10 unexpected places to escape urban noise

2 hours ago

Daniel Seifert

Getty Images Person looking out of large window onto misty mountain scenery (Credit: Getty Images)

From silent ramen joints to dawn rituals, these 10 places provide calm and reflection – even in the world’s busiest cities.

Silence might be golden – but it doesn't have to be expensive. With "quietcations" tipped as a key travel trend for 2026, many travellers are dreaming of escaping to Patagonia's windswept plains or the craggy Scottish Highlands. That desire is fuelled by growing evidence that noise can do real harm. A recent report from the European Environment Agency lists "excessive noise" as a leading environmental cause of preventable death, linked to stress, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

But you don't have to flee civilisation to find moments of calm. With a little ingenuity, near-silence can be found even in the heart of a metropolis. Here are 10 places and activities that prove it.

1. Eat antisocially at a Japanese ramen bar

Japan's Ichiran ramen chain is beloved among connoisseurs, and not just for the food. Their unique selling point? Interior design so special they even patented it. Here, diners can sit in individual cubicles designed to minimise distraction and maximise focus. These “flavour concentration booths”, as the brand proudly notes, make it possible to eat in near silence, without conversation or eye contact. Get slurping (quietly) at dozens of locations across Japan, as well as in Hong Kong, Taiwan and New York City.

Getty Images The single-seat booths at Ichiran are designed to minimise noise and interaction (Credit: Getty Images) — The single-seat booths at Ichiran are designed to minimise noise and interaction (Credit: Getty Images)

2. Experience Bali's day of silence

Nyepi marks the start of the Balinese New Year, not with a bang, but with shhh. Held each March, the day requires the entire island to swap sound for a spiritual reset, a task made easier by the fact that no one – not even tourists – are allowed outside. Traffic trickles to a standstill, the airport closes and lights are dimmed or shut off. The lack of light pollution also results in spectacular stargazing that's further enhanced by the absence of sound.

3. Visit the quietest room in the world

For those seeking absolute silence, science offers an extreme solution. Orfield Laboratories, a research facility in Minneapolis, is home to an anechoic chamber recognised by Guinness World Records as the quietest place on Earth. The room absorbs 99.9% of sound, leaving visitors able to hear their own breathing, heartbeat – even the movement of their eyes.

Alamy An anechoic chamber creates an environment of near-total silence that some visitors describe as unexpectedly intense (Credit: Alamy) — An anechoic chamber creates an environment of near-total silence that some visitors describe as unexpectedly intense (Credit: Alamy)

"Many clients describe the chamber as therapeutic," says Emma Orfield Johnston, director of therapeutics at the lab founded by her grandfather. "For some, it's the first time they've experienced true quiet – and that alone can be profound." Unsurprisingly, many leave with a newfound love of silence. "Silence has become so rare that many people don't realise how much it affects their stress, attention, and overall well-being," she notes.

Read more: The quietest place on Earth

4. Explore Barcelona's blissfully tranquil park

Quiet Parks International, a non-profit dedicated to forging "a world where everyone has daily access to quiet and opportunities to listen to the sounds of nature", is building a list of the calmest urban green spaces around the world. So far 11 locations in Europe, Asia and the US have been awarded, though only after undergoing strict evaluation: the process involves multiple site visits and recording of sound levels.

One of the earliest parks awarded, Parc del Montnegre i el Corredor in Spain, sits just half an hour from downtown Barcelona and is worth a full-day visit. Its peaceful pine and cork forests are home to everything from windswept Neolithic stone structures (some that are supposed gathering sites for witches' covens), medieval churches and echoey 17th-Century ice houses.

Keen to spread the love? Quiet Parks International also welcomes your nominations for their next certified silent site.

Alamy The Last Bookshop, a second-hand store in Dublin, offers a quiet refuge from the surrounding city centre (Credit: Alamy) — The Last Bookshop, a second-hand store in Dublin, offers a quiet refuge from the surrounding city centre (Credit: Alamy)

5. Find peace in a Dublin bookshop

Ireland and Dublin have a storied literary legacy, so it's no surprise the capital has an abundance of bookshops. Devona Ball, who recently moved to Ireland's capital, recommends The Last Bookshop, a "quiet, maze-like spot, stacked full of towering piles of tomes with a system possibly only the proprietor understands".

