Some destinations require a passport, others demand a hefty budget, but these places have a much simpler entry requirement: don’t even bother trying. Whether protected by governments, geography, or genuinely dangerous conditions, these forbidden locations remain tantalizingly out of reach for regular travelers.
From remote islands patrolled by hostile tribes to religious sites with strict access rules, these places capture our imagination precisely because we can’t experience them firsthand. Some restrictions exist for our safety, others protect fragile ecosystems or archaeological treasures, and a few guard secrets that governments would rather keep locked away from prying eyes. So, let’s see what all the screcy is about!
28. Gangkhar Puensum, Bhutan
Bhutan has banned mountaineering on peaks higher than 6,000 meters since 1994, making Gangkhar Puensum the world’s tallest unclimbed mountain. The locals believe that disturbing the spirits hanging out on sacred peaks brings seriously bad karma to everyone, and honestly, who wants to risk ticking off mountain spirits for a selfie?
At 7,570 meters, this beast of a mountain remains completely untouched by crampon-wearing humans. Even if Bhutan suddenly changed its mind tomorrow, you’d still need to navigate one of the world’s most restrictive visa systems just to get into the country as Bhutan has a very strict cap on visitor numbers.
27. Fukushima Exclusion Zone, Japan
The 2011 nuclear disaster created a 20-kilometer radius where time literally stopped, leaving behind a modern-day Pompeii complete with abandoned ramen bowls and half-finished homework assignments. It’s like everyone just vanished mid-Tuesday into thin air.
While some tour companies now run guided visits through decontaminated areas, radiation levels in many spots still make Geiger counters buzz with panic. You’ll follow strict rules about where to walk, what to touch (spoiler: nothing), and how long to stay before your DNA starts getting creative. Nature’s slowly taking back the towns, creating this weirdly beautiful post-apocalyptic landscape that’s equal parts haunting and fascinating.
26. Kerguelen Islands, French Southern Territories
Captain Cook took one look at these sub-Antarctic islands and basically said “nope,” dubbing them the “Desolation Islands.” Located 3,300 kilometers from anywhere civilized, they’re home to a tiny research station and some seriously tough wildlife that includes some hostile elephant seals.
Getting there requires French government permission and hitching a ride on supply ships that run maybe four times a year through treacherous waters. You’re talking weeks of travel through seas nicknamed the “Furious Fifties” where waves regularly grow taller than office buildings. The research station fits maybe 100 people during the summer so it is delightfully uncrowded, but don’t count on nabbing a spot any time soon.
25. Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Norway
The “Doomsday Vault” stores backup copies of the world’s crop seeds, serving as humanity’s agricultural Plan B for when we inevitably mess everything up. Built into an Arctic mountainside, it’s designed to stay frozen even if the power goes out and civilization goes full Mad Max.
Only a handful of people have ever stepped inside the vault’s inner chambers, where over a million seed samples chill at minus 18 degrees Celsius. Here, seeds check in, but they don’t check out unless the world ends. Even government officials need extensive background checks just to peek at some frozen corn kernels.
24. Cave of the Crystals, Mexico
Alexander Van Driessche / Wikipedia
Deep under the Chihuahua desert, gypsum crystals spent hundreds of thousands of years growing into formations that look eerily similar to the planet Krypton. Some crystals stretch 36 feet long and weigh more than elephants, creating the most out-of-this-world cave.
The cave sits nearly 1,000 feet underground where temperatures hit 136°F with humidity that is off the charts. Humans can survive maybe 10 minutes before becoming well-cooked tourists. Visitors need cooling suits that cost more than luxury cars and still provide only limited protection against becoming human jerky. Most visits are suspended because nobody wants to explain to insurance companies why people keep trying to visit an underground oven.
23. Bouvet Island, Norway
Bouvet Island wins the “Middle of Absolutely Nowhere” award, sitting 1,600 kilometers from its nearest neighbor in the South Atlantic. It’s 93 percent covered by glaciers, making it a frozen rock surrounded by seas so angry they regularly throw 50-foot tantrums.
Norway technically owns this iceberg masquerading as an island, but good luck actually getting there to plant a flag or check the property values. No regular transport exists, landing conditions range from difficult to suicidal, and there’s literally nothing to do except count penguins and plot your escape. The few expeditions that have reached it report conditions so miserable that even polar explorers pack up and leave early.
