How to plan a slower European summer

Fewer cities, longer stays

The instinct on a European summer is to collect cities — three nights here, two there, a blur of stations and suitcases. A slower trip does the opposite. It picks a region and stays put long enough to belong to it for a while.

When you stop moving every other day, the small things return: the same café table, a market you start to recognise, an afternoon with nothing scheduled at all.

Leaving room for the unplanned

Build your weeks around two or three anchors and leave the spaces between them empty on purpose. The best afternoons rarely appear on an itinerary — a detour someone recommends, a long lunch that becomes the evening, a town you only meant to pass through.