places you don't know?

celebrating the world's least visited countries

Author

David Wade
May 31, 2024

have you been to any of these?

When thinking about a theme for this fortnight’s edition of ‘The Sunrise Chaser’ I was inspired by creator Tonia Hope who is currently sharing her incredible journey through Pakistan (here she gives an excellent summary of the trip and the initial reaction people had when she told them she was going). It got me thinking about places that aren’t as well travelled as favourites like France, Italy or Thailand.

I found a list of the least visited countries in the world, and so we will be celebrating some beautiful locations within some countries from the Top 50 of that list.

Pakistan isn’t actually on that list, but after seeing Tonia’s adventures there it’s certainly somewhere to put on the bucket list.

Scroll down to see how the locals enjoy the sunset in the least visited country on Earth…can you guess where it is?

predicting tip

Here is where I’ll share an additional or new tip to help with your sunrise and sunset chasing.

❝

It may sound obvious to some, but you’d be surpirsed at how many people don’t know that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. If you didn’t know, now you do! This is helpful for planning locations for either.

DW Around The World

what in the world…

Inspiration to improve your dedication

sky of the fortnight

This incredible montage of the world’s 44th least visited country, Mongolia, shows how vast and varied the landscape of this stunning nation is. Gan-Ulzii Gonchig is a content creator from Mongolia and shows off the pure majesty of this place - don’t believe me? The below video has over 18 million views.

where to visit?

Being the 16th least visited country on Earth, but one of the first to see the sunrise each day, it would be remiss of me to not include Tonga. This travel blog from Lauren at Never Ending Footsteps covers the best things to do in this 172-island nation including idyllic beaches and meeting lovely locals.

out the window

Whenever I travel somewhere I am often looking for places to stay that have a unique or mind-blowing view.

Freetown is the capital of the 12th least visited country - Sierra Leone. Whilst researching this edition I came across the sunset view from the Country Lodge Hotel in Freetown, overlooking the city below with sensational views out to the sea and horizon beyond. The scene is captured in all its beauty by Sama Kai.

@_samakai

Catching the sunset as per #sierraleonetiktok🇸🇱 #fyp #viral #salonetiktokers🇸🇱🇸🇱🇸🇱🇸🇱 #mamiyarz67 #filmphotography

sky chaser kit bag

Items that can help you be a better sky chaser. 

If you don’t track it then it never happened right? These flag-design pins are perfect to pop on a world map to track the countries you have visited. What an achievement it will be when you’re able to mark off one of the world’s least visited. Make sure you have a record of all the amazing places you’ve seen sunrise and sunset with these pins.


291 Flag Push Pins for Map World


Abundant Quantity: there will be 291 different flag map pins, including 218 national flags, 50 states flags and 1 territory flag in America, 10 Canadian provinces, 3 territory flags and 6 states flags, 2 territory flags of Australia; They will come with a 1.7 cm thick cork boards; The cork boards are printed with the corresponding national flag design of each country to let you know what the flag of each country looks like

bucket list

Sunrise and sunset spots from around the world I’m desperate to visit. Drop me an email (reply to this) to share your favourites for the chance to be featured. This is also a great way for me to highlight other wonderful creators you may want to follow.

sunrise spot

A new day gets started in old Dhaka in Bangladesh. It’s number 33 on the least-visited list, but one of the world’s most populated. This hazy sunrise scene was caught by Anirban Kaisar who’s got loads more Bangladesh content on his page to drive your wanderlust.

sunset spot

Rounding out the least visited countries in the world edition is the least visited country on Earth - Tuvalu. It is located about midway between Hawaii and Australia, with three reef islands and six atolls. Last year it had just 3,700 international tourist arrivals, which is a fraction of the most visited country in the world’s (that’s France) total of 217,877,000. Check out the below from TravelTomTom who caught this sunset scene in Tuvalu.

@traveltomtom

Ever seen a runway become a football field? This country is such a strong #community 🙌🏽 #Tuvalu #pacificislandtiktok #tuvaluan🇹🇻

blame it on the moon

The 21st of June is marked down as the next full moon. Appearing in the sign of Capricorn remember that you should get good moonrise views for the days on either side and you’ll need to check your location on this website to plan which days the moon will be full where you are. Cloud cover will dictate if you seen the moon or not, so check the weather forecast too.

Have you been to any of the least visited top 50 countries (the full list is here)? Drop me a comment through the link below to share where or DM me on Instagram as I love to hear from you.

Until next time, happy sky chasing

DW

before you go…

Please select your favourite one of the below to vote in the poll, it helps me make this newsletter better.

Which part of the newsletter do you find the most useful?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

*this newsletter may contain affiliate links or content that was sponsored/gifted

Join the conversation

or to participate.