Slow travel: Experience the world at a gentle pace
Discover the immersive delights of a mellow journey through Europe.
In our fast-paced world, it’s important to slow down and take a step back every so often. Holidays are the perfect chance to change the tempo, so we’ve chosen five slow-travel itineraries in which the journey is as important as the destination. Saddle up for horse trekking in Spain, lace up your boots for hut-to-hut hiking in Slovenia, and get ready to board Europe’s most incredible railway.
Enjoy a day of alpine scenery aboard Norway’s Bergen Line
Crossing the highlands between Norway’s two largest cities, Oslo and Bergen, takes you past mountainous national parks and northern Europe’s largest highland plateau. Superlatives are as frequent as magnificent fjord views on northern Europe’s highest train trip – a stunning 496km, 182-tunnel route dating back to 1909.
Look out for Europe’s largest reindeer herd on the seven-hour journey to the colourful houses of Bergen, a former Hanseatic trading centre and ‘capital of the fjords’. Alight at altitudinous Finse (1,222m above sea level) to see the rugged terrain where Ernest Shackleton and the polar explorers trained for Antarctica.
Disembark at Myrdal for the one-hour Flåmsbana railway ride to Flåm, which descends 867m past vertiginous mountainsides, deep ravines, and thundering waterfalls.
Trot between the white villages of Spain’s Alpujarras
Saddle up like Don Quixote and head south to the white villages of Andalucía’s Alpujarras, where horse trails snake through Mediterranean scrub in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. The pueblos blancos are distinctive clusters of boxy, clay-roofed houses with Moorish influences that make wonderful bases to rest your steed and experience Spanish country life.
Stables offer guided horse treks between villages such as Capileira, Bubión, and Cádiar – the area evoked by Chris Stewart’s good-life-abroad classic, Driving Over Lemons (1999). Nights are spent in fincas, feasting on tapas, jamón, and river trout.
With stops including Trevélez, Spain’s highest village at around 1,500m, you’ll enjoy views of snow-capped peaks and as far as Morocco, while crossing plateaus frequented only by shepherds. A true adventure along bridle paths between Granada and the coast.
Cycle the Via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome
If you’re looking for a two-wheeled adventure, get ready to follow this pilgrimage route dating back more than 1,400 years. Stretching 2,000km from Canterbury to the Eternal City via northeastern France, the Swiss Alps, and Italy’s Apennines, this incredible journey can be conquered in one trip (if you’re brave enough) or broken into more manageable sections.
Even seasoned cyclists should pencil in six weeks to complete the trail – currently celebrating 30 years as a Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe – as Switzerland’s Great St Bernard Pass (2,469m) and Tuscany’s Cisa Pass (1,041m) are among the continent’s most gruelling climbs.
If you’d like to tackle a single section at a more leisurely pace, the approach to Rome through the Tuscan countryside and Lazio is beautiful (and easier on the legs), while a southern extension of the route continues to the historical pilgrim port of Santa María di Leuca on Puglia’s Salento peninsula.
Hike between rustic cabins in Alpine Slovenia
Triglav National Park should be universally recognised as Europe’s Yosemite, but this stretch of the Julian Alps is still relatively unknown. That’s great news for hikers looking to explore these meltwater rivers dashing through dramatic canyons, brooding pine forests, and buttercup-flecked meadows amid more than 650 peaks.
Adventurous spirits should consider planning a multi-day, hut-to-hut adventure easily organised by local tour companies. You’ll spend days on the trail and cosy nights in remote mountaintop cabins, with home-cooked meals and a warm welcome.
Popular multi-day missions include the 267km, 16-stage Juliana Trail that circles the park, and the equally dramatic three-day route to Pokljuka plateau from Lake Bohinj. The latter features 1,000m ascents and descents between waterfall-misted valleys and Alpine pastures, accompanied by views of the nationally revered Mount Triglav (2,864m).
Cruise across the Scottish Highlands on the Caledonian Canal
Gaze at the rippled surface of Loch Ness on a barge cruise down the Caledonian Canal, which runs the length of the famous loch on its 96km journey along the Great Glen from Inverness to Corpach, near Fort William.
On a vessel such as the Spirit of Scotland, spend seven days dawdling beneath the Munros of the Grampian and Northwest Highlands ranges on a scenic journey through some of the UK’s wildest landscapes. Side trips include Cawdor Castle of Macbeth infamy, the Jacobite battlefield of Culloden Moor, and popular film location Eilean Donan Castle.
Whether you cruise, hike the canal-side Great Glen Way, or cycle this long-distance route, you can’t beat the coast-to-coast waterway for sheer Scottish romanticism. Landmarks en route include pioneering 19th-century engineer Thomas Telford’s Neptune’s Staircase, a series of eight locks that raise the canal by 19m over 400m – it takes 90 minutes to pass, but you’ll have a view of Ben Nevis (1,345m).