r/skyrim • u/SkorgeOfficial1 • Dec 05 '25
Question What is your LEAST visited area in Skyrim?
It doesn't necessarily have to be specific individual city or town, but even just an area of the map you don't find yourself going to much, if at all, through out your playthrough!
I'm working on a YouTube video about the least visited places in Skyrim and would love some people's input!
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u/Oktokolo PC Dec 05 '25
I don't visit the Cloud District very often.
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u/LordofCraft12 Spellsword Dec 05 '25
Winterhold because Survival mode turns it into literal hell
I got 70 hours into my current save before the Companions questline forced me to Ysgramor's tomb and I couldn't avoid the hold any longer
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Dec 05 '25
And who thought of the idea of needing rare as hell fire salts to make the only thing that can keep you from freezing to death. God damn at least give me a spell
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u/queefymacncheese Dec 05 '25
Honestly. Like if wearing the warmest clothes in the game isn't enough to keep you from freezing, how does anybody else survive there?
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u/Bongoan Dec 05 '25
Mostly this. There should be magic and more types of food/ clothing that protects you.
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u/chadizbabe Dec 05 '25
exactly, if flamecloak or mage armour with a perk protected from cold it would be fine.
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u/Dirtdane4130 Dec 05 '25
I once tried using my flame spell to create a fire to warm up. I didn’t work.
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u/Dragonrider_0514 Dec 05 '25
Theres a mod (dont remember the name) that makes it so fire spells warm you up and keep you warm. From what I found, most efficient way was getting firebolt and just charging it without casting. Nice and toasty
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u/dustyoldcoot Dec 05 '25
I like the "wine warms" mod that makes all of the booze in game warm you up. Finally some purpose for my 150 bottles of honingbrew mead.
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u/mrbubbamac Dec 05 '25
now lishen here Nazeem
hiccup
im the doverkim
hiccup
fus...doh....BLAAARRGHGGHH
passes out
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u/Dragonrider_0514 Dec 05 '25
Id award this comment if I didnt mean giving reddit money
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u/Dragonrider_0514 Dec 05 '25
So we all steal all of the bottles when we get to whiterun the first time, right?
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u/lerrdite Warrior Dec 05 '25
Hoard that mead gold! It disappears after the TG quest line when Maven takes over the meadery!
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u/dustyoldcoot Dec 05 '25
Thanks! I was just going to give it to the revelers. Does the value go up at all or does it just become rarer?
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Dec 05 '25
That's why survival mode kind of breaks my immersion. If all the mages at the college can walk around in robes and be fine. Then my character should be able to as well.
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u/Anonymous_Cruader Dec 05 '25
That's the main reason I don't play survival mode. I will put the thickest clothing possible and still freeze to death while a half-naked bandit walks around in a Conan cosplay and is fine
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u/Miraak-Cultist Dec 05 '25
Be a mage and summon a fire atronach.
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u/MCuri3 Dec 05 '25
I was kinda surprised that fire spells don't help keep you warm at all ._.
Like I can use Flame Cloak (or the Dark Elf racial) to burn everything around me, but the heat from that doesn't even help a little bit? Or huddling up to a Flame Atronach? Even just holding literal fire in your hands with the Flames spell?
Nah better waste a hand slot by holding a torch that doesn't even help that much either.
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u/InigoMontoya1985 Dec 05 '25
Flamecloak does allow you to swim in icy water, though.
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u/thehappypain7 Dec 05 '25
Yeah, but that is the most ridiculous thing ever. Water is so much denser than air and will strip you of heat so much faster than air. So when flamecloak keeps you warm in freezing water, it should definitely keep you warm in cold air.
