A Slow Travel Guide to Australia & New Zealand

The best holidays aren't always the ones with the longest itinerary. Sometimes they're the ones where you stay a little longer, walk a little slower and leave enough room in the day to simply see where it takes you.

Australia and New Zealand are made for this kind of travel. Coastal towns, long lunches, beautiful drives and places where doing very little can easily become the best part of the trip.

So rather than a list of everything you need to see, consider this our guide to travelling a little differently.

1
Choose One Place and Stay a Little Longer

There's always a temptation to fit one more stop into a trip. Another town, another hotel, another suitcase to unpack.

But staying somewhere for an extra night or two changes the way you experience it. You find the café you want to visit twice. You discover the quieter beach around the corner. You stop checking the time quite so often.

Instead of trying to see everything, choose a few places you genuinely want to experience and give yourself enough time to enjoy them.

2
Follow the Coast

Some of our favourite escapes are the simplest ones: a beautiful stretch of coastline, somewhere good for lunch and nowhere particularly urgent to be afterwards.

In Australia, that might mean heading north from Sydney, exploring the coast around Noosa or spending a few quiet days in one of Western Australia's seaside towns.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand offers an entirely different version of coastal travel — dramatic landscapes, small towns and roads where the journey itself can be every bit as memorable as the destination.

Pack a hat, comfortable shoes and something you can throw over your swimmers. That's usually enough of a plan.

3
Pack Less Than You Think You Need

We've all done it. Packed for every possible version of a holiday, only to spend most of the trip wearing the same few things.

The easiest travel wardrobe is built around pieces that work more than once.

A relaxed dress that works for breakfast and dinner. A lightweight shirt you can wear open over swimwear or tucked into shorts. Comfortable sandals you can genuinely walk in. A woven bag that goes with almost everything.

Choose a simple colour palette and let everything work together.

4
Dress for the Day, Not the Photograph

Travel days can be long. There are walks you didn't plan for, lunches that turn into afternoons and weather that changes its mind.

The pieces that work best are the ones you don't have to think about once you've put them on.

Breathable fabrics, relaxed silhouettes and comfortable footwear will almost always serve you better than an outfit that only works for one moment.

Looking put together doesn't have to mean feeling dressed up.

5
Make Lunch the Main Event

There's something wonderfully indulgent about a lunch with nowhere to rush off to afterwards.

Find a table outside, order something local and let lunch take as long as it takes. Walk afterwards. Find somewhere for coffee. Head back to the water.

Not every day of a holiday needs an attraction at the centre of it.

Sometimes lunch is the plan.

The Luxury of Taking Your Time

Slow travel isn't really about how many days you have. It's about what you choose to do with them.

See fewer places. Unpack properly. Wear the same favourite dress twice. Go back to the restaurant you loved. Take the scenic road even when it's a little longer.

Give yourself enough space to notice where you are.

Because years later, you probably won't remember how many things you managed to tick off the list.

You'll remember the afternoon when you had nowhere else to be.