Where's hot, where's hip, where's 'happening'? The burning question for the independent traveller is how to find the next generation of destinations, the places that are 'special' but still unspoilt. The reality, of course, is that there is almost nowhere left on the surface of this planet that is completely 'unspoilt'. Possibly on the steppes of outer Mongolia, but even there they're hooking up satellite television sets to oil-burning generators in an effort to enter the global culture. Even in the rainforests of central Africa, there are villagers clothed in T- shirts that read, bizarrely, 'Vote for Bill Clinton'. There is precious little escape from our modern world.

One solution, for those who can afford it, is to escape into the realm of luxury travel. There is a whole range of private islands, stucco hotels, grand trains and shiny yachts, in which the affluent traveller can recreate a version of how travel might once have been, in the days before cheap airfares filled the globe with package resorts.

Not so much a destination as a way of life, luxury travel is opening new frontiers all the time. Its big success right now is cruising. Three-quarters of a million British holiday-makers took a cruise in 1999, an increase of 11 per cent on the year before. The Passenger Shipping Association predicts that 10 billion will be spent on building cruise liners in the next five years worldwide, to launch 40 new ocean liners. The appeal behind all this is the fact that the scenery comes to you, as you lie on deck enjoying the comforts of five-star service.

Lolling on a sun deck quaffing champagne is nice work, if you can get it, but it's not the same as experiencing the reality - and the totality - of a country that is new to tourism. Such places do still exist. The ultimate example is probably Bhutan, a tiny kingdom high in the Himalayas, where only a trickle of travellers is permitted entry. Here you can find the most 'unspoilt' Buddhist culture on earth. Next door is tiny Mustang, another highly restricted kingdom, about which almost nothing is known.

Even less well-known areas exist in the inhospitable hinterlands of the world. In Borneo and Papua New Guinea, explorers do still encounter tribesmen who have not seen white skin before. The Amazon basin is opening up for tourism, especially wildlife and river safaris and including, I understand, a jungle nudist resort (which must offer plenty of skin for the locals). Even Australia has vast areas of outback that are uncharted territory: though there may be good reasons for this. Essentially, the rawest travel experiences will be found in those places that are the most unpleasant to visit - malarial swamps in the Congo, for example, or the wind-blasted islands off Cape Horn.

Slightly more feasible for the ordinary traveller are those countries which are just opening the door to foreigners. Vietnam was the classic example, five or six years ago, and still offers an authentic experience of the fragile beauty of Indochina. Then came Laos next door, where you couldn't even buy maps or phrasebooks when I visited it in 1995. Next will be Cambodia, if they ever stabilise the politics, because it is home to the jungle-clad ruins of Angkor, one of the world's finest temple sites. Interestingly, the isolation of all three countries was a historical accident (caused by the Vietnam War) and it is such 'victims' of history which are proving the most rewarding to visit now.

Cuba is the outstanding example of this. Long embargoed by the United States, it is now emerging from Cold War quarantine and proving a massive hit with travellers. It offers hot music, fine beaches, picturesque towns and the frisson of history. Because it was isolated for so long from the modern world, its traditions and essential character have been preserved intact - for the time being at least.

The same is true of Libya, which has some of the finest and emptiest Classical sites in the Mediterranean. South Africa is benefiting from the same effect, and British tourism there is doubling annually as people flock to see wildlife and scenery which in the apartheid era they had heard about but not wished to visit. Its neighbour Namibia was hardly visited at all during the years of apartheid and independence struggle: now it offers spectacular safaris through rugged deserts and pristine game parks.

Could this be the future for Africa's other pariah states, if peace ever comes? It happened in post-war Mozambique, which was building a reputation among serious travellers before the unfortunate flooding of 1999. Could it happen in Angola or Sudan? Sierra Leone is an achingly beautiful country, but its return to travel brochures is some way off. Zimbabwe could go either way. In such places, the politics is everything.

Closer to home, the time-warp effect is visible in many post-Soviet countries. Romania and Hungary offer a glimpse of a picturesque older Europe as it existed before the Second World War. The Baltic republics bristle with fairytale castles and quaint towns in a classic northern European landscape of pine forests and lakes. Montenegro is a jewel of Ottoman imperial architecture. Georgia offers fine skiing and the cheapest champagne in the world.