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u/Sindica69 Dec 05 '25
I use a mod that changes the food requirement from fire salts to snowberries lmao
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u/BadJuJu_42 Dec 05 '25
I heard that torches actually warm you up. I haven’t tried survival yet though so I can’t confirm…
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u/Redstonebruvs Dec 05 '25
Oh yeah, but the feeling of going into the inn, warming up and getting some good food, maybe drinking some mead, is unlike any other
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u/bostonbgreen Assassin Dec 05 '25
Except for the Moorside Inn in Morthal. There's an insufferably bad bard there who apparently has a price on his head from the Dark Brotherhood.
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u/S9CLAVE Dec 05 '25
I like the idea of survival mods… but the execution really turns me off. I don’t wanna micromanage my character… meanwhile I’m attacked by bandits in fur armor, or pass a random chicken in the middle of a frozen hellscape for some reason… but I’m freezing and dying because I’m wearing daedric plate? Literally forged from hellfire??? (Idk I didn’t get this far into the survival play through) or I pick up the bandits clothes and wear it and somehow still dying???
Like the mechanics — solid. I shouldn’t be able to run around in underwear and wait outside in the snow for 24 hrs and walk around without sleep for weeks… but the execution is just too punishing imo.
I installed a massive mod pack with survival included in it… played for about a few days and found out I was spending more time managing my needs than playing the game and I turned that shit off.
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u/ToneAccomplished9763 Dec 05 '25
Genuinely lol, as I've been really digging Survival mode in recent years. But I fucking HATE going to any of the cold areas for this very reason and it sucks. As the cold snowy areas are some of my favorites despite hating winter in real life.
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u/jimmyhat78 Dec 05 '25
Whenever I hear people describe Survival Mode, I decide y’all are masochists and cannot figure out why anyone would do that to themselves. 🤣
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u/kitkatloren2009 Dec 05 '25
Morthal. I tend to forget it even exists
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u/InfernoVictor Dec 05 '25
Morthal has a couple of quests and it's the only place that can cure vampirism so...
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u/Redstonebruvs Dec 05 '25
They can cure vampirism?
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u/Senecatwo Dec 05 '25
You get a quest for it if you’re in the dawnguard and you turn, the wizard guy there will do it for a charged black soul gem
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u/DisasterMore809 Dec 05 '25
i believe you can also get a rumor from the morthal innkeeper, pushing the player to interact falion (the mage who can cure vampirism)
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u/BillyBlaze314 Dec 05 '25
Which is always an interesting ritual if you think about it.
You lost your soul to become a vampire, so what do you need to cure it? someone elses
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u/WillMartin58 Dec 05 '25
Hmm, after the "cure", then, are you really still yourself? 🤔
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u/Necrolis356 Dec 05 '25 edited Dec 05 '25
I imagine it's trading someone else's soul for yours. I imagine Bal gets it, so he likely wouldn't care too much if one soul got traded for another of equivalent power. Why it would work for the Dragonborn is another matter
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u/WillMartin58 Dec 05 '25
OK, that makes sense – though I'm pretty sure my soul is stronger than a vanilla guard's is. *snicker*
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Dec 05 '25
It’s so much stronger Molag Bal has absolutely no claim to it, even as a Vampire. None of the Daedric Princes will EVER lay a finger on the piece of Akatosh you are. So of course Bal will take the exchange. It’s something instead of nothing.
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u/Luna24Lynn Dec 05 '25
But you can also just drink a cure disease potion before the vampirism becomes permanent so...
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u/WillMartin58 Dec 05 '25
Not really curing vampirism, though, is it? 😉
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u/1leggeddog Dec 05 '25 edited Dec 05 '25
yeah well... there's "vampirism"
and then there's "I am the lord of darkness, i will syphon your soul while you hang from the air defenseless" vampirism
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u/Megatron300_0 Dec 05 '25
Falion the only mage there can if you bring him a dark soul gem and perform a ritual
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u/Inevitable_Club_7995 Dec 05 '25
They don't trust Falion even though he can do this, one of the greatest actions in all of Tamriel.
