The Travel Blog by TravelPod

A little while ago, ForbesTraveler.com featured 10 of the quietest places in the world. I wanted to see what TravelPod bloggers thought about all these places. I posed the question to people in the forums and we expanded our list.

What are your favourite places to go for peace and quiet?

1. The Hoh Valley

Hoh Rain Forest – A real, live rainforest, right in the middle of the U.S. (well, not in the middle). This place is unreal. There’s an area here called the Hall of Mosses that looks like a scene out of a Lord of the Rings movie. Fascinating. – Jwmoles

2. The Grand Canyon

The morning sunrise on the walls of the canyon was spectacular! The hike out was the hardest. Four miles straight up. – Kristenvv

3. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

We hiked down into a natural bowl in the earth, a forest preserve the lava hadn’t touched — full of birds and giant tree ferns. After a short walk we came across a black hole in the earth. It’s a cave, it’s a tunnel no its Super-Lava Tube. The tube, about a 1/2 mile long, is a 500-year old lava cave formed when an underground channel of molten lava drained from its cooled walls forming a massive, hollow chamber. You pop out the other side back into the tropical rainforest. Strange almost. – Paul_and_mandy‘

4. Cape Cod

Our tent site had a track down to the ‘kettle pond’ so we traipsed down and had one cast into the (supposedly) well stocked trout and salmon pond, before losing the lure to a root. Matt went out 50 yards fully dressed to rescue the line while Aviva, Dan & Tom found new friends and bobbed around in the lake. – Sschwaiger

5. The Gobi Desert

Soon we entered the sandy Gobi desert (it seems to change every few hours), gusty winds creating sand waves on the road and low visibility. Quite eerie. – Nz2uk

6. The Kalahari Desert

We drove on to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, where we spent some of our most memorable nights. We had to bring lots of extra petrol, wood, water and food, as it is a very isolated park. There are no facilities and no fences, so you basically sleep with the animals. Key thing here is to make a fire (‘bush t.v.’), eat and get into your tent before it gets dark, because that is when the lions start hunting. There was a pride of about 8 roaming around our campsite, plus a single male. To hear the lion’s roar at night truly puts you on your place as a human being. – Arjenandeline

7. Anza-Borrego State Park, California

At nearly 700,000 acres Anza-Borrego is one of the biggest state parks. It is mostly wilderness and a remarkable desert environment. – Happywayfarer

8. Loch Lomond, Scotland

In the morning we were up early before the sun to climb Conic Hill. The path started next to where we stayed the night and it was about a half hour climb to the top. From there we watched the sun rise over Loch Lomond. The view over the lake and the surrounding hills was stunning. – Justinrowe

9. The Muir Woods, California

I biked to Muir Woods where there are Redwood Trees. At the top, I had to descend for 4 miles to get to the park….which meant more uphill on the way back. I was apparently the only idiot to bike there as I never saw another one of me. The trees were beautiful and just as I remembered them when I went with my family to a redwood national forest. – Goldenfrog88

10. Victoria Falls

We paid our $20 US dollars each and made our way to a view that has been talked about since man first set his eyes on it “Victoria Falls”. The pictures do not do it justice. – Goodrichodyssey

11. Antarctica

Our first landing on the actual Antarctic peninsula was at Nico Harbour, this impossibly beautiful bay, surrounded by 60m high glaciers that went as far as the eye could see and massive snow covered mountain peaks. Honestly, it´s indescribable. – Roamingmonk

12. The Arctic

The scenery is utterly beautiful as you drive up the first half of the highway. It winds through Tombstone Territorial Park, as well as a high plateau that leads up to the Eagle Plains Hotel, the halfway point service station. – Ditchthecube

13. Saba, Netherlands Antilles

After St Eustatius we headed over to Saba, as the island got smaller they got nicer and improved my impression of the Caribbean. – Gemmathomas

14. Harbour Island

A man riding a horse in the ocean, stuffed turtles, and holding the worlds largest coconut were some other highlights before leaving the island. -

15. Death Valley

In one drive we see barren plains, mud flats, sand dunes and mountains. I think the countryside of the US is often forgotten or underrated compared to the cities but it really is amazing. – Twinkfran

16. Rose Test Garden

Walked the gardens in the rain, and they were gorgeous regardless. The rose smell was wonderfully overwhelming. – Cgibbons18

17. Baker Beach

The beach was sparsely populated. A few kids seemed either brave enough or foolish enough to run and splash around in the cold waters of the Pacific. Most people were covered in jackets or wrapped in blankets and tending to fishing poles. Strangely there were 3 people who still seemed to think it was a good day to be naked on the beach. – Yyztrvlr

18. Gatineau Park, Quebec

We headed north for a couple of weeks to Tia, Eva and Mary’s cottage in La Peche township in Quebec, close to Gatineau Park. We had a great time, eating, drinking, swimming and loon-watching. – Ariteo

19. Jasper National Park

We spent the rest of the trip looking up most of the time at the spectacular mountains and glaciers, and reminiscing about our visit to the area a few years ago. – Dlpool

20. Lake Louise

The ride started through the woods of Lake Louise, and our guide walked us through a little history of the area and then it ended at the Lake. I could just make out this gorgeous blue through the trees, and then when we came into the open I could see Lake Louise. It’s now melted and the colour that has come through is spectacular. – Jess_stewart

21. Lake District, UK

It was finally semi decent weather and so I went for a few walks up and down lots of hills. This was heaps of fun and I got some really amazing views while out and about. – Alanna.holloway

22. Nagano, Japan

The main site is the major Zen temple Zenkoji. The walk up is pretty devoid of people, but the actual shrine grounds are totally packed, way more than I expected. Turns out that this is one of the years (every 7) that the enshrined Buddha is connected to a wooden post placed in the courtyard by a rope of multicolored strings. This creates a ‘direct’ connection between the Buddha and pilgrims who touch the wooden pillar. Of course this means that there’s a ton of people waiting for the chance to create this cosmic connection, which apparently is supposed to help you get a peaceful death. How…comforting? – Mchao