What is Slow Travel?
Slow travel is a rising trend that encourages you to step back from a rushed schedule of photo opportunities and tourist hotspots and to further immerse yourself within the true culture of your destination.
Paul Sullivan, slow travel expert and the founding editor of Slow Travel Berlin described the qualities of a slow traveller when speaking to Grantourismo, saying, “The ideal slow traveller is the person who gets their experiences from locals and local culture as opposed to guidebooks”.
When you practise slow travel, you are quite literally doing the opposite of mainstream tourism, by slowing things down and taking the time to get to know all of the little things which make each place its own. This could be anything from booking on to a nature and wildlife tour to learn more about the plants and animals living in the location or taking a bicycle to dinner rather than a taxi where you face the risk of missing the off-beat path. By making these ‘slow travel’ adjustments to your travel habits, you will find yourself more present in the moment and leaving with a far deeper understanding of the place you have visited.
Slow travel is proving to be increasingly popular and online searches have increased by a staggering 50% over the past year alone. This trend is growing on social media too, inspiring a new generation of travellers to implement mindful and immersive practices into their adventures. The #slowtravel on TikTok has 68M views, and there are over 1M different posts on Instagram using hashtags on the topic of slow travel.