There are many beautiful and interesting places around the world - but not all of them are open to visitors. From islands to UNESCO World Heritage Sites, here's our pick of ten destinations that are off limits to tourists...
Hawaii's 'forbidden island' has no roads, no cars, no shops and no internet. Niihau is located 18 miles from the island of Kauai and was first purchased by Elizabeth Sinclair in 1864, who passed it on to her descendants, the Robinson family. The Niihauans were allowed to stay but access to the island was restricted. To this day, only the 130 residents, the Robinsons and invited guests of the Robinsons are allowed here. Niihau is home to beautiful beaches and endangered species such as Hawaiian monk seal and Hawaiian ducks.
Set deep inside a mountain on a remote Norwegian island, Svalbard Global Seed Vault is the largest seed bank in the world, located near Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen. It is a fail-safe seed storage facility that was built to stand the test of time and the challenge of natural or man-made disasters. The vault represents the world's largest collection of crop diversity and is strictly off limits to tourists.
Ilha da Queimada Grande, or Snake Island as it is known, is a small island teeming with one of the world's deadliest snake species. The island off the coast of Brazil has approximately 430,000 critically endangered golden lancehead pit vipers, which survive on birds. It is closed to the public to protect the viper population, with only the Brazilian Navy and selected researchers allowed access. The island is also home to a population of non-venomous snake species Dipsas albifrons.
Home to the most celebrated examples of Palaeolithic cave paintings ever discovered, Lascaux was closed to the public in 1963 when carbon dioxide, heat, humidity and other contaminants produced by visitors began to damage the art. Today, the complex of caves in France's Dordogne region is under close surveillance in order to preserve the UNESCO World Heritage Site which features over 600 parietal wall paintings of large animals and local fauna.
One of Australia's most photographed destinations is completely off limits to tourists due to its protected status. Heart Reef, part of the Great Barrier Reef, is a beautiful composition of coral that naturally formed into the shape of a heart. Visitors are unable to snorkel or dive at the romantic spot which was discovered in 1975 by an Air Whitsunday pilot. Those who do wish to get up close or even propose to their loved one at the site can experience the Heart Reef from the sky by helicopter or seaplane.
- Located in Vatican City, the Vatican Secret Archives contain state papers, correspondence, papal account books and many other church documents that have accumulated over the centuries. The archives belong to the Pope until his death or resignation so anyone who wants access needs to go through the man himself. It is believed to contain 85 kilometres of shelving and 35,000 volumes. Each year, researchers are granted access to examine some of the documents, but there are strict limitations to what they are able to view.
This volcanic island off the southern coast of Iceland is one of the newest places on the planet, having emerged after an extended volcanic eruption in the 1960s. Surtsey was named after Surtr, a fire giant from Norse mythology and has only ever been visited by scientists, who stay in a tiny hut and must erase all traces of their existence once they leave. The only way anyone else can see the island closely is from a small plane and in 2008, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Seals, puffins, insects and other wild species have been seen around the island.
Dedicated to the goddess Amaterasu-ōmikami, Ise Grand Shrine is one of the holiest and most important Shinto shrines. Believed to be the home of the Sacred Mirror, access to the shrine is strictly limited, with the public only allowed a glimpse of the thatched roofs of the central structures, hidden behind four tall wooden fences. Only priests or priestesses who are part of the Japanese imperial family are permitted to enter.
Very little is known about this remote Indian Ocean island due to its people who are among the last in the world to remain virtually untouched by modern civilisation. The Sentinelese are known to violently reject outsiders, shooting arrows and throwing stones to remain undisturbed by the outside world. In 2006, two fishermen were killed by the indigenous people when their boat accidentally drifted too close to the island. The Indian government has declared the island and its waters an exclusion zone.
This hush-hush military base deep in the Nevada desert is shrouded in mystery and surrounded by mines and defences. Go near the not-so-secret Area 51 and you'll probably be picked up by the FBI or CIA. The site is most likely used to test weapons and aircraft but many believe it is used for extra-terrestrial research, with alien hunters often visiting the territory surrounding the base.