Mariangeles Claros Reyes of Holiday Lettings in Spain explains the benefits of slow travel in Spain.

The term “slow travel” or travel without any rushing around, points to the way of travelling where the traveller becomes part of the holiday destination, there is communication with the local people and getting to know the customs and life style. It is a kind of integration to the culture while being on a holiday.

As a reaction to stress, considered as the disease of the twenty-first century by many specialists, comes the slow trend emphasizing the pleasure of living without rushing and therefore enjoying the wealth that represents the diversity and the small pleasures of life. That philosophy has shifted to tourism with the so-called “slow travel” and the development of slow-cities.

The “fast life” has now reached tourism: organized trips, low cost package deals and hotels that offer minimum comfort and services for the person who just spend the night there. Tourists that want to visit as much as possible in a record time, without communicating with the locals, feeling seduced by travelling as far as possible and ending up passing more time in the plane or on the road. The purpose of the slow travel, however is not merely visiting a particular city or region but discover it, know it, enjoy it and be integrated into it.

For a town to be considered a slow city or Città Slow first it must have a population below than 50,000 inhabitants, not being a capital city and offering the opportunity of walking in streets in the old city closed to traffic among other requirements. The first slow city was the Italian town Bra. In 2003, thirty European cities were considered slow cities. In Spain, two Andalucian towns in Granada and Almeria did it too: Pozo Alcón and Niguelas.

Visiting a big country like Spain which is rich in history, culture, nature, apart from being an extraordinary holiday resort, deserving of a slow visit, and for this reason and according to the slow travel trend, I would recommend renting a holiday cottage in Spain. This type of accommodation lets the traveler feels like at home, and offers the chance to get mixed into the culture much more.

Enjoy the journey and the destination!