Prague is named the best city overall for a digital detox, European cities make up seven of the top 10. Did you know Americans check their phones 344 times a day? That’s an average of every four minutes. Push notifications, the need to instantly reply to messages, and work emails after hours –these constant digital connections seem to put a strain on mental health, with a fifth of U.S. adults saying technology contributes to their stress. To combat this, there has been an increasing trend over the last few years toward digital detoxing in travel. To inspire your travel plans, experts at InsureMyTrip have listed the best destinations for a digital detox.
To accomplish this, they standardized the latest available data for each city in categories to do with relaxation, activities, safety, and the internet. The data is standardized using min-max normalization and values were multiplied by 10 to create a score from 0 to 10.
Sarah Webber, Director of Marketing at InsureMyTrip commented: “In a world where we feel the need to stay connected at all times, it’s good to take a break now and again. The hope is this study will encourage travellers to take a digital break and enjoy all that these destinations have to offer.”
Seven European cities feature in the top 10 with Marrakech, Hong Kong and Dubai making up the rest. But it’s Prague, Czech Republic topping the list with an overall score of 7.96 out of 10.
Prague, known as “The City of a Hundred Spires”, is the best destination for a digital detox. The city scored highly across all metrics, particularly the proportion of residents living near car-free zones at 82 percent and an average travel time of 16 minutes 20 seconds. It’s a great place to explore on foot without having to cross busy roads.
Prague had consistently high scores across all categories. It was ninth out of 53 cities for relaxation with a score of 7.98, third for activities (7.58), and seventh for safety (8.54). Being named one of the world’s greenest cities, it’s ideal for nature lovers.
Rome is second with an overall score of 7.65. Rich in history and home to iconic sites like the Colosseum and the Vatican museums, it’s no wonder this city tops the list for ‘Activities’ (8.49). This score was boosted because it has more than 2,000 evening tours, an average rating of 4.3/5 for parks, and 52 percent of residents live near a car-free zone.
However, Rome missed the top spot due to low scores for relaxation (7.08) at 33rd in the list and safety (5.29) at 35th. Amsterdam, Netherlands and Lisbon, Portugal follow closely with overall scores of 7.6 and 7.58 respectively. More than two thirds (68%) of residents in Amsterdam live near a car-free zone, making it eighth best in that metric. Known as one of the most bike-friendly cities, statistics show that 63 percent of Amsterdam residents use their bikes daily.
Copenhagen, Denmark rounds up the top five cities for a digital detox. The city scored highly for safety, at eighth in the list with a score of 8.32. When examining the cities with the lowest ratings New York City is featured, ranking seventh least favorable overall.
New York isn’t a great city to visit for a digital detox it seems, partly due to its incredible internet connectivity. It was 10th lowest on the list for lack of internet connectivity, and statistics show that wireless internet is available to 99.7 percent of New Yorkers.
Places with less internet access are more suited for travelers taking a break from screens since there is less of a temptation to go online. Without constant access to the digital world and social media, you can give your brain a rest.
Mumbai, India is named the least favorable city to visit for a digital detox, with a score of 5.05. It had the fourth lowest score for relaxation at 5.1, particularly due to the average rating of its spas (7.69/10). The proportion of residents living near a car-free zone in Mumbai is also a mere 16 percent.
Istanbul, Turkey is the only European city to feature in the bottom 10 with a score of 5.57, while Johannesburg is the only African city with 5.88.
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