When you’re daydreaming about your next vacation, there’s a good chance that the locations in this gallery won’t cross your mind, and for good reason. You see, some destinations are simply off-limits to tourists. From rediscovered caves to the building that guards a secret, these mysterious wonders will impress you.

Check them out for more information and start to see our world through photos!

Lascaux Caves, France

A landslide which clogged up the entrance meant that these French caves went undisturbed until they were rediscovered in 1940. Home to Stone Age wall art believed to be a staggering 17,300 years old, they quickly became a hotspot for tourists until experts warned that the visitors were ruining the priceless paintings. As a result, the caves were shut to the public in 1967—meaning the only way you can enjoy them is through photos.

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Surtsey Island, Iceland

This island simply didn’t exist until it sprouted from the ocean following a volcanic eruption in 1967. But rather than let tourists traipse through the rocky outpost roughly 20 miles south of the mainland, the Icelandic government immediately closed it to all visitors in order to examine how nature colonized the virgin land on its own.

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North Sentinel Island, Andaman Islands

Located in the Bay of Bengal, this remote forest island is probably most famous for its inhospitable inhabitants. It’s home to the Sentinelese, a small tribe who have remained isolated from the rest of the world for more than 60,000 years. And they want to remain that way, so much so that they have been known to kill unwanted visitors.

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Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory

With its pristine sand beaches and coral reefs, this tropical outpost looks like an idyllic island paradise on paper. However, this particular paradise has been off-limits to the general public ever since local residents were forcibly evicted in 1973 in order to build a military outpost on its shores.

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Ilha da Queimada Grande, Brazil

This Brazilian paradise would undoubtedly be one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations if it wasn’t for the thousands of venomous snakes that currently call it home. Appropriately known as “Snake Island”, this land is swarming with more than 4,000 incredibly deadly reptiles, which is why it has never been opened to tourists.

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Vatican Secret Archives, Vatican City, Italy

The Secret Archives, located in the depths of the Vatican, are off-limits to all but a very small number of lucky individuals. They are thought to contain some 53 miles of shelving including documents dating back to the 8th century; among the more famous items in the collection are Henry VIII’s written request for a marriage annulment and letters from Michelangelo.

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Area 51, USA

Located in the Nevada desert, this U.S. military outpost is possibly the worst-kept secret in history. Beloved by UFO enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists, it’s rumored to house top-secret U.S. experiments alongside crashed alien technology.

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Tomb of the Qin Shi Huang, China

The man who is generally acknowledged as the grandfather of the country we now know as China spent as much time planning for his death as he spent living life. After his death in 210 BCE, he was buried with more than 2,000 terracotta reproductions of his army, his family and his horses. But, while archaeologists have been allowed to investigate the site, Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum itself remains off-limits to everyone by order of the government.

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Coca-Cola Vault, USA

Alongside KFC’s blend of herbs and spices, the 125-year-old recipe for the much-loved fizzy drink is one of the most closely guarded secrets in the food and drink industry. In fact, Coca-Cola’s original recipe is so secret that it’s kept in an underground vault in Georgia that tourists can visit but not enter.

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