Slow travel is not what it sounds like 

Slow travel is a terrible name for what it actually is. It suggests that travelling slowly is in fact slow, perhaps dull, or even boring.

On the contrary, we might argue that slow travel is more exciting and memorable than traditional fast travel.

It’s not hard to imagine a trip where you do 5+ touristy things a day, spend your life’s savings, and come home in need of another vacation. The reason we say ‘it’s not hard to imagine’ is because you’ve done it already.

Let’s try to make the case for why slow travel can be you and your wallet’s best friend.

Long-term stay discounts on accommodation

The entire premise of slow travel is staying in one place for a longer period of time. By doing so, you become eligible for extended stay discounts. Many accommodation providers, such as hotels, Airbnb, or Vrbo offer discounts for extended stays (upwards of +50% off for monthly stays in some instances! Sign us up, please).

By staying longer, you also avoid the costs of relocating more frequently, such as getting to and from the airport, flying to and from, and restocking your food supply.

During our 4 week stay in Santiago, Chile, we got a 20% discount on our monthly rental. The rental fee alone was cheaper than what we use to spend on renting in Toronto, Canada, without even considering utilities and insurance.

Lower transportation expenses

Without the need for moving around between destinations as much through slow travel, you minimize the need for expensive flights. Instead of hopping from city to city or country to country, you can explore more of a single destination. This reduces the amount you spend on flights, trains, and buses.

To reiterate, a $500 USD return flight to Europe looks very different for slow travellers compared to fast travellers.

When you stay in one place for a longer period, you might find it beneficial to get a monthly transit card, rent a bike for your stay, or look for other cheap transportation options. It cost us the equivalent of $0.35 USD to take La Paz’s incredible teleférico (cable car) public transit system and $1.00 USD to take the metro in Santiago, a complete bargain compared to most North American cities.

You can also go on weekend trips and leave your accommodation as is. With the monthly discount, it can be cost effective to leave your accommodation empty while you go off on the weekend to explore other destinations.

We did this twice during our trip to Chile. We visited Patagonia for 5 days and were able to leave 80% of our clothes at our base Airbnb in Santiago. We also spontaneously visited Valparaíso for 2 nights and took a bus there last minute!

Cooking and local eating

How many times have you missed a home cooked meal while you’re away? Us too.

Eating out can quickly add up when you’re traveling, and the excitement can fizzle. Slow travel often means having access to a kitchen, allowing you to prepare your own meals and save money on food while travelling. Cooking while travelling is cheaper than eating out 99% of the time.

Shopping at supermarkets and local markets can also be a fun experience and teach you a lot about the local cuisine. You can more quickly see what locals are eating without the influence of tourist-trap restaurants that cater to Westernized dishes.

Pro-level budget travel tip: Treat the supermarket or local market as a tourist outing. Outside of what you buy, it’s free. Being amongst locals and buying the food they buy is the epitome of slow travel.

In La Paz, Bolivia, we learned to make many new dishes out of necessity. The local supermarkets didn’t carry many of the foods we were accustomed to, making it difficult to prepare familiar meals. Budget friendly and we learned a lot!

Immersive experiences

While not a direct financial benefit, the immersive and local experiences that come with slow travel can contribute to more rewarding, authentic, and richer travels. Richer… see what we did there?

By truly getting to know a place, you might discover hidden and local secrets that are often more affordable than touristy attractions with inflated prices.

In Chile, we opted to take Spanish lessons during our visit. We met many other like-minded slow travellers, ended up taking salsa lessons one night with other students, and met friends who we travelled more with after our classes ended.

Ella brilliantly took advantage of a local Pilates studio’s initiation promotion, getting multiple weeks' worth of classes at a discounted rate. Despite having to take pilates in a foreign language, Ella exercised, saved money, and now has a memorable story to tell.

Low cost of living hotspots

For those who are fortunate to participate in slow travel, you can take it to pro-levels by visiting low cost of living destinations. You can stretch your budget much further in destinations with less expensive food and accommodation. You will likely have to compromise on comfort, but being able to live on dollars a day, as opposed to hundreds a day, can be quite appealing to a budget traveller.

In Bolivia, we stayed in a spacious 2-bedroom condo for $47 USD per night. We had all utilities, great wifi, laundry, a kitchen, Netflix, etc. You can even go much cheaper than this. We also had the best meal of our 2 month trip in La Paz for approximately $15 USD total… 1 starter, 2 meals, and 2 drinks!

Work remotely

Combine living in a low cost of living hotspot with working remotely and you’re golden. Digital nomad living can be significantly cheaper than living a conventional western lifestyle when you seek out more affordable travel destinations.

By staying in one place for an extended period, you can maintain a stable work environment and keep earning an income while you travel. This financial stability can make travel more sustainable in the long term.

We’ve been travelling and working remotely full-time since September 2023. We’ve visited some incredible places, both expensive and inexpensive, and consistently kept our monthly expenses far below what they were before.

Key takeaways

Slow travel offers a unique approach to exploring the world that can be both financially beneficial and deeply fulfilling. Focus on reducing accommodation, transportation, and food costs. Actively seek out opportunities to travel to cheap travel destinations and potentially work remotely.

To see the difference in how much you spend while fast travelling and slow travelling, check out our simple and easy-to-use budgeting tools built for travelling!

• Travel expense tracker - a Notion template
• Travel budget planner - for Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or Apple Numbers