Brittany Anas

February 6, 2026

A full moon over the Anantara Kihavah Maldives Villas.

Go for telescopes and observatories, stay for adventure and seclusion.

Travelers who seek out dark skies might see the arching Milky Way, trace familiar constellations, or – with luck – witness the northern lights rippling overhead. But behind these celestial experiences lies an environmental truth: Stars remain visible only when darkness is preserved. As such, protecting the natural night sky becomes a powerful form of conservation; darkness also governs the rhythms of migrating animals, keeps predator-prey relationships in balance, and enables the nighttime atmospheric processes that filter pollution.

With less than 20 percent of the world’s population living beneath unpolluted skies, it’s little wonder astrotourism is one of adventure travel’s biggest trends. “Dark-sky travel offers a deeper kind of pause,” says Virtuoso travel adviser Sonia Singh. “Much like a safari reminds us that we are a very small part of a vast ecosystem, stargazing prompts reflection about what else is out there and why we rarely stop to look up.”

Keen on a stargazing trip? Hotels are increasingly building observatories and planetariums, installing advanced telescopes, and offering astronomy programs. Add a couple of buffer days in case clouds roll in, recommends Julie Smothers, a Virtuoso advisor who has arranged trips to dark-sky havens such as Jasper National Park. And try to go during a new moon, when the sky is darkest.

From Chile’s high-elevation desert to an observatory that doubles as a bar in the Maldives, here’s where to stargaze in style.

A winter night sky seen through the telescope at Jasper Planetarium.

Day-to-Night Adventure: Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge

In the Canadian Rockies, Jasper National Park, about the size of the state of Virgina, ranks among the world’s largest dark-sky preserves. Night owls flock to this region hoping to catch a glimpse of the northern lights dancing above jagged peaks.

The 446-room Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge sits among pine forests, overlooking Lake Beauvert’s emerald, glacial-fed waters. Its on-site, 34-seat domed planetarium brings the skies into focus during tours led by local astronomy guides. The observatory worked with Cree elder Wilfred Buck to share Indigenous stories of the aurora borealis and constellations such as the Great Bear, sending guests on virtual journeys into space above the Jasper Rockies. They stargaze through high-powered telescopes, handle meteorites from the planetarium’s collection, and, in warmer months, join short, guided stargazing hikes into the forest as part of a celestial-themed package.

Jasper’s appeal lies in how easily outdoor adventuring gives way to a night under the stars, says the planetarium’s general manager, Tyler Burgardt. “Within a day, you could summit a mountain; see waterfalls; spot wildlife like elk, caribou, moose, and bears; and after dinner witness the northern lights, the Milky Way, and a tremendous night sky,” he explains.

Held annually in October, Jasper’s Dark Sky Festival pairs stargazing with Indigenous storytelling, as local Knowledge Holders guide visitors through constellations and legends.

Wild Darkness: Rosewood Kauri Cliffs

At Rosewood Kauri Cliffs in New Zealand’s Northland, stargazing begins with a walk into the woods. Guests staying in one of the hotel’s 26 rooms set out for the forest after dark (viewing is best from June to August) with a guide and red-light flashlights in hand to preserve their vision. They listen for the rustle and high-pitched whistle of male North Island brown kiwis, along with the females’ raspier calls. The elusive flightless birds emerge only at night.

“We’re hoping to catch a glimpse as they wake up and move about calling for each other,” says tour leader Michael Venner, a descendant of the Ngapuhi Maori iwi (tribe). After the walk, the evening turns skyward. On a high coastal ridge facing an open horizon, guests settle in for a nightcap and s’mores while looking for star clusters and planets through a pair of powerful telescopes. Maori star stories inform the experience, explaining how, for instance, Indigenous Pacific navigators once used the night sky to cross vast oceans.

After a late night of stargazing, wake at your own pace – cast for snapper from a private beach, ride horseback through the forest, or book a late-morning tee time at the par-72 championship Kauri Cliffs, perched above the Pacific.

Sunset over Big Sur seen from Post Ranch Inn.

On the Precipice: Post Ranch Inn 

Sequestered among old-growth redwoods and set on Big Sur’s bluffs 1,200 feet above the Pacific Ocean, the 39-room Post Ranch Inn places viewers closer to the stars. 

