Most Secluded Houses on Earth
Some people dream of living far away from the noise and crowds of everyday life. They want a place where neighbors are miles away and the only sounds come from nature.
These houses aren’t just in quiet neighborhoods or small towns. They’re perched on cliffsides, hidden in forests, and planted in the middle of nowhere where most people would never think to build.
Here are some of the most isolated homes that actually exist, scattered across the planet in places that seem almost impossible to reach.
The house on Elliðaey Island
A single white house sits on a green island off the coast of Iceland, surrounded by nothing but ocean and cliffs. Elliðaey Island has no running water, no electricity, and no roads leading to it.
The house belongs to a hunting lodge used by people who come to catch puffins during certain seasons. Getting there requires a boat ride through rough North Atlantic waters and then climbing steep rocks to reach the top.
The island was once home to five families in the 1700s, but they all left by the 1930s when life became too hard.
Solvay Hut in the Swiss Alps
Climbers heading up the Matterhorn can spot a tiny red hut clinging to the mountainside at 13,100 feet. The Solvay Hut was built in 1915 as an emergency shelter for people caught in bad weather.
Only six people can fit inside at once, and there’s no heat or supplies kept there. The hut sits on a narrow ledge with sheer drops on all sides.
Reaching it means you’re already more than halfway up one of the deadliest mountains in Europe.
Crystal Mill in Colorado
An old wooden structure balances on a rock outcrop above a waterfall in the Colorado mountains. Crystal Mill was built in 1892 during the silver mining boom and generated power for nearby operations.
The building is nearly impossible to reach without a rugged vehicle and some serious hiking skills. Winter snows can make the area completely inaccessible for months at a time.
Photographers love the place, but getting that perfect shot means committing to a difficult journey through rough terrain.
Katskhi Pillar monastery in Georgia
A small church and living quarters sit on top of a 130-foot limestone column in the country of Georgia. Monks have used Katskhi Pillar as a retreat since the 4th century, though the buildings up there now were rebuilt in the 1990s.
The only way up or down is a sketchy metal ladder bolted into the rock face. One monk currently lives at the top and comes down only twice a week for supplies.
The view from up there covers miles of Georgian countryside with no other buildings in sight.
The house in Vestmannaeyjar
One house stands alone on Elliðaey’s neighbor island in Iceland’s Vestmannaeyjar archipelago, painted bright white against dark volcanic rock. This hunting lodge serves a small group who got permission to use it for seasonal expeditions.
The island has no harbor, so visitors must time their arrival perfectly with the tides and weather. Supplies get hauled up steep cliffs by hand since no vehicles can reach the island.
Most Icelanders know about this house but very few have actually been inside it.
Supai Village in Arizona
About 200 people live year-round in the most remote community in the lower 48 states, at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Supai Village sits eight miles below the canyon rim with no roads leading to it.
Everything comes in and out by helicopter, mule train, or on foot down a steep trail. The Havasupai Tribe has lived there for over 800 years, and their homes cluster around blue-green waterfalls.
Mail still arrives by mule, making it the last place in America where the post office uses pack animals for regular delivery.
The house on Baffin Island
A research station sits alone on the eastern shore of Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic. Scientists stay there for months at a time studying climate and wildlife in one of Earth’s harshest environments.
Temperatures drop to 40 below zero in winter, and polar bears wander past the windows. The nearest town is over 60 miles away across frozen tundra.
Resupply happens just a few times a year when weather permits planes to land.
Torrindon House in Scotland
A Victorian hunting lodge sits in the Scottish Highlands with nothing but mountains and lochs for company. Torrindon House was built in the 1800s for wealthy sportsmen but now serves as a remote getaway.
The nearest village is several miles away down a single-track road that gets buried in snow each winter. Highland stags roam right up to the windows, and eagles circle overhead.
Cell phone service doesn’t reach the area, cutting off most contact with the outside world.
The house in Aogashima
About 170 people live inside a volcanic crater on a tiny island 200 miles south of Tokyo. Aogashima is a volcano within a volcano, and homes cluster on the outer rim of the caldera.
The island is so remote that boats can only land there during calm weather, which happens just a few times a month. Residents grow their own food and catch fish because supply ships are unreliable.
The last major eruption happened in 1785, but the volcano is still considered active.
Just Room Enough Island
The world’s smallest inhabited island sits in the St. Lawrence River between the U.S. and Canada. The Sizeland family built a house there in the 1950s that takes up almost the entire island.
