Istanbul comes to mind, the city wakes up at dawn and gets very noisy very quickly. New York City is another LOUD place.

Venice was a balm, so quiet.

I would assume that London visitors not staying in luxury hotels (with good sound dampening) probably get a bit annoyed as well.

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Buenos Aires, Istanbul and Mumbai are hard to beat.

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Kabul’s pretty noisy. But, hey, you’d expect that right?

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Cairo, I swear drivers honk their horns just to remind Allah that they’re still there! Beijing and Shanghai are both pretty darn noisy as well.

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Was in Trivandrum earlier this year – very hectic ALL the time

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New York…easily.

Although, I read a news article a couple of years ago that UK academics researching ducks found they all quack different regional dialiects & London ducks are louder than all others in the UK, lol!

Apparently an adaptation to get over the generally higher background noise in London than elsewhere…

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I stayed in Melbourne for a few nights and the traffic just doesn’t stop, even on the small roads. It can be quite annoying, but I guess you would get used to it.

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Hands down Kolkata. (And I’m a former New Yorker).

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Stay in a good hotel and there all quite…. stay cheap and any big city is noisy…. why I like norwich…. everyone goes to bed at 10

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I agree with Mumbai and New York but the noisest city for me was Madrid.

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Spanish cities can be very noisy late at night.

If you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em.

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Zaragosa Spain. Folks do not go out to dinner until after 10:00pm. My room was on the plaza and the giant church bells rang every hour all night long. About 3 a.m. a group of gentlemen decided to break out into song on the plaza, although I would have to say none of them could actually sing. It’s no wonder everybody is cat-napping on the bus, subway or trains.

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Reykjavik in Iceland is known for its nightlife, so you would think their hotels would be more sound proof. We heard blasting music every night until 4am or 6am depending on the night of the week. One night it was Japanese Karaoke.

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So far, London and New York. They didn’t keep me awake every night though. I actually like the noise. For some reason it makes it easier to sleep.

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For me Venice and Delhi were the noisiest but I think it depends on where you stay and the quality of the hotel (and their insulation). I’ve stayed in a few predominantly Muslim cities where the hotel was close to the dawn chanting from the minarets and that wakes you up as it is designed to do!!

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Tokyo, Japan. At most in peak hours you can’t almost hear what your friends are saying especially while walking on sidewalks with the crowd of course.

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It sounds strange to say, but Zurich, Switzerland was incredibly loud the few nights I stayed there this past summer. New York IS loud, but, as a former New Yorker, I love it. If you stay in a hotel away from Times Square and look for a place in the Upper West or Upper East, it’s MUCH quieter.

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