As overtourism reaches a tipping point, Intrepid Travel has released its annual Not Hot List, featuring 10 lesser-known destinations that the tour operator believes deserve the spotlight for travel in 2025. The list seeks to address overtourism by inspiring travellers to discover different and unique experiences around the world – and that are largely off travellers’ radar – with communities that can truly benefit from more visitors.

Included are alternative regions in popular countries like Morocco, where the Anti-Atlas Mountains are often missed by visitors, and emerging destinations like Pakistan and Greenland, where neighbouring countries have commanded most of the spotlight.

This year marks Intrepid’s most comprehensive Not Hot List to date, including third-party stats, trends, and local insight in regions that are seeking to encourage travel in 2025.

In contrast to tourist taxes, crowded viewpoints, and frustrated locals, travellers to Not Hot List destinations can expect trips that forge meaningful connections far beyond the typical tourist experience, says Intrepid.

“Our annual Not Hot List strives to bring travellers off the tourist track and inspire them to consider lesser-known destinations, while helping to spread the benefits of tourism to places where it can have an outsized positive impact on communities and local economies,” says Erica Kritikides GM of Global Product for Intrepid Travel. “We recognize the reality of overtourism in some destinations and continuously evolve our trips to help disperse travellers to new and exciting places and provide opportunities to travel at different times of the year.”

1. Disko Island, Greenland

• Disko Island, also known as Qeqertarsuaq showcases modern life above the polar circle. Qeqertarsuaq is one of Greenland’s oldest cities, founded in 1773.
• Travellers here can get a real look into the country’s local culture including supermarkets, cafés, and craft galleries run by local artists. It is a volcanic island with diverse landscapes including stunning black sand beaches, waterfalls and basalt columns, great hiking and its own glaciers.
• In 2025, Intrepid will launch a new Intrepid Greenland Expedition. This trip will only operate during Greenland’s summer, which means the sun never really sets. Travellers will experience this phenomenon known as the Midnight Sun as the backdrop to sea kayaking, boat cruise or sailing adventures.

2. Accra, Ghana

• Despite its rich culture and stunning scenery, less than one million people visit Ghana every year, less than half of that of South Africa. Ghana’s vibrant capital Accra offers a look into west-Africa’s vibrant art scene, bustling markets like Osu’s night market, historic districts like Jamestown and relaxing beaches like Labadi.
• Intrepid’s NEW Benin, Togo & Ghana 15-Day Adventure through Western Africa explores rarely visited spots. With stunning landscapes, vibrant art and unique culture, travellers will hear stories like those of the Fantasy Coffin Design Makers in Teshie-Nungua where skilled artisans craft elaborate “okadi adekai” (art coffins) symbolizing continued passion into the afterlife. Travellers will also visit the Global Mamas in Jamestown, a fair-trade organisation supporting local female artists, and hike up Mt Agou, Togo’s highest peak.

3. Sainshand, Mongolia

• Tourist itineraries in Mongolia mainly go to the Southern and Middle Gobi provinces to visit the just the touristy highlights. Eastern Gobi offers unique insight into true Mongolian Buddhism and nomadic life.
• On Intrepid’s new Trans-Mongolian Railway Adventure travellers stay in locally owned accommodations in Sainshand and visit a traditional Camel herding ranch and learn about the nomadic way of life in Mongolia. The ride through Mongolia is known as one of the most scenic parts of the broader, more famous Trans-Siberian rail journey, making it the Mongolian journey one of the most epic train trips in the world.

4. Cape York, Australia

• The journey to Cape York (Pajinka), at the tip of Australia’s northern frontier is widely undiscovered by domestic and international travellers alike, with untouched landscapes and endless outdoor adventures such as fishing and camping.
• Intrepid’s new trip brings travellers on a journey to the northernmost Australian tip, along endless red dirt roads, fording rivers, and camping beneath star-studded skies. In Cape York, travellers will learn the traditions of both local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, who live side by side in the region.

5. Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan

• While Nepal attracts around two million trekkers each year, fewer than 20,000 people come to Pakistan for adventure tourism, despite having three of the world’s great mountain ranges – Himalayas, Karakoram and Hindu Kush – including the second-highest mountain, K.
• With the most extensive glacier range in a single area, this region has four distinct climate zones and five ethnic groups. The destination offers more than most well-trodden regions, yet remains a secret to even the most adventurous travellers. In 2024, Intrepid became the first global tour operator to bring travellers on these trails, as it aims to support responsible tourism in the region.

6. The Adirondacks, New York

• This 2.3-million hectares natural playground in upstate New York is larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier, Grand Canyon, and Great Smoky Mountains National Parks combined. It is just four hours from Manhattan and largely off the traveller radar.
• Coming in 2025, a new trail will link the Tri-Lakes communities of Lake Placid, Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake, allowing cyclists, skiers and hikers to explore the 50-km path at length. Amidst expansion, the area has remained committed to its strict conservation efforts, ensuring the wilderness remains protected for generations to come.

7. Anti-Atlas, Morocco

• More than 7 million tourists travelled to Morocco during the first half of 2024, a YOY increase of 14%, but unlike well known areas, the Anti-Atlas region remains one of the least-visited parts of the country. Home to picturesque villages and lush oasis valleys, its unique landscape features granite boulders, red-lava flows and stunning palm groves, making it a hidden treasure worth exploring. The area is inhabited by nomadic Amazigh people, who lead a traditional way of life centered around agriculture and herding.

8. Rupununi Savannah, Guyana

• Despite its natural attractions and unique cultural heritage, Guyana remains one of South America’s least visited countries.
• A vast grassland region in the southwestern part of the country. The Rupununi Savannah in Guyana offers a combination of natural beauty, wildlife, cultural experiences, and adventure that is often overlooked by visitors to Guyana.
• Home to Kaieteur Falls which is the longest single-drop waterfall in the world, here travellers can also learn about Indigenous Macushi and Wapishana culture at community-run ecolodges.

9. Oslo, Norway

• Most travellers to the Nordics miss Oslo on their way to its famous Scandinavian siblings. Dubbed the ‘Newest Capital of Nordic Cool’, the quirky city offers unique character with floating saunas, artsy communities, diverse architecture, international cuisine, wild swimming spots, and a dynamic nightlife scene. Just 30 minutes from the city, travellers can reach the Nordmarka forest, offering opportunities for great hiking, biking, skiing and sailing.

10. Maldonado, Uruguay

• Artists, restaurateurs and winemakers are transforming the streets of Garzón, a once-forgotten village. Beyond the dunes toward Garzón, 30 minutes by car north of José Ignacio, lies a flourishing new wine region whose rolling hills are lined with olive groves and vineyards that hint at Tuscany. Wine tourism is becoming popular since a buzzy grape called tannat is helping tiny Uruguay become a big thing in the oenophile world.
• It offers art, gastronomy and culture, while also home to creative institute Campo, a residency programme for artists. Each December, the art institute invites international artists to Garzón to create site-specific installations, turning the village of 170 residents into a dynamic creative playground.

To support the development of tourism in these destinations, Intrepid has launched brand-new trips in four of the Not Hot locations featured, a 10-Day Intrepid Greenland Expedition, a 15-Day Benin, Togo and Ghana Adventure, an 11-Day Trans-Mongolian Railway Adventure, and an 11-Day Cape York & Torres Strait Explorer. These are all in addition to Intrepid’s 10-Day Pakistan trekking trip which first ran in 2024.

“While promoting alternative destinations is a small part of the solution to overtourism, we remain committed to addressing the bigger issues through our product design,” Kritikides adds. “Our group size is very small (average of 10 travellers), we only employ local leaders and almost exclusively use locally owned accommodation and suppliers. “Developing tourism in concert and consultation with host communities is the best way to combat the negative effects of overtourism.”.

For more on the 2025 Not Hot List, click HERE.

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