“Slowing down on the road doesn’t mean wasting time. Slowing down means finding it. Finding the true value of time and the fullness of the moment. Like when you look at a landscape and realize for the first time that it doesn’t wait for you to “see” it, but for you to be in it.”
When we acknowledge and accept that by slowing down we are not giving up on the world, but rather we are truly perceiving it, travel ceases to be an escape from the reality of the workday. We cease to just move from place to place, but we journey from moment to moment, and travel becomes a return to ourselves, a return to life, to a world that we don’t need to conquer, but to discover. With openness, generosity, humility towards the stories we perceive in both the landscape and the people. We acknowledge the Way. Slow travel is closely related to sustainability. Ecological and human. In this concept, it is not just about flying less or choosing the train instead of the car, but also about not wanting to tire the place where you find yourself with your presence, you are trying to understand it, not exhaust everything that is available. Slowtravel is also to some extent about the courage to lose control. It is a challenge to let yourself be guided by moments, intuition and unexpected conversations. It can also mean establishing a relationship, not only with what you see, but also with your own pace.
My name is Irena. My husband Aleš and I travel in the Czech Republic and around the world in various ways. We also own the family guesthouse Bohemian Cottage in Bohemian Switzerland. Aleš is a guide in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park and I lead movement retreats abroad several times a year. We look at the topic of slowtravel and responsible tourism from several angles. As a married couple for whom travel is a great enrichment, we look at travel with children through the eyes of accommodation and service providers, as guides to other people. We want to inspire you and show you with concrete examples how we think about travel, what contexts play important roles for us and what feedback we have from our clients, guests and friends.
How to plan?
Find information in time, compare it and connect it.
Since we work in the service sector ourselves, we plan our own vacations quite a long time in advance. It is good to seek inspiration from like-minded people. Given the overall climate change, we do not go south in the summer due to high temperatures that prevent us from seeing anything, on the contrary, our travel efforts are directed towards finding an air-conditioned space. We are not those for whom an all-inclusive resort at a low price is an option. Our setting is such that we do not need to consume as much as possible for as little money as possible and in the most advantageous way. We look at who we support with our travel, which is why we try to find accommodation directly, for example, not through global platforms. A good accommodation provider pays attention to good presentation, it is his calling card. We most often look for accommodation via Google Maps, so you can also see the surroundings in detail, which is an undeniable advantage. Drive through the streets, roads, places you want to see virtually on Google Maps, perhaps you will discover interesting accommodation. You can also use the information from the accommodation provider for tips for trips, food, a good café, a small gallery or a route that the locals go. We always communicate with the accommodation provider. We also look for a destination agency that operates in the place and look at its information.
We do not use articles recommending top places, we mostly read where not to go this year: for example: https://www.ecoista.cz/kam-radeji-nejet-10-evropskych-mist-ktera-uz-maji-dost-turistu
We have a good habit of finding a local literary author before we go to a destination, reading a book that is set in the given environment, and getting in the mood.
What do I need and why?
The place where you sleep has a big impact on your travel satisfaction. It is therefore important to take the time to choose, a quick trip through booking.com may not always be the right way. Accommodation providers who are exceptional, offer originality, have requests from guests from their own information channels, are not on booking.com and similar platforms. Because they often do not have a philosophy or conditions that the user does not know about. If they are listed there, they release last-minute dates to cover cancellations or low occupancy. If you are looking for something exceptional, search early and directly.
Choose a destination, search in the search engine by entering words in the language spoken in the destination. or in English. And even here. The good ones have a website in English. Skip the advertising items, go to other pages in search engines. Each destination also has local websites. Please note, I don’t mean to say that when we go to Milan for the weekend, we completely eliminate quick selection. But it’s not the only source we use.
