What is an obscure tourist location you think is underrated?

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Indonesia
Vietnam
Laos
Japan
India

[Хahar 🤔]

This may be cheating since I was there just a week and a half ago, but I hadn't heard of it before last month, so I assume that most people haven't either. The most scenic drive I've ever experienced is the Mattole Road in the Lost Coast of Humboldt County, California, which runs from Ferndale out by the ocean through Petrolia and thence to Humboldt Redwoods State Park. On one end you have some of the very tallest trees in the world, and on the other you have the prettiest town in all of California. In between you get bucolic views of cows grazing on the slopes of lush green valleys that open out to the endless Pacific Ocean.

The photos you see online are all picturesque, but none of them can really capture the whole experience. The road quality is often poor (in places it's an unfinished road only really wide enough to let one car go at a time) and the location is remote, but even in an exceptionally beautiful part of the country this road stands out.

I never made it out to Humboldt, but during my sole sojourn to date to the West Coast (to visit my brother in Ashland, OR), I drove all the way along US Route 199 through the Klamath Mountains (road was pretty scary at times) and the redwoods, and then down the coastline to the mouth of the Klamath River. Crescent City was pretty dumpy, especially given that it was April, but the rest of the scenery was gorgeous and pristine, and other people were admirably scarce. A picture that I took at a hill overlooking the Klamath spilling out into the Pacific is still my phone background, although I unfortunately couldn't quite capture the seals that were hanging out on the sand below.

Yeah, I was out that way for the first time a couple weeks ago. My brother took some pictures of morning on the Smith River at the end of Walker Road in Jedediah Smith State Park:

[100% pro-life no matter what]

A few places that I've personally been that I would highly recommend:

Las Pailas, Puerto Rico
Iguazu Falls, Argentina/Brazil (not super obscure, but definitely doesn't get the same love as Niagara, even if I'd say it's better)
Colonia, Uruguay
Toledo, Spain
Tortuguero, Costa Rica
27 Charcos, Dominican Republic

In the Continental United States:
St. Augustine, Florida
Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (not obscure to people from TN, but semi-obscure nationally, and with the caveat to not take yourself too seriously when there)
Chattanooga, Tennessee and surrounding area
Chincoteague/Assateague, Virginia
Cumberland Falls, Kentucky
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (even beyond the battlefield)
Franklin, Tennessee (I know I'm biased as it's my home town, but there is a lot to see here, ranging from a charming downtown to Civil War sights to scenic countryside)

[Xing]

Victoria, Canada
San Juan Islands, Washington
Seaside, Oregon
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Merida, Mexico/much of Yucatan in general (maybe not obscure, but underrated)
Taiwan (especially the eastern part of the island)
Estonia

[TDAS04]

Victoria, BC may be my favorite place I’ve been to, but I’m not sure how obscure it is, since it seems to get a decent number of visitors.  Other parts of Vancouver island, which I’ve not been to, may be more off the beaten path.

[Big Abraham]

Apache and Gila National Forests in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

To answer my own thread:

Palmanova is a nice little town in Friuli quite off the beaten track with a peculiar architectural structure if there ever was one - it has the shape of a nine-pointed star, is surrounded by a nine-pointed wall and moat, and has a hexagonal square in the middle.

Not far from there, the small city of Gorizia at the border with Slovenia is great. Arguably all the area where Italy, Slovenia and Croatia meet is underrated (although not really obscure).

I personally think everything in Pisa not named Leaning Tower is underrated, but nothing beats the church of San Michele degli Scalzi, a prime example of Romanesque architecture with a bell tower (and the church itself!) leaning even more than the most famous one, which probably receives little attention because of its peripheral position.

The historic centre of Mannheim, also known as Quadratestadt, has a grid pattern where very unusually (for Europe) the streets have no name - instead blocks have. Quite interesting city in general. I recognize this will sound terribly boring to anyone who has been in Japan however.

I would also mention Orbetello (yes, we have another town in the middle of a lagoon!), Cesenatico (if you just ignore the resort town aspect and that brutish random skyscraper and focus on the historic centre, it's really pleasant), and although they are probably not obscure, Catania, the Camargue, Colmar, and Heidelberg.

