Slow Travel EuropeMaking conscious choices

Slow Travel Europe: Some Guiding Principles

It is not for us to prescribe how you should travel. But we offer some thoughts which might appeal to those interested in exploring slow travel options as they explore Europe.

  1. Start at home. The key to slow travel is a state of mind. That can be developed at home.
  2. Travel slow. Avoid planes if at all possible, and instead enjoy ferries, local buses and slow trains. Speed destroys the connection with landscape. Slow travel restores it.
  3. You may eagerly look forward to the arrival at your chosen destination, but don't let that anticipation eclipse the pleasure of the journey.
  4. Check out local markets and shops.
  5. Savour café culture. Sitting in a café, you become part of the cityscape and not merely a passing observer.
  6. Take time to get a feel for the languages and dialects of the areas you visit. Learn a few phrases, use a dictionary and buy a local newspaper.
  7. Engage with communities at the right level. Choose accommodation and eating options that are appropriate to the area where you are travelling.
  8. Do what the locals do, not only what the guidebooks say.
  9. Savour the unexpected. Delayed trains or missed bus connections create new opportunities.
  10. Think what you can give back to the communities you visit.