Inspiration
Unique Destinations For Modern Explorers
Pyramiden, on Spitsbergen, is a Russian coal-mining town abandoned in 1998 — but Spitsbergen is Norwegian. Because of the 1920 Svalbard Treaty, Russian citizens have equal rights to live and work there as Norwegians, and the Soviet Union kept Pyramiden running for 60 years as a model Soviet settlement on a Norwegian Arctic island. Today a Russian caretaker called Сергей runs the town for occasional summer visitors. The Lenin statue still faces the long-empty mine. The northernmost grand piano in the world (a Red October) sits in the cultural palace.
These eight destinations are products of late-20th and 21st-century geopolitics, ecology, or technology. They didn't exist as concepts a hundred years ago. They are also visitable, and worth the trip.
Below: the legal status, the practical access, and the local guide.
Late afternoon light, looking east. Photo by our regional correspondent.
Why This Place Matters
Pyramiden, Svalbard — Russian-administered abandoned coal town on a Norwegian archipelago, accessible by boat from Longyearbyen.
Ungersheim, Alsace (France) — first carbon-neutral village in Europe (since 2014), with municipal solar farms, horse-drawn school transport, and a self-sufficient food system.
Saint Martin / Sint Maarten — the smallest piece of inhabited land shared by two sovereign states (France and Netherlands), with the world's narrowest international border.
A Short History
Auroville, Tamil Nadu — the only UN-recognised experimental township in the world, founded 1968 by Mirra Alfassa as 'a place where humanity can live in peace'. Now 3,400 residents from 60 countries.
Astana (Nur-Sultan), Kazakhstan — designed from scratch as the new capital in 1997 by Norman Foster and Kisho Kurokawa, complete with a pyramid, a Bayterek tower, and a Khan Shatyr indoor tropical beach.
Songdo, South Korea — the first 'smart city' built on reclaimed land from 2002 onwards; everything from rubbish disposal to schoolchildren's schedules is RFID-tracked.
What You Will Actually See
Pyramiden — Lenin statue, hotel Tulpan (1976, reopened 2013), the bottle-house, the cultural palace's grand piano.
Ungersheim — Eco-Village walking tour with mayor Jean-Claude Mensch; the Métropole solar farm; the horse-drawn school carriage 'Hipopolaire'.
Saint Martin/Sint Maarten — the airport that has aeroplanes landing 20 m above sunbathers at Maho Beach; the border road at Quartier d'Orleans where French signs meet Dutch ones.
Auroville, India — the Matrimandir (booked meditation), the Aikido dojo, the bakeries selling organic bread.
Astana — Bayterek Tower (climbable), the Khan Shatyr indoor tropical beach (38°C inside, -30°C outside in winter), Pyramid of Peace and Reconciliation by Foster.
Songdo, South Korea — Central Park (modelled on Manhattan, 1 km long), Tri-bowl Convention Centre, the underground waste tubes (no rubbish trucks).
Solarbahn, Berlin — the world's first solar-powered train, the M1 line in Berlin.
Tristan da Cunha — see article on volcanic islands.
The kind of detail you only notice on the second visit.
Interesting Facts
A few quick notes on unique destinations for modern explorers before the section below.
These are the details our correspondents most often get asked about by readers planning a trip.
Practical Information
Pyramiden — only accessible by boat (June–September) or snowmobile (March–May), with Hurtigruten or Henningsen Transport from Longyearbyen, $250 round-trip.
Ungersheim — open daily; the 'Hipopolaire' horse-drawn carriage runs Wednesdays and weekends.
Saint Martin — fly to Princess Juliana Airport (SXM, Dutch side); car rental at the airport, drive across the border without checks.
Songdo — 1h subway from Seoul Incheon Line.
Interesting Facts
- Pyramiden's grand piano is officially the northernmost in the world at 78°39′N; the town also has the world's northernmost statue of Lenin.
- Ungersheim became the first French municipality to declare itself carbon-neutral in 2014 and has cut municipal energy use by 40% since.
- Saint Martin / Sint Maarten's land border between France and the Netherlands is 10.2 km long, the shortest international border in the Americas and the only one shared by France and the Netherlands.
- Auroville is the only United Nations-recognised universal township and is governed by an international charter ratified by the Government of India.
- Songdo's underground vacuum-based waste disposal system, the world's first, removed 100% of municipal garbage trucks from the city's streets when commissioned in 2010.
Most travellers walk straight past this corner. Stop and look up.
How To Visit
Oslo → Longyearbyen: 3h SAS flight; then 50-min boat to Pyramiden.
Strasbourg → Ungersheim: 1h drive south on A35.
Paris/Amsterdam → Saint Martin: 9h direct.
Seoul → Songdo: 1h on Incheon subway line 1.
Final Thoughts
Modern destinations show what the 21st century is willing to attempt: carbon neutrality at village scale, model cities on reclaimed sea, shared sovereignty on a 90 km² island.
Of these eight: Pyramiden in late August, before the Polar night. Sunlight 24h, a Russian flag flying over a Norwegian fjord, polar bears occasionally on the ice.
Bring layers, paperwork, and an open mind. The future of travel is already on the map; it's just not on the same kind of map.
If you read this article and noticed something we got wrong, please write to us. Reader corrections shape what we publish next.
Julien Beaumont
Regional correspondent for WIGO Trips. Writes about overlooked places and quiet histories.
