Driving to The Torridon, a grand castle-like retreat at the end of a sea loch set in the northwest Highlands, “feels like you are venturing to the end of the world,” wrote Epstein. With a little more than 230,000 people, you’ll feel blissfully all alone — not a bad way to enjoy the oddly shaped Munros and storybook castles.
Summer getaways are the perfect time to hit snooze on the work grind and relax. But if you’re eager to beat the crowds, that requires a little more planning — should you plop yourself on a desolate beach or get lost somewhere in the wilderness? If you’re dying to see something new, get some perspective or just run away, you obviously have no shortage of options.
Of course, for some, finding solitude isn’t about where you go but how you go, says Lynda Turley of Alpine Travel, in Saratoga, California.
“I like touring with a private guide, so it’s just me and them, or with my family,” she said in an email. “Being forced to be in a group setting for me is ghastly.”
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Fortunately, finding a place to wind down shouldn’t require much more thinking. We asked three seasoned travel experts to share their favorite far-flung getaways, and they delivered, with options that run the gamut from beachy to Gaelic.
Want to avoid all-night ragers, whiny toddlers and gawking tourists? Look no further than their suggestions for pensive hikes and charming old villages, plus the perfect place to read your next book.