We are increasingly seeing guests looking for accommodation based on the eco-friendly approach of the accommodation provider. Does it offer regional products? Can it provide transport from the train, does it use renewable resources? In the Czech Republic, there is no unified rating system for the quality of services, nor do the so-called stars have a unifying character, and there is no system of so-called eco-friendly accommodation providers. So if you are looking for eco, responsibility/sustainability, there is no choice but to read the accommodation providers’ websites.
Our guesthouse is a member of several accommodation communities in Germany that accept “eco” members, or use renewable resources, have an energy label: A, are built from natural building materials, food waste is minimized, waste sorting is a matter of course, no single-use plastic, no single-use plastic water bottles. Organic waste is reused, they have a water-efficient shower, natural cleaning and cleaning products and cosmetics. Rainwater is used for the garden, toilet and a wastewater filtration system is used. This is a list that 80% of members must meet. In our country, it goes a bit naturally, the water from the gutter goes into the natural biotope, we do not have a sewer system, so we had to build our own root treatment plant. We would like it if a similar eco-friendly selection were implemented in the Czech Republic and guests were presented with the importance of such operations, their advantages and responsible selection.
Where to go on trips?
We don’t go on trips to destinations that most tour companies organize.
If we still want to see something from the top list, we choose these places outside the main tourist season or at a specific time so that we can be there early in the morning or later in the afternoon. For example, this is how we managed to be at the pyramids in Giza in Egypt from 7:00 to 9:00 all alone. Miracle! After the ninth hour, the circus started.
If we find most travel articles about how to travel Cuba in 14 days, we won’t do it either. Specifically in Cuba: We chose three places: Havana, Bay of Pigs, Trinidad and we stayed in each place for a week. After three days, most people in the village around the bay were surprised that we were still there, they started talking to us more even though they don’t speak any language except Spanish, it doesn’t matter. Our son played soccer with the local boys, we saw the rare supply of a restaurant by horse-drawn carriage, which also drives there on the highway, we saw children at school and the local chirping when I took nylon tights out of my suitcase and handed them out to women in the village.
If you want to experience authenticity, or avoid tourist traps, don’t be fooled by Instagram photos. No tourist takes 100% reality photos, full beaches in photos or sitting in traffic on the way to the most beautiful beach in Europe. Look for photos from guests when booking your accommodation, not every accommodation provider will post a photo of the road outside the windows from one side of the hotel. Then you just close the windows for the night and draw the curtains to get some sleep. For example, we have a photo of the view from the window for each apartment. We try to update the photos when something changes in the interior or exterior.
Also check the topicality of texts and photos. As accommodation providers, we know that it is important to mention specifics, such as steep stairs to the bedroom, and then we eliminate the complaint that an elderly person with mobility problems is booking an apartment. Being transparent about this simply pays off in the long run and on the nerves.
A good accommodation provider will also direct you to a concert that is taking place tomorrow. We often also look at the websites of the city or region we are heading to before leaving, and we usually discover something interesting that will be happening. For example, we visited a concert by the band Blood Harmony in Akureyri in Iceland and it was an extremely beautiful experience. Finally, we were able to take off our winter jackets in public and wear special T-shirts with the inscription in Icelandic: Truth and love will triumph over lies and hatred. The locals were interested. Even though they are rather introverted and it didn’t encourage frequent debates, we were simply on a mission 🙂 Planning is also related to our belief that by how we behave on the road, how we communicate, what we choose, we represent our nation in a certain way among people. We also bring something typically Czech with us as gifts.
Inspiration for the publication:
Recently, we have been delighted with the publication Rare Places. It is about trips to unusual architecturally interesting places, smaller locations in less exposed areas. Those interested in modern architecture will be thrilled.
We are part of the European community GoodTravel.eu, which published the publication Good places for good people. It is about interesting accommodations and the stories of the people who create it.
Inspiration Bohemia:
Our country is small, but beautiful and there is something to discover everywhere, in any season. The regional diversity is amazing. In the Czech Republic, we also travel to unknown destinations: the Slavkov Forest, where we went cross-country skiing in the winter, Horšovský Týn, where we were surprised by the beautiful castle, the Novohradské Mountains, the Rychlebské Mountains, the Moravian Karst… We are also greatly influenced by the driving distance, we simply do not drive across the entire republic for 2 nights. If we go further, we choose at least three nights.