[Santander]

Victoria, BC may be my favorite place I’ve been to, but I’m not sure how obscure it is, since it seems to get a decent number of visitors.  Other parts of Vancouver island, which I’ve not been to, may be more off the beaten path.

Yeah, it's a de rigueur stop for every Alaska cruise and absolutely infested with tourists in the summer.

[Mr. Smith]

This may be cheating since I was there just a week and a half ago, but I hadn't heard of it before last month, so I assume that most people haven't either. The most scenic drive I've ever experienced is the Mattole Road in the Lost Coast of Humboldt County, California, which runs from Ferndale out by the ocean through Petrolia and thence to Humboldt Redwoods State Park. On one end you have some of the very tallest trees in the world, and on the other you have the prettiest town in all of California. In between you get bucolic views of cows grazing on the slopes of lush green valleys that open out to the endless Pacific Ocean.

The photos you see online are all picturesque, but none of them can really capture the whole experience. The road quality is often poor (in places it's an unfinished road only really wide enough to let one car go at a time) and the location is remote, but even in an exceptionally beautiful part of the country this road stands out.

Ah yes, I backpacked that as a teenager, and I can confer...so many creeks that decide to not go into the ocean, also a tiny lighthouse that looks more like a Hollywood movie set than an actual lighthouse.

There really is nothing like The Coast there...not even Bodega [aka The Birds], certainly not Big Sur.






Now as for my list:

Been

Canyon, TX [It's a getaway place, but the hills are truly amazing]
Laie, Hawaii [perhaps it's Church speaking, but too much about Oahu is focused on Honolulu and Pearl Harbor, and not enough on the north side. It's such a nice village]
Montreat, NC [Right outside Asheville, but the town is small enough, has a nice forest, and Warren Wilson is fairly nice little college in its own right.
Pavia, Italy [This is a small town in-between Genoa and Milan, nice countryside, and iirc, it has a pretty cool monastery]
Pisa, Italy [for all the reasons better mentioned earlier]

The Capuchin Monks, Rome, Italy  [While most of Rome is underrated, there's one place where the monks hung all the skeletons up that no one talks about for some reason...or at least it escapes American ears quickly]


Want to go

Faroe Islands
Pretty much anywhere in Iceland that isn't Reykjavik [seems that's the only place tourists go]
Lolo National Forest, Montana
Kodiak, Alaska

[Continential]

Indonesia
Vietnam
Laos
Japan
India

Have you been to any of the places you mentioned? Because they aren't obscure.

[TDAS04]

Hokkaido, Japan sounds like a place I would like.

[Crumpets]

Lots of places in Eastern Europe. The top major cities that come to mind are Sarajevo, Brasov, and Tbilisi. I imagine tourism is on the rise there, but I don't know many Americans who have been to those places.

If we're going with really obscure places not on anyone's map, the Pù Luông Nature Reserve in Vietnam is absolutely idyllic. For example, I was there for around 4 days, and even though we had a shower we could use, nobody in my group used it because the rivers and lakes were so clean, we would just go for a swim every day. Another time I was walking through a field and had a couple hundred butterflies take off all at once and fly around me like a scene in a Ghibli movie.



There are also some great remote towns in (the republic of) Georgia I'd recommend visiting if you get the chance. Stepantsminda is pretty well-known as a tourist site and I think that's well-deserved. But there's also lots of other smaller towns in the mountains nearby that are equally worth visiting, especially if you're a keen hiker.



For local stuff I'd recommend but don't see in guide books, Canyon Road between Ellensburg and Yakima is one of my favorite roads to drive. You can do the same route by inner tube if driving isn't your thing as well.

[Crumpets]

Oh, one more in Eastern Europe. This is definitely a big tourist spot for people from the region, but I haven't talked to anyone from a country other than Bulgaria or Romania that's heard of it: Nessebar on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast.

[morgieb]

It's not really a "off the beaten track" kind of place, but Taipei feels like it flies under the radar to some degree.

The Illawarra also has some strikingly beautiful places that I don't think non-Australians know much about.