22. Niihau Island, Hawaii
The Robinson family has owned this “Forbidden Island” since 1864, turning it into a living museum of traditional Hawaiian culture. About 130 native Hawaiians live here, speaking Hawaiian as their primary language and maintaining lifestyles that haven’t changed much since before tourists discovered Hawaii and ruined everything with resort hotels.
Getting an invitation from residents is rare, and helicopter tours cost enough to fund a small vacation elsewhere just for brief flyovers without landing. The island operates like a cultural time capsule, preserving authentic Hawaiian traditions that have mostly been steamrolled by tourism development on the other islands. It’s basically what Hawaii looked like before someone decided every beach needed a tiki bar.
21. Vatican Secret Archives, Rome
Despite the James Bond movie name, these archives mostly contain boring papal paperwork, diplomatic letters, and medieval administrative documents that would put you to sleep. Researchers need more permits than nuclear scientists just to read letters about monastery food complaints from the 12th century.
The Vatican recently rebranded them as “Apostolic Archives” to sound a little less conspiracy theory-inducing. Don’t expect alien autopsy reports or secret prophecies because most documents involve property disputes, accounting records, and strongly worded letters about monk behavior. Access requires advanced degrees, legitimate research purposes, and enough paperwork to deforest small countries.
20. Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Australia
Tristannew / Wikipedia
These volcanic islands sit in Southern Ocean waters that make approaching them somewhere between extremely stupid and completely impossible. Heard Island features Big Ben, an active volcano that regularly redecorates the landscape, while McDonald Islands barely qualify as islands rather than expensive rocks.
Australia claims them as territories but they’re uninhabited except for occasional research stations when weather permits safe landings, which is roughly never. They’re 4,100 kilometers from the nearest populated land, making them more isolated than some space stations and considerably less accessible. Weather includes constant storms, subzero temperatures, and winds that could relocate small buildings.
19. Fort Knox, Kentucky
The U.S. stores about 4,578 tonnes of gold behind granite walls at Fort Knox with added steel barriers, and security measures so classified that they probably have security measures protecting information about the security measures. Nobody’s been inside since 1974, when journalists got a tour that revealed approximately nothing useful about how the place actually works.
Even Congress members need special permission and compelling reasons just to window shop, and photography has been banned since opening day. The gold sits in compartments with different combinations, ensuring no single person could access large amounts even if they somehow convinced everyone else to take a very long lunch break.
18. Mount Kailash, Tibet
This sacred mountain holds religious significance for Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Bon followers, who consider it the universe’s center and cosmic apartment building for various deities. Pilgrims walk the 52-kilometre circuit around the base, but climbing the actual peak is considered spiritually catastrophic and guaranteed to ruin your karma for multiple lifetimes.
China technically issues climbing permits through standard bureaucracy, but religious and political pressure makes attempts about as popular as volunteering for root canals. Several expedition companies have gotten permits only to cancel after facing opposition from religious groups, local communities, and team members who suddenly developed spiritual objections to potentially angering multiple pantheons of gods.
17. North and South Brother Islands, New York City
reivax / Wikipedia
These 20-acre islands serve as bird sanctuaries in the East River, staying off-limits to protect nesting colonies from hungry tourists. North Brother Island once housed the quarantine hospital where “Typhoid Mary” spent her final decades in medical isolation after repeatedly poisoning people through her cooking career.
The abandoned hospital buildings are crumbling into picturesque ruins that create an apocalyptic landscape visible from Manhattan but completely inaccessible to urban explorers. City officials occasionally allow researchers to visit under supervision tighter than maximum security prisons, but public access is permanently banned to protect both birds and visitors from buildings that could collapse.
16. Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), North/South Korea
The world’s most heavily fortified border accidentally created a nature preserve where wildlife thrives while soldiers glare at each other across minefields. It’s a really tense nature documentary where rare cranes and bears flourish while humans practice the world’s longest staring contest.
Limited tours operate from South Korea, but you’re visiting an active military zone where thousands of soldiers maintain constant vigilance. Photography restrictions are very strict, straying from designated paths could start international incidents, and tour guides carry lists of prohibited behaviors that include pointing, sudden movements, and wearing anything that might be mistaken for military gear.
15. Poveglia Island, Italy
This small island near Venice has a dreadfully grim history. About 160,000 people died here from plague and other diseases over several centuries, with bodies burned in massive bonfires that left ash deposits throughout the soil. The island is abandoned and strictly off-limits, though urban explorers occasionally sneak over despite police patrols and legal penalties that are quite hefty.
