selections for remote.
Southern Ocean Lodge
HotelOceania, Australia
From $2,200
Southern Ocean Lodge sits on the limestone cliffs above Hanson Bay, on the wild south-west coast of Kangaroo Island, a short flight from Adelaide. Destroyed by bushfire in 2020, it reopened in late 2023 under its original architect, Max Pritchard, with 23 suites strung along the coastline, a central Great Room and a new four-bedroom Ocean Pavilion. The lodge runs almost entirely off-grid, powered by solar and battery systems and supplied by rainwater and an aquifer, while works by island and South Australian artists fill the interiors. Stays are all-inclusive, with menus built around local growers and fishermen, an open bar, signature island experiences, a spa and transfers included.
Tu Tu’ Tun Lodge
HotelNorth America, United States
From $290
Tu Tu’ Tun Lodge is an adults-only retreat on the north bank of the Rogue River, seven miles upriver from Gold Beach on the southern Oregon coast. A family-owned lodge since the 1970s, it is surrounded by dense forest a few miles from the Siskiyou National Forest, far from the busier stretches of the Pacific Northwest. Rooms, suites and riverside houses open onto the water, with stone fireplaces and wood interiors throughout. Days are spent kayaking, fishing, hiking or taking jet boat trips upriver, with an outdoor pool, a sauna and massages back at the lodge, and dinner is served family-style each evening.
Kruger Shalati
HotelAfrica, South Africa
From $1,000
Kruger Shalati is a hotel set in a restored train, permanently parked on the Selati Bridge above the Sabie River at Skukuza, in South Africa's Kruger National Park. It revives a century-old tradition: in the 1920s, visitors to the park would spend the night in a train on this same bridge. Today, 24 carriages have been turned into suites with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the river, and seven more suites sit in a garden on the riverbank. The pool hangs over the side of the bridge, so guests can swim while elephants, hippos and crocodiles pass in the water below. Days follow the rhythm of a safari, with two game drives, all meals and afternoon tea included, and walking safaris and in-room spa treatments can be added.
Shipwreck Lodge
VillaAfrica
From $1,850
Shipwreck Lodge is the only lodge inside Namibia's Skeleton Coast National Park, the least visited of the country's parks, set among the dunes between the Hoanib and Hoarusib river mouths. Its ten cabins were designed by architect Nina Maritz to look like the wrecked ships scattered along this coastline, and they run on solar power. The coast is cool and often foggy, shaped by the cold Benguela current of the Atlantic. Days include drives along the shore to the wrecks of the Suiderkus and Karimona, game drives into the dry riverbeds to track desert-adapted elephants, and walks and sundowners on the beach. Despite the harsh landscape, the area is home to oryx, springbok, giraffe, Cape fur seals and, occasionally, lions.
Aluna Dakhla
HotelAfrica, Morocco
From $260
Aluna Dakhla is a 24-room beachfront hotel on the Dakhla peninsula, in Morocco's far south, where the desert meets a long, shallow lagoon about 30 kilometres from town. The lagoon's steady wind and flat water have made it one of the best-known kitesurfing spots in the world, and the hotel sits right on the shore. Days revolve around the water, with kitesurfing, windsurfing, sailing and water skiing, followed by spa treatments and long dinners on the terrace. Breakfast is cooked to order each morning, and the restaurant focuses on fresh seafood from the coast. In the evenings, the sun sets directly over the lagoon, and the nights turn cool enough for a fire.
Kokomo Private Island
HotelOceania, Fiji
From $2,000
Kokomo Private Island sits within the Great Astrolabe Reef in Fiji's Kadavu region, a 45-minute seaplane or helicopter flight south of the mainland. Its beachfront villas and hilltop residences are spread along white sand beaches, each with a private pool on a wide deck, open-air bathrooms and gardens leading down to the sand. Most of what is served at the island's restaurants comes from its own 5.5-acre organic farm, which also has a beehive, a henhouse and a vanilla plantation. The reef around the island is one of the best places in the world for diving and snorkelling, and the resort supports manta ray conservation and coral restoration. Days can also include deep-sea fishing, a hike to a waterfall on a nearby island, or a treatment at the Yaukuve Spa Sanctuary.
The Retreat at Blue Lagoon
HotelEurope, Iceland
From $1,800
The Retreat is a 62-suite hotel built into an 800-year-old lava field on Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula, less than an hour from Reykjavík. Its architecture follows the landscape, with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over moss-covered rock, and some suites so close to the lava that you can touch it from the terrace. Guests have access to a private geothermal lagoon reserved for the hotel, as well as the main Blue Lagoon. Below ground, the Retreat Spa offers the Blue Lagoon Ritual, a treatment using the lagoon's own silica, algae and minerals. Moss, the hotel's restaurant, serves seasonal Icelandic cuisine. Each guest has a personal host, who also lets them know when the northern lights appear.
Juvet Landscape Hotel
HotelEurope, Norway
From $430
Juvet was the first landscape hotel in Europe, built in Valldal on Norway's west coast, about 90 minutes inland from Ålesund. Its rooms are small wooden cubes raised on stilts among the trees, each with full-height glass walls facing the valley, the forest or the gorge of the Valldøla river below. The interiors are kept dark on purpose, so nothing competes with the view. Guests can also stay in the old farmhouse, mill house and barn, and dinner is served together in the barn each evening at 7:30, made with local ingredients. The bath house frames a bend in the river, and the hotel sits on the scenic route between the Geirangerfjord and Trollstigen. Film fans may recognise it from Ex Machina.
Deplar Farm
HotelEurope, Iceland
From $4,000
Deplar Farm is a remote adventure lodge set in Iceland’s Fljót Valley, surrounded by the mountains of the Troll Peninsula. Once a working sheep farm, the property has been transformed into an intimate 13-room retreat combining Icelandic architecture with an extensive wellness area, including an indoor-outdoor geothermal pool, sauna and flotation tanks. The landscape drives the experience, with heli-skiing in spring and hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding during the warmer months, while its highly inclusive approach covers meals, drinks and most guided activities.