Through the back of the second-hand store is the Cake Café – a pocket of calm in the chaotic city centre where customers can read in the serene, bamboo-filled courtyard. "On an Irish summer Saturday or mild autumn afternoon, there's nothing better than picking up a few books and wandering out the back door for a flat white," Ball says.

6. Sit in silence beside Berlin's most famous monument

Steps from Berlin's Brandenburg gate, one of the city's most visited sites, is the Raum der Stille – the Room of Silence. Inspired by a meditative space at the United Nations in New York, the room is open to all, encouraging quiet introspection with nothing more than a few chairs and a striking textile by artist Ritta Hager.

As the room is often empty, it feels like a private art showing in a space that's all your own while hundreds of tourists ogle the monument outside.

7. Join a dawn alms ritual in Bangkok

How do you find peace in a city of eleven million souls? Participate in tak bat, the Buddhist practice of giving alms to monks as a way to "make merit" through a good deed. (The ritual is also a daily part of life in nearby Laos and Cambodia.) Early birds may find this act of charity easier than others, since the offering, which takes place in sacred silence, happens at sunrise.

Alamy Visitors can observe tak bat at sunrise in Bangkok, when monks receive alms in a ritual conducted in near-silence (Credit: Alamy) — Visitors can observe tak bat at sunrise in Bangkok, when monks receive alms in a ritual conducted in near-silence (Credit: Alamy)

Many hotels will offer food packages or guided experiences, but the practice, where laypeople offer food in respectful quiet, can also be observed independently at temples such as Wat Pho. Visitors are expected to dress modestly and remain silent.

8. Learn to communicate without speaking

Travelling can also offer lessons in quiet through communication itself. Uzma Atcha, who recently moved to Sydney, began learning Auslan – Australian sign language – as a way to connect more deeply with her new home. "We had to be 'voice-off', and all instruction was in sign language," she says. "It's one of the few times I've been confronted with silence and had come to terms with not being able to speak and express myself."

Visitors can experience something similar at deaf-run establishments such as Tradeblock Café at Melbourne's Victorian College for the Deaf that's staffed entirely by deaf baristas who encourage customers to order in Auslan, with the assistance of a helpful iPad that explains how to sign for your cappuccino. The result is an atmosphere that has been praised for its tranquillity. "It is not a hushed, stifled type silence," one article notes, "just a gentle afternoon quiet where speech is scarcely heard, if at all."

Alamy Travellers should head to Fuyang Eco Park for Taipei 101 views without the crowds (Credit: Alamy) — Travellers should head to Fuyang Eco Park for Taipei 101 views without the crowds (Credit: Alamy)

9. Walk through jungle silence in central Taipei

Think of Taiwan's crowded, buzzing capital, and lush greenery isn't what first comes to mind. But the city boasts more than its share of parks and forests, some astonishingly near its centre. Xiangshan, or Elephant Mountain, gets all the press for its photogenic lookout over the iconic Taipei 101 skyscraper, but it can get crowded.

For a calmer option, try Fuyang Eco Park, a trail with several peaks that boasts its own Taipei 101 view, glimpsed from deep inside the hushed jungle. You may also spot other local residents on your hike – like tree frogs and the near-metre-long Formosan giant flying squirrel. The density of flora and fauna feels all the more special being just a few blocks from the metropolis below.

10. Browse an old-fashioned trove in Oxford

Nestled in a quiet side road between Oxford's high street and colourful covered market is Scriptum. To call it a mere "stationery store" doesn't do it justice – this creaky-floored gem feels like a set from the Harry Potter movies; a cabinet of curiosities bursting with Venetian carnival masks, peacock-feathered quills and antique maps.

Stubbornly analogue in its offerings, the store is dedicated to goods that enhance slow living, with a hushed atmosphere to fit. The friendly, quietly spoken staff are a fount of knowledge if you're looking for a bespoke gift. Like "a personal stationery service", as their site notes, "which enables our customers to have their details printed or engraved on a range of mouldmade and handmade paper, cards and envelopes". Just the thing for muted communication in a noisy world.

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