The power of slow traveling

Simply put, slow traveling means taking more time at a place in order to experience it more deeply. It’s a mindset in which you aim to dive deeper into the local culture and get to know it properly.

This way, you’re able to set your own pace and let go of any stress instead of rushing through.

It’s the opposite concept of mass tourism, where you mainly take quick tours in order to see as many sights as possible. Due to mass tourism, many travelers have almost forgotten how to shut down. So, instead of visiting countless places, what enriches your travels are more deep experiences. How do we like to put it? — Less is more!

With slow traveling you open your senses to truly see a place and its people, engage with them and understand how they live. By taking public buses, walking, or cycling you get a feeling of their everyday life. You experience their culture and food in a completely different way. In order to do so, you get off the beaten path, visit local businesses and restaurants and support the local communities. That’s what also aligns it with conscious and sustainable traveling.

I’m sure you’ve heard of slow food, right? And slow travel actually goes back to the same movement which came up in Italy in the 80s.

As a backlash against fast food, the Slow Food Movement arose when a McDonald’s branch was proposed to open in Rome. Local food producers, chefs, and farmers aimed to draw attention to the importance of the traditional cuisine that relied on old recipes and local ingredients. Instead of simple food intake, the conscious preparation and consumption of valued foods became key in the Slow Food Movement.

And the concept of slow travel ties in with exactly that: It’s all about enjoying the moment. Taking a step back from chains and mass consumption, but focusing on local customs and traditions. Truly diving into a culture and thereby supporting the local economy.

Just like slow food, slow traveling is a mindset that focuses more on quality instead of the number of your experiences.

If you’re curious to learn more, check out the book The Art of Slow Travel by Dan Kieran which boosted this movement a few years ago.

Not only for you, but also for the community you visit, slow traveling offers a lot of benefits. So let’s have a closer look at the impact of slow travel and why it’s important.

Have you ever heard of “travel fatigue”? Maybe not, but you may have felt more exhausted at the end of a trip than at the beginning. Sometimes even apathy sneaks in, and you lack motivation for activities that normally excite you. That’s exactly what travel fatigue is about. Some also call it “tourist burnout”.

And it occurs when we try to see and do as many things as possible. That may work for a short period of time but sooner or later your body and especially your mind get tired.

So it’s time to ditch that frantic mentality and allow yourself to smooth into the pace of the locals. Step away from seeing your vacation as a checklist of things to do, and must-sees. Rushing from one place to another will only leave you exhausted. A shift towards slow traveling gives your mind and body more peace and relaxation and allows you to travel at your own pace. You can finally switch off! And you won’t come back home and need that vacation from your vacation.

Remember: You can always come back later to see more of that destination.

Reading that you can see and experience more when you travel more slowly may sound contradictory. But think about it.

You spend less time on the road, rushing from one place to the next. That gives you the time and the energy to immerse yourself in the local culture. This way, you’re more likely to explore areas, food, or hidden gems that you wouldn’t be able to see if you frantically check your to-do list.

I always love these relaxed strolls through local neighborhoods, where I can get a feeling of how the locals actually live. Where I can watch the grandpas meeting at their favorite coffee corner to play backgammon with their pals. And where kids play on the street with those fluffy street dogs they’re just falling in love with.

Or how much fun local buses are, where families sing along with folk songs on the radio, where vendors squeeze through the aisle with their huge baskets of homemade treats, or where the driver fools around with the youngsters on their way to school.
And at the same time, I can truly see the landscape of that country.

These are the most authentic moments of traveling.

Deeper experiences also bring about connections.

Through slow traveling, you have the chance to take part in the culture and local activities such as cooking classes or support a beach clean-up.

This way, you can dive into and become part of the local life. Get to know the people in the place you’re at!

But it goes way beyond that because what makes these activities special are the people you get connected with.

And you never know what these connections bring. I’ve made the most special experience getting lost in conversations with people I met while traveling. Those can be deep, inspiring talks or lessons that help you for life. But those can also evolve into friendships. Some of them may last for years.

For me, the friends I make traveling are some of the most precious things I bring home. And isn’t it so much fun to stay in touch and know you’ve always got a place to come back to somewhere in the world where you can directly feel at home?

Staying at a locally owned apartment or even homestay can be your first link to the local culture. But besides the more authentic experience that you get when you stay at a guesthouse or visit a local restaurant, these locations are also less expensive than the touristy alternatives.