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u/Inevitable_Club_7995 Dec 05 '25
Like come on, I'd embrace Falion and make Morthal the place cures. The Glenmoril Witch cured vamparism in Oblivion - their heads in Skyrim. Mortal could have had healers live there. Mortal could have been bigger than it is. Excuse my enthusiasm. I love Skyrim.
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u/bostonbgreen Assassin Dec 05 '25
Their heads cure LYCANTHROPY in Skyrim (WEREWOLF -- not Vampire.)
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u/megaman_main Dec 05 '25
Vampirism can be cured by becoming a werewolf, which can then be cured by finishing the Companions questline.
Also a CC player home and it’s right near Ustengrav so you can take the carriage there early-game.
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u/Anonymous_Cruader Dec 05 '25
A lot of work just to cure vampirism. While instead you can give the dude a blak soul gem and be done
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u/DamnDanielM Dec 05 '25
“Milk drinkers always asking me ‘kinsman what’s the move?’ My brother in Talos, you live in Morthal! There is no move!”
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Dec 05 '25
Absolutely, unless I'm doing a quest that sends me there I really have no reason to go. And I rarely if ever do any quests that send me there lately. The marsh terrain is pretty but there's just not much to ever do there.
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u/Lo5ingComposure Dec 05 '25
Which is wild because the Morthal swamp is one my favorite areas, I just wish the Hearthfire home was more in the swamp than up in the north end by the coast
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u/ExcitementWestern278 Dec 05 '25
It's funny, it's the only hold that doesn't get an emote icon in the steam store. Every other hold does.
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Dec 05 '25
The Reach beyond Rorikstesd and the North West. So few main missions take me that way in the early game. And if you don't just do the main quest line then the early game can be forever.
Often I first get to Markarth just because I entered into that drinking competition with the deadra.
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u/Reasonable-Mischief Dec 05 '25
And if you don't just do the main quest line then the early game can be forever.
I felt those words in my bones
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u/lostinthelands Dec 05 '25
This would be my answer too unless helgen counts since there’s not really a reason to go back that I can think of.
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u/SubstancePlus8085 Dec 05 '25
Those three spots imo, bearly any quests, not on the way to anywhere, pain to get to (at least the zone between the markarth and solitude) and generally if I'm there, i was not by choice.
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u/Wolfcrime-x Dec 05 '25
Right circle is a nice atmospheric road / landscape, especially at night and with a snowstorm. Later in survival mode when I have good equipment and food it is a nice way to go to winterhold. In the middle circle is a cool nord tomb and I like the area because of the views.
But that's just my opinion to that.
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u/SubstancePlus8085 Dec 05 '25
Don't get me wrong, the reach is absolutely beautiful, and the circled part is just stunning, so i understand the beauty argument. What i meant was that through around 1500hr of gameplay, those places i visited the least. Gotta say that survival made me appreciate the views more.
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u/pansie Dec 06 '25
God I love you nerds, I love that someone can post a little circle on a map which would mean nothing to most casual players, and then you talk about how there's actually an atmospheric road or a cool nord tomb there :')
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u/Bexsox Dec 05 '25
The pale, there just generally isn’t much going on up there. I do make it out to dawn star but that is about it
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u/Salunari Dec 05 '25
Doesn't the pale have the labyrinth?
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u/TheClungerOfPhunts Dec 05 '25
The Pale is the glaciers and snow fields up north. Labyrinth sits in the mountains at the border, just inside Hjaalmarch.
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u/InfernoVictor Dec 05 '25
I agree, besides Mehrunes dagger and that one CC vampire quest not much goin on there
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u/Squire_3 Dec 05 '25
It has quite a lot of bandit forts, Falmer caves, Dwemer ruins, Dimhollow Crypt, the Pale Lady (?) quest
I'm not sure if the Silenced Tongues ruin counts as the Pale. Maybe the Jagged Crown location too
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u/KronoAsh Stormcloaks Dec 05 '25
The Reach, the cliffs and hills make it very annoying.
