Few games manage to achieve a level 0f freedom akin to the one found in Skyrim. Your character can do just about anything, from being a blacksmith who sells his creations, to a rogue who can literally steal the clothes someone is wearing. With the boundless gameplay loop possibilities, come boundless opportunities for immersive exploration.
Dungeons, ruins, cities, you name it: there is so much to see in Skyrim. Even if you spent hundreds and hundreds of hours playing, you still wouldn’t see everything the game has to offer. Since the open world is filled with secret paths and hidden passages, you are liable to miss out on a few incredible locations.
10 Bleakcoast Cave
On your journeys through the land, you come across countless caves filled with all sorts of dreadful beasts. Giant spiders, feral blind elves, or other monsters can easily make you jump out of your seat if you aren’t paying attention. The Bleakcoast Cave is south-east of Winterhold, it houses four Frost Trolls. An Animal Extermination quest from the Companions tasks you with eliminating these dangerous creatures.
This place is special simply because it pays homage to Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back since you can find a corpse dangling from the frozen ceiling, reaching for a sword — just like Luke Skywalker in the movie.
9 Reaper’s Lair
This one is easy to miss. If you have the Dawnguard expansion, you can explore the Soul Cairn, a plane of Oblivion that is home to undead souls, spooky mist, and the Reaper’s Lair. This location houses a mini-boss fight, accessible only after placing three Reaper Gem Fragments on the altar in the lair.
You should definitely fight this ghostly being, since defeating it rewards you with three Black Soul Gems and one Deadra Heart — both are among the rarest ingredients for enchanting and alchemy.
8 Bard’s Leap Summit
Skyrim isn’t exactly a platforming game with free-running elements. Nevertheless, the jump button isn’t a complete waste. The Bard’s Leap summit is located high in The Reach’s mountains and holds a Word Wall that will teach you a new Shout. Other than that, you can pretend to be Ezio from Assassin’s Creed.
That’s right. If you reach the top of the summit and walk along the stone bridge overlooking the waterfall, you can leap of faith into a pool of water. Doing that prompts a little hidden dialogue, whose reward is well worth the jump.
7 The Chill
Some locations are rather hard to find simply because they don’t bear a marker on your handy map. The Chill is a great example of such a place. This cave is found north of the College Of Winterhold and serves as a prison for those who have committed crimes in the town. That’s pretty unique, as far as prisons go.
This secret location is close to the edge of the map, and there isn’t much to do there other than battle some Frost Atronachs. If you get arrested and happen to be of low level, it’s very dangerous to escape from here since the atronachs guard the prison and can quickly turn you into Italian ice.
6 Forgotten Vale
The expansions of the game add plenty of awesome areas to explore. The Forgotten Vale comes with the Dawnguard DLC and simply looks stunning. You go here to retrieve Auriel’s Bow, one of the best weapons in the game, in order to fight the vampires terrorizing Skyrim.
The Forgotten Vale is well worth exploring during your quest. It holds several rare ore deposits, like Malachite and Orichalcum, a frozen lake with Elder Dragons ready to double team on you, and unique animals to hunt. You should definitely go to this area as soon as you can.
5 Redwater Den
Another great addition included in the Dawnguard expansion is the Redwater Den. West of the Boulderfall Cave, you can find this inconspicuous area that actually functions as the underworld of Skyrim. Vampires draw helpless NPCs here with the promise of offering them Skooma, just to imprison and kill them.
Luckily, you are the Dragonborn and can crash their party, basically like a SWAT team would. Furthermore, here you can gather plenty of rare ingredients and potions like Sleeping Tree Sap or Redwater Skooma.
4 Throat Of The World
Every player has to go here in order to progress with the main quest, uncovering the Dragonborn’s destiny. While you do so, you can also come across a neat easter egg. If you climb all the way up, as far as you can, beyond Paarthurnax resting place, you can find a special item embedded on the peak of the mountain.
The Notched Pickaxe is found here, partly stuck to the bare rock. It comes with a unique enchantment that gives you +5 Smithing. Considering the name and enchantment, this pickaxe could be a nod to Minecraft’s creator, Markus Persson, also known as Notch.
3 The Guardian Stones
Whether you are starting a new playthrough, or continuing your ongoing journey, you should pay a visit to The Guardian Stones every now and then. Found alongside the road south-west of Riverwood, these Standing Stones make your life considerably easier.
They increase by 20% the rate at which your magic, combat, or stealth skills improve. That’s a great boost if you are trying to level up a specific tree to unlock special abilities. It’s easy to forget these handy stones exist, so make sure you go to them if you want to make a powerful character.
2 Blackreach
The Blackreach is a mix of dungeons and cave systems that quench any explorer’s thirst for adventure. This area houses ancient Dwemer ruins, inhabited by dangerous creatures. Among these, are the ever so terrible Frostbite Spiders, all congregated for you in a giant nest found in the western portion of the cave. You can tell where it is because the bioluminescent lights on the ceiling become obscured by layers of webs.
If that doesn’t make your skin crawl, go there without hesitation. Just remember to look above you every now and then, you never know when a someone with eight eyes could be looking at you. This area is also worth exploring if you are a fan of getting lost in countless rooms, so be prepared to spend a couple of hours here.
1 Labyrinthian
This is undoubtedly the must-see area for any Skyrim player. The Labyrinthian is filled with secrets, but most importantly, it holds Shalindor’s Maze. Not enough games implement mazes in their open worlds which is a shame since they are rather compelling to come across. For instance, Breath Of The Wild has three different and challenging mazes to complete, which make the game simply perfect.
Shalindor’s Maze is fantastic in its own right. Traversing it isn’t as simple as finding the way out, and you need to figure out what to do with the objects given to you. It suffices to say that those brave enough to venture here will face a unique Dremora in a fight to the death.
NEXT: Skyrim: The 10 Most Evil Characters, Ranked
