Best Travel Destinations for a Digital Detox
Last updated on 03/29/2023
Do you want to unplug from screens but still want an adventure-packed holiday? Do you want the chance to explore new cities without the weight of your cellphone in your pocket? At InsureMyTrip we’ve created a list of the best cities to visit for a digital detox - looking at several metrics across relaxation and adventure.
Overall
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overall Score
| Rank | City / Country | Overall |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Prague,Czech Republic | 7.96 |
| 2 | Rome,Italy | 7.65 |
| 3 | Amsterdam,Netherlands | 7.60 |
| 4 | Lisbon,Portugal | 7.58 |
| 5 | Copenhagen,Denmark | 7.53 |
| 6 | Marrakech,Morocco | 7.49 |
| 7 | Hong Kong,China | 7.46 |
| 8 | Dubai,UAE | 7.44 |
| 9 | Madrid,Spain | 7.36 |
| 10 | Stockholm,Sweden | 7.26 |
Our best city for a digital detox is Prague, with an overall score of 7.96. This is with high scores across all metrics, especially residents living near car-free zones at 82% and an average travel time of 16 minutes 20 seconds. Prague is a great place to visit if you want to explore on foot without worrying about crossing busy roads.
In second is Rome, with an overall score of 7.65. The highest score across the activity metrics, Rome has an average rating of 4.3/5 stars for parks, 52% of residents near a car-free zone, and 2,078 evening tours.
Closely following is Amsterdam with an overall score of 7.6 and Lisbon with an overall score of 7.58. These cities have the best rated spas from the cities analyzed, with Lisbon having an average rating of 8.92/10 and Amsterdam with an average of 8.55/10.
Out of our top 10, seven are within Europe, in 5th is Copenhagen, Denmark with an overall score of 7.53. In 9th is Madrid, Spain with an overall score of 7.36. and in 10th is Stockholm, Sweden with an overall score of 7.26.
The remaining cities in our top 10 are Marrakech, Morocco (6th) with 7.49 overall, Hong Kong, China (7th) with 7.46 overall, and Dubai, UAE (8th) with 7.44 overall.
Relaxation
Our relaxation metrics include traffic levels and population density as navigating crowds and busy streets can be very stressful, especially when trying not to use your phone. According to our data, the best city to visit for a stress-free environment is Accra, Ghana with an overall relaxation score of 9.19. While we don’t have traffic data, Accra has a population density of 1,300 people per km2 and an average spa rating of 8/10.
The second most relaxing city is Marrakech, Morocco with an overall score of 8.8. Once again, we don’t have traffic data, but Marrakech has some of the highest rated spas at 8.61/10 and a population density of 4,441 per km2.
In third is Dubai, UAE with an overall score of 8.45. Dubai has the lowest traffic level in our data with cars traveling 10km in just 12 minutes and 10 seconds during rush hour. They also have a population density of just 861 per km2 and an average spa rating of 8.1/10.
Activities
If you want to have a digital detox, but still do plenty of highly rated activities, Europe is the ideal continent, with 9 of our top 10 cities. These are Rome, Paris, Prague, London, Athens, Lisbon, Barcelona, Amsterdam, and Marid.
The best cities for parks and green spaces are Prague - with an overall rating of 4.3/5 stars - closely following is Athens, Greece with 4.29/5 stars, and Chicago with 4.24/5 stars.
If walkability is important the best cities are Hong Kong with 85% of residents living near car-free zones, Prague with 82% of residents near car free-zones, and Stockholm with 79% of residents near car free zones.
One of the most common times to go on any device is when winding down in the evening, we looked at the number of evening tours to find activities which could occupy your time instead. The city with the highest number of tours is Rome with 2,078 tours, second is Paris and Dubai with 1,383, and third is Athens with 1,225 tours.
Safety
Having a phone on you can often give an element of safety, we’ve used the Numbeo safety metric, the closer to 10 a city has scored the safer it is. The safest city in our research is Abu Dhabi, UAE with a safety score of 10, second is Doha, Qatar with a score of 9.73, and third is Taipei, Taiwan with 9.61.
Internet
Having unlimited access to the internet can make it hard to avoid the temptation of using your devices. We’ve measured our internet metric with the best scores awarded to cities which have the lowest number of free Wi-Fi spots.
With just 38 free Wi-Fi spots Delhi, India scored highest, next is Dublin, Ireland with 128 free Wi-Fi spots, and third is Johannesburg, South Africa with 308 free Wi-Fi spots.
Conclusion
Overall, there are lots of great cities to visit when doing a digital detox. Prague came top overall with high scores across all metrics. European cities generally scored high for metrics, which more adventurous travelers might enjoy, with Rome, Paris, and Prague scoring highest. Travelers wanting a more relaxed holiday should be looking to visit Accra, Marrakech, and Dubai.
Methodology
Each data point consists of the latest research available from reputable sources. The data was standardized using minmax normalization. The minmax normalization value is multiplied by 10 to create a score (between 1-10). A score of 10 is always the best result, while a score of 0 is the worst. Each city is then ranked on their overall average rating across all data points from city-level data.
InsureMyTrip segmented factors into four categories, (Relaxation, Activities, Safety, and Internet) as well as providing an “overall rating” for each of the cities. The categories were organized to allow travelers to find the ideal city based on what was most important to them. For example, if travelers want a city they can relax in, they can make an informed decision on where to go. If instead travelers want to go somewhere with a lot of activities to do instead of going on their phones, they can look on the ‘Activities’ tab.
Sources
Traffic Level
Average time to travel 10km during rush hour.
Population Density
The number of people per km2 within the city proper.
Rating of Spas
The average rating of spas in each city, out of 10.
Rating of Parks
The average rating of parks in each city, out of 5 stars.
Walkability
Percentage of residents who live within 100m (328ft) of a car free plaza, park or street.
Evening Tour Activities
The number of tours taking place between 5pm – 12am.
Safety Score
Based on user data the Numbeo Safety Score is an estimation of the overall safety in each city, with a score closer to 100 being ranked as safer.
