How do you plan your vacations? How we travel is such a personal choice, of course. It involves many factors–money, time, physical condition, interests, and on and on. But my favorite way to travel is slowly.
I have two children now and realize the importance of slow travel with kids, but I’ve always loved slow travel. During one of my big trips to Europe in my early 20s, I stayed in five places over the course of three months–the shortest stay was about five days in Venice, and the longest was one month in London.
Since then I’ve tried to continue that aim of traveling to relax, to discover, to be. Now that I’ve gotten older, I’ve become much more aware of the importance of noticing, of slowing down enough to experience the place around me and all its sights, smells and sounds. Perhaps it’s because that I yearn for quiet time when I’m not tending to my kids’ every need, or perhaps it’s that I’ve come to realize that memorable vacations are those spent doing things I truly love. I now see slow travel not just as the amount of time I spend in one place, but also the amount of attention given to the surroundings.
With spring arriving here in California, I imagine that there’s no better way to experience a vacation than walking from one place to another, noticing the bird songs and flowers blooming on the way to the next village where a relaxing meal of local food and drink awaits.
In fact, if I could do anything during my long summer vacation, it would be to take a slow travel tour in Europe. That’s why I was excited to learn about Inntravel‘s slow travel tours. They offer a huge variety of self-guided tours for people who want to experience Europe off the beaten path. Here’s more about what they do and why I feel drawn to their mission:
No big groups: Inntravel tours are self-guided. You and whomever you choose to travel with get to travel independently, but Inntravel guides you by providing maps, routes, and plans for meals and accommodations.
Flexibility: You’re still in charge of your trip. Inntravel lets you choose the number of nights, the dates, and if you want to add the tour onto a trip you’re already planning. And there are so many destinations that you have many options to choose from.
They take the guess work out of the vacation. Inntravel takes care of the planning so you don’t have to. With carefully chosen family-run hotels and meals arranged, there’s no need to plan every detail. They transport your luggage between accommodations, and they help you with other necessities, like travel insurance, visas, etc.
Tours for all types: Whether you want to walk, bike, drive or take the train, and whether you want to travel alone, as a couple, or as a group/family, Inntravel will work with you to make the right vacation based on your needs. Even the walking tours vary based on your level of physical ability: gentle strolls, scenic rambles, challenging hikes, and flexible walks that give you choices as you set out each day.
Focus on local: As Inntravel puts it, their travel style is about getting under the skin of a place to see it for what it really is. This means that their tours include small family-run hotels, unpretentious restaurants where you can experience local food traditions, and plenty of free time to discover and explore.
Affordable: I found the prices of Inntravel’s tours to be quite reasonable. Find current offers here.
And those destinations! There are so many to choose from, but here are just three that especially piqued my interest:
Family walking holiday in Switzerland
Bike tour of the wine trails of Southern Moravia in the Czech Republic
Stroll between the finest chateaux in the Loire Valley of France
Doesn’t an Inntravel vacation sound like perfection? Find out more about what makes their holidays special in this beautiful video:
And you? What kind of travel do you enjoy? What type of trip is on your “wish list”?
Agreed. Slow travel is the way to go. I went to Japan with a few friends and all they wanted to do is see as many things as possible – I don’t remember anything from that part of the trip; luckily, we ditched them and did our own thing the rest of the trip. Also, nice video 🙂 – I’ll definitely keep Inntravel in mind next time I’m in the market for such a thing.
It’s hard because we naturally want to squeeze in as many things as possible when we pay a lot of money to travel abroad, but the experience is so much more meaningful and relaxing when we slow down.
Enjoyed your blog posting, and having the time to really experience someplace is important to us too. Our founder wrote about his experience in Barcelona, for example (https://anywhereworkday.com/an-extended-stay-in-barcelona). Thank you for sharing this beautiful post. Great pictures as well.
Allison
Glad you enjoyed it! Off to check out your post now.
This is exactly how I like to travel and it looks like Inn travel has some fantastic itineraries! I especially like the biking between wineries in the Czech Republic.
The tour to wineries in the Czech Republic very much appeals to me, too. The terrain there is perfect for biking, and it’s such a peaceful, beautiful area.
As I get older, I think I’m heading in this direction. I get so excited when I go to Europe, I just want to go everywhere, but it gets overwhelming. I think we do end up missing a lot, as the video discusses. Inntravel sounds like a brillilant idea.
I understand what you mean. When I was younger, I could go more when I needed to. I’ve always enjoyed traveling slowly, but now I see the value of slowing down for my kids, too.
Very good writing. I appreciate your strategy of travelling.
People travel for recreation. So this should be depends on individuals choice. Some people like to travel slowly some are too much crazy to travel a lot of place within a month.
I also like to travel slowly. So i can get time to make money, strength and interest for the next travel.
I do like slow travel although I don’t always get it! We just spent three weeks in Borrego Springs which was completely unknown to me prior to the trip. With three weeks we didn’t have to rush and it was really great. Getting to go back to a place you liked a second or third time during the same trip is really unusual but with time you can do that! Switzerland is such a beautiful country, I worked there for three years and the walking tour sounds really great. I also really want to go to Croatia and I would like to spend more time in Italy.
I agree about Croatia. I stayed in Rovinj for about 5 days back in 1997 and loved it, but now I would love to go back and get to know the coast and the wine country there.
I love slow travel & have enjoyed several slow, self-planned trips focused in one area, like Cornwall. I was fascinated by this post! I would love to do the biking itinerary in the Czech Republic or the tour in the Loire Valley. I plan to read more about InnTravel! Thanks for another wonderful blog post, Jenna.