Little-known destinations, forgotten villages and whole regions to discover before everyone else does. The antidote to overtourism, one guide at a time.
The guides we recommend reading first, hand-picked.
Discover Sabbioneta, the Renaissance ideal city built by Vespasiano Gonzaga: a theatre, a ducal palace and perfect streets in the Mantuan lowlands.
Very quiet Jul 5, 2026
Presicce-Acquarica hides hypogean oil-mills carved into the rock, a ducal palace, and a millennia-old olive oil tradition in the hidden lower Salento.
Almost deserted Jul 5, 2026
A honey-stone village on a hilltop, a 10th-century castle, and a Cluniac collegiate church: Semur-en-Brionnais has the bearing of a capital without ever having had the population of one.
Almost deserted Aug 3, 2026
A ruined medieval castle, restored stone by stone by an architect who chose to die there: Belcastel, population 189, also hides a Michelin-starred restaurant on the banks of the Aveyron.
Almost deserted Aug 3, 2026
At 405 metres above sea level, within Aldobrandeschi walls and views that reach as far as Corsica on clear days, Giglio Castello is the Isle of Giglio without the port's bustle.
Almost deserted Aug 3, 2026
The first village in the Gard to be named a Plus Beau Village de France, Aiguèze looks down over the Ardèche gorges from an 11th-century fortress, home today to just 212 people.
Very quiet Aug 3, 2026
An 11th-century abbey, the birth of colour photography, and a visit from Mark Twain: Talloires has long cultivated a quieter kind of tourism than the opposite shore of the lake.
Not very crowded Aug 3, 2026
Ten kilometres from Saint-Malo but a world away from its bustle, Saint-Suliac still lives at the pace of the Rance estuary, with its granite houses and a founding story tied to a Welsh monk.
Very quiet Aug 3, 2026
A ruined medieval castle, restored stone by stone by an architect who chose to die there: Belcastel, population 189, also hides a Michelin-starred restaurant on the banks of the Aveyron.
Almost deserted Aug 3, 2026
A kilometre of limestone cliff, five levels of terraces carved by water: people lived here from the Upper Palaeolithic right through to the Renaissance, never really leaving.
Not very crowded Aug 3, 2026
A fortified town from the 12th to the 16th century, now home to barely 335 people: Charroux still lives behind its ramparts, with a truncated bell-tower church and a handmade mustard known since the 1700s.
Almost deserted Aug 3, 2026
A honey-stone village on a hilltop, a 10th-century castle, and a Cluniac collegiate church: Semur-en-Brionnais has the bearing of a capital without ever having had the population of one.
Almost deserted Aug 3, 2026
Volterra has a hearty hill-country cuisine built on wild boar and truffle, backed by the produce of the surrounding Val di Cecina.
Very quiet Aug 3, 2026
Volterra is a walled hilltop town of Etruscan origin: where to stay between the compact centre and the Val di Cecina countryside.
Very quiet Aug 3, 2026