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Unusual Travel Destinations: Where You Don't Usually Go

They do still exist - even if we sometimes think the entire planet has already been visited.

Granted, it is becoming more difficult to find unusual places to visit but that doesn't mean they aren't there.

You just need a little more imagination, that's all.

Take polar travel: we're so keen on tropical rainforests and beaches that we may not even think of mushing in the Far North, cuddling up in an ice hotel, or riding an icebreaker in the Arctic.

Or ghost tourism, to discover haunted places or search for another dimension.

What about movie tourism, whether the New Zealand of Lord of the Rings or the Venice or Paris of films.

Featured in the filming of Lord of the Rings
Photo: Kiwi Mikex via Flickr

Another type of star tourism? Head to Scotland or Scandinavia for some star gazing at the Northern Lights.

And while you're gazing upwards, why not gaze further - straight out to space? These days, extraterrestrial travel - or space tourism - has actually become a reality. You may not be able to afford it yet, but like every new experience, prices may someday come down.

Back on Earth, disaster tourism - where people flock to the sites of floods, hurricanes or other natural disasters - is becoming increasingly popular. So is dark tourism, which visits sites somehow linked to grief or death - like World War II's concentration camps.

Similarly, movies like Slumdog Millionaire have made visiting slums the next hottest thing - whether it's slum tourism in Mumbai, in the favelas of Rio or in the townships of Johannesburg.

These more unusual destinations aren't without raising questions: just how ethical are they?

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