This summer, more travelers are stepping away from screens and seeking out places where nature takes center stage. That craving for deeper connection and a break from technology is drawing many to unplug in America with these 10 destinations where Wi-Fi is weak but summer magic is strong. From remote parks to quiet lodges, these escapes offer a chance to trade pings and posts for pine-scented air and star-filled skies.
These getaways invite you to listen to birdsong instead of notifications, to follow trails instead of feeds and to rediscover what it means to feel fully present. Here are the destinations where digital silence gives way to sensory presence, and summer unfolds without distractions.
Isle Royale National Park, Michigan
Set in the icy embrace of Lake Superior, Isle Royale is an isolated national park with no roads and cell towers. Instead, it offers miles of forest trails, inland lakes and a surprisingly robust population of moose and wolves.
Its isolation makes it captivating, made even more so because it can only be reached by ferry or seaplane. Isle Royale quickly resets the pace of daily life with its deep stillness and steady natural rhythm, making it a place for backpackers, hikers, boaters, paddlers and divers who want to disconnect and immerse in wild surroundings.
Mornings begin with ridge hikes or quiet paddles through forest-lined coves, while nights settle into campfire stories and the distant call of loons. As visitors cross Lake Superior, the journey marks a chance to be shaped by the island and, in return, to help protect its solitude.
Green Bank, West Virginia
Located within the National Radio Quiet Zone, Green Bank is a 13,000-square-mile region created to protect sensitive research at the Green Bank Observatory, in which the town has banned cell towers and limits all wireless signals. That makes it one of the quietest places in the United States, both technologically and physically, and a haven for those who crave stillness.
This tranquility extends beyond the lab and into the landscape itself. Surrounded by the Allegheny Mountains in West Virginia’s Pocahontas County, Green Bank is ideal for hiking, stargazing and birdwatching without the hum of modern tech.
Visitors can take the observatory’s guided tours and learn how scientists listen to the universe in real time. It’s a place where conversations happen face to face, and constellations replace screens, and it offers a rare kind of quiet that feels liberating and profound.
Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
Far-flung and untamed, Glacier Bay is a remote marine park accessible only by boat or plane, tucked within Alaska’s Inside Passage and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. With no Wi-Fi, no reliable cell signal and little infrastructure, it offers a rare kind of digital silence. What replaces connectivity is more than 3 million acres of protected wilderness. Tidewater glaciers calve icy fjords, humpback whales breach the surface and the scale of nature resets your sense of time.
Daylight lingers for up to 18 hours in summer, stretching opportunities for kayaking past icebergs, hiking lush coastal trails or watching seabirds like puffins sweep low over the water. With no roads, no rush and no digital interruptions, Glacier Bay becomes a sanctuary of awe, where stillness is the natural state.
The Black Hills, South Dakota
The Black Hills blend geological drama with cultural depth. Most visitors come to see Mount Rushmore, but those who linger find much more: quiet hiking trails, sacred Lakota and Cheyenne sites and vast pine forests where cell service fades into the background.
Custer State Park, a 71,000-acre reserve within the Black Hills, is home to one of the largest publicly owned bison herds in the world. Its winding scenic drives, like the Needles Highway and Wildlife Loop Road, invite slow travel through granite spires and open prairie.
Come nightfall, the skies open wide with stars, a reminder that the Black Hills is also home to designated dark-sky areas like Wind Cave National Park and Custer State Park’s backcountry. These natural amphitheaters for stargazing offer uninterrupted views of the Milky Way, with an experience that invites a slower pace where digital distractions fall away.
Great Basin National Park, Nevada
Tucked into a rugged corner of Eastern Nevada, Great Basin offers solitude in every direction. As one of the least visited national parks, its near-total lack of Wi-Fi and cell service immerses visitors in high-desert silence and sky. That disconnection allows for a deeper appreciation of the landscape’s unexpected diversity, from groves of ancient bristlecone pines to the limestone chambers of Lehman Caves, carved over millennia by underground streams.
Great Basin transforms into one of the country’s premier stargazing sites at night. Its official designation as an International Dark Sky Park means there’s little to no light pollution, offering pristine views of the Milky Way, meteor showers and distant constellations rarely seen elsewhere. It’s a reminder that even in one of the country’s most overlooked corners, wonder waits in full view.
