To get to the Bloomfield Lodge in Queensland, Australia, you must hop on a chartered plane, drive through the Outback, then cruise down a river. Then you'll find yourself in an oasis of beauty and solitude, in a hotel located in the Daintree Rainforest and right by the Great Barrier Reef. While there, you can hike through rainforests, swim in waterfalls, fish, sail and — at the end of the day — receive a well-earned massage. You'll be lucky to see another soul.
Same goes for the Andean Cottage in Peru, where everything is about privacy. Guests have a private beach and dock at a private retreat on a private island in Lake Titicaca. There are no automobiles, electricity or televisions, but there is a 24-hour butler. Better bring some good books (real books, not e-books). A speedboat gets you there in 4 1/2 hours.
Bloomfield and the Andean Cottage are just two of the places that made our list of the world's most remote hotels. Why a remote hotel? In this super-connected world, vacations often just become mobile work offices. These days, to quote the writer Elbert Hubbard, "No man needs a vacation so much as the man who just had one." But at these remote hotels — especially if you build in time for actually getting there and back — you really can find that restorative solitude. After all, parting of "getting away" is actually "getting away."
And sometimes that getting away doesn't mean actually being hundreds of miles from the madding crowd. Sometimes remoteness can be found if you just go down. Take Kokopelli's Cave, for example. Outside of Farmington, N.M. (near the Four Corners area), "remoteness" is more of a state of mind. Descend a path, then a ladder, then you'll find yourself in hotel room that's in a cave, 70-feet underground. It's not for the claustrophobic.
And neither is Jules Undersea Lodge in Key Largo, Fla., where guests take the plunge — literally. To get to your hotel room, you have to scuba dive 21 feet to what was once an underwater laboratory. You can sip your wine while gazing at the undersea world.
Looking for something a little more out of the way? Try the Arctic Hotel in Greenland (yes, Greenland). The Hotel Arctic is the most northerly 4-star hotel in the world. Situated in a fjord, the hotel offers the austere beauty of Greenland right at your fingertips: icebergs, snow and sunny vistas. You can even stay a night in an igloo.
And while some of these hotels are pretty pricey, going remote doesn't always mean breaking the bank. The Garvault Hotel in the Scottish Highlands will just put you back $200 a night (based on double-occupancy). The hotel's grounds, located between two giant private hunting preserves, overlook the shimmering Loch Rimsdale. (Does Nessie have a cousin?) There is literally nothing for miles. Guests can trek over the Highlands, go salmon and trout fishing or bird-watch, then get warmed up over a traditional peat fire. And forget — for at least the time being — that impending PowerPoint presentation on the other side of the world.