In more detail: The Lusatian Mountains and the surrounding area are our home: the smallest mountains in the Czech Republic, several beautiful 700-meter peaks without crowds and fences. The iconic train station restaurant in Jedlová, the unique Nová Perla gallery in Kyjov, a guided tour of Schindler’s Knitting Factory, a region of small sacral monuments, a region of glassmakers who do honor and glory to their craft, former textile factories that attract creative people to breathe new life into them. A “secret” tip for winter, you can reach the glassworks in the Lusatian Mountains and Polevsko in winter along long cross-country skiing trails and you will be warm inside.
In more detail: The Broumov region, where we will gladly avoid the crowded Adršpach, but we will take a trip around Zdoňov and end it with a gastronomic experience at the Kovářova kobyla restaurant, which is an absolute border revelation. We will stay right in the Broumov monastery in a monk’s cell and the next day I will go buy towels for Veba and a Laiva skirt from local creators, whose piece was also brought by Mrs. Eva Pavlová.
Inspiration for abroad: last year we chose a not-so-well-known destination near Berlin, the Sandugkensee Nature Reserve, for a family vacation. The flat landscape is perfect for cycling and swimming in forest weirs. Sometimes the proximity of a nature reserve or national park or protected landscape area is our criterion.
Planning for groups:
When I was looking for suitable accommodation for my yoga retreat on the island of Mauritius, the key search words were eco, sustainability, local. I found The Good life Mauritius and with it a young, friendly French couple who do a simply wonderful service there in cooperation with the locals. You are part of a concept where food is not wasted on all-inclusive and towels are not changed every day, we don’t do that at home either, right?
An interesting place away from the main tourist stream usually has some buts. Not everything is right next to you, you need to walk or drive to the shop or accept that a few steps are not enough to get to the beach. That is often the key to not finding yourself on a beach full of sun loungers in a crowd. But your reward will be the village, the opportunity to talk to people who actually live there, you can see daily rituals, a rhythm that doesn’t tire you.
Going to Greece with your family?
For the same in Europe, I can mention the Greek island of Corfu. The islander Pavla Smetanová writes books about life under the olive trees, I recommend contacting Pavla for individual travel, because she has local knowledge. She will be interested in what your preferences are and will choose suitable accommodation for you based on that and recommend places to visit. She herself says that the stay recommended by her may not be cheaper than with a large travel company, but you will have a completely different experience. Pavla also once recommended Zuzana Stavroulaki to me, who lives in Crete. Simply put, once you start creating a network of like-minded people, contacts and opportunities pile up.
Planning is a gesture…
Planning is a way to listen to your needs before you set off on a journey. You can choose a destination according to your values, your relationship with nature, the cultural rhythm that is close to you, your hobbies and interests. In slowtravel, the goal is not to “make the most of your time”, but to give time space. Letting the day unfold as it needs to — even if it takes you somewhere else than you imagined. And right there, when you stop trying to “catch up,” something profound can finally meet you…
When plans change and the art of taking risks
The plan for our trip to Iceland changed when we started listening to the audiobook Kalman during our vacation. The gripping novel of the Icelandic north so captivated us that we started traveling to places that were essential to the novel. We were introduced to the book by a traveling couple we talked to after climbing the crater. It’s good not to get attached. Sometimes we also set off somewhere without a clear destination. Unexpected surprises are then remembered and something simply needs to be discovered, like this place in the middle of nowhere. A lake, a “hobbit” house, two Icelanders and hot chocolate and pancakes…
When to go?
