What is Slow Travel?

Slow travel is an approach to travel that emphasizes connection: to local people, cultures, food and music. It relies on the idea that a trip is meant to educate and have an emotional impact, in the present moment and for the future, while remaining sustainable for local communities and the environment.
If you find yourself making an extensive list of the places around the world that you want to check off of your bucket list, it may be time to take a step back and think about the reason behind your desire to travel. What do you want out of your travels? A fast and furious tour seeing ‘everything there is to see’, changing locations every 2-3 days? Or do you want to feel like a local, spending leisurely days strolling off the beaten path? If you’re craving a more authentic experience, one that leaves you with a feeling that you truly got to know the places, people and cultures that you’ve encountered on your travels it could be time to slow down.

Learn more

The Benefits of Slow Travel

Traveling more slowly allows you to form a stronger connection to the place you’re visiting, and you’ll feel much less rushed. With a “slow” itinerary, you won’t experience the stress of attempting to knock out every site in your guidebook. Instead, you’ll stay in one place long enough to recognize your neighbors, shop in the local markets, and pick a favorite coffeehouse.

Another less obvious advantage of slow travel is that it’s generally much easier on the environment than other types of travel. While airplanes have been pinpointed as major contributors to global warming, trains are a much more eco-friendly alternative—as are bikes and, of course, your own two feet! And even traveling by car becomes less damaging to the environment when you’re only driving short distances.

Slow travel is often kinder to your budget as well. Staying in one place for a week or more at a time reduces your transportation costs, and vacation rentals are often more cost-efficient than hotels since they allow you to cook your own food instead of eating out for every meal. If you choose a home exchange instead, you’ll save even more.

How to Slow Travel?

Accommodations



Slow travelers generally stay in vacation rentals, which tend to be more cost-efficient than hotels for longer stays as well as more spacious and homey. You can find vacation rentals on sites such as Airbnb, HomeAway, and TripAdvisor.

Transportation



Traveling by rail can be a relaxing and often luxurious way to see the countryside, particularly in places like Canada and Europe. A road trip can also be considered slow travel if you take the back roads instead of the highways, and stop often to get a taste of local life.

Meals



In the spirit of slow food, try to seek out local ingredients and experience the regional cuisine of the place you’re visiting. Join the locals at the fish market first thing in the morning to pick up a fresh catch for dinner that night, or pop by the bakery for a baguette right from the oven.

All it takes is a shift in perspective and mindset to get started. Here are a few tips for turning your next trip into a more authentic experience:


Live like a local. Talk to the people that you meet when you arrive at your destination and find out their favorite places to eat, relax, and learn.

Don’t try to see everything on your list or, better yet, don’t make a list at all. When every minute is planned to a tee, you don’t leave room for surprise or happenstance.

Get ready to grow. Embrace the feelings of discomfort and use your trip as a chance to grow and learn. Whatever you do, don’t hold yourself back because of worry or discomfort.


Bring it on home. Think of yourself as a tourist within your own city. This could be your chance to make your hometown feel new again, and create an emotional connection to this place that has felt too stagnant or comfortable for so long.

Coded by Jadwiga Rydzyk