Exotic and faraway vacations that money can buy

"Our clients are taking sabbaticals or going on long trips to faraway places, where they are completely unreachable, no Wi-Fi, no cell service," said Ms Erica Jackowitz, a co-founder of New York-based Reve Travel Club, which caters to busy professionals.

- Amy Thomas

Market turmoil. Digital overload. Scary headlines. On the travel front, it's no wonder "off grid" and "unplugged" vacations are trending. A recent Booking.com survey revealed that 56 per cent of global travellers were seeking "off the beaten path" destinations to escape from the drama of daily life.

She notes that many of her clients have recently chosen far-flung destinations, including Mongolia, Peru and the deserts of Saudi Arabia.

Does going to the ends of the earth yield peace and restoration, or exhilaration and adventure? At many remote resorts, both. Whether you want a timeout from the collective chaos or are focusing on a more personal unplugging, here are five spots where you can leave the noise behind.

ONTARIO, CANADA

"When people disconnect from the grid", said Ms Ann Marie Barry, owner of Sunnd Eco Resort, "they actually reconnect with themselves, and with each other, and with the land".

That's the premise of the small resort she opened with her husband in 2024 in a quiet wooded expanse near Lake Superior in northern Ontario, Canada. The nearest town has two seasonal petrol station-convenience stores and a population of 450.

Sunnd's two geodomes feature wood interiors, fire pits and small kitchens stocked with eggs, pancake mix, local syrup and coffee. One sleeps two people at US$249 (S$320) a night; the other, which sleeps four, has a spiral staircase that leads to a loft and costs US$289. A third mobility-accessible dome will open this autumn.

In addition to stargazing from the domes, unwinding in wood-fired hot tubs, or chasing waterfalls along hiking trails, there are adventures to be had. The area has a rich indigenous history, with pictographs on local rock-faced walls; mineral-rich rocks that can be collected along the beach; and, for divers, shipwrecks, some more than a century old, at the bottom of the lake to explore.