8 of the world's best places for stargazing

10.01.2025 - 17:31 / lonelyplanet.com

Jan 10, 2025 • 8 min read

Author of Lonely Planet's new book Stargazing Around the World: A Tour of the Night Sky, Valerie Stimac, shares her favorite places for seeing the stars in all their glory.

Standing in the starlight under the swath of the Milky Way, the pristine night sky is one of the most incredible wonders many of us have not seen – and which is under threat due to the constant march of human progress and resultant light pollution. From April 21 to 28, the world will celebrate International Dark Sky Week, an event organized by Dark Sky to promote the preservation of dark skies around the world.

Of course, you can enjoy dark skies at any point of the year, and I am often asked about the best places to do that. Here is a selection of my favorite stargazing destinations around the world, but remember, there are countless others of similar quality and experience – use this list as inspiration to spark your own research and astrotourism adventure.

High in the mountains near the crest of the Bolivian Andes, several prehistoric lakes have come together to form the Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flats. When the surface is dry, the salar is a pure white expanse of the greatest nothing imaginable – just blue sky and white ground. When there’s a little water, the surface perfectly reflects the clouds and the blue altiplano sky, and the horizon disappears.

Visiting Salar de Uyuni is a complex undertaking: while it’s possible to explore Salar de Uyuni on your own, it’s advisable to go with a tour provider due to the size of the flats and the logistics of booking accommodations and amenities. There are increasing opportunities to visit the Salar de Uyuni at night to take advantage of its dark starry nights and wide horizon. As the Salar de Uyuni is relatively undeveloped (except for intermittent tourism amenities throughout the flats), visitors can experience truly dark skies. Tour operator Ruta Verde runs special itineraries specifically focused on stargazing, though other providers also serve the area.

If there’s one region in the world that comes to mind for the greatest density of incredible dark sky locations, it has to be Southern Utah and Arizona in the American Southwest. In fact, these two states continue to compete for which one has more International Dark Sky places.

Within this vast area, there are several great places to visit for stargazing. For inspiration, one could plan a trip to visit all five of Utah’s National Parks – Utah’s “Mighty 5” – which are all recognized dark sky parks. Or to Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park and neighboring Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, where the gigantic geologic formations rival the stars in their expansiveness.

Mont-Mégantic paved the way