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.

If you want a ruined castle with a moat to yourself, then Nunney Castle near Frome is usually quiet and if you might even be the only person there. It's been like that for as long as I've known it.

Unfortunately, now is not the ideal time to go, as the footbridge over the moat is currently closed due to being unsafe and there seems to be no date for the repairs due to a lack of funds. So at the moment, you can't go into the empty shell of the castle, but you can walk around the outside, sit and enjoy the view and take some good photos.

I went to Bourton on the Water on an overcast January Saturday this year and it was heaving. Guess everyone thought it would be quiet.

For me, Betty's of York. DH and I had a long weekend up there, arrived mid-afternoon Thursday, walked past Betty's having not considered going because of the queues we'd heard about. No queue, straight in, it was about half full which was lovely, a nice atmosphere and we could take our time.

@Almostwelsh “I think the secret must be for it … to be over 20 years ago, before Instagram”

Hahaha

Well, nobody’s going to beat that!

@HarperStern Languedoc generally seems to fly under the radar, especially in June/early July compared with other parts of France. We were in Narbonne earlier this month and went to Gruissan and went to see the salt lakes. Miles of instagrammable pink lakes with flamingos and only us and a few French tourists wandering around.

Similarly we went to Carcassonne last year for a day trip and while it wasn't empty, it wasn't the extremely crowded nightmare people led us to believe and it was very empty if you, like us, came by bus and walked up from the bas-ville.

Have been there and, as you say, we were the only visitors!

Ooh, I just remembered reaching the crater of Mount Etna alone when I was a travelling student. It was incredible – like peering over the roof into a football stadium, only instead of seats it was rocks and they all had smoke and steam rising out from among them. And in the middle a little cone which was actually shooting out rocks with loud bangs, like someone banging a car with a crowbar.

We went back last summer and officially it’s guided tours only now and there were a lot of people around, and it was properly erupting this time so we had to stop well short. Still good but obviously it was never going to match that first time. Go in 1997 is my advice.

ooh just remembered in summer 2020 you could go to the Tate Modern if you booked a slot and wore masks. Mr Monkey and I pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was nice but a bit unsettling.

Split & Trogir in February - beautiful sunny t-shirt & jeans weather and hardly any other tourists. And only the good restaurants that the locals eat at were open :)

Somerset. Kilve beach is part of the Jurassic Coast like Lyme Regis. Of course it doesn’t have the blue lias cliffs, so the chance of finding a loose ammonite is low. But it’s gorgeous and absolutely empty, so if you’re not focused on being shoulder to shoulder on the Cobb and tearooms, it’s a wonderful place to go, and the stones are full of fossils if you look.

Kalimantan...never saw another foreign tourist in 3 weeks touring about.

Great Wall of China this March, my family saw 5 people the whole day and one of them was selling drinks in one of the towers. It was an absolutely magical experience.

St Ives in Cornwall, yeah I know..towards the end of lockdown when you could meet a friend for a walk. I went early one morning with a friend, everything shut, mooched around in the sunshine. It was glorious

Burano (the island of colourful houses near Venice).

If you stay there, you leave to go into Venice on the opposite ferry in the morning as the hordes are arriving on to the island. Then you get the opposite ferry back in the evening and it is deserted of tourists - even in summer.

There is usually just one bar open, and the old ladies of the town take a convivial promenade up and down the main street, chatting and greeting each other. It's really lovely and super quiet.

Similar to others. During Covid in 2021, we stayed at hotels in London a few times, including a week early in July. No foreign visitors allowed, so it was really quiet. We took dc to see all of the sights, which had to be pre booked, and had limited numbers. Absolutely amazing. Especially the Tower of London, where we saw the Crown Jewels with just one other couple.

Like a PP, we went to Florence as soon as travel was allowed after lockdown. Going around the Uffizi gallery in single file when it’s usually elbow-to-elbow was a privilege.
Taking the boat up and down Lake Garda (still during lockdown) it stopped at some places that were obviously just a closed high class hotel and its services. Eerie but beautiful.

We went to the Dartington Crystal factory one rainy midweek in April and were given a personalized tour of all the workshops and artists’ areas. They made a cast in crystal of the kids’ hands and delivered it to our rented cottage two days later instead of posting it!

Doha during Ramadan, goodness, the city was empty! I have photos from all over and not a single person to be seen.

A few years ago, but after Covid, we had a week in Mat in Portimao, in the Tinoli Marina Hotel. We must have caught a week after Easter and before half term as everywhere was really quiet. We would sit in a restaurant with no other customers. They have a long boardwalk on the beach lined with restaurants tgat seemed to take turns opening. Walking down from Praia Del Rocha to the Marina at night felt unsafe, it probably wasn't, but in the dark with virtually no one around was unnerving. The hotel was fab. The gym was always empty, hardly anyone round the pool which was good, but the bars had no atmosphere as there was hardly anyone about. The room was on the ground floor with a large terrace overlooking the Marina, so we sat watching people working on their boats. Just a little busier would have been perfect.

We were at Kielder Forest last week (first week of English summer holidays) and it was extremely quiet.

Agree with this. We went to Taormina in March and had perfect weather and the temple practically to ourselves. Similarly, the Taj Mahal in late April, I guess because it's so insanely hot. Not actually deserted of course, but only a few people wandering about.

I went to the Vatican and did a tour. They were closing St Peters for a service so we were the last group allowed in. Felt so peaceful with just 20 of us there as it's huge.

We were on an organised tour, & went to Ankor Wat pre-dawn to see the sunrise. Place was very crowded, not very pleasant.
A couple in our group skipped that, went by themselves mid-morning & the place was empty !

We somehow (I've still no idea how) managed to be the only two tourists viewing Michelangelo's David in Florence around 2011. Took my breath away. Travelling pre social media was just so different. So sad we'll never see those days again.

La Gomera 20 odd years ago, think it was September. So quiet and actually quite dull as a 20 something who was expecting a little more.

Nile cruise. It was a bargain! Turned out we'd booked for the anniversary of the Luxor massacre. However, locals were so happy to see tourists return. It was a novelty to see another tourist ship, it was peaceful walking round the temples and we didn't have to queue for the tomb of Tutankhamun. We were young, naive and so lucky.