Varisia. That country basically has patent rights to Wild Frontier Borderland.
The "big" cities there are still below 20.000 souls, there's vast tracts of untamed wilderness, and you have goblins, ogres, giants, barbarians in the north, and since a lot of it was part of ancient Thassalion, you get more than your fair share of ancient ruins and monuments (all of them in the "we make them super-big to show off" category)
If you were going to make a campaign that focused on an edge-of-civilization feel, with the PCs chiseling out their part of the world to control, where would you put it in Golarion? I'm having a hard time deciding. I'm hoping to create a campaign that is centered around a growing settlement, maybe toss in the nearby ruins of a keep for the PCs to eventually occupy, but plenty of threats and local problems, but not so far as to the point where it would be suicidal to try and expand, a la Manifest Destiny.
I can offer a little advice, though not as much as I'd like as I still do not own the campaign setting or the gazetteer.
Two areas that immediately spring to mind are: Falcons Hallow and The Bloodsworn Vale. Both are detailed in modules by Paizo.
Falcon Hollow here:
Hollows Last Hope. Which is a free PDF download and a short yet fun adventure to boot.
Crown of the Kobold King A follow up adventure. Does give a little more detail on Falcons Hollow.
Carnival of Tears . This is a fairly dark module for mid-level adventurers, and definitely a horror themed adventure. If you enjoy this sort of thing, it's terrific!
Revenge of the Kobold King. This is the sequel to Crown of the Kobold King. It's good fun getting into mid-levels. It too is free as a PDF.
Hungry are the Dead. This adventure is the "finale" to the story arc. Nice cap to the series overall.
Finally, just information on the area of Falcon's Hollow, and may be the most useful to you, especially if you don't want to run canned adventures: Pathfinder Chronicles: Guide to Darkmoon Vale.
Now one of my favorite modules that Paizo has made is Conquest of the Bloodsworn Vale This is very much a sandbox adventure. It's set in an untamed wilderness, with a small fort as the base. The only issue may be the level, it's intended for 6th level PC's. However, because of the nature of the adventure, it may be easily adaptable to lower levels (if you're willing to swap monsters and take some NPC's down a level or two). It would make a great start for the kind of campaign you're looking to run. Personally I hope that Paizo puts out a few more modules like this one (except at a lower level).
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True, true. I'm well aware of Varisa. I know it is designed pretty much just for this purpose, but at the same time, it has gotten a lot of attention. While not a bad thing, a few of my players are pretty serious paizo fans (and have way more of the materials than I), so I'm tempted to look into other possible places in the world, too, if only for the sake of something different.
Hmm... I will have to just reread the CS when I get home tonight.
Perhaps use the information on the Magwani Expanse if you want them building a civilization out of jungle area... it provides a different set of obstacles than the average 'build a keep-town o venture from and colonize the forests'...
True, true. I'm well aware of Varisa. I know it is designed pretty much just for this purpose, but at the same time, it has gotten a lot of attention.
It's true: Two whole adventure paths play in Varisia, and the third starts there and doesn't get away too quickly, either. Between those three APs and a couple of modules, all four of Varisia's significant settlements have been at least touched on, with one getting its own book (Korvosa) and two others at least PF articles (Magnimar and Riddleport). And there's at least a couple of lines about Kaer Maga.
But even then, the cities haven't been detailed down to the last lean-to and cobble, and the wilderness still contains a googol places that are only mentioned, with very little information.
Some ideas for Varisia:
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You can also go for Arcadia, which is essentially North America. The Ulfens have made it over there but that's it so far. Just know that there is VERY little info on it so you'd have to basically build everything up from scratch. And then what you build up may be contradicted in later products (though I don't see them going to Arcadia until about 2012)