And that’s a big challenge. Holidays, weekends, holidays. A large number of people travel on the same days and times there and back. Everyone wants to relax at the same time, everyone wants to ski or lie on the beach at the same time. Prices are skyrocketing because accommodation providers know this, but it doesn’t matter, other times they don’t have time, so they pay twice as much for the same services. Slowtravel gets busy, or due to circumstances you get to a state of Mindfulness zero.
We both work in tourism and services, so we can plan our holidays and work from elsewhere in a modern workaction way according to our workload, sometimes even the occupancy of our guesthouse. And our free time works out the opposite way to everyone else. But we have two children who have compulsory school attendance and that groups us with other families with children. So the two of us go outside weekends and holidays. We all go together to destinations where there is no holiday pressure. We make a lot of use of spring break. These are different in each district. It’s a shame that it’s not like that in the summer, like in Germany. It would help both hosts and guests. As hosts, we often tell guests to add at least a Thursday or Monday to the weekend. The quality of time will change significantly and an excused day at school will not be a problem. We are not surprised that weekends are more expensive for hosts. Try to eliminate this fact, plan at a different time than others. Arrive on Sunday, when others are leaving. We always melt when we see how our guests enjoy their time from Sunday to Wednesday, well, even Tuesday is good. First of all, there are significantly fewer of them in the accommodation facility, which means greater comfort in the common areas and the energy of leisure on weekdays is simply unique. The residents will also be friendlier because there are not crowds of people passing by their windows every day. Have any of you been to Croatia in October or November? We do, and you are surprised by how much sun there is, what the prices are and how the country breathes differently. That is real relaxation for us.
How much does it cost?
The price difference between the so-called high season and the low season can be huge.
The price is controlled by supply and demand. It’s easy when there is a high demand, the prices of accommodation, services, and air tickets are higher than the prices for the same services at a different time.
The game with last minute/all inclusive and discounts is unsympathetic to us. Do I want to meet hotel guests in cheap resorts every day who just lie around and drink? Discounts play a marketing role in tourism. But is the price reduced by 50% really that much lower? How is that even possible? Or can I get the same service elsewhere for a similar price without a discount?
You can travel cheaply on foot with a backpack, there are many pilgrimage trails crisscrossing Europe. They are newly being created in the Czech Republic, for example Hřebenovka in Bohemian Switzerland.
Inspiration: Trail through the Czech Republic www.viaczechia.cz, Hřebenovka: www.hrebenovka.cz
How to get there?
The journey is part of the experience
You can also save a lot on transport and slowtravel really encourages this. Have you ever tried a seven-day train ticket for the summer?
When we go somewhere, we try to enjoy the journey itself. Stop at a place we would never go directly to. For example, we drove to Lefkada with a stop in Macedonia. We allowed the children to sleep in a hostel with other travelers, it was an experience for them, we explored the city of Ohrid, swam in the lake and continued on. For us, the journey is part of the experience.
We traveled to Iceland for 3 days by boat, it was incredibly beautiful. Some would consider it a waste of time. In our opinion, not. We had time for ourselves, time to do nothing, we just drove, we managed to calm down and prepare for the adventure. We read Icelandic novels and poems and studied the necessary travel information.
Transportation at the place of travel is important. Experience how the locals travel. Sometimes it is a greater experience than the place we want to reach. Some guests, cycling enthusiasts, come to us by bike from Prague. We often wonder how and if it is possible to travel in an original way, for example. There is now a night train on the route Prague-Děčín-Brussels-Amsterdam
Inspiration Berlin:
Sometimes it’s easier to ride a bike than to look for a parking space. Berlin by bike with kids was great for us. This city is ideal for bikes. You can get around Berlin safely and stress-free on bikes, even with small children.
We noticed that many people living in Berlin come to us by train. They don’t have a car. They don’t need one. We offer to pick them up at the station.
