'Deadzoning': the travel trend you need to know about - and 10 places to experience it

There was a time when travelling meant you could be out of touch for weeks, or even months at a time, save the occasional postcard or a quick call home from a graffiti-covered phone box. It was a golden era of disconnection. Then one day we boarded a plane with a phone that let us work from anywhere, including the sky, thanks to the in-flight Wi-Fi - and wondered what our lives had become.

Even though physically we may be in a different place, these days our minds are too easily sucked back into work, social media and the breaking news cycle. Staying shackled to the digital grind can steal your holiday joy, but there is an antidote. "Deadzoning" is the 2026 travel trend that's all about choosing destinations with little to no connectivity, or where guests are encouraged to turn off their devices. Ready to log off and exhale? Let's go...

You may not be a million miles from anywhere in the Yukon, in Canada's north-west, but it sure can feel like it at times. In a good way. While all the towns and communities of the remote and rugged territory have mobile coverage, it can quickly disappear when you hit the highway or head into wilderness areas.

The lack of cell service makes it all the easier to reconnect with yourself under the midnight sun in summer and northern lights in winter. Keep the disconnect going with a stay at the Southern Lakes Resort on the edge of Tagish Lake, where you can dip into the Wi-Fi in the main lodge, but your cabin remains a digital-free zone.

While you're offline: Find out if the aurora borealis will be coming out to play that night, and join an ATV tour in summer or a snowmobile one in winter.

Explore more: travelyukon.com; southernlakesresort.com

In a 14th-century monastery in Umbria, Italy, this off-grid, adults-only wellness sanctuary is a Wi-Fi and TV free zone where phones cannot be used in common spaces and even electricity is discouraged. Expect silent organic dinners by candlelight as you listen to Gregorian chants before deep sleeps and waking up with the sun in the Monte Peglia UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

At Eremito the monastic-style rooms are inspired by hermit cells and feature handmade wrought-iron beds, hemp linens and stone writing desks, with the modern luxury of a private bathroom. And with no fixed schedules you are free to do as much or as little as you like.

While you're offline: Explore walking trails through the forest in the biosphere reserve, join a yoga session and get lost in a good book in the chapel.

Explore more: eremito.com/en

Fiji makes it easy to forget about the rest of the world, and with no radios, televisions or easy access to daily news, Turtle Island makes it easy to keep your happy bubble intact.

The adults-only resort in the Yasawa islands has only 14 villas for a maximum of 28 guests, and apart from a small area near reception where you can phone home, most of the island is out of range. All the better for sticking to your "Out of Office" guns and allowing yourself to enjoy the simple pleasures of swimming, snorkelling and some pampering in the spa.

While you're offline: Saddle up for a dawn horseback ride on the beach where you can canter along the water's edge and watch the sun rise with a champagne breakfast.

Explore more: turtlefiji.com

Being rocked to sleep in your private cabin on a train is one of life's slow travel luxuries. Being out of mobile range and having nothing to check on your phone is another.

The Ghan and the Indian Pacific may have free Wi-Fi in the lounge, but as it's so intermittent on stretches through the Northern Territory and across the Nullarbor, it's much easier to just assume you'll be out of reach all day. After all, only your train companions can tell if your phone is in airplane mode or you're in a bad coverage patch, and they won't tell.

While you're offline: Take in the towering cliffs of Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge on an off-train excursion on the Katherine River

Explore more: journeybeyondrail.com

Go further than just silencing your notifications with a silent meditation retreat. At Happy Buddha in the Blue Mountains, NSW, guests share an emergency contact number before handing in all their devices to be locked away for the weekend.

Optional activities include mindful movement, yin yoga and evening meditations with plenty of time to journal, read or simply sink into the stillness. If total silence feels a tad too intense, they also offer Inner Joy programs with yoga, meditation and storytelling, where guests are encouraged rather than required to disconnect from their devices.

While you're offline: Resist the urge to turn your device back on as soon as you walk out the door and extend your quiet time with a Blue Mountains bushwalk.

Explore more: happybuddharetreats.com.au

With no TV, no Wi-Fi and a some-to-none sliding scale of phone reception, Unyoked tiny cabins are a cosy return to the simple life. Cabins can be found around Australia, New Zealand and the UK, and their Cabin Quiz helps you narrow the search based on location and preferences, including whether you want to bring your partner, kids or pet, or just go solo.

Choose "no reception please" for no phone coverage at all, or you can opt to stay in touch when you want, while making the most of the Brick devices in cabins to put phones into distraction-free mode when you don't.

While you're offline: Rediscover simple pleasures like board games, cards and losing track of time as you watch flames dance in the fire pit.

Explore more: unyoked.co

Forget any mobile reception in Australia's most remote island group. In one of the world's largest marine parks, in the Indian Ocean, you might not be able to check your emails, but you can snorkel, dive, kitesurf, birdwatch or just soak up the sun on one of Cocos Keeling's white sandy beaches. The two inhabited islands only welcome 144 visitors at a time, but with Qantas launching new direct routes from Perth, you can now get there in just four hours. Slow Wi-Fi is available at most accommodation providers if you absolutely have to check in, but this tropical island escape is all the better when you take time just for yourself and the local wildlife.

While you're offline: Join Cocos Malay local Ossie on a cultural tour where you can try your hand at basket weaving and cooking local dishes while learning about the islands' history.

Explore more: cocoskeelingislands.com.au

Settle in for a road trip through Southern Africa in G Adventures' custom-built Lando overland vehicle, including safari drives, climbing the mighty Dune 45 and taking in the otherworldly scenery of the Sossusvlei salt and clay pan. The 14-day Namibia to Cape Town tour is not only full of wildlife and landscape moments that leave doom-scrolling in the dust, but some of the accommodation is Wi-Fi-free.

Walking holidays are an opportunity to do something good for your body as well as your mind, as you get back to nature in a very slow travel way. On the Shikoku Temple Pilgrimage in Japan, you can follow in the footsteps of pilgrims by day and soak in onsens by night.

The trail connects 88 Buddhist temples, and while you'd need to hike 1400 kilometres to do it all, most people just do sections and combine walking with trains and driving. About 150,000 people a year follow this ancient path, and Walk Japan offers an 11-day, 10-night fully guided walk if you'd rather not go it alone.

While you're offline: Collect Goshuin, the beautiful handwritten inscriptions created as spiritual records for pilgrims and visitors at Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines.

Explore more: walkjapan.com

Two days of swapping devices for books can be just the thing if you need a mini reset, and reading retreats happily provide the book lover's space to do just that. While some retreats have suggested novels, others are simply a chance to dive into your personal reading list before talking about your all-time favourite books and recent reads over dinner and into the night.

You can find reading retreats from Tuscany to the Caribbean, or, if you're looking for something closer to home, Reading Retreats Australia organises all-inclusive bookworm weekends. Busy With Books has an upcoming retreat in a 140-year-old farmhouse in Canterbury, New Zealand, that includes a device-sitting service to help you resist the urge to share your book photos on social media.

While you're offline: Take the time to write down your thoughts about the books you read, as well as recommendations from your fellow book lovers.

Explore more: readingretreats.au; .busywithbooks.com