Astrotourism Is A Top Travel Trend for Summer 2025. But What Is It Exactly?

On a winter night in Maine, the aurora borealis danced over my house throwing otherworldly pastel pinks and neon green through the cosmos and into the inky blue. It only lasted several minutes, but there was something about watching the celestial heavens and earth collide that made me want to see more. While I simultaneously searched the skies and the internet to learn more, the term “astrotourism” cropped up again and again.

What Is Astrotourism?

Astrotourism is a type of travel centered around dark sky zones, stargazing, and celestial events. Once a niche interest, more travelers are keen to be amateur astronomers, in part because watching planets blink into view and constellations slowly emerge in a shimmering night sky is a mind-bending experience, and it’s a great way to visit popular outdoor destinations without contributing to overcrowding—a main reason why Booking.com listed astrotourism as a top travel trend of 2025.

Yet, there’s another good reason why this outdoor travel trend is gaining traction: real dark night skies, the kind that put you face first to a glittering galactic show, are somewhat of an endangered species.

Stargazing As Responsible Outdoor Travel

According to Dark Sky International, a nonprofit working to preserve dark night skies, “a staggering 99% of the world’s population now lives under night skies polluted to some degree by artificial light.” By doing research like this, the organization has rolled out criteria for a place to be certified as a Dark Sky Park or Lodge by following certain lighting and environmental guidelines. Thanks to that, many locations have taken up the mantle of night sky conservationists to champion the cause, raise awareness, and welcome visitors with respect to the environment and local culture—re: responsible tourism.

These designated Dark Sky Parks minimize artificial light making it easier for stars, planets and celestial phenomena like asteroids and meteor showers to come into clear view. Conserving dark sky places is beneficial to nocturnal animals whose feeding, mating, and migration are altered in the absence of true darkness. As it turns out, we’re not too different given our wake-sleep patterns and wellbeing are also synced to light-dark cycles, making dark skies beneficial for ecological and human health.

Fortunately, the farther you go from city and suburban skyglow the better the view, which means many outdoor destinations are already perfectly positioned to be astrotourism destinations. And since Polaris, our current North Star, only has 12,000 more years until earth’s axis points its northern pole at Vega, you might as well see it while you can, right?

Here are some of the U.S.’ best certified Dark Sky Places where you can go see the cosmos.

5 Best Dark Sky Zones for Stargazing in the U.S.

Under Canvas Lake Powell-Grand Staircase

Awarded with the title of first-ever Dark Sky certified resort in the world, the glamping juggernaut, Under Canvas went all in at their Lake Powell-Grandstaircase location with Dark Sky-approved lighting, design, operations, and guest education. Situated on a canyon rim plateau it pairs top-notch stargazing with their signature upscale amenities. And since clear, desert skies happen to offer some of the best conditions for viewing the cosmos, check out their Moab and Zion locations too.

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

Minnesota’s iconic national forest has glacial lakes, sandy beaches, forests, rocky cliffs, and some seriously dark night skies. It earned its designation as a Dark Sky Sanctuary in 2020 for having met the lighting guidelines and offering over a million acres of natural night. Book one of their 2,000 campgrounds or even better yet, go canoe camping on their famed waterways.

Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument

The northeast’s first and only International Dark Sky Park is located in the Maine North Woods at Katahdin Woods & Waters. Located east of the Appalachian trail’s northern terminus, 87,000 acres of unspoiled land set beneath the East Coast’s darkest skies for ideal stargazing conditions. Sleep under a blanket of stars at one of the park’s front or backcountry campgrounds or at the AMC’s wilderness lodges which also grants easy access to 330 miles of scenic gravel trails.

Cape Lookout National Seashore

Either dedicated stargazers or casual night sky observers can take in a sky full of stars from the sandy shores of North Carolina’s most well-known barrier islands; thanks to the minimal light pollution, there’s a lot to be seen with the unaided eye. The cover of darkness might also provide a glimpse of the water’s bioluminescence—a natural phenomenon from biochemical emissions of light from living creatures beneath the surface—or time it at summer’s end to watch the baby sea turtles hatch at night.

Oregon Outback Dark Sky Sanctuary

Spanning a jaw-dropping 2.5 million acres of pristine land in southern Oregon, the Oregon Outback is the world's largest, contiguous dark sky zone in the lower 48 and the largest Dark Sky Sanctuary thus far. It's an impressive collaboration between public and private landowners dedicated to conserving true darkness and night sky viewing within an ecologically-diverse region that's worth the trip...even in the daytime. Here, there are plenty of organized stargazing activities to choose from or you can grab a campsite and take it all in yourself.