A different way to take a familiar route
When we take a car, we don’t park at point A and, like everyone else, we then go to point B and back. Try to find point C on the map and walk from point A and/or B. It may be a longer journey, but… you’ll break the stereotype that most guidebooks recommend. Here’s an example: we wanted to see Dettifoss. It’s one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Iceland. They say the second one is no better in Europe 🙂 Simply TOP. You will arrive at a large parking lot offering 500m signposts this way there and back. I look at the map I found at the gas station and find out that there is a tourist sign crossing the entire National Park, connecting the individual waterfalls, I look at mapy.cz and I can’t find an interesting circuit, how to get to the waterfall in 3 km. We walk and just stare, no one anywhere. Just a waterfall.
I will share my inspiration from Bohemian Switzerland with you, only in person, otherwise we will meet here, where we would never meet in so many people 🙂
Stays with a positive trace on the spot…
My own experience: We have had several stays in our guesthouse, during which the guests spent a few hours of their time doing useful work in the area. Once a group of men cleaned the Křinice River, walked along the riverbed, talked and did a good deed. At other times, they helped restore an old factory building, where the Nová perla gallery was created, or they participated in the demolition of an old house near Schindler’s Knitting Factory. The owner then showed them around the unique premises of the knitting factory with a 170-year tradition.
Sommerjob is an activity of young people who come to villages or cities at the beginning of the holidays. After agreement, the city allows them to stay in, for example, a school. Young people offer their help for a week to anyone who needs it: they paint fences, chop wood, clean up the gardens of the city’s citizens, and there are intergenerational meetings. In the afternoon and evening they have their own program, culture, trips. Summerjob is an established project with a significant impact on the regions and social mood.
Experiences:
Food/culture/sports/exercise/nature/technology
Slow food – enjoying local cuisine without rushing. Sometimes you get into it unintentionally, and that’s when you’re really hungry, but the southern pace is simply the southern pace, you should have more time for food, at least according to the walking speed of the waiter on the set. In Cuba, the food preparation took forever, and we drank mochittos, which the waiter topped up with rum after a small sip, so after a while we didn’t care at all that we were waiting for an hour…
The courage to try something new is connected to everything. Sometimes, under the influence of the experience of the trip, I taste something in conditions that I would probably have missed otherwise, but hunger is hunger. On the way from the mountains in Sri Lanka, eating with my hands at a simple roadside stand, pancakes on the fire, dhal, but it was just hunger and fun. The lady didn’t have enough tea cups, she creatively solved it with one cup for two people. Going to a local market in Bali and then being happy with a plate for 30 crowns, sitting on a plastic chair and perceiving the natural bustle of this evening… simply an experience
From the guide’s perspective: It can be really hard to convince an American tourist in the Czech Republic to have sirloin steak. They simply travel differently and very quickly, they want to see as many of the most famous places as possible during the day. If you take them to a less well-known similar place, they will be happy to go, but they still want to see the top and eat quickly, just fast food. But for example, Aleš took Japanese tourists to a brewery, ordered them tlačenka, utopence and toast, and the fun was only in explaining the names. Sometimes Asians spread sauce on dumplings in the same way as on bread. In Iceland, we tasted hákarl, which is fermented shark meat, enough for hardened personalities. But we talk about it everywhere, because we earned recognition among the locals by eating it.
But how do I choose a good gastro restaurant in a place I don’t know at all? Be sure to ask the accommodation provider if they recommend anything. If that’s not an option, local guides are available in leaflets or online. Be careful, their relevance may not be 100% accurate. You still have to look at Google Maps and look for stars and, above all, read current reviews (both positive and negative). Check the date the review was posted.
Finding a good café can be a challenge. In Milan, you just have to go out on the street. Even in the remote Sudetenland, where we live, those who look for it will find it. Even in the regions, café culture is gradually changing for the better, try the Atelier café in Krásná Lípa, Bohemian Coffee house in Rumburk or Hosana café in Varnsdorf. For many people, visiting a good place for food or coffee is an essential part of a successful trip. We love to discover and be inspired. When we were in Podyjí, in the border village of Čižov, we came across a self-service shop, more like a garage (it’s not even on Google Maps). You simply have to buy that apple from the garage. Because rarities need to be supported.
