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Own your time: chose minimal traveling as true hospitality indulgence

Imagine for a moment you’re Marie Kondo-ing your travel bucket list. You don’t cram in 17 cities like a baggage-claim carousel — no, you choose just one or two spots, but you treat those spots like Michelin-star meals: savored, unhurried, full of flavour. That’s the quiet magic of minimalism in travel: it’s not about how many beds you sleep in, how many stamps you collect, or how many snaps you post — it’s about where you rest your soul for a while.


Minimalist travel means booking a sustainable, thoughtfully designed hotel that doesn’t scream “look at me!” but rather whispers “you’re home, for a little while longer.” Think clean lines, soft light, good coffee, ethical linens — a space where you and your companion (or yourself!) can really slow down. Maybe you wander barefoot on reclaimed wood floors, or sip locally roasted coffee by a linen-draped window. No neon lights. No frantic Instagram-posings. Just you, the air, and maybe a cat stretched out in a sunbeam.



And here’s the best part: when you spend less time hopping from hostel to hostel and more time lingering somewhere beautiful and well-made, you actually create space — space to talk, read, dream, or simply stare at the ceiling and let your mind wander. It’s like upgrading from fast food to a slow-cooked stew. You taste more. You feel more. And you remember more.


So here’s to fewer trip itineraries and more time for deliberate pauses. To hotel stays that feel like a deep exhale. To laughter over a shared bowl of local food, to early-morning strolls without a to-do list, and to moments that aren’t filmed or scored or rushed — just lived. Because in minimalism, the best souvