‘Travelling’ doesn’t need to mean staying in hostels, taking overnight buses between cities, and trying to fit an entire city’s-worth of activities into a three-day stay. It can be much more laid back. You can take your time in each location and really absorb the local culture and wildlife. This style of travelling has naturally been dubbed ‘slow travel’, and it’s getting more and more popular.
If you’re looking for a quiet break, you’ll need to head somewhere which is appropriately tranquil. For the uninitiated, Sainsbury's Bank has done some research and discovered exactly where in the world you need to head for the best slow travel trips, and the top spot happens to be in the UK.
In order to determine the very best place for chilling out, the company compared several popular holiday destinations based on key criteria including proximity to nature, cuisine, available accommodation, flight prices, and ‘relaxation’. Once the places had scores out of 10 in every individual category, an overall score out of 50 was calculated and a ranking created.
After all that, Cornwall was named the best slow travel destination by the study with a score of 47.5 out of 50. This was in large part thanks to its abundance of gorgeous beaches, great food, and stunning natural beauty, but the southwestern county also offers serious opportunities for unwinding, with Sainsbury’s Bank saying that ‘time truly slows down here’.
The study added that the area’s diversity was a big draw, highlighting the ‘sleepy waterside villages at one end and sweeping peaks at the other’. It is true; this coastal county is known for shimmering blue waters and an abundance of adorable chocolate box villages.
The good thing about travelling slowly is that you’ll get to see all sides of Cornwall, rather than just the touristy bits or the place you’re staying. Cornwall was the only British location on the top 10, but County Mayo in our good-old neighbour Ireland also made it in at sixth.
Portugal’s Algarve came second overall, and Provence in France placed third. Clearly there’s something about being by the water that just calms the soul. Here’s the top 10 destinations for slow travel, according to Sainsbury’s Bank (including their scores out of 50).
- Cornwall, UK: 47.5
- Algarve, Portugal: 46.9
- Provence, France: 46.9
- Lanzarote, Spain: 46.4
- Oslo, Norway: 46
- County Mayo, Republic of Ireland: 45.9
- Dubrovnik, Croatia: 45.7
- The Balkans, Montenegro: 45.4
- Iceland: 45.3
- Tallin, Estonia: 45
You can find out more about the ranking here.
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