Only 400 visitors are allowed on it at once, which is exactly why it made the list.
Lord Howe Island has been ranked the fourth-quietest island in the world. A new index scored 100 islands on how much noise, light, traffic and development they have kept out, and Lord Howe finished ahead of every island in Asia, the Americas and the Pacific bar one – New Zealand’s Stewart Island/Rakiura, which topped the list with 94.6 out of 100.
Lord Howe scored 92.8. A second Australian island, Magnetic Island/Yunbenun, placed 13th on 81.7. Bali came 78th. Santorini finished 99th and Malta last of the 100.
The reason Lord Howe rates so highly is a rule that has been in place since 1981. No more than 400 visitors can be on the island at any one time, a cap enforced through a fixed number of licensed tourist beds issued by the Lord Howe Island Board. With around 380 permanent residents, that produces something close to one visitor per local at peak capacity.
The Unspoilt Index comes from BookRetreats.com, a retreat booking marketplace. Islands were scored against six criteria – rich nature, few roads, low air traffic, uncrowded space, dark night skies and natural coastal spots – using open satellite and mapping data, then weighted into a composite score.
Lord Howe has the credentials. It sits 600 kilometres east of the NSW coast, was World Heritage-listed in 1982, and has almost no artificial light after dark – it’s on track to be certified as Australia’s first Dark Sky Island. Ball’s Pyramid, the volcanic sea stack 20 kilometres offshore, rises 562 metres out of the ocean and is the tallest of its kind anywhere.
The cap that earned Lord Howe fourth place is also what could stand between you and a booking. 400 beds across a handful of stays, including the exclusive Capella Lodge and the luxury Island House, means the September to April season fills months ahead, and flights and accommodation need to be booked together.
Magnetic Island, which placed 13th in the ranking, is a 20-minute ferry from Townsville, eight kilometres offshore, and 78 per cent of its 5184 hectares is protected as a national and conservation park. It holds the largest wild koala population in northern Australia, and the walking tracks through the granite headlands are day-trip length rather than expedition length.
Stewart Island, the winner, sits about 30 kilometres south of the NZ South Island. It has about 500 residents who share it with an estimated 20,000 kiwi, it’s the world’s southernmost International Dark Sky Sanctuary, and the three-day Rakiura Track is one of New Zealand’s Great Walks.
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