Best places in the world to find silence in 2022 – Lonely Planet

Travel is usually about adventure, excitement and new experiences. Sometimes, all you really want is quiet and peace.

Dark sky parks are remote locations with little if any light pollution, ideal destinations for stargazers. What about the sound equivalent? The answer is not simple. In places that seem like the middle of nowhere, finding a place free of man-made noise is a challenge.

The adverse effects of noise pollution on wildlife

The noise pollution caused by things like nearby roads, air traffic, logging, mining and urban settlements is pervasive across the United States. If this is bad for us, it is even worse for wildlife, who rely on the sounds of their environment for survival.

There may be hope. Gordon Hempton, author of the book "One Square Inch of Silence" and founder of Quiet Parks International, started a movement to preserve those few places where it is possible to experience relatively pure silence. The hope is that travelers will seek them out just as they seek out dark sky parks to take a break.

These are the best places in the world to find solace.

The serenity of a Wilderness Quiet Park: only the sounds of nature 

Quiet parks are off the beaten path and still threatened by noise pollution. The remote, moss-laden Hoh Rain Forest on Washington state's Olympic Peninsula, where Hempton initially set up his experiment, remained relatively free of noise pollution for years. Quiet Parks International was launched because of the change and his inability to stop it, hoping a global effort would have a greater impact.

How many Wilderness Quiet Parks are there? 

The first officialwilderness quiet park certified by QPI is along the Zabalo River. The area shows a healthy balance of bioacoustic activity with noise-free intervals lasting several hours. It's hard to find a place without the sounds of human activity. QPI hopes quiet- park status will eventually benefit the local Indigenous Cofán tribe, which owns the land.

Future, potential Wilderness Quiet Parks

There are several other wilderness quiet parks around the world. Most of them are in natural areas with minimal artificial light sources. They are located far from established flight patterns and other major sources of traffic noise in places where land use is not likely to create frequent noise.

Idaho's Craters of the Moon, Utah's Canyonlands National Park, and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are potential new quiet parks in the United States.

In Europe, there are potential quiet parks from the Snowdonia National Park in Wales to the Pirin National Park in Bulgaria.

There are many other potential sites around the world, including the Skeleton Coast of Namibia, the Canary Islands, and the aptly named Silent Valley National Park in India. If the site visits show that they meet the right criteria, these could become quiet parks. Part of the certification process will be to establish how quiet the project is.

Urban Quiet Parks: an oasis in the middle of a city

If you head out into the wilderness, you'll be able to escape man-made noise. You won't have to go far to get a taste of natural silence if everything goes as planned. Quiet parks, places near or within major cities that have been set aside as quiet, noise pollution-free spaces, have been established by QPI.

There are 4 quiet parks in the world as of 2022.

There are 65 calm places within the city and its surroundings, as well as 11 walking paths with an icon for quiet trails. The walks are easy to get to from the city center. In Taiwan, New York City, and Portland, Oregon, similar experiments are taking place.

Quiet communities, quiet marine trails, and even quiet hotels are some of the things that are being created. It seems that we are starting to recognize the value of a little peace and quiet in a busy world.

You might also like: 
Which US Dark Sky Park is right for you?
Is this the quietest place in the USA?
Considering a solo trip? Here are the 20 things you need to know before you go