Islands and similar where visitors cannot take a car
I love car-free islands and other locations where visitors cannot take a car, but that are still reachable by public transportation, inhabited or not.
Some examples, in no particular order:
- Channel Islands National Park, California, USA
- Zermatt, Switzerland (not an island)
- Toronto Islands, Toronto, Canada
- Isles of Scilly, England
- Small Isles, Inner Hebrides, Scotland
- Vlieland, Netherlands
- Harstad peninsula near Harstad, Nordland, Norway
- Apparently, some island/s near Toulon, France
Is there any resource listing such car-free and nearly-car-free islands (and non-islands)?
Best Answer
The Aran islands in Ireland.
Locals have cars, but AFAIK there's no way to rent a car on the islands or drive a car onto them. Renting a bicycle is common.
The islands are quite accessible and well toured. There are ferries several times a day, as well as flights. They contain lots of sites worth seeing.
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What island can you not drive on?
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More answers regarding islands and similar where visitors cannot take a car
Answer 2
In addition to the great car-free US islands mentioned in other answers, let me recommend Theodore Roosevelt Island in the Potomac River.
The island is a National Park and is uninhabited, but it is a famous geographical/border oddity as the island itself is fully within the District of Columbia, but you can only travel to the island via the footbridge from Arlington, Virginia. You can walk from the Rosslyn station of the Washington Metro (in Arlington, VA) down to the footbridge (walk north from the station just past US 29, then take the Mt. Vernon Trail footpath east down the shore).
The Theodore Roosevelt Bridge itself (not the footbridge), which goes over the island, does not have an exit onto the island itself (it connects Virginia with the non-island main part of DC), so technically it is possible to travel through the island from DC, using a car even, but this doesn't really count in my opinion because you can barely stop and cannot do anything. There are no places for cars to stop and park.
On the DC mainland side of the island, you can find the Kennedy Center and the Watergate Hotel (yes, that Watergate).
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Images: Kelly L, Pok Rie, Kelly L, Tim Samuel