In October, Sk\u00e5ne in Sweden launched an unusual tourism campaign. The southern county was looking for travellers interested in staying in a cabin in the woods for a few days. <\/p>\n
The experience was offered for free, but there was one catch. Participants had to keep all noise below a certain level; any sounds too loud meant the stay came to an abrupt end. <\/p>\n
Johanna Holm, who is from the south of Germany and studying to become a teacher, was one of the participants of the \u2018Stay Quiet\u2019 challenge. Here\u2019s what she learnt from a hushed weekend in a cabin in the woods. <\/p>\n
Sweden offers a free stay in a forest cabin – with a catch<\/p>\n
Visit Sk\u00e5ne launched its Stay Quiet campaign as a response to noise pollution<\/a>, which project manager Josefine Nordgren calls one of the most underestimated environmental problems of our time. <\/p>\n \u201cStudies show that constant exposure to noise increases stress, disturbs sleep, and affects both physical and mental health<\/a>,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n \u201cNature, on the other hand, has proven restorative effects. It lowers the heart rate, improves focus, and helps the body recover from stress.\u201d<\/p>\n The team wanted to offer people the chance to experience what happens when everyday noise disappears. <\/p>\n \u201cThe initiative became a kind of living experiment to see how participants would feel after spending a few days surrounded by nature<\/a>, without screens, without distractions, and without noise,\u201d Nordgren adds. <\/p>\n Visit Sk\u00e5ne also wanted to show that modern travel doesn\u2019t have to mean doing more.<\/p>\n \u201cSweden, and Sk\u00e5ne in particular, offers something increasingly rare in the world: access to true stillness,\u201d says Nordgren. \u201cWe wanted to highlight that silence is not emptiness but a resource, one that supports both human wellbeing and sustainable tourism.\u201d<\/p>\n She also points out that in Sweden<\/a>, nature is easily accessible thanks to \u2018Allemansr\u00e4tten\u2019, a public right that allows people to roam freely (and respectfully) in nature, including on private land.<\/p>\n \u2018Who wouldn\u2019t love to spend time in a little cabin in the woods?\u2019<\/p>\n Visit Sk\u00e5ne launched an international open call in October and received over 200 applications from 30 countries. <\/p>\n Three pairs of applicants were selected to take part, from Denmark<\/a>, Germany and the UK. <\/p>\n Holm applied with her sister. \u201cEveryday life can be really fast and loud, so I thought this challenge could bring us back more to ourselves and to nature,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n The two spent childhood holidays at campsites and continue to explore Europe with vans and tents, so Stay Quiet was exactly the kind of challenge they wanted to level up their leisure time. <\/p>\n A cabin with the noise levels of a library<\/p>\n The only real rule for the cabin stay was to keep sounds below 45 decibels<\/a> – roughly the noise level of a library or quiet office. <\/p>\n Holm says sticking to that limit wasn\u2019t too hard, other than occasional communication difficulties with her sister because they had to talk in whispers. <\/p>\n \u201cFor us, staying quiet<\/a> in this peaceful part of nature just felt like the only right thing to do,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n The only really loud noise she wanted to make was when she was \u201cso fulfilled with pure happiness that I could have screamed that out to show the whole world.\u201d <\/p>\n Cooking over a fire, writing letters, reflecting<\/p>\n Holm says there was plenty to keep the sisters occupied without noise<\/a> – and without screens. They built fires to cook over, gazed at autumn foliage and spent time reflecting. <\/p>\n There were creative activities provided in the cabin, including writing a letter to your future self. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was full of new adventures and experiences, like going deep into the forest in the middle of the night without lights, cooking our food over the fire, feeling so connected with the nature<\/a> around us, and becoming so calm and rested within ourselves, because of the silence,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n \u201cStaying silent as well made me feel so imbalanced and calm, which I haven\u2019t felt like in a while.\u201d <\/p>\n \u2018Staying silent empowers you to hear your inner voice\u2019<\/p>\n Holm\u2019s stay was a success for both her and for Visit Sk\u00e5ne.<\/p>\n As Nordgren explains, \u201cThe idea was never about strict silence but about awareness, helping guests understand how their own sounds interact with nature\u2019s, and how stillness feels when it\u2019s real.\u201d<\/p>\n