[Badger]

Outside the U.S., Pakistan

It has incredible levels of natural beauty and striking diversity in geology of historical events, landmarks, and architecture, very hospitable people, and rich cultures and cuisines. They all are also extremely inexpensive places to visit for an American (barring the flight cost).



Lake Saif-ul-Malook in KPK



Mohenjo-Daro in Sindh



Derawar Fort



The capital city Islamabad



A view of the Badshahi Masjid in Lahore



Hingol National Park in Balochistan



The rightly named "Fairy Meadows" in Gilgit-Baltistan

Among many, many more places

There are disadvantages, though, for example, low infrastructure quality, as well as a lack of tourist culture. Many amenities that are basic in the Western world such as internet access and electricity are frequently lost. Also, a local guide is a must-have if you want to visit any part of the country if you have no prior connection.

The security situation has gotten much better in Pakistan over the last few years, so much so that civilian fatalities of terrorists have plunged by 95% since their peak in 2012, and the country is getting better by the day.


I also hear Iran, Turkey, and Central Asia are very great places to visit as well.

The additional cost of having one's family ransom you from kidnappers puts it out of most price ranges.

[Nutmeg]

- I haven’t yet been (although I would love to soon), but the Faroe Islands seem genuinely stunning, and a great alternative to Iceland, which has become chock full of tourists.

Very much this. Similar scenery in the Faroes but basically no tourists. I would go back to the Faroes in a heartbeat but probably would not return to Iceland any time soon.

[Biden his time]

Outside the U.S., Pakistan

It has incredible levels of natural beauty and striking diversity in geology of historical events, landmarks, and architecture, very hospitable people, and rich cultures and cuisines. They all are also extremely inexpensive places to visit for an American (barring the flight cost).



Lake Saif-ul-Malook in KPK



Mohenjo-Daro in Sindh



Derawar Fort



The capital city Islamabad



A view of the Badshahi Masjid in Lahore



Hingol National Park in Balochistan



The rightly named "Fairy Meadows" in Gilgit-Baltistan

Among many, many more places

There are disadvantages, though, for example, low infrastructure quality, as well as a lack of tourist culture. Many amenities that are basic in the Western world such as internet access and electricity are frequently lost. Also, a local guide is a must-have if you want to visit any part of the country if you have no prior connection.

The security situation has gotten much better in Pakistan over the last few years, so much so that civilian fatalities of terrorists have plunged by 95% since their peak in 2012, and the country is getting better by the day.


I also hear Iran, Turkey, and Central Asia are very great places to visit as well.

The additional cost of having one's family ransom you from kidnappers puts it out of most price ranges.

   The only thing that will be kidnapped from you are your misconceptions about the country.

Pakistan is much safer than it was ten years ago after military operations. Stay out of the bad areas, maintain a relatively low profile, and don't unnecessarily antagonize people, and you'll be fine. There have been only eleven kidnappings of foreigners in the last decade in the country (and only four in the last seven years, and this is out of hundreds of thousands of foreigners who visited the country (no way that list is missing people, every single individual case of kidnapping and ransom of foreigners gets absolutely blown up by the media, no pun intended; if it is missing people, I encourage you to put them on the list). You must have a massive ego if you think someone wants to kidnap you.


In fact, it's probably safer for foreigners than it is for local people, unfortunately, who are much more likely to face deplorable incidents such as forced conversions, disappearances etc. and do not get their deserved attention in the media.

[Nutmeg]

- I haven’t yet been (although I would love to soon), but the Faroe Islands seem genuinely stunning, and a great alternative to Iceland, which has become chock full of tourists.

Very much this. Similar scenery in the Faroes but basically no tourists. I would go back to the Faroes in a heartbeat but probably would not return to Iceland any time soon.

Also the Faroese people are incredible. My group was staying for a few nights in a rented house in this little town of a couple dozen houses, and the locals came to our house with alcohol and made us join a parade to the town party, where they started playing American music on a piano and singing along. Problem was, I didn't know any of the 70s hair metal songs every resident of the town was belting out at the top of their lungs, lyrics committed to memory. I suggested they switch to Faroese songs, which were a lot of fun to listen to. My group even got invited to a multi-generational after-party that was as lit as most anything I've been to in the U.S.  10 out of 10, would visit again.