A Slow Travel Guide: 30 Ideas to Spend More Time in a Place
—and actually get to know it
Everyone says they love to travel, right? But how do you actually be somewhere once you arrive? You finally get to that place you’ve dreamed about, but after the photo is taken, then what? Travel doesn’t need to be a checklist, and you don’t always need to have a packed schedule to make the most out of your time. Instead, leave parts of your day open with no agenda to allow room for meandering and unplanned moments. Let travel be a piece of chocolate slowly melting on your tongue with ample time to notice, savor and appreciate. Whether you’re staying for a weekend or a while, this list is filled with ways to spend more time in a place and connect more deeply wherever you are.
Be Present
Walk, bike or drive without a destination. Let curiosity lead.
Wake up early and experience the world before everyone is awake.
Just sit for a while. Do nothing. Be bored. Watch the sky change. Stay in one place long enough to see the light shift.
Listen to and record the layers of sound around you—wind through the trees, footsteps on gravel, distant voices, the hum of a bug.
Notice the local flora and fauna and learn their names (hello, Merlin Bird ID app).
Feel what’s around you. Put your feet in the grass, touch the mossy rocks, let the sand filter through your fingers.
Look for the tiniest details—a bug crawling, the way branches intersect, the shape of shadows, a shoe print in the dust.
Collect something as you go—rocks, feathers, sounds, photographs, etc.
Connect Locally
Read books and poetry by local authors.
Talk to the locals. Ask what it’s like to live there. Or how it’s changed over the years.
Let a stranger plan your day. Ask one person where to get breakfast, then ask someone there what to do next. Repeat until the day is over.
Do an everyday task. Do laundry at the laundromat. Go to the post office. Get a haircut.
Read a local newspaper cover to cover.
Try a dish that the place is known for. Sample the same thing at different restaurants.
Read the event posters and advertisements outside of businesses. Look at the land and homes for sale on realtor flyers.
Attend a community event or local meet up.
Join a class or workshop.
Take a tour and learn how something local is made.
Read every informational plaque or sign you come across whether it’s at a museum or a park bench or anything in-between.
Return to the same place more than once.
Let the Place Inspire You
Try a hobby you usually do at home but in public—crochet, dance, play the ukulele, etc.
Cook a meal inspired by the place. For more of a challenge, get ingredients from a local market and only use what’s in season.
Make a playlist. Or compose your own music based on the sounds you collect.
Sit somewhere and paint or sketch what you observe.
Write. Take notes on overheard conversations. Write haikus about different neighborhoods. Turn the landscape into a character and write a short story about it. Or write a letter to it.
Create art using local or found materials—sticks, sand, newspaper, etc.
Design a “style guide” for the place—color palettes, fonts, patterns, smells, etc.
Make your own map as you go—a sound map, a map of your emotions or simply a map of where you’ve been.
Keep a journal. Or art journal. Document things you saw, heard, smelled, felt in whatever medium feels right.
Create a time capsule with collected ephemera, flowers, photographs, text and whatever else captures the place.
The more time you spend in one place, the more it reveals itself in quiet, unexpected ways. Give yourself permission to slow down. Let your days be shaped by curiosity instead of urgency. Linger longer. Pay attention. See what unfolds.