Inca astronomers in the Andean mountains saw such dark skies that they actually starting identifying and naming the dark spots of the Milky Way.

Personally I spent a couple of winters in the far northern wilderness in northern Ontario ... way up close to Hudson Bay. Hundreds of miles away from strong light pollution on a cold February night was the closest I ever felt to being in space ... the cold clear night sky is so brilliant, there are stars all the way down to the horizon and you literally feel like standing on the edge of the planet.