Cover These far-flung travel destinations, like James Turrell’s Roden Crater, challenge how we experience art itself. (Photo: Bonnie Jo Mount / The Washington Post / Getty Images)
These far-flung travel destinations, like James Turrell’s Roden Crater, challenge how we experience art itself. (Photo: Bonnie Jo Mount / The Washington Post / Getty Images)
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Art lovers willing to travel far off the grid will find these remote travel destinations worth the extra mile
For many art lovers, the gallery is no longer enough. Increasingly, the world’s most compelling contemporary works are found far from the predictable art capitals—buried in volcanoes, drifting past icebergs or embedded in remote deserts. These far-flung locations offer more than just aesthetic pleasure; they challenge how we experience art itself. Whether it’s through light manipulation, installations or architectural interventions in the landscape, these travel destinations are not just about seeing—they’re about feeling, enduring and discovering. Here are ten exceptional places where the journey is part of the art, and access is often as exclusive as the collections themselves.
Read more: 7 ways to minimise your carbon footprint for sustainable travel that doesn't feel like a compromise
1. James Turrell at Roden Crater, Arizona, USA
An extinct volcano reimagined as an observatory of light and perception, Roden Crater is perhaps the most ambitious contemporary artwork in progress. James Turrell has spent decades shaping its tunnels and chambers to orchestrate how light enters the space, altering your understanding of time, vision and even consciousness. Access is private and rarely granted, which only heightens its mythical status among art lovers and collectors alike. For those invited, the experience borders on the spiritual.
2. Naoshima and Teshima, Japan
These islands in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea have become near-religious travel destinations for art lovers. With buildings by Tadao Ando and installations by artists like Yayoi Kusama and James Turrell, the museums are integrated into the landscape with precision. On Teshima, Rei Naito’s gravity-defying water installation inside the concrete dome of the museum is worth the trip alone. Ferries connect the islands, but the real transport is conceptual.
3. Fogo Island Arts, Newfoundland, Canada
In one of the world’s most northerly corners, art is both refuge and resistance. Fogo Island Arts offers residencies to international artists in sleek, angular studios perched above the rock-strewn coastline. Icebergs drift past, and weather becomes part of the work. It’s a place where contemplation isn’t just encouraged, but required. For art lovers drawn to isolation and elemental beauty, few destinations compare.
4. Donald Judd Foundation at Marfa, Texas, USA
Once a quiet desert town, now an austere haven for minimalism, Marfa is Donald Judd’s legacy turned pilgrimage site. The Chinati Foundation maintains large-scale installations by Judd and fellow conceptualists like Dan Flavin. The vast Texan landscape becomes part of the composition. Despite growing commercialisation, Marfa retains a stark magnetism that rewards patience and pared-down tastes.
5. The Brando, Tetiaroa, French Polynesia
More than just an eco-resort, The Brando quietly supports art projects rooted in Polynesian heritage. With artist residencies, traditional crafts and curated exhibitions built into its sustainability mission, it blends cultural preservation with quiet innovation. It’s less about spectacle, more about intimacy with nature, history and the act of creation.
6. Kiosko Galeria at Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
This salt flat feels like another planet, and in recent years it has become a haunting stage for ephemeral art. Kiosko Galería has curated temporary works ranging from mirrored surfaces to biodegradable interventions. The vast, reflective ground challenges spatial perception and creates a dreamlike theatre for land art, often lasting only as long as the light allows.
7. The Desert X Biennial, Coachella Valley, California
Every two years, the barren landscape of Coachella Valley becomes a temporary gallery for large-scale works that address land rights, climate crisis and identity. Desert X is not subtle, but it is often affecting—works by artists like Sterling Ruby and Zahrah Alghamdi command space, sky and social commentary. For art lovers chasing urgency and relevance, this travel destination delivers.
8. MONA at Tasmania, Australia
Accessible only by boat or private aircraft, MONA (Museum of Old and New Art), founded by David Walsh, is a subterranean provocation masquerading as a museum. David Walsh’s collection is unorthodox, unapologetic and sometimes grotesque, but never boring. Its design—a cavernous descent into concrete halls—feels deliberately isolating. This is art that interrogates more than it entertains.
9. Gobi Desert, China
Still emerging and largely undocumented, the Gobi Desert is attracting artists drawn to nomadic culture and the aesthetics of transience. These performances and installations often involve ritual, sound and natural materials, shaped collaboratively with local communities. Reaching them requires serious commitment but it’s a travel destination worth pursuing nonetheless.
In an era of over-access and digital fatigue, these remote art destinations offer something rare: silence, scale and slowness. They ask not just for your attention, but for your effort. For the right kind of art lover, that’s part of the appeal.
Chonx Tibajia is a senior editor at Tatler Asia’s T-Labs team, where she writes widely on lifestyle subjects including beauty, style, entertainment and travel. She has a long career in journalism, including roles as a columnist at The Philippine Star, and is the founder of the creative platform Pineappleversed. Beyond Tatler, her bylines appear in regional lifestyle and business publications, showcasing a broad portfolio that spans beauty trends, travel guides and culture pieces.