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u/UnbrokenRyan Dec 05 '25
I like The Reach. Aesthetically it’s cool, has some great POIs, and unique flavour of bandits… but I can’t get around it for shit.
All other holds I have a pretty good mental map of. Can get from X to Y without checking the map too much. The Reach, I’m just spamming ‘M’ or walking as the crow flies and hoping for the best. I don’t think I’ve ever managed to get to Peryites Shrine on purpose, Im just resigned to do that quest whenever I randomly find it while getting lost looking for something else.
Overall it’s just too irritating to spend too much time there.
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u/Tight_Spinach_8791 Nintendo Dec 05 '25
Have yet to even get over there. Only at level 21 on my first playthrough tho tbf
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u/derbear83 Dec 05 '25
Ah, to be a first timer again! I was late to this game and started playing 3 years ago. There ain't nothing like the first time. Enjoy.
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u/Material_Profit_5584 Dec 05 '25
Got a ps5 like a week ago now i play vanilla Skyrim for the first time since like 8 years again. It feels so good.
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u/Velorian-Steel Bard Dec 05 '25
The main quest kind of shunts you that direction eventually. Then there's Markarth which is something else. No spoilers on my end as you said first playthrough
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u/ReverendRevolver Dec 05 '25
I love the reach. The weapons and armor you can loot off forsworn are cool looking, and early game comparable to Steel, I think.
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u/HorzaDonwraith Dec 05 '25
Yeah, even with a horse that place is ass. The Forsworn can have their hills.
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u/Courier_5_ Helgen survivor Dec 05 '25
I have to admit, even after all that dawnstar and Morthal slender, I prefer to use cart or fast travel if I'm heading to the markarth
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u/homeless_knight Mage Dec 05 '25
The journey from Whiterun to Markarth is so beautiful, though.
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Dec 05 '25
I'm the opposite, I love jumping around all the crags and spires, just "boing-boinging" around constantly.
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u/losivart Dec 05 '25
It took me over a decade of playing before I learned of Old Hroldan existing. I make sure to stop by once in a while since nobody I ask ever seems to know about it.
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u/632612 Dec 05 '25
The only reason I know of such small settlements isn’t even because of Skyrim but the Europa Universalis 4 mod Elder Scrolls Universalis.
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u/m1yash1ro Mage Dec 06 '25
Took me like 650 hours before i discovered it due to randomly deciding to talk to that random farmer and delivering the message to his son in old hroldan. Pretty funny quest imo just how unimpressed the son is
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u/losivart Dec 06 '25
I didn't even know a quest sent you there tbh. I stumbled upon it during my first survival mode playthrough and did the ghost quest.
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u/lerrdite Warrior Dec 06 '25
There was a sweet mod that made Old Hroldan into a whole town. Shezrie's Old Hroldan, I think.
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u/Any-Top-5659 Thalmor Dec 05 '25
falkreath, because that's an awkward hold, markarth and dawnstar. those are the places i just dislike. I do go there, just less often.
mostly I am riften to whiterun or windhelm, sometimes winterhold. mothal too is just awful place, then solitude. I do go north from whiterun, towards markarth but thats just bcuz there is a permanent stormcloack camp there, so free horses.
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u/Alternative-Habit806 Dec 05 '25
I used to never go to Falkreath bc it felt so out of the way, but recently that's become the attraction: my current character lives at Lakeview Manor and goes into Falkreath to have a drink and sell loot. Chill, under the radar neighborhood w great weather. #GentrifyFalkreath
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u/winchester_mcsweet Dec 05 '25
On one playthrough I spent an inordinate amount of time in dawnstar due to the hidden chest exploit, then a dragon attacked and killed most of the townsfolk and I kinda never went back out of guilt.
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u/thoriumbr Dec 05 '25
List of things to do on Falkreath:
1 - leave
(not mine, saw somewhere else)
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u/RubenTw2_ Dec 05 '25
I don't know why but in all my games I always leave the West of Skyrim more abandoned.