Bonus: When you stay longer, you usually get better accommodation rates and also safe money on transportation that you’d need if you changed places every few days.

And let’s be honest – what’s better than trying all the yummy specialties at a street food stall or small restaurant where grandma cooks for 20 years?

If you stay in an apartment with a kitchen, you can even go grocery shopping as the locals do. Head to the closest market, buy all the fresh stuff, and cook something new for a fracture of a restaurant visit.

We’ve talked a lot about benefits for you, which are awesome, but let’s face it: Traveling isn’t (only) about you having the best time of your life. It’s about bringing a benefit to the destination you visit, its locals, and its environment!

“Always choose local” is a mantra for sustainable traveling as well as for slow traveling. If you do so, your choices in terms of accommodation, food, products, and transportation are great for the local community. Instead of large, international corporations (that are rolling in money), your money goes to the local organizations, economy, and standard of living.

With every single choice, you help to support sustainable tourism at your destination that other travelers can hopefully enjoy in the future.

With fewer means of transport, longer stays in one accommodation, and supporting local businesses instead of international corporations, the slow traveling mindset is easier on the environment.

Think about it. When you stay in one place for longer, you take fewer buses or, even worse, flights that may take you from one destination to the next. You rely on public transportation or even walk and cycle more. Obviously, that results in a lower CO² footprint.

The same applies to accommodation. No need for cleaning and new bed sheets every few days. That results in less energy and fewer chemicals.

And food vendors and markets usually offer mainly locally-grown produce that isn’t shipped across the world just for you to consume it.

Eventually, slow traveling leads you off the beaten path, which is an important path against mass tourism. When more and more people travel to lesser-visited destinations, we spare those places suffering from overtourism.

And I guess, I don’t have to tell you how much more relaxing it is to be far away from the crowds.

Who is slow travel for?

How do I start slow traveling?

Take more time at one destination

Stay Local

Immerse yourself into the local way of living

Be mindful of transportation

Stay flexible with your travel plans

Avoid touristy places

Travel off-season & off the beaten track

Be open to new experiences

Examples of slow travel

• Road trips – Let the road be your destination and take you to places you wouldn’t have imagined before. Stop wherever you feel like, no matter if it’s a cute roadside café, a hidden campsite, or an unknown waterfall of which you’ve just read the sign.
• Traveling by local means of transport – Look out for the slow coach or regional train that takes you through totally untouristy villages and landscapes. And why not get off in a cute town you’ve never heard of before to check out their farmers market or to have a looong lunch break?
• Homestays – Why is it that so many people crave fancy hotels? Some of my best travel memories are from times that I’ve stayed with locals. This usually leads to unforeseen highlights such as a rustic family dinner with garden-grown veggies, homemade ice cream, a private traditional cooking class, or lots of cuddle time with their dogs.
• Long strolls – Instead of just hopping in between sights, put away your phone and map apps and just follow your nose. Take whatever alley looks cute and allow yourself to get lost. I’ve found the cutest corners in London this way, even after I had visited the city almost ten times. Walking tours with locals are also a great experience!
• Bike tours – How about skipping the tourist bus and either renting bikes and exploring by yourself or booking a bike tour? You’ll see the place from a completely different angle!
• Farm stays – Staying right where the local food grows is the best way to try a country’s real taste. Here you can also learn about traditional production methods, original recipes, and enjoy fresh food “zero km” or “farm to fork”. This could be a vineyard in Tuscany, a rural farm in the Alps, or a small lodge right next to a rice field in Vietnam.
• Sailing trips – Why always stay at a hotel? You can also stay on a sailing boat to explore different parts of a Mediterranean island or take the unique 5-day sailing adventure from Panama to Colombia. This is for sure a once-in-a-lifetime experience!
• Cooking with locals – You’ve never truly experienced a culture if you haven’t tried the local food. And even better, if you’ve cooked them. So book a local cooking class, and you can even take the taste home with you and cook for your family and friends. That’s better than any souvenir!
• Volunteering – Yep, volunteering is probably the best way to not only get to know the locals and their culture, but to also support the disadvantaged. So help out in a local organization, support building projects, or try wwoofing (working on organic farms).
• Freighter travel – You may have never heard of it, and it’s only an option for those who have a lot of time and are willing to refrain from any comfort and civilization. But freighter travel is a way to inexpensively travel around the world without airplanes or commercial cruise ships.