What is it?

Georgetown is the capital of Ascension Island — a settlement of a few hundred people strung along a shore of black volcanic clinker, 1,000 miles from the nearest continent. It is less a city than a hamlet with grand colonial bones: a whitewashed Georgian church (St Mary's), the crumbling arches of Fort Hayes, a pier where landing still means timing your jump between Atlantic swells, and the Exiles Club where expat workers, RAF personnel and Saint Helenians share a beer under ceiling fans. The air smells of salt and hot stone; frigatebirds hang motionless above the bay; and just south of town, Long Beach becomes one of the Atlantic's greatest green turtle rookeries, its pale sand churned nightly into moonlit craters. Ascension's history is written in these streets — a garrison established in 1815 to guard against Napoleon's rescue from nearby St Helena, later a coaling station, a cable relay, a WWII airbase and a Cold War listening post. Few places on Earth combine such geological desolation with such improbable human stubbornness.

Where is it?

Georgetown sits on the north-western coast of Ascension Island, a volcanic speck in the South Atlantic roughly midway between Brazil and Africa, and part of the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. Access is via Wideawake Airfield, reached by the Airlink service from Johannesburg through St Helena, or occasionally on the UK Ministry of Defence airbridge. Come between January and April for peak green turtle nesting, or between October and May to witness the deafening sooty tern ('wideawake') colonies; the climate is warm and dry year-round.

What makes it worth it?

Barely a few hundred visitors reach Ascension in a year, and standing on Georgetown's seafront at dusk — lava underfoot, ocean stretching uninterrupted to the horizon — delivers a sense of remoteness that almost no destination can match. Travellers speak of the moment a half-tonne green turtle emerges from the surf just metres away, breathing heavily as she drags herself up the beach exactly as her ancestors have for millennia. Then there is Green Mountain, rising behind the town: a Darwin-inspired experiment in terraforming where bamboo, banana and ginger cloak a summit that was once bare cinder, an astonishing green island floating above a Martian landscape. People come away describing it as 'the edge of the world' and 'the strangest, most beautiful place I've ever been'. Years later, you'll remember the silence, the star-blazing night sky, and the odd pride of having stood somewhere almost nobody else has.

How accessible is it?

Getting there is the hard part: Ascension requires an entry permit arranged in advance through the Ascension Island Government (around £25–£30), plus proof of confirmed accommodation, return travel and medical insurance — the island's hospital is small and there is no on-island emergency evacuation on demand. Most civilian visitors fly Airlink from Johannesburg to St Helena and onward to Ascension on a weekly service; expect £1,200–£2,000 return from Europe or South Africa once connections are included. Accommodation is limited to the Obsidian Hotel and a handful of guesthouses (roughly £70–£120 per night), and hiring a 4x4 (around £30–£50 per day) is essential as there is no public transport. Once there, Georgetown itself is flat and easy to explore on foot, though hikes such as the Letterbox trail or Green Mountain's Elliot's Path demand decent fitness, sturdy boots and plenty of water in the heat. Book months ahead, bring cash or check card acceptance in advance, and build flexibility into your plans — flights are occasionally delayed or cancelled by weather and operational needs.