Local legends claim the soil contains 50 percent human ash, making it unnaturally fertile while creating an atmosphere that makes even skeptics feel uneasy. The crumbling hospital buildings and bell tower look like they were designed to be future nightmare fuel, despite the romantic backdrop of Venice.
14. Snake Island, Brazil
Ilha da Queimada Grande hosts one to five venomous snakes per square meter, earning its nickname through simple mathematics rather than creative tourism marketing. The golden lancehead vipers here exist nowhere else and pack venom potent enough to kill humans faster than you can say “should’ve stayed home.”
Brazil’s navy maintains an automated lighthouse but bans all civilian access, with patrol boats enforcing the restriction 24/7. These snakes evolved in isolation to hunt birds, developing venom more potent than their mainland cousins while completely losing any fear of larger animals like humans. Even researchers need special permits, medical teams on standby, and insurance policies that most companies refuse to write.
13. Surtsey Island, Iceland
This volcanic island popped out of the ocean in 1963, creating a controlled experiment in how life colonizes completely sterile land. Scientists have documented every single plant, bug, and bird that shows up, tracking ecological development from bare volcanic rock to functioning ecosystem that constantly evolves.
Iceland protects this ongoing experiment and nly approved researchers can visit, wearing special clothing and sterilizing everything like they’re performing surgery on the landscape. The island has provided priceless insights into natural colonization that would be impossible to study anywhere else, assuming curious tourists don’t accidentally drop invasive species while taking selfies.
12. Morgan Island, South Carolina
“Monkey Island” hosts about 4,000 rhesus macaques relocated from Puerto Rico in the 1970s after they became agricultural pests and general troublemakers. These monkeys now live the semi-wild life while contributing to medical research, basically retiring to a tropical island to help science advance.
The island is completely off-limits to civilians, though you can sometimes spot monkeys from boats or nearby beaches living their best monkey lives. They’ve adapted surprisingly well to coastal living despite originally being mountain dwellers. Federal authorities maintain it as a closed research facility where the monkeys presumably discuss their contributions to vaccine development during banana breaks.
11. Pripyat (Certain Buildings), Ukraine
While tourists can visit parts of this abandoned city through organized tours, many buildings remain structurally unsound and radioactively spicy decades after the nuclear disaster. The most contaminated areas, including the hospital basement where first responders’ clothing was dumped, require extreme protection.
Some buildings contain items so radioactive they could set off radiation detectors from impressive distances, creating localized hot spots where exposure levels spike. Tour guides carry radiation detectors and know which buildings to avoid, but urban explorers regularly ignore safety warnings with some serious health consequences. So this isn’t even an “enter at your own risk” type of place. Just don’t enter at all.
10. Mount Athos, Greece
This autonomous monastic state has banned women for over 1,000 years, extending the prohibition to most female animals in what might be history’s most comprehensive gender-based travel restriction. Twenty Orthodox monasteries maintain this policy, apparently believing female presence would distract monks from important religious contemplation.
Men can visit with permits with thorough background checks, plus letters proving genuine religious or academic interest rather than curiosity about the world’s most exclusive boys’ club. The peninsula operates like a medieval theocracy with its own government and legal system. Even male visitors face restrictions on photography, behavior, and how long they can stay before wearing out their spiritual welcome.
9. Temple of Kukulcan, Chichen Itza, Mexico
Mexico banned climbing this 79-foot pyramid in 2006 after tourists kept falling off and damaging 1,000-year-old architecture that wasn’t designed for millions of annual footsteps from people wearing inappropriate footwear. The steep, narrow steps become death traps when wet, turning ancient monuments into unintentional extreme sports venues.
You can still approach for photos and experience the pyramid’s acoustic magic – clapping produces echoes that sound like sacred quetzal birds. The climbing ban protects visitors and the UNESCO World Heritage site from further deterioration, while guards constantly patrol to prevent Instagram influencers from attempting unauthorized ascents for content that’s literally not worth dying for.
8. Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Islam’s holiest city restricts entry to Muslims only, with highway checkpoints that make airport security look relaxed. Non-Muslim visitors caught in Mecca face immediate deportation, imprisonment, and permanent Saudi Arabia bans, making unauthorized visits a big no-no.
The restriction prevents the city from becoming a tourist spot while managing crowd control during pilgrimage seasons when millions of Muslims converge on relatively small sacred spaces. Saudi authorities issue special visas for Muslim pilgrims, but the process involves extensive documentation, background checks, and health certifications. The city transforms during Hajj into one of Earth’s largest temporary gatherings, with record-breaking logistics that will make anyone a believer.
