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🌍 Beautiful Places Where Cars Don’t Rule the Road 🚶♀️
Imagine stepping into a destination where traffic noise fades away and the journey becomes part of the adventure. Across the world, there are beautiful car-free destinations where canals replace roads, bicycles outnumber cars and horse-drawn carriages still move through peaceful streets. From enchanting island escapes to spectacular mountain villages, these six remarkable destinations invite you to slow down and experience travel differently.
🚤 Venice, Italy
Venice is a city built for wandering. Its historic centre spreads across more than 100 small islands, connected by narrow lanes, canals and hundreds of bridges.
Walk from magnificent Piazza San Marco into the quieter neighbourhoods of Cannaregio and Dorsoduro, passing hidden churches, tiny bakeries and waterfront palaces along the way. Walking is the best way to uncover Venice’s quieter corners, while public vaporetti travel along the Grand Canal and connect different areas of the city.
Walking is the best way to uncover Venice’s quieter corners, while public vaporetti travel along the Grand Canal and connect different areas of the city.
For a more direct journey, visitors can also compare water taxis and boat transfers. These can be particularly useful when travelling between the airport, railway station, accommodation and Venice’s lagoon islands.
Boats also connect the historic centre with colourful Burano, glassmaking Murano and peaceful Torcello.
Amazing fact: Despite being Venice’s main waterway, the Grand Canal is crossed by just four bridges. Everyone else must travel around it—or take to the water.
Cars can reach the edge of Venice but cannot continue into its historic heart, making every journey part of the experience.
🌊 Hydra, Greece
With stone mansions rising above a horseshoe-shaped harbour, Hydra is one of Greece’s most distinctive island escapes.
Cars, motorbikes and bicycles are generally prohibited, so Hydra Town is explored almost entirely on foot. Comfortable shoes are essential, especially if your accommodation is located along one of the steep lanes above the harbour.
Water taxis provide the easiest way to reach beaches and coastal settlements such as Vlychos, Mandraki and Kamini. During the busier months, boats also run between the harbour and several popular swimming spots.
Spend your time browsing galleries and boutiques, dining beside the water or swimming from rocky platforms at Spilia and Hydronetta.
A Hydra boat trip or coastal cruise offers another perspective on its rugged shoreline, secluded coves and clear Aegean water.
🐴 Sark, Channel Islands
Sark feels like a tiny piece of the past hidden between England and France.
There are no private cars on the island. Its quiet lanes are instead shared by walkers, cyclists, horse-drawn carriages and the occasional tractor. Bicycles can be hired locally and are one of the easiest ways to reach Sark’s rugged clifftops, secluded bays and scenic viewpoints.
Visitors can also join a horse-drawn carriage tour for a wonderfully relaxed introduction to the island. Local drivers often share stories about Sark’s history and everyday life along the way.
One of the most memorable routes leads across La Coupée, the dramatic narrow ridge connecting Sark with Little Sark. The island also offers caves, rock pools and coastal paths overlooking the Channel Islands.
Amazing fact: Sark became the world’s first designated Dark Sky Island in 2011. It has no public streetlights, allowing thousands of stars—and sometimes the Milky Way—to appear on clear nights.
Stay after the day visitors have departed to experience an even quieter and more magical side of the island.
🏔️ Zermatt, Switzerland
Surrounded by some of the Alps’ highest peaks, Zermatt offers far more than its famous view of the Matterhorn.
Private vehicles must stop in Täsch, around five kilometres away. Travellers complete the journey aboard a convenient shuttle train that arrives in the centre of Zermatt.
The village is easy to explore on foot, while electric buses connect its main neighbourhoods and ski lifts. Electric taxis and horse-drawn carriages are also available.
Beyond the village, mountain railways, funiculars and cable cars carry visitors to panoramic viewpoints, walking trails and ski areas.
The spectacular Gornergrat Railway climbs high above Zermatt for views across glaciers and dozens of Alpine peaks. Another cable-car journey leads to Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, home to Europe’s highest mountain station.
If Zermatt forms part of a wider Swiss adventure, a Swiss Travel Pass provides unlimited travel across much of Switzerland’s train, bus and boat network. It can make travelling between Swiss cities and onwards to Zermatt much simpler, while selected mountain journeys may qualify for an additional discount.
In winter, Zermatt becomes one of Europe’s most celebrated ski resorts. During summer, the same landscape transforms into a spectacular destination for walking, climbing and mountain biking.
➡️ Explore Switzerland by train, bus and boat with a Swiss Travel Pass
🚲 Mackinac Island, USA
Mackinac Island combines Victorian architecture, woodland trails and beautiful Lake Huron scenery—with barely a car in sight. Motor vehicles were banned in 1898 after early automobiles frightened the island’s horses. Visitors still explore on foot, by bicycle or aboard a traditional horse-drawn carriage.
Bicycles can be hired close to the ferry docks, making it easy to follow the scenic shoreline road around the island. The route passes woodland, beaches and the spectacular natural limestone formation known as Arch Rock.
Horse-drawn taxis connect the ferry docks, hotels and other locations. Guided carriage tours are also available for visitors who want to hear more about the island’s history without walking or cycling long distances.
Downtown Mackinac is filled with colourful historic buildings and confectionery shops producing the handmade fudge for which the island is famous. The magnificent Grand Hotel is another landmark, with an enormous veranda overlooking the water.
Amazing fact: The road circling Mackinac Island is officially a state highway—yet it is the only one in the United States where ordinary motor vehicles are banned. Instead, visitors can cycle its approximately eight-mile route.
Stay overnight to experience the island’s quieter atmosphere once the ferries carrying day visitors have departed.
🏝️ The Gili Islands, Indonesia
Three tiny islands surrounded by turquoise water make up Indonesia’s irresistible Gili Islands. There are no conventional cars or motorbikes. Each island is small enough to explore on foot or by bicycle, although the sandy paths can occasionally make cycling an adventure of its own.
Gili Trawangan offers the liveliest atmosphere, with plenty of restaurants and nightlife. Gili Air provides a relaxed balance of activity and tranquillity, while little Gili Meno is the quietest choice for couples and peaceful beach escapes.
Public fast boats and private transfers connect the islands with Bali and Lombok. Local boats also make it easy to travel between Gili Trawangan, Gili Air and Gili Meno.
An island-hopping and snorkelling trip is one of the best ways to experience all three. Stops may include coral gardens, turtle habitats and the famous underwater sculpture near Gili Meno.
Back on land, evenings are all about beachside dining and spectacular sunsets, sometimes with Bali’s volcanic Mount Agung visible across the water.
More Beautiful Places Without the Traffic
From the canals of Venice to the mountain railways of Zermatt and the sandy tracks of the Gili Islands, these beautiful car-free destinations prove that leaving the car behind can become part of the adventure.
And these six are only the beginning. You could also walk the peaceful paths of Herm, cycle across Rottnest Island, cruise through the waterways of Giethoorn or explore the historic walled streets of Mdina.
Whether you travel by boat, bicycle, train or horse-drawn carriage, slowing down can reveal a completely different side of a destination.