Stehekin, Washington
Stehekin is a remote lakeside community that lies deep within the Lake Chelan National Recreation Area, part of the North Cascades National Park Complex. It’s accessible only by ferry, floatplane or a multi-day hike through the North Cascades wilderness.
There are no cell towers, public Wi-Fi and roads connecting it to the outside world. Daily life flows at nature’s pace, built around simple pleasures like biking to the Stehekin Pastry Company, hiking Rainbow Falls Trail or fly fishing along the Stehekin River.
Visitors can also explore historic sites like the Buckner Orchard or take a shuttle up the Stehekin Valley Road into backcountry trailheads. With no digital distractions and limited outside access, everyday moments, like baking bread, chopping wood or hiking to the post office, become the daily norm.
North Cascades National Park, Washington
Called the American Alps for a reason, the North Cascades offers steep peaks, turquoise lakes and alpine meadows that feel untouched. Spanning more than 500,000 acres in Northern Washington, the park contains over 300 glaciers, making it the most glaciated area in the contiguous United States. With so few signs of development, visitors won’t find much connectivity, which is one of the park’s quietest and most compelling features.
Remote campsites, strenuous trails and regular sightings of marmots, mountain goats and black bears offer a kind of immersion that digital life rarely allows. These natural patterns become the main focus, drawing visitors into a slower, more mindful experience. Trails like Cascade Pass and Hidden Lake Lookout carry hikers deep into the backcountry, where snowfields and waterfalls unfold quietly.
Big Bend National Park, Texas
Sprawling across the borderlands of Texas and Mexico, Big Bend is a desert wonderland defined by silence and scale. The park encompasses over 800,000 acres of protected terrain, including the Chisos Mountains, desert basins and the Rio Grande corridor. Cell service drops off quickly as you enter its canyons, trails and riverfronts, making it one of the most isolated national parks in the U.S.
Summer travelers can hike shaded trails like the Lost Mine Trail at sunrise, float through the majestic Santa Elena Canyon or soak in the geothermal waters of the park’s historic hot springs. Wildlife sightings may include javelinas, roadrunners and even black bears. Recognized as an International Dark Sky Park, Big Bend offers some of the clearest night views in North America, where time seems to slow under the brilliance of the Milky Way.
Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness, New Mexico
Bisti/De-Na-Zin is like another planet, with twisted hoodoos, sunbaked badlands and scattered petrified logs creating a surreal landscape sculpted by erosion and time. Located in Northwestern New Mexico and managed by the Bureau of Land Management, this 45,000-acre wilderness is remote and undeveloped, with no trails, signage, facilities and cell signal. Visitors can roam the open terrain, navigating through maze-like rock formations that shift color with the sun and shadow.
In summer, cooler early mornings and dramatic desert sunsets offer the best window for exploration, though preparation is essential due to extreme temperatures and lack of shade. With its silence, scale and sheer geological strangeness, Bisti/De-Na-Zin doesn’t just unplug you; it reorients your sense of presence entirely.
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Minnesota
Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is a million-acre preserve of boreal forest and glacially carved lakes that stretches along the U.S.-Canada border in Northeastern Minnesota, forming one of the most iconic wilderness areas in the country. It’s managed by the U.S. Forest Service and is protected under the 1964 Wilderness Act, with strict regulations that prohibit motorized boats in most areas and ban cell towers entirely.
With over 1,100 lakes and 1,500 miles of canoe routes, paddling the Boundary Waters is a full immersion into silence, solitude and sky. Travelers canoe from site to site, portaging between lakes, spotting bald eagles and loons overhead and sleeping beneath an open sky scattered with stars. The solitude and reflection aren’t just a break from digital life; they’re a reminder of how deeply restorative wilderness can be.
A deeper connection
These destinations may lack Wi-Fi, but they offer something far more powerful: the chance to connect. As more Americans seek relief from digital burnout, places like these provide the space to slow down and be present. Uninterrupted by notifications or screens, travelers are more attuned to the rustle of trees, the rhythm of water and the conversations that fill the quiet. In these unplugged landscapes, summer is no longer just a season; it becomes a full-body experience.
A luxury travel, food and adventure journalist with a passport full of stories from over 46 countries, Mandy specializes in uncovering unforgettable experiences across the globe. With a deep love for the Far East and a diver’s eye for hidden worlds, she brings readers along on immersive journeys that blend indulgence with discovery, and she shares it all on Ticket to Wanderland.