In the same way that the Slow Food revolution has created a compelling antithesis to the burgeoning Fast Food business, Slow Travel encourages people to resist “Fast” Travel – the frustratingly frequent habit of speeding through all the best known landmarks of a city in 24 or 48 hours – then leaving again.
Slow Travel encourages us to slacken our pace, re-consider our motivations (and itineraries) and embrace a “less is more” instead of a “fast is better” ethos. It emboldens us to take pause. To think. To saunter instead of rush and enjoy the details instead of blurring past them.
Slow Travel Berlin was founded in January 2010 by British guidebook author, travel journalist and photographer Paul Sullivan. The aim is to establish a repository of eclectic information about the city from a range of perspectives to encourage deeper, more varied exploration and promotion of small, locally-minded businesses and services.
Despite its reputation as a party town and bohemian node, Berlin has many inherent Slow characteristics. It has fewer people and less industry than most capital cities, which means it has less traffic and less stress. It’s huge, with plenty outside the well-trodden center to explore, and is officially one of the greenest cities in Europe. Of course it’s part of the global “rat race”. But its turbulent and fascinating history are unique in Europe and its creative and cultural life seem stronger, or at least more visible, than in other major cities of its kind.
All of these factors have a discernible effect on the attitude of people who live here, and thus on daily life, making Berlin in many ways the perfect city in which to carry out an initial Slow Travel experiment. It’s a great city, for example, to rent an apartment instead of a hotel; to stay a week rather than a weekend; to do a cooking course, learn German (or another language), hire a music teacher or join an art or writing workshop. Its past is enthralling and vivid enough to justify off-the-beaten-track explorations. Its parks are large and green enough to really relax in.
The site features regular contributions from city residents on subjects ranging from food and literature to photography and personal experiences or memoirs. We aim to facilitate any quest to get beneath the skin of the city a little, or discover it at a more leisurely pace.
We offer an insider’s view that will doubtless overlap from time to time with other Berlin travel sites, but will ultimately provide a unique and above all reliable resource that gives a broader, deeper perspective. We love this city and we want you to love it too.
It’s worth noting that there’s an obvious tendency within the Slow movement (and it really is a movement) to romanticise or idealise things. A few Slow advocates would no doubt be happy to see cars banished, laptops destroyed.
But we are not interested in a return to medieval times, and certainly don’t believe everything in life should be Slowed. We are modern beings with modern lives. As Canadian journalist Carl Honore notes in his Slow bible In Praise Of Slow humans thrive on speed in many ways. We don’t just enjoy it: we need it. Like him, we believe that only certain things should be Slowed – food, art, parenting, sex – simply in order to make these things more enjoyable.
A further note: while nowhere near as universal as the Slow Food movement, Slow Travel easily has the potential to be just as revolutionary a concept in the future. While we wouldn’t claim to be original or definitive in any way, we are trying our best to find a philosophical model that can be emulated in a bid to generally improve the Travel experience. If you have any feedback – good or bad – we encourage you to contact us and share it. Or feel free to leave a comment somewhere on the site.
We’re also very keen to collaborate with other Slow Travellers, either in Berlin or elsewhere, in order to promote and expand this more conscientious style of travel. If you’d like to work with us in any way, or if you’d like to send us an article or discuss an idea for one, please contact us using the form below or send a mail to paul at slowtravelberlin dot com.
To learn more about us and our philosophy, check out these more interviews over at Matador Network, Indie Travel, Pocket Cultures, Gran Turismo, Context Travel, HG2, Easyjet Magazine, Purposeofvisit.uk, Flux FM and the most recent one (2013) over at the NMO.
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YES! Love it. I especially love that the honesty that shines through with slow travel. So cool.
Thanks for the kind comment Candice…
Nice one
S
I’m all about the slow. Maybe it has to do with having a child, so things do take a bit longer. But I think it’s more to do with seeing below the surface of a place.
I love that Cafe is one of your most used tags. I’m a huge cafe person, and no matter where I go, I always find at least one cafe to sit, meet people, talk and just get to know things.
Damn, Paul. Now I must come visit Berlin.
I’m all for slow travel, slow food and definitely slow art (being a painter I have become very aware of the speed in which many people look at paintings without really seeing them).
I keep being told what a wonderful place Berlin would be for me to live in, and I am planning a short break there next month to introduce myself to it. You mention in this article about renting an apartment instead of a hotel – do you have any helpful information you could pass on about how/where I could go about doing this for a short period of time, perhaps a month. Perhaps just a fortnight as a first trip…
Any help much appreciated, and congrats on a great website
Hi Jamie,
First of all thanks for visiting and commenting on the site. Recommending places to stay for folk like you is precisely what we want to do, but we’re still new and haven’t quite gotten to that stage yet.
However, perhaps we can chat via email and we can help you find something.
If you send me a note to paul@paul-sullivan.com I’m sure we can assist you somehow.
Thanks and speak soon,
Paul
Sweet Paul. We’ll see you in Berlin this summer!
Looking fwd Carlo, thanks for the comment.
Leigh, sorry for the “slow” reply…I think you are right – kids do slow us down and I think in many ways that’s a really good thing. Their natural curiosity helps us remember ours, which of course we often override in order to get from A to B as fast as possible.
And yeah, if you love cafes you’ll absolutely adore Berlin. It’s got some catching up to do in terms of slow-style restaurants but there’s an abundance of independent cafes to hang out in day and night. The brunch scene is really great here too.
Come and visit!
Very interesting blog post thank you for writing it I have added your site to my bookmarks and will be back.
I just love this blog.
Oh what a brilliant concept…and i’m in total agreement. Slow travel is important, it takes time to absorb a place, it’s history and culture. 20 years in a place like london and you don’t even scratch the surface! I’m going to take some time now to get to knoow your site…thank you!!
Hi Paul,
really like the website and the idea; “slow travel” has been my philosophy for a long time. (Slow food too). This made me think how Berlin would be a lovely destination for a spring break. Might see you next year
Rgds, S
Martin, Stuart, Beth and Sanya — thank you all for your kind comments. Let me know if any of you come to Berlin, it would be great to meet you.
I love the slow travel concept. A place needs time. Time to savour.
Sometimes you can’t help it, and you only have 48 or even 24 hours in one place – this happens a lot if you travel for work. For me it’s been a big learning curve to master the art of taking it slow nevertheless.
I’ve been in the most fascinating and historically rich cities across a few continents by now, but never have “enough” time to really savour them. I’ve taught myself to drop all the major sites from my checklist, in fact, I’ve abandoned any kind of list for my days or afternoons off. I usually just sleep in so I’m rested, then sit in a cafe for half a day, reading a book and watching and/or meeting people, then maybe walk around the city, find a nice market or park to spend the rest of my time in. Stumbling across a nice place for dinner is another highlight. The one thing that keeps me company is a good novel. Being alone with my thoughts and not having a plan to follow is challenging, but I’ve found it therapeutic too.
So thank you for this site!
We are a family of permanent slow travelers and couldn’t be more pleased with our decision to be on long term travel, instead of infrequent week trips once or twice a year. We stay in a place at least 3 months – 2 years, depending on how much we enjoy the lifestyle that we create in that place.
Our children are having an amazingly international upbringing and we as adults are having more fun that we could have imagined.
It’s not for everyone, but for those that already think outside of the box or want to escape the rat race…it’s certainly a blessing.
I love the idea of slow travel. being an ex-pat living and working in Dubrovnik the whole concept of life in the slow lane is something I admire. Keep up the good work and your site is very informal. A must read for all visitors to Berlin.
Thanks for the kind words Mark!