U.S. Outlying Islands

The U.S. Minor Outlying Islands aren't a destination anyone visits in the ordinary sense — they're a scattered handful of tiny Pacific atolls and reefs, most uninhabited, functionally empty of people despite being administered from Washington. Midway Atoll, the best known, is a National Wildlife Refuge and the site of the pivotal 1942 naval battle, now home to one of the world's largest albatross colonies rather than any tourist infrastructure. Wake Island remains a restricted airstrip; the rest are little more than coordinates on a map, real for their wildlife and history rather than any possibility of a visit.