The quietest places in the world’s loudest cities

Built in 1889, this pool and its surroundings were redesigned by Alfred Caldwell in 1936, in the characteristically horizontal Prairie School style of landscape architecture. Having deteriorated and been closed for years by the late 1990s, an extensive restoration led to the site being recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 2006.

Despite being situated in one of the three loudest cities in the US, this “hidden garden of unmatched beauty [where] only bird songs and the sound of a gentle waterfall break the restful silence” is described on Tripadvisor as “quiet, peaceful and romantic”, “beautiful, tranquil and lush”, and a place where “the break from the city refreshes and rejuvenates [the] soul”.

Photo by @dreamingaceadventures on Instagram

Located in the fifth-noisiest city in the US, this chisen-teien (pond garden) “demonstrates the positive use [of] reclaimed water” from the adjacent Tillman Water Reclamation Plant, which removes and treats wastewater from the sewer system.

Featuring waterfalls, lakes, streams, bridges, stone lanterns, a zen garden, a wisteria arbor, and traditional Japanese buildings, its creator, the Japanese-American “renaissance man” Koichi Kawana created “a gem in the midst of a bustling megalopolis”, “where you can collect yourself and simply reflect”, and “clear the mind”.

A cropped version of the original photo by Glen Bowman (CC 2.0)

Completed in 1960, nearly 25 years before the dedication of its LA counterpart, this garden is considered one of “the highest-quality public Japanese gardens located in North America”. It hosts regular tea ceremonies and other traditional cultural activities, while its layout allows visitors to experience Japan’s varied landscapes in microcosm: “mountains, forests, waterfalls, rivers, lakes, islands and the sea”.

Birthday wishes and reminiscences on the garden’s 60th anniversary spoke to its status as “a verdant oasis in the middle of a big city […] [and a] community jewel” of “incomparable beauty, serenity, and joy”; “one that is discreet, almost hidden, but when discovered sparkles with a depth of beauty rarely experienced”, and which imbues visitors with the ability to “go back into the world as a ‘whole’ person”.

A cropped version of the original photo by bobosh_T (CC 2.0)

Built by a team of 40 Chinese artists and artisans from the city of Suzhou, this “compilation of different gardens in China” in New York City includes eight pavilions constructed using traditional mortise-and-tenon joints (where a ‘tongue’ fits into a hole), rather than nails or glue. In a mosaic on the upper pavilion, China and the US are represented by broken rice bowls and (less flatteringly) beer bottles, combined “as a symbol of harmony and unity”.

Tripadvisor reviews paint a picture of “a beautiful, peaceful respite from the hustle of New York”, where “everything [is] quiet and harmonious” and “immers[ion] in nature’s beauty” and “the tranquil surroundings […] help melt away the stress of life”.

Photo by @snugharborccbg on Instagram

Over 50 architects from the Japanese city of Himeji contributed to this garden in Phoenix, Arizona, which was “proposed […] to cement the bonds of friendship between Japan and the United States”. All of its decorative features, and the time spent designing and guiding its construction, are gifts from Himeji and its citizens. As well as a tea house, it features more than 85 plant species and 300 koi carp.

The garden’s “tranquil splendor […] [and] almost mystical tranquility” makes it “a great escape from the city” and “a meditative place in the heart of busy Phoenix”. Most impressively, for a garden in the Arizonan desert, it even “feels just like Japan”.

A cropped version of the original photo by Ben Cane (CC 2.0)

Edinburgh’s “quintessential secret garden” is located alongside a 12th-century kirk (church), where the lower slopes of Arthur’s Seat (an extinct volcano) meet Duddingston Loch. Its namesakes, husband-and-wife general practitioners Nancy and Andrew Neil, began cultivating the site in 1963 (along with their patients, who “benefit[ed] from [the] healthy outdoor activity and the tranquil setting”). After the Neils died in 2005, a physic garden was planted to commemorate their “life-long interests in horticulture and medicine”.

Once “a scrappy piece of wilderness”, the doctors’ garden is now a “green and quiet place […] a stone[’]s throw from the center of Edinburgh”; somewhere “to sit and read a book in the sunshine”, which “you don’t have to be a gardening enthusiast to appreciate”.

Photo by Monika Tymanowska

“Designed and built by an eminent Japanese Garden designer and his team” to celebrate London’s Japan Festival in 1992, this garden in Holland Park was a collaboration between the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the Kyoto Chamber of Commerce. Japanese maple trees, “tranquil tiered waterfalls and a serene pond full of beautiful koi carp”—and, on occasion, the park’s wandering peacocks—conjure the impression that Kyoto has come to London.

The garden’s “lovely tranquil atmosphere” makes it “a blissful escape”, an “excellent [place] to sit and read, or contemplate, or just relax for a little while”, and perfect for “meditat[ing in the] early morning”.

