5 ‘silent tourism’ retreats to visit, from digital detoxing at a monastery in Canada to meditation and yoga on ice in Sweden

Peace and quiet have become major victims of a modern world that moves at an increasingly hectic pace, with its countless distractions.

In Silence: in the age of noise (2016), Norwegian adventurer and polymath Erling Kagge writes that “an abundance of activities leaves us with a sense of experiential poverty.”

Studies have linked noise to stress and a range of health problems, including depression and cardiovascular disease. Research also shows that spending time in a quiet, natural environment reduces stress, anxiety, depression and repetitive thoughts and restores the ability to pay attention.

Perhaps that is why, in an era marked by conflict and climate anxiety, the search for serene refuges in nature, meditation retreats and silent walks is growing.

“Travelers are now looking for peaceful, quiet experiences, especially in nature, to reconnect with themselves, find mental clarity, to breathe, let go and just be,” said Vikram Chauhan, co- founder and president of Quiet Parks International (QPI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving tranquility for the benefit of all life.

Kagge, who calls silence a “new luxury,” writes that shutting out the world does not mean turning your back on your environment, but the opposite: “it is seeing the world more clearly, keeping your course, and trying to love your environment. to live”.

Here are five destinations that meet these requirements.