Walter Finch
SPAIN is famous for its fiestas, late nights and lively streets – but if you are searching for peace and quiet, not every city will send your stress levels soaring.
A new study by travel company Altezza Travel has ranked 30 Spanish cities by their noise levels, nightlife and general intensity – and it turns out that some of the country’s most underrated destinations are also its calmest.
The report rates each city’s noise levels in Decibels (dB), with normal conversation averaging around 60 dB, city traffic hitting 70–85 dB, and anything below 40 dB generally considered quiet.
Top of the list is Cartagena, the historic port city and former Roman settlement in Murcia, which has been named the quietest city in Spain.
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With just 25 nightlife activities recorded and a remarkably low sound pollution reading of 10 decibels, visitors can enjoy Roman amphitheatre and Mediterranean beaches without the relentless buzz of a 24-hour party scene.
Next comes Zaragoza, where despite its size – over 700,000 inhabitants – the Aragonese capital manages to keep sound levels at 39.7 decibels.
Traffic flows smoothly, nightlife is modest, and visitors can soak up the city’s Mudejar architecture without battling the sensory overload found elsewhere.
In third place is Vigo, on Galicia’s rugged Atlantic coast. With only 250,000 annual tourists compared to Valencia’s millions, its streets are calmer, its nightlife moderate, and its average noise just 34.8 decibels.
Perhaps surprisingly, Valencia itself makes the quiet list. Despite welcoming 12 million visitors a year, Spain’s third-largest city scored highly for serenity thanks to its wide boulevards, flowing traffic and clever urban planning.
Altezza notes an average of just 33.5 decibels – a Mediterranean capital that buzzes without deafening.
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Completing the top five is Oviedo, capital of Asturias. Surrounded by mountains and parks, it offers an easygoing pace of life, limited nightlife, and noise levels of just 41.6 decibels.
The old town remains charming and calm, a world away from the chaos of Spain’s big party hubs.
But the ranking also reveals the opposite end of the spectrum – and no prizes for guessing which city is crowned Spain’s noisiest.
Barcelona tops the chart with a staggering 630 nightlife activities and tourist density of 201,000 per square kilometre. Average noise levels hit almost 63 decibels, placing it among the loudest cities in the world.
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Not far behind is Sevilla, scoring highly on both urban density and festivities, followed by Palma, whose 12.5 million visitors a year transform the Balearic capital into a constant hive of activity.
Granada and Bilbao also make the top five for Spain’s loudest cities.
Altezza Travel say their ranking considered five key factors: average noise levels, nightlife activities, traffic times, population density and tourist density.
So if your idea of the perfect break is a late-night fiesta, you know where to go. But for travellers who want to relax, recharge and hear themselves think, it’s Cartagena, Zaragoza, Vigo, Valencia and Oviedo that promise the quiet life.
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