In a noisy, fast-paced world, silence has become the ultimate luxury. Whether you’re a mindful traveller, a nature lover, or simply someone in need of serious quiet, these 10 destinations offer moments of stillness that feel like they’ve been forgotten by time.
From remote islands to sound-sapping deserts, these places remind us that quiet isn’t empty — it’s full of presence. This kind of silence doesn’t just soothe the ears; it speaks to the soul.
Tak Be Ha Cenote, Mexico (Yucatán Peninsula)
Picture/Absolute Adventure Mexico
Why it’s quiet: Hidden underground, this sacred limestone sinkhole is silent except for the occasional gentle drip of water.
Highlight: Swimming alone beneath ancient stalactites in crystal-clear stillness.
Type of silence: Echoing, cavernous peace.
Far from the crowds of touristy cenotes, Tak Be Ha feels like a secret whispered by the earth itself — a meditative swim beneath natural stone chandeliers.
Aoraki Mount Cook National Park, New Zealand
Picture/HY S/Unsplash
At night, the stars here feel almost within reach. You can lie back on the frost-dusted ground and listen to nothing but the quiet hum of the universe.
Why it’s quiet: A designated Dark Sky Reserve with minimal human interference and some of the purest air in the world.
Highlight: Stargazing in total silence surrounded by snow-capped peaks.
Type of silence: Celestial and remote.
Orfield Laboratories’ Anechoic Chamber – Minnesota, USA
Julian Walter/Orfield Laboraties
This is silence as a science experiment. Most can’t endure more than 30 minutes — here, your own body becomes the loudest sound in the room.
Why it’s quiet: Certified by Guinness World Records as the quietest place on Earth, absorbing 99.99% of sound.
Highlight: Inside the lab, even your heartbeat becomes loud.
Type of silence: Manmade and surreal.
Makgadikgadi Pans – Botswana
Picture/Great Safari Adventures
It’s a landscape of paradox — so empty it feels full. As you lie on the pans, the silence seeps into your bones, ancient and untouched.
Why it’s quiet: A salt flat so vast and flat it silences everything — even the wind seems to pause.
Highlight: Sleeping under the stars on the pans with no light or sound pollution.
Type of silence: Expansive and elemental.
Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon – Iceland
Lisa Hanly/Unsplash
The absence of noise here is matched only by the surreal beauty — luminous blue ice floats by like frozen ghosts in a sea of silence.
Why it’s quiet: This frozen lagoon offers natural hush, where sound only comes when an iceberg tips or a seal breaks the surface.
Highlight: Kayaking in still waters among ancient icebergs.
Type of silence: Arctic and ethereal.
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Tsum Valley – Nepal
Picture/Inside Himalayas
With no roads and minimal tourism, the Tsum Valley is a place of deep listening. Prayer flags flutter quietly as monks chant in distant stupas.
Why it’s quiet: A sacred Himalayan valley shielded from modernisation by geography and tradition.
Highlight: Buddhist monasteries nestled in misty silence.
Type of silence: Spiritual and secluded.
Koyasan – Japan
Picture/Where You’re Between
Stay in a temple lodging and wake before dawn. Every footstep on the moss-lined paths feels like part of a centuries-old ritual of calm.
Why it’s quiet: A mountaintop town with over a hundred temples, where silence is both practice and tradition.
Highlight: Morning meditation with monks amid hushed cedar forests.
Type of silence: Ritualistic and reverent.
Antelope Island – Utah, USA
Andrew Meehan/Unsplash
This island reminds you that silence can be wild too — not tame or meditative, but raw and rugged and real.
Why it’s quiet: Surrounded by the Great Salt Lake and cut off from city noise, the island is windswept and nearly deserted.
Highlight: Watching wild bison roam in the silence of the high desert.
Type of silence: Wild and windswept.
Daintree Rainforest – Australia
Griffin Quinn/Unsplash
Silence in the Daintree isn’t absence — it’s a subtle presence. Every rustle, croak, and drop feels amplified against the forest’s green hush.
Why it’s quiet: Its dense, ancient vegetation creates a natural acoustic dampener, muting even the birds.
Highlight: Walking among 180-million-year-old trees as nature breathes softly around you.
Type of silence: Lush and primal.
Svalbard Archipelago – Norway
Gab Vidal/Unsplash
Here, the air is so crisp it feels like sound would shatter it. Every movement is softened by snow, every view a frozen meditation.
Why it’s quiet: Halfway between Norway and the North Pole, this remote archipelago is blanketed in arctic silence.
Highlight: Dog-sledging in snow-muted landscapes.
Type of silence: Frozen and profound.
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