Photo by @josamson21 on Instagram

Used extensively by the local community, this park received ‘Much Loved’ status as part of the UK’s Best Park award in 2019. Due to its range of habitats—some of which have special status—the site is a valuable haven for wildlife such as birds and butterflies.

The garden’s central walled rock garden was laid out by the botanist Robert Wood Williamson, before being sold to the philanthropist Alderman Fletcher Moss, who in turn donated the property, and the surrounding parkland, to the city of Manchester in 1915. Since then, the public has been able to enjoy this “little piece of heaven on earth”; a “lovely place for a picnic or chilling out with a book”, with “songbirds galore”!

Photo by Charlotte Greaves

Due to its populations of water birds and birds of prey, this 190-acre (77-hectare) wetland on the outskirts of the UK’s ninth-noisiest city is a newfound hotspot for birdwatchers. It is also home to the endangered water vole.

However, as recently as 2014, Lunt Meadows Nature Reserve was farmed intensively as arable land. It was only after being purchased by the Environment Agency that its new role as a flood storage reservoir-cum-nature reserve transformed the site into “a hidden gem”; “a stunningly beautiful” and “relaxing place to walk [and] get back to nature”.

Photo by @simon_williams_photography on Instagram

First established in 1882, a relocation in 2005 (its third) made this the first university botanic garden built in the UK in the present century. It features 4,500 species of plants in collections related to topics such as evolution, local flora, and useful species, some of which are housed in 6,900 sq ft (640 m²) of greenhouses, “divided into four climatic zones”.

Ideally “enjoy[ed] […] at a slow pace”, this “gardener[’]s paradise” is “a lovely secret hideaway”; an “idyllic setting” “jammed packed with love and care”, making it an “oasis of peace and quiet and color within easy reach of the city center”.

Photo by @nalmerpillsen on Instagram

Dating from 1754, around 4,920 sq ft (1,500 m²) of greenhouses had been added to Vienna University’s Botanical Garden by 1893. Today, planting includes approximately 11,500 living plant species, a “collection of […] international importance”, many of which “are used in research projects and courses at the University of Vienna”.

Given Vienna’s position as the noisiest city in mainland Europe, it is particularly impressive that the garden is described as “ooz[ing] tranquility” and being “one of the quietest and most lovely green spaces in the city”, “where [visitors] can relax and enjoy a picnic far from the crowds”.

Photo by @luciapalkovicova on Instagram

Barcelona, Europe’s third-noisiest city, is home to these gardens, which have specialized in cacti and other succulent plants since opening in 1970. Around 800 species survive due to a microclimate two or three degrees warmer than the Catalan average, thanks to the gardens’ sheltered location, which also provides “a spectacular panoramic view of the city’s coastline and port”.

The gardens are “a must-visit for people who love nature [and] plants”, and want “to escape the bustle of town for a while” in “one of […] [its] most silent places”.

A cropped version of the original photo by Jorge Franganillo (CC 2.0)

“Offer[ing] a commanding view of the city”, this garden, true to its name, is home to around 400 varieties of roses (at their best in late spring), making it “the ideal site for a romantic promenade”. Created in 1865, modern additions include 10 bronze sculptures by Belgian artist Jean-Michel Folon, and a Japanese karesansui garden of rocks and raked gravel.

Visitors are advised to “take [their] time and enjoy the stunning aroma of different and multicolored roses” in this “perfect combination of art and nature”. Though “overload and fatigue can be the byproduct of ‘doing’ Florence”, the garden offers “peace, calm and tranquil beauty”, and a way to experience the city’s skyline in a “less-stressful and more floral way” than from the “hustle and bustle in Piazzale Michelangelo”.

Photo by @garten_kindermann on Instagram

Built on the site of the old Bercy wine warehouses, the three gardens making up this park give it a diverse identity. Areas range from tree-lined lawns to flower beds and a ‘romantic garden’ of fishponds and recreations of sand dunes, while a vineyard nods to the area’s former status as “the thriving center of the Paris wine trade”.

“Away from the hordes carrying selfie sticks […] marching through so many famous attractions”, the “gloriously calm and beautiful” Bercy Park can make visitors “forget that [they] are in a big city”.

Photo by @raphaeva on Instagram

Part of the undulating, wooded Buda Hills and a popular destination for nature walks and running, this area is “known for its panoramic scenery and fresh air”. Previously called Viharbükk, it gained its current name, ‘Norma tree’, when a singer from the Hungarian National Theatre performed an aria from Bellini’s opera Norma beneath an ancient beech tree.

The beech was felled by lightning in 1927, but Normafa remains “a true gem” and a “lovely escape from the city”, where it’s “a relief to see Mother Nature and […] the beautiful landscape of Budapest and the surrounding mountains”, without “tourists, crowds, or people trying to sell you things”.

Photo by @leticiaborbely on Instagram