Big Sur modernist architect Mickey Muennig designed Post Ranch Inn with a “touching the earth lightly” philosophy that extends upward, says Sergio Esparza, the inn’s resident celestial guide. “The hotel’s low lighting wasn’t just for ambience – it was intentional, to preserve darkness for wildlife and stargazers long before dark-sky travel became popular,” he adds. 

Esparza leads twice-weekly stargazing sessions, using the high-powered Celestron CPC Deluxe 1100 HD telescope (an instrument favored by the late cosmologist Stephen Hawking) to zoom in on galaxies. On exceptionally clear nights, he points sky watchers to the same constellations that early coastal explorers and Indigenous people once consulted for navigation. 

For more leisurely star viewing, guests slip into the resort’s hot tubs as the ocean’s waves crash below. When the sun’s up, the nature immersions continue with forest meditations and tours of the inn’s edible garden.

Nighttime views from Tierra Atacama.

Andean Plateau: Explora Atacama, Tierra Atacama, and Nayara Alto Atacama

Dry air, frequent cloudless nights, and high elevation create ideal stargazing conditions in Chile’s Atacama Desert, where bubbling geysers, wind-whipped dunes, and Mars-like terrain give the land its otherworldly beauty. 

Stargazing destinations have proliferated in the desert since the 1998 opening of the 50-room Explora Atacama, with its own private observatory and access to the Puritama Conservation Reserve. Just down the road, at the 28-room Tierra Atacama, guests gather in the garden with an astronomer guide who weaves stories of Andean cosmology, revealing how ancient cultures read the heavens. 

A few miles away, at the 42-room Nayara Alto Atacama, which opened in 2008, guests mingle with the hotel’s llamas, spot flamingos tiptoeing across salt flats, and set out on daytime excursions like hiking Rainbow Valley, where mineral-rich hills undulate in shifting bands of color. When the sun sets, they can lean back in stargazing swivel chairs in the desert lodge’s open-air observatory and take turns using the telescope to spy the Southern Cross, a constellation many Northern Hemisphere denizens have never seen, as well as the moon’s cratered surface.

The Lodge at Primland’s observatory at dusk. 

Blue Ridge Beauty: The Lodge at Primland

A spherical dome attached to the Auberge Collection’s 51-room Lodge at Primland rises in the heart of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. After dark, a curved panel shifts to open a slice of the steel-domed roof, revealing a sky dense with stars. The observatory is open year-round, but on occasion, it plays host to events such as solstice celebrations, celestial-themed dessert-and-cordial pairings, and romantic private dinners for couples.

Though the sky is ever-changing, winter nights make for the best observatory viewing, thanks to longer hours of darkness and clearer skies, says Lauren Peery, the lodge’s director of astronomy. Primland’s remote location and elevation provide exceptionally dark skies, while the observatory’s red-lit interiors preserve night vision as guests move between high-powered telescopes. Below the viewing room, the two-story Celestial Suite’s wraparound windows allow for stargazing from bed.

Overwater Observing: Anantara Kihavah Maldives Villas

Many travelers come to Baa Atoll to slip beneath the water’s surface with a mask and fins. In this Indian Ocean UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, one of the world’s largest coral reef systems teems with life, including more than 250 species of coral and 1,200 reef fish, as well as manta rays, sea turtles, and the occasional passing whale shark.

But at the 80-room Anantara Kihavah Maldives Villas, on a private island in the reserve, looking up is just as fun. The resort’s Sky observatory doubles as an intimate cocktail lounge, where guests’ drink orders are practically written in the stars (they’re inspired by zodiac signs). Take the showy Leo cocktail, a whiskey drink that’s crowned with a vaporized smoke bubble. During stargazing sessions led by the resort’s resident celestial expert, Hammadh Ibrahim Rasheed, visitors peer through a powerful telescope capable of reaching 30 million light-years into the cosmos.

With virtually no light pollution and a prime position near the equator, Sky observatory offers a rare planetary double feature: views of both the northern and southern skies. On especially clear nights, Saturn’s pale-gold rings come into focus, and stargazers might be able to spot Jupiter’s striped belts.

Virtuoso travelers receive breakfast daily and a $100 hotel credit at each of these stargazing properties; Tierra Atacama guests also receive one 50-minute massage for two.