At high tide, the island is barely bigger than the house itself, with just enough room for a tree and a tiny beach. Neighbors across the water can see directly into the windows from a few hundred feet away.
The family has to boat to the mainland for everything from groceries to taking out the trash.
The monastery in Meteora
Six monasteries sit on top of massive rock towers in central Greece, built starting in the 14th century. Monks originally reached them using ladders and baskets pulled up by ropes, with no other way to access the peaks.
Today, stairs have been carved into some of the rocks, but it’s still a serious climb to reach the top. A handful of monks and nuns still live in these buildings, maintaining a tradition that goes back 600 years.
The closest town sits at the base of the rocks, but the monasteries might as well be on another planet.
Cape Perpetua Shelter in Oregon
A stone shelter sits on a cliff 800 feet above the Pacific Ocean on the Oregon coast. The Civilian Conservation Corps built it in the 1930s as a scenic overlook and storm shelter.
The structure perches right at the edge with nothing between it and the crashing waves below. Getting there requires hiking through old-growth forest on trails that wash out during winter storms.
On clear days, the view stretches for 40 miles in each direction, but during storms, waves can spray all the way up to the shelter.
The house on Bear Island
Norway’s Bear Island sits halfway between the mainland and Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean. A weather station there houses the only permanent residents, usually just two or three people at a time.
The island is covered in fog most days and surrounded by rough seas that prevent boats from landing. Supply ships can only reach it a few times during the short summer season.
Polar bears occasionally swim to the island, giving it the name that keeps most visitors away.
Tristan da Cunha settlement
About 250 people live on the most remote inhabited island on Earth, located in the South Atlantic Ocean. The nearest land is South Africa, over 1,700 miles away across the open ocean.
Edinburgh of the Seven Seas is the only settlement, with homes spread along a narrow coastal plain. A supply ship comes just nine times a year, bringing everything the islanders can’t make themselves.
The Internet arrived in 2006, but it’s slow and expensive, keeping the place feeling cut off from the modern world.
The monastery on Mount Athos
Twenty monasteries dot a mountainous peninsula in northern Greece where no women have been allowed for over 1,000 years. About 2,000 monks live there following Byzantine traditions that have barely changed.
Some monasteries can only be reached by boat and then hiking up steep paths. The monks grow their own food and make their own wine, rarely leaving the mountain.
Greece recognizes Mount Athos as a self-governing region with its own rules separate from the rest of the country.
Phugtal Monastery in India
A Buddhist monastery built into a cliff face in the Himalayas looks like it’s growing out of the rock itself. Phugtal sits at 12,800 feet in a remote valley of Ladakh where winter lasts eight months.
About 70 monks live there year-round, reached only by trekking for several days through mountain passes. The monastery has existed since the 12th century, built around a natural cave.
Supplies come in once a year before snow closes the passes, and the monks live on stored food through the long winter.
Coober Pedy Dugout Homes
Beneath the sunbaked earth of Australia’s interior, entire families make their homes inside tunnels hollowed from stone. Not far from Coober Pedy, where heat on the surface climbs past 120 in summer, life thrives below ground.
These shelters began as abandoned opal diggings turned into cool retreats, never rising above 75 no matter the season. Rooms stack downward – sleeping areas, cooking spaces, lounges – all built within rock walls that keep the air steady.
Far from any major hub, with the closest urban center hundreds of miles off, food and fuel arrive only after long hauls by road trains across empty plains.
La Rinconada in Peru
High up in the Peruvian Andes, past the cloud line, lies the world’s tallest year-round village – perched at 16,700 feet. Life unfolds here for around fifty thousand souls who dig for gold beneath skies of biting cold.
Breathing feels heavy due to air so thin it seems almost gone. Pipes cannot carry water or waste; they’d turn into ice overnight.
Dirt paths serve as roads, buried under snow for long stretches each season. Homes made of metal sheets rely on kerosene flames just to keep warmth close.
Not a single tree breaks the barren ground surrounding this isolated spot.
Alone, yet driven forward by stubborn resolve
Building a home wherever someone sets their mind shows what determination can do. Isolation becomes the price paid when quiet matters more than nearby shops or busy streets.
Even with today’s tools smoothing rough edges, life far from towns asks for real grit. Daydreams of escape fade fast once daily comforts vanish one by one.
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