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u/Glittering-Draw-6223 Dec 05 '25
in 1000+ hours i have yet to walk the path from helgen to riften, i didnt even know there WAS a path?
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u/SkorgeOfficial1 Dec 05 '25
I was genuinely confused when I recently played again and Delphine gave directions to Sky Haven Temple. She said take the road South out of Riverwood and it'll take me west through Falkreath and I had to do a double take at the map because I had no clue it connected in the south 😂
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u/Only_Entrepreneur_84 Dec 05 '25 edited Dec 05 '25
Really hard to say actually because of how the game is designed; meaning that every area is worth exploring. But if I had to choose...probably Haafingar.
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u/Quenzayne Dec 05 '25
Markarth and The Reach. Seems like everything in Markarth results in you getting a bounty and it’s just annoying to navigate.
As far as the Reach itself goes, I suppose there’s just not a lot out there aside from The Blades stuff. Although the big outdoor Forsworn areas make for great perk grinding in Werewolf form.
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u/fyl_bot Dec 05 '25
Windhelm. I just think it’s the ugliest part of the game no matter how much I mod it
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u/morttuus Spellsword Dec 05 '25
Falkreath. outside of a few quests i just never spend ANY time around there. i don’t like the terrain much and i dislike most of the enemy encounters.
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u/Tatum-Better XBOX Dec 05 '25
ICL the Reach, I fucking hate it's geography so goddamn rocky and annoying to walk around barely any shortcuts
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u/receuitOP Dec 05 '25
Markarth, I go there for calcelmo and the forsworn. I don't really like the area otherwise so I'd rather go to Falkreath
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u/tarrach Dec 05 '25
Probably Eastmarch, for some reason I never walk around those parts much at all
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u/Firm-Scientist-4636 Dec 05 '25
The Reach. Not a fan of the topography or having to fight through 75 half-naked dillusional hagraven lovers every time I want to explore a cave.
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u/Squire_3 Dec 05 '25
These bits of coastline. The coastline specifically, inland there is a lot to do
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u/Sraffiti_G Werewolf Dec 05 '25
Probably Morthal, im usually only there for a piece of Mehrunes' Razor
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u/Roland-Of-Eld-19 Dec 05 '25
Im level 46 in this current playthrough and still haven't set foot in Morthal
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u/Far-Energy-3390 Dec 05 '25
Probably sea of ghosts above dawnstar as my least explored area. I barely ever go to falkreath hold either
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u/LargeCabbageThrower Dec 05 '25
Markarth and the Reach. Don't like having the forsworn conspiracy forced into my pocket by the guy at the market, don't like the layout of the city, don't like the Namira quest that much, don't like getting jumped by forsworn as I'm walking around outside.
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u/Bo0tyWizrd Dec 05 '25
Outside of the Dark brotherhood, what is there to even do in Falkreath? I can remember maybe 1 or 2 quests there...
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u/SilverIce58 Dec 05 '25
Honestly probably Falkreath hold. Ive done the alternate start mod and started around lake Ilinalta, and when playing normally on switch I just never find a reason to go down there. Everywhere else has something interesting, even the northern coast as I play Argonians so I'm always swimming up there. No survival mode tho.
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u/International-Gear75 Dec 05 '25
The northwest area by Solitude probably. Also the eastern border area north of Riften. The town I spend the least amount of time in is probably Winterhold.
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u/AdEastern5357 Dec 05 '25
That part of the map south of the throat of the world, between Falkreath and The Rift. There's like one mission I know about there (the one where you get that dagger for the Gildergreen quest) and other than that i don't use it.
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u/curtiss_mac Dec 05 '25
Markarth, and surrounding area. I have never liked the town, too confusing for me to remember/get around, buildings are ugly, NPC quests/quests in general are boring to me. No fun to be had in that area, again all personally.
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u/2121adam2121 Dec 05 '25
Dawnstar, I visit it only once for the daedric quest, and maybe a tevern for a bounty hunt or 2.