Central Asia is the great beneficiary of the Soviet Union's collapse. Samarkand, Bokhara, Tashkent - these are names dripping with myth. Now you can fly direct from London. The Silk Route can be traced from start to finish, with or without an organised tour. No longer are you subject to endless red tape and incomprehensible official guides. Though you might find the disintegrating infrastructure something of a challenge.

And as Russia collapsed, so China relaxed. Foreigners have been able to travel through most of the celestial republic for a decade now. Some areas are closed off, others are just impenetrable, but in a country this big there's plenty to discover.

And with the current easing in world tensions (touch wood), other countries that were clients of the communist bloc have come onstream. Syria is little visited, but offers fabulous opportunities for those interested in crusader castles, Arabic culture and sweeping desert landscapes. Iran has dazzling Islamic architecture and impressively hospitable people. Mongolia, too, has opened up, though you have to be a good seat on horseback to really appreciate this steppeland. Nicaragua is now peaceful, beautiful and welcoming.

Moving on from the countries that came in from the cold, there are other places which ought to be simply ruined by tourism, but remain surprisingly unpopular. Bolivia is a case in point. A giant slumbering in the heart of Latin America, it spans the dramatic Andes, the mysterious altiplano and the luxuriant Amazon jungle - but no one goes there.

Madagascar is another obvious spot that's missed out. It's an island the size of Britain, but blessed with the sunshine and beaches of the Indian Ocean. The people are a beguiling mixture of African and Arabic, and its unique ecosystem ranges from rainforest to desert to mountains. And the place is almost empty of tourists.

Sri Lanka ought to be inundated with visitors. To be fair, it has suffered from a low- level civil war for decades now, but that doesn't impinge on most of this beautiful island. Imagine India without the madness, a lush and laid-back island where Buddhism sets a gentle tone and history has left resonant monuments. It's hard to resist.

Ecuador is slowly rising in popularity. Everyone yearns to visit the Galapagos Islands, where you can swim with sea lions and bask with giant tortoises. But few explore the mainland, a luscious country of jungles, beaches and Spanish colonial towns.

Botswana still doesn't receive many visitors, although the Okavango delta is one of the most magical places anywhere. Floating through the reeds in a dugout canoe surrounded by singing birds and flowering lilies, or walking the islands among giraffe and cheetah and zebra - there's nowhere on earth quite like it.

There are others: Belize (deep rainforest and Caribbean beaches), Pakistan (hill-tribe cultures and Moghul architecture), French Polynesia (Pacific paradise), Lakshadweep (exquisite islands), Chile (spectacular mountains).

Not all destinations are actual places, of course. There's a whole new category of holidays that are based around activities rather than places. Never mind painting holidays or wine-tasting tours. Eco-warriors are volunteering to conserve species from South African dolphins to Indian wolves. Charity fundraisers are rafting Guatemala, trekking Nepal, cycling Jordan. Extreme sportspeople are colonising the globe, whether they're hang-gliding the Himalayas, snow-boarding the Rockies or dog-sledding the Arctic.

And the Arctic represents a real frontier that is opening for the mainstream traveller. Travel to the Arctic or Antarctic is necessarily by organised tour group, but the opportunities now exist to walk on the ice pack, indulge in polar transport and walk with the penguins. It takes several weeks to arrive via luxury cruiser, and you'd better be a good sailor for those wild seas, but you can now experience the most extreme environment on our planet.

Which only leaves one destination 'unspoilt': space, the final frontier for tourism, the place that Ronald Reagan called 'the face of God'. And guess what? Already you can buy a ticket. For £56,000 you can book onto the first sub-orbital flights in 2003. These will take you 62 miles above the earth's surface, from where you can see the curvature of our planet. You will experience total weightlessness and, I would imagine, a little vertigo.

Personally, I'll be staying on planet earth. Apart from the vertigo, I reckon there's enough down here to keep us busy for a good long while yet. I'll see you out there.