Swimming
If you are hardy, you have an advantage if you find a blue spot on the map and go explore it. For example, in the Lusatian Mountains there is the always cold and crystal clear Naděje reservoir. The name itself suggests that it would like to be discovered.
Sports and exercise
I think that we have a huge range of sports activities in the Czech Republic, all year round. Mountains, rivers, courts, golf courses, rocks, and even cycle paths. Have you tried football golf or Czech skittles, for example? Every town or village in our country still lives with some kind of sport through active clubs. There is excellent basketball in Děčín, football is played in Líšen again, and handball in Dvůr Králové. When the weather is not conducive to long trips, we now visit football stadiums, for example, because our son likes to play football.
Culture
Be brave, check out the city’s website and go to a local band, even if you don’t know how it plays. Community cultural life opens up another door to the unknown. Here in Bohemian Switzerland, for example, the small village of Doubice has around 100 inhabitants, there is the Cifra gallery and the Fabrika music club, and they always have some aces up their sleeves. A concert or exhibition by the famous rapper Vladimír 518 right after the trip will surprise you, maybe even encourage you, that even in smaller towns great culture can have its leading place.
Nature
Even in “quiet” nature, you can meet a lot of tourists in exposed places, you can eliminate their number by choosing the right time, for example, getting up early or, conversely, arriving late. Finally, it will come in handy one day.
The popularity of places is caused by marketing. Visit the largest sandstone gate, the oldest pyramid, etc. But you can find similar objects nearby, without tourists, they just don’t have a sticker. For example, in Bohemian Switzerland we also have the small Pravčická Gate and behind another hill is the northernmost point of the Czech Republic, which you definitely can’t reach by car. An interesting concept and thinking about movement in nature is presented by architect Ondřej Machač, for example. His diploma thesis Fragments of Silence, which you can find publicly, encourages you to explore the landscape of Broumov off marked paths, sometimes even off the path. He presents interesting concepts of real elements in the landscape, putting something extra into them that can interest a pilgrim or tourist. Did it arouse your curiosity? Find Fragments of Silence.
Technology
I think that every country (locality) has its own travel enthusiast, local creator, interesting application. Search for information in the place where you want to stay. Newly, AI will help you. Specify what you are looking for, add slowtravel and write specific goals.
We like to use mapy.cz for hiking, even when I am looking for a hiking or cycling trail, not only in the Czech Republic, but also abroad. For a place to park overnight, I use Park4Night and Google Maps.
To connect the unconnected, I combine technology with local paper maps, with tips for trips that I find, for example, at a gas station.
A FEW terms in bubbles
Slowtravel – emphasis on the quality of experiences instead of the quantity of places visited
Digital detox – limiting technology for a deeper travel experience
Responsible travel – reducing carbon footprint, supporting local businesses
Minimalism – light travel with minimal luggage, minimal demands on the environment
workaction – work and vacation in one
wellness & self-care stays – vacation as a reboot
Authentic travel & tourism – focuses on gaining deeper and authentic experiences that allow participants to get to know and understand local culture, traditions and way of life. This form of tourism tries to avoid commercialized and tourist-overloaded attractions and instead focuses on the real and natural aspects of the destination.
Voluntourism – combines vacation with active help in the areas visited. It involves active involvement in projects that have a positive impact on the local community, environment or other area where the tourist is located.
Farm to table is a model that emphasizes the direct sourcing of ingredients from local sources, thereby minimizing the distance between the place of production and the final consumer. The goal is to support local farmers, reduce the ecological footprint associated with the transportation of food, and ensure its freshness and quality.
Community-based tourism is a form of tourism whose development concept is based on the needs of the host community. It is based on the activities of local residents and its implementation reflects local economic conditions and organization. This type of tourism is one of the forms of sustainable tourism and contributes to its implementation by providing economic benefits to the local community and supporting local businesses.
Published in Heroine Magazine in 2025.