7. Chagos Archipelago, Indian Ocean
Britain forcibly removed the entire population in the 1960s to build a U.S. military base, creating one of the modern era’s most controversial real estate transactions. The displaced Chagossians have been fighting in courts for decades to return home while their former islands remain off-limits to everyone except military personnel and authorized contractors.
Only military staff can visit these pristine coral atolls, which accidentally became marine conservation success stories due to protection from fishing, tourism, and development. The reefs and fish populations are thriving in the absence of human interference, proving that sometimes the best conservation strategy is keeping people away entirely. The legal battle continues while the environment enjoys unintentional protection that most marine reserves would envy.
6. Pravčická Brána, Czech Republic
Europe’s largest natural sandstone arch spans 26.5 meters and towers 16 meters high, surviving millions of years of erosion only to face modern threats from tourists wanting to walk across it for photos. Rock climbing and arch-walking are banned to prevent structural damage that would destroy this irreplaceable geological masterpiece.
Czech authorities built viewing platforms and marked trails for excellent photography without compromising structural integrity. The restriction protects one of Europe’s most impressive natural monuments from the same fate as climbing areas damaged by overuse, where constant foot traffic gradually weakened formations that took millions of years to create. The arch appears in films and serves as a national symbol, making its protection both practical and patriotic.
5. Uluru, Australia
Australia banned climbing this sacred monolith in 2019, respecting Aboriginal beliefs that consider the rock’s spiritual pathways inappropriate for tourists to trample. The Anangu people had requested this restriction for decades before authorities stopped prioritizing tourism revenue over indigenous rights.
You can still walk designated base trails and experience cultural programs explaining the rock’s significance beyond its viral potential. The climbing ban protects both sacred sites and visitors, since several climbers died attempting the steep ascent while others suffered serious injuries from falls and heat-related illnesses.
4. Church of St. Mary of Zion, Ethiopia
Ethiopian Orthodox Christians believe this church houses the actual Ark of the Covenant, guarded by a single monk who never leaves the premises and maintains constant vigil over humanity’s most important religious relic. It’s the ultimate security guard job with eternal overtime and no vacation days.
The church allows regular worship and limited tourism in outer areas, but the inner sanctuary remains off-limits to everyone except the guardian monk. Only he knows what’s actually inside, and he’s sworn to secrecy about whether he’s guarding the real deal or a really convincing replica. The restriction ensures legends remain intact for believers while preventing awkward conversations about archaeological verification versus faith-based tourism.
3. Area 51, Nevada
This classified Air Force facility tests experimental aircraft and weapons, not alien spacecraft, despite decades of conspiracy theories fueled by government secrecy and too many science fiction movies. The perimeter is monitored by sensors, cameras, and security personnel who take boundary violations more seriously than tax evasion.
You can legally view the distant base from Highway 375, but approaching the fence triggers federal charges and explanations to authorities who don’t appreciate curiosity about classified military projects. The extreme secrecy surrounding routine weapons testing accidentally created America’s most famous conspiracy destination, with government silence only fueling more speculation about extraterrestrial visitors and recovered UFO technology that probably doesn’t exist but makes great television.
2. Lascaux Caves, France
These 17,000-year-old cave paintings represent humanity’s earliest masterpieces, featuring animals and hunting scenes that demonstrate our ancestors had serious artistic talent. France sealed the original caves in 1963 because human breath, body heat, and bacteria were slowly destroying irreplaceable artwork that survived ice ages but couldn’t handle tour groups.
Visitors experience incredibly detailed replicas at Lascaux II and IV that actually provide better viewing than the cramped, humid originals ever did. Only a few researchers enter the real caves annually for scientific studies. The replicas use advanced technology to recreate the cave environment so accurately that most visitors prefer them to hypothetical access to the deteriorating originals.
1. North Sentinel Island, Andaman
The Sentinelese people have violently rejected outside contact for centuries, greeting visitors with arrows, spears, and a serious “No Soliciting” policy. India protects both the tribe and curious visitors by maintaining a three-mile exclusion zone enforced by naval patrols who prevent unauthorized visits that would end badly for everyone involved.
This community represents one of Earth’s last truly uncontacted peoples, living exactly as their ancestors did thousands of years ago without metal tools, agriculture, or interest in modern civilization. Their hostility stems from historical experiences with British and Indian expeditions that brought disease, violence, and colonization to other Andaman communities. Their isolation protects unique culture while preventing diseases that could devastate their population faster than you can say “unintended genocide through tourism.”