Places you’ve been which have been remarkably quiet

[Sskka]

(and how did you manage that, was it the time of year or something?)

Seeing Breughel’s The Triumph of Death at the Prado in Madrid. We went in for free one evening in the hour before closing and there it was, first gallery we looked in with nobody else there. I got about ten minutes with it on my absolute own and was able to look at all the little figures in great detail, nose practically to the paint. It was just marvellous.

I don’t know how it happened. The next door room had The Garden of Earthly Delights and was really busy. Must’ve been only Bosch fans in that night.

Washington DC. A long weekend in March. We had the Lincoln memorial all to ourselves, went to see the Declaration of Independence and just strolled straight up to it, no queue. Also the National Gallery of Art, there were more staff than visitors. It was crazy, bizarrely Washington was just empty that weekend

I think it's Breughel, OP 😄 I've seen a few in similar circumstances - it's great, there's so much to look at, you need a good, long time with a clear, close-up view! You could say the same about Bosch, mind, but he didn't put quite as much graphic awfulness (or dark humour) into his apocalypse scenes. I think that must be what keeps viewers away from Pieter & son. We should do a tour of Gruesome Old Masters to test this theory.

I don't travel any more 😭 so all my hidden jewels are probably now teeming with Instagrammers and souvenir hawkers. I do, however, live in a freakishly quiet part of England: Herefordshire. It's terribly pretty and mind-numbingly boring, but it does have (rarely busy) Places Of Interest. Easily recommended for a short visit if 'remarkably quiet' is what you're after!

I went to the Giants Causeway just before Covid ahit everything down. I was heading back from holiday early and had an evening ferry so stopped on the way. I had the place to myself.

We managed to get out to Tuscany during covid (in one of those narrow open windows where travel was allowed, but then got rolled back again soon after!) So we got to visit normally heaving sights like San Gimignano when they were very quiet.

When we visited Petra in Jordan many years that was surprisingly quiet, and I suspect it is again so now (for obvious reasons)

The beautiful beaches of Languedoc in a boiling June - freakishly empty, was quite unsettling tbh and I couldn't enjoy it properly.

Dubrovnik in June 2003. Well before Game of Thrones and in a 40 degree heatwave. The place felt empty.

Also Barcelona in August 1999. Sweltering, but strangely deserted feeling at night.

I think the secret must be for it to be extremely hot so the locals stay indoors and to be over 20 years ago, before Instagram.

France, in August. Couldn't believe how empty the place was.

France traditionally closed in August for the summer holiday - only a few popular French holiday destinations, such as Provence and Normandy, would be busy and, even there, ordinary businesses would be closed and the shops kept shorter hours. Although international trade has meant fewer workplaces can close for the whole month, August is still seen as a period of retreat. If you want uncrowded cities and quiet roads, that's the time to go! Just don't expect to find everything open for business (or, in some places, anything).

Salem, October one year pre-covid. It was a misty moody day, perfect for exploring. It was just a random lull, even the locals said it was weird

Venice. It really wasn’t at all busy like I expected it to be in summer.

We walked around the Salvador Dali exhibit in Sienna in July 2022. Across two floors, an extensive exhibition of art and sculpture. We were the only people in there for ages.

It was free. And Sienna was absolutely heaving.

Similarly we walked around the Marino Mirini exhibition in Arezzo last week. Just us.

And for those looking for a quiet spot in Tuscany, I recommend Cortona. Heavenly views, lovely laid back town. Not teeming with people or tourists.

Koh Chang, Thailand several years ago. Maybe it was out of season, I'm not sure, the weather was lovely. The hotel only had a handful of people and everywhere just seemed very quiet.

I think The Garden of Earthly Delights is on some ‘must sees in the Prado’ list, so is busy all the time, while other rooms are always quiet. I got to the Goya Black Paintings at the right moment (I think when day visitors had mostly left and before the free evening visitors had got to that end of the museum) and had them all to myself, which was extraordinary.

I also found large parts of the Thyssen-Bornemisza reliably quiet — the busiest part seems always to be the Carmen Thyssen collection downstairs.

Parts of Venice get unexpectedly quiet in the evening when the day trip people and cruise tourists leave. And, tbh, nearly everywhere that gets tourist crowds, if you step off a main drag onto a side street, it will suddenly be deserted.

And my son was born in London and only napped reliably in a moving pushchair for a while, so on rainy days I got good at knowing which bits of the BM would have no visitors. (Coin room reliably quiet.)

Engakuji Temple in Kamakura. It was completely deserted when we went, even though it was peak sakura season and the Enoden train line and some other spots around the town were heaving. The lookout point for Mount Fuji was also completely empty even though it was a crystal clear day with a perfect view. It felt a bit weird to see people crowding to take photos of a level crossing when there were so many beautiful temples that were near empty. Even the giant Buddha was only moderately busy. I don’t know if maybe we just did everything in a different order to most people and so missed the crowds or if it’s always like that.

Soldeu, Andorra, in June. It's a ski resort and in early summer, the town was half asleep and we had some beautiful mountain trails almost to ourselves. I've no idea what it's like in August, though.

Went to Jersey late July last year, it wasn’t quiet but the beaches and there are some fabulous ones, were empty as was the lido where you could swim effectively in the sea. Cotswolds late august, specifically to look round the likes of Bourton on the water , incredibly quiet, maybe the rain keeping folk away

We went into Victoria Falls National Park at 6am in May just as the sun was rising. It was pitch black when we arrived and there was no one other than the ticket seller there. We had to use our phones to see the paths initially but within 15 minutes the sun rose......it was magical!

@MissFritton65 That looks amazing!

@Takoneko it was totally amazing and the noise was unbelievable too!

Portugal in June 2020. They had come out of their lockdown while the UK was still in theirs, so I took off. While I was surprised at other Brits and Irish people who had the same idea as I had, it was still relatively quiet. Albufeira especially was very peaceful.

Port Isaac in Cornwall. We were the only ones there. It was Beautiful. (In January).

Always the timing!
Early October or late March, perfect walking about weather and after / before the crowds descend.
One that stands out Sicily - Palermo, Siracusa, Noto, Cefalu, Taormina

Petra in Jordan in 2015. I wouldn't go there now but back then I was naive and didn't even think about how close it is to Syria.

I had a great time, we hardly saw any other tourists and the place was magical.

We went to the western US in August 2021, when no one from Europe or Asia could go, and we had the whole place largely to ourselves. I think anyone who could or did manage to travel during the pandemic had similar experiences. I'll never forget driving around normally heaving Yosemite NP. We parked wherever we liked, went for a wander, drove on somewhere else, parked again, popped into the Awhahnee Hotel for lunch without a reservation - it was one of the most amazing travel experiences of my life. And such a treat too after being stuck at home for 18 months. I had a grin plastered on my face for the entire trip.