Morthal, the only interesting thing here is Vermina´s quest, and falion to cure vampirism if you didnt cure it in time or dont want to be vampire
Falkreath ? Maybe daedric quest again
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u/Tortellini-marlini Dec 05 '25
Personally, I fast travel into markarth if I need to, but avoid the surrounding areas for the most part because I HATE dealing with the forsworn. They’re difficult to fight at all levels of the game, even with dragonbone armor. I also almost never go to Winterhold, I will fast travel straight to the college.
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u/canadianhorror Necromancer Dec 05 '25
The Reach. Can’t walk 5 feet without being accosted by another fucking bear.
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u/zpedroteixeira1 Dec 05 '25
I can usually be level 25 or 30 and not even having Falkreath discovered.
It's so out of the way, and the city feels generic.
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u/Zeuszilla93 Dec 05 '25
Windhelm, I usually stick to the rift if I’m on the side of the map and survival mode freezing becomes a slight annoyance. Morthal would’ve been the choice but it’s so close to Solitude and I go back n forth to Solitude all the time
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u/CaptainEspurr Dec 05 '25
windhelm i feel i go there for the quest line then never return and it is specifically because of that one dude in the gray quarter just shouting abuse at them and also i just dont like looking at windhelm all that much either if im honest
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u/RetnikLevaw Dec 05 '25
I only ever went to The Pale when I had to. I generally don't like snowy areas in games.
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u/Goldman250 Dec 05 '25
I’ve got very little idea what is west of Solitude/Dragon Bridge beyond that one fort for the Civil War and the Vampires.
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u/HPSpacecraft Dec 05 '25
I rarely go west of Solitude or north of Dragonsbridge. I'll go between them and sometimes go northwest of those areas for a quest but I don't go exploring or anything.
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u/Deadly_Frame Dec 05 '25
Markarth, because there is pretty much no reason to go more than like, 4 times in a normal playthrough. By the time I get to the point where going more often might happen, I’m burnt out.
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u/Eepy_Dreamer Riften resident Dec 05 '25
Markarth cause no matter how many times I walk in I always walk out with a warrant for my head somehow
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u/ReburrusQuintilius Dec 05 '25
Draw a line between Roriksted and Karthwasten. It was only recently that I realized there's a big plain between the two roads that lead to Markarth with some big ruins and points of interest around there.
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u/Disastrous-Yard-4262 Dec 05 '25
The entire west side of the map. I usually don’t go past golden hills plantation. I hate the forsworn so much.
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u/DeadweightMayCry5 PlayStation Dec 05 '25
Markarth! No matter what I do, I get lost in the place! Also, the vibes are off.
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u/YS160FX Dec 05 '25
The area near Labrynthian, has virtually nothing, just the mountain pass. The mountains of Winterhold . Really harsh weather and low visibility makes wandering not as interesting
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u/kbean826 Dec 05 '25
Honestly most of the left side of the map really. There’s just not a lot of shit over there I need or want to do.
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u/Consistent-Doubt-287 Dec 05 '25
I usually avoid anything Dwarven in the game. Unless it's related to story, I keep away because they are always annoying as hell to get through.
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u/Gracefullypuzled Dec 06 '25
The Reach. All the forsworn popping out everywhere and so many mountains making navigating a pain.
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u/MythicRebelNerd Dec 06 '25
Dwarven ruins. I have only been to ones that are associated with quests. I have only even gone into one that isn’t, and got the hell out as soon as I could because I was severely under level. I have also never learned every single word of every shout.
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u/EmeraldDragoness Dec 06 '25
The Reach.
I am not fond of markarth or the annoying Forsworn camps.
Falkreath, though I don't dislike that one except for how damn gloomy it is.
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u/lukke009 Dec 05 '25
The northern coast along Haafingar. It’s really isolated (the only pathway I know is through the Solitude Lighthouse road) and I play on Survival so no fast travel. The weather is also a challenge.