{"id":8256,"date":"2026-05-25T04:30:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T04:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/global-travel-news\/accor-names-zurich-as-europes-best-city-to-unplug\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T04:30:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T04:30:36","slug":"accor-names-zurich-as-europes-best-city-to-unplug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/global-travel-news\/accor-names-zurich-as-europes-best-city-to-unplug\/","title":{"rendered":"Accor Names Zurich as Europe\u2019s Best City to Unplug"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom:20px;\"><img width=\"1920\" height=\"1279\" src=\"https:\/\/www.travelnewshub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/henrique-ferreira-6p-I-X-sPUY-unsplash-resize.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.travelnewshub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/henrique-ferreira-6p-I-X-sPUY-unsplash-resize.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.travelnewshub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/henrique-ferreira-6p-I-X-sPUY-unsplash-resize-750x500.jpg 750w, https:\/\/www.travelnewshub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/henrique-ferreira-6p-I-X-sPUY-unsplash-resize-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.travelnewshub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/henrique-ferreira-6p-I-X-sPUY-unsplash-resize-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.travelnewshub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/henrique-ferreira-6p-I-X-sPUY-unsplash-resize-1536x1023.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.travelnewshub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/henrique-ferreira-6p-I-X-sPUY-unsplash-resize.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-60698 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.travelnewshub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/henrique-ferreira-6p-I-X-sPUY-unsplash-resize-750x500.jpg\" alt=\"Accor Names Zurich as Europe\u2019s Best City to Unplug - TRAVELINDEX\" width=\"750\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.travelnewshub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/henrique-ferreira-6p-I-X-sPUY-unsplash-resize-750x500.jpg 750w, https:\/\/www.travelnewshub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/henrique-ferreira-6p-I-X-sPUY-unsplash-resize-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.travelnewshub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/henrique-ferreira-6p-I-X-sPUY-unsplash-resize-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.travelnewshub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/henrique-ferreira-6p-I-X-sPUY-unsplash-resize-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.travelnewshub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/henrique-ferreira-6p-I-X-sPUY-unsplash-resize.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\"><\/a>Paris, France, May 25, 2026 \/ TRAVELINDEX \/ Global hospitality brand Accor has created the 2026 Digital Pause Index to move beyond standard tourism stats to measure the Analog Quality of 50 European cities; ranking them on criteria including museums and bookshops per 100k people, green space density, May temperatures, and median cost of a two-night stay in a four-star boutique hotel during the May season. Frantic checklists of must-see places are being replaced by something slower \u2013 it\u2019s no longer all about getting that perfect shot, it\u2019s more about finding that perfect place to just be. The definition of luxury has shifted to now be all about the quiet power of the off-switch.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key findings showed:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The two-hour rule:<\/strong> Destinations under two hours from London (e.g. Ghent or Bordeaux) offer the best sensory reset for short breaks.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Smaller is better:<\/strong> Smaller cities are outperforming major capitals in terms of sensory balance, proving that silence is easier to find in Ljubljana than London.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Autopilot effect:<\/strong> Cities like Amsterdam and Strasbourg use cycling infrastructure to force a digital pause and make travellers live more in the moment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>The Top 5 Cities to Unplug in 2026:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Zurich, Switzerland: the precision of silence (Score: 94\/100):<\/strong> Zurich tops the list thanks to its combination of accessibility, nature proximity, and high-quality urban infrastructure \u2013 Zurich\u2019s \u2018blue space\u2019 culture can be experienced with a float down the Limmat River.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ljubljana, Slovenia:<\/strong> <strong>\u00a0Europe\u2019s green lung<br \/>\n<\/strong>A city that banned cars is now a \u2018green lung\u2019 where the local soundtrack has flipped from engine hum to birdsong \u2013 visitors can relax in Tivoli Park and join locals in listening out for local birds.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Vienna, Austria: The art of the perpetual afternoon<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Half of the city is covered in parks, but the coffee shop is where the magic happens \u2013 order a Kleiner Brauner at Caf\u00e9 Central and grab a newspaper to unplug.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Edinburgh, Scotland:<\/strong> <strong>The stone-carved library<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>With 60 libraries per 100k people, there are multiple opportunities to unplug with a book in Edinburgh where the old stone streets and historic buildings act as an atmospheric silencer. Climb Salisbury Crags at dusk to find a quiet spot to enjoy the views in solitude.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Ghent, Belgium: A low-noise haven<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>In the car-free Medieval city the Tactile Hobby Index is through the roof; think weaving workshops in old textile factories and candle-lit jazz bars where the lighting is designed for intimacy, not photography.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.travelnewshub.com\/lifestyle\/accor-names-zurich-as-europes-best-city-to-unplug\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paris, France, May 25, 2026 \/ TRAVELINDEX \/ Global hospitality brand Accor has created the 2026 Digital Pause Index to move beyond standard tourism stats to measure the Analog Quality of 50 European cities; ranking them on criteria including museums and bookshops per 100k people, green space density, May temperatures, and median cost of a &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2315,37,14,2316,1966],"class_list":["post-8256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-global-travel-news","tag-global-travelnews","tag-news","tag-travelindex","tag-travelindex-media-group","tag-untourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8256\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.travelindex.org\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}