Seven MENA Villages at the Very Edge of the World

Across the Middle East and North Africa, there are places where roads begin to thin, where the signal fades, and where time moves at a pace dictated not by schedules but by wind, tide, and light. These are villages that exist at the very margins—perched between desert and sea, carved into mountainsides, or tucked into valleys that feel impossibly far from everything else. There, life itself is shaped by isolation. Fishing boats still leave at dawn. Doors remain unlocked. Stories travel faster than cars. To visit these pockets of solitude is not simply to travel far, but to arrive somewhere quieter—where geography has preserved culture, and where remoteness has become a kind of protection. From wind-beaten coastal settlements to highland villages suspended above clouds, these are the MENA villages that feel like the edge of the world.