Best Places to Go on Vacation After Pandemic

As countries around the world started to open its door to tourism again after a long period of lockdown and closed borders, it is time for us to dive deeper into what travel will look like under this new normalcy of social distancing and which places are the best to travel to in the post-COVID-19 world.

See the five easiest places to travel for your first major trip post-COVID, which factor in accessibility, quarantine duration (if any), and vaccine requirements. But remember: No matter where you go, always check your destination's travel guidelines and COVID case numbers, since they're always changing.

1. The Pamir Highway, Kyrgyzstan & Tajikistan

The Pamir Highway is one of the best road trips you can do in your life. The highway stretches across Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan along the remote mountain region of the Pamir bordering Afghanistan. This beautiful scenic road is considered to be one of the highest international highways in the world with the highest point at 4,655m above sea-level. Along the way, you will be sleeping at local's guest houses in towns in the middle of nowhere, seeing what life is like out there along the Pamir, and interacting with the lovely people while being sandwiched between stunning landscapes and snowy mountains throughout your entire road trip.

The Pamir Highway is one of the most remote regions in the world and social-distancing will not be a problem at all while you are on this trip. Since the Pamir Highway connects the 2 countries, you will have to start your trip in Kyrgyzstan and end in Tajikistan.

The confirmed COVID cases in these 2 countries are relatively low compared to countries in Europe and America with only 3,700 cases in Kyrgyzstan and 5,600 cases in Tajikistan, mostly in urban areas. You will most likely be only arriving and departing from these cities but once you are on your way to the Pamir, you will be in a less affected region most of your trip.

2. Salar De Uyuni, Bolivia

South American countries are not doing as well when it comes to flattening the COVID curve as countries in Asia or Oceania but fortunately, there are a ton of regions that are less affected such as the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world in Bolivia. Bolivia confirmed cases sit at 26,389 as of mid-2020 and even though the number is high, the affected regions are usually the highly populated area which Salar de Uyuni isn't, making it a great place to go social distancing and away from the rest of the world.

To explore Salar de Uyuni, you will be traveling in a jeep with a maximum of 6 people through the salt flats, sleep in a hotel made out of salt, and relaxing in a high altitude hot spring in the remote mountain region of Bolivia. Most of the jeeps traveling the route will spread themselves out to different guest houses in the remote villages around Salar de Uyuni so you won't be around many people in a confined area during the trip making social distancing much easier.

3. Easter Island, Chile

Talking about islands, another great remote island that you should visit after COVID-19 is Easter Island located over 3,500 km away. To be honest, Chile is not doing so well with the containment of the spread of COVID-19 with whopping 250,000+ cases as of mid-2020 but since Easter Island is so far away from the mainland, they have only been seeing 5 cases which makes the island a great place to stay social distance while traveling.

The beautiful culture of Rapa Nui is one of the most interesting cultures out there and to be able to see the Rapa Nui statue with your own eyes is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that you will not regret. You can rent a quad bike and explore the island alone, away from people, or you can go off at night and see the stars as you have never seen before. I've never the Milky Way so visible in my life.

To get to the Easter Island, you will have to fly into Santiago and from there you can fly domestically with LATAM Airlines to get to Easter Island. When you arrive at the island, you can rent a car, a quad bike, or a bike and go out and explore the remote island by yourself.

4. The Outback, Australia

Australia is another country that is doing very well at containing the spread of COVID-19 with around 7,500 confirmed cases since mid-2020, making it another great place to visit after COVID-19. The Outback desert of Australia is the perfect place to maintain social distancing while traveling in Australia. With a vast unpopulated desert area, so remote that even the Australians rarely go, you will have all the beautiful aboriginal sacred spots like Uluru and Kata Tjuta all to yourself.

There are also some beautiful hiking trails like the Kings Canyon that will take your breath away at every turn or you can go and ride camels at sunset while looking at Uluru. Either or, there are more things for you to do in the Outback than you might think.

5. The Great Walks In New Zealand

New Zealand is one of the first countries in the world that was able to flatten the COVID curve successfully and they are way ahead of everyone else in terms of readying their country for tourism. Due to excellent policies by the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, and the country's effort to control the spread of the virus, New Zealand only saw about 1166 confirmed cases, making it one of the safest places to travel to.

New Zealand was already a well-known destination for its untouched nature and great hiking spots even before the COVID-19, especially in the South Island where many of the most beautiful Great Walks are located.

They have managed a way to create and maintain several hiking tracks around the country where you will be able to hike through some of New Zealand’s most awe-inspiring landscapes with varying difficulties and duration. There is no better way to social distance ourselves from the world when traveling than to go hiking in New Zealand and they have a ton of scenic routes for us to choose from.

To do these great walks, first, you have to plan ahead and pick the dates you want to start and end the hike and then you will have to book the mountain huts on New Zealand's official website along the route. These mountain huts get booked out extremely fast so be sure to do it prior to your trip.