10 Most Forbidden Islands of The World - Thomas Cook India Travel Blog (2024)

The variety of vacationing ideas is multiplying even as we speak. Wildlife safaris, underwater diving, paragliding trips, treks, mountain climbing… There’s these and much more. How about a bunch of places from around the world that you can possibly never visit unless you really know elite people!? Here’s a list of the most forbidden islands around the world, replete with the most beautiful views, and the most inaccessible secrets!

List of Forbidden Islands Around the World

1. North Sentinel Island, Andaman Islands

   This island topped the list of forbidden islands. Situated in the Bay of Bengal, the North Sentinel Island is best known for its famous inhabitants: the Sentinelese. These are a small tribe who have been residing on the island for more than 60,000 years! They are firmly isolated from the rest of the world and have been known to try to harm outsiders who encroach on their land. The indigenous people have rarely ever been photographed, making them an anomaly of the planet. The tribe’s nature is so hostile that even the Indian government has given up on making contact with them. Fancy a trip?

2. Niihau, Hawaii

   In Hawaii, every island is given a nickname. Niihau is called ‘forbidden’. Privately owned by the same family since 1864, it wasn’t until 1952 that it earned its much deserving reputation. Outsider visits to the island were banned to protect the natives of the island from an ongoing polio epidemic. Ever since most out-of-towners aren’t allowed on. In the recent years, however, the owners have become a little lenient and allow the odd helicopter tour of the island’s north shore for a few hours. Hurry!

3. Fort Carroll Island, Baltimore

   The Fort Carroll Island, situated just off the coast of Baltimore, is a decaying man-made island that was constructed in the middle of the 19^th century for the protection of the city during the Civil War. However, due to its constant risk of flooding, it was never used. The island, hexagonal in shape, was, for a while, used as a firing range for the Army and a checkpoint for ships during WW-II, but was ultimately abandoned. Even though the island has been sold to a private owner in 1958, it remains in a state of utter isolation and ruins to this day.

4. Bouvet Island, Norway

   The uninhabited volcanic Bouvet Island, one of the most remote forbidden islands, situated in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, is considered to be of the most remote in the world. 93% of the island is covered by a stunning glacier and in the middle of it is the inactive volcano crater that is also filled with ice. Due to its harsh climate and risky, icy terrain, it is highly inhospitable and proves to be difficult for people to survive there. In spite of this, the sheer raw beauty of the island is undeniable!

5. Ile Saint-Paul, France

   Nestled in the Indian Ocean, the tiny French island of Saint-Paul consists of only six square kilometres of land, most of which is just the internal basin. It is a very important breeding site for most seabirds, due to which a scientific research cabin has been set up on the island for short projects. Due to the water being very shallow at the internal crater, it is also very difficult to enter. If you do manage to traverse through all that and reach your destination, enjoy the beautiful sights of the island’s thermal springs and the different kinds of seals it boasts of!

6. Poveglia, Italy

   The tiny island of Poveglia is located between Venice and Ligo in the Venetian Lagoon, and is fabled to possess a long and illustrious past. The colony of Poveglia was a quarantined one in 1348, due to the breaking out of the Bubonic Plague. In 1922, yet again, the island’s existing buildings were used as a quarantine centre, and later as a hospital for the mentally ill. It only makes sense for there to be many, many stories and legends of war and plague surrounding the little island. It has also been called a few times as the world’s most haunted place. How many stories must the walls of the island’s buildings hold within them?

   See Also

   What's Special About the Faroe IslandsMore than half of Europe’s forests lost over 6,000 yearsMethuselah: Still the world's oldest tree?Shark fishing

7. Poison Gas Island

   One of the forbidden Islands with the quite dramatic story! On having doubts of the United States and Europe producing chemical weapons despite the signing of the Geneva Protocol that banned chemical warfare in 1925, Japan moved forward with claiming a tiny, isolated island that they removed from the maps. The laborers at the chemical weapon facility were not even aware of the production of mustard gas and tear gas. Due to this, they couldn’t take the necessary precautionary measures, and many of them ended up suffering from toxic exposure-related illnesses. Post the Russo-Japanese war in 1929, all of the documents pertaining to the plant were destroyed, and the gas was dumped or buried! Today, the island is home to the Okunoshima Poison Gas Museum. Apart from this, what draws the tourists most to this obscure island is the fact that it is peppered with thousands of rabbits! Due to this, the island has been nicknamed ‘Rabbit Island’. Two names, two different selling points, this island is a phenomenon in itself!

8. North Brother Island, New York

   This island, although in New York, is unknown to most New Yorkers! And for good reason. The abandoned island holds destroyed and uninhibited remains of brick structures left around from over half a century ago. It was established as an NYC quarantine hospital in 1885, and was home to Typhoid Mary, the first American identified to be a carrier of typhoid fever. Post this, it transformed into a rehab centre for teenage drug addicts. Due to the extreme fragility of its structure, the island was soon permanently closed to the entire public, but the occasional visitor.

9. Isla de las Munecas, Mexico

   This island is as creepy and mysterious as can be! Isla de las Munecas, or the Island of the Dolls, is peppered with trees that have dolls or pieces of dolls hanging off its branches. As is with every good story, legend has it that after a little girl drowned in Teshuilo Lake, a local resident, Don Julian Santana, began collecting dolls and hanging them in the trees. Tens turned to hundreds turned to thousands, and soon the doll-infested island become something out of an elaborate nightmare! The story has a tragic ending, with Santana being discovered drowned in the same area of the lake the little girl had supposedly died. Chills, anyone?

10. Snake Island, Brazil

    Ophidiophobia is the fear of snakes. Want to conquer your fears? Look up the Snake Island, or Ilha de Queimada Grande, off the coast of Sao Paulo in Brazil. The island is home to a ginormous population of extremely venomous golden lancehead snakes. These snakes are about three to five times more poisonous than their mainland relatives. They occupy a large portion of the small island’s land. Visiting the island is so dangerous that there is a strict Brazilian law against it! Only the really, REALLY adventurous might think of venturing out to break it!

Visiting these forbidden islands is not child’s play. Are you in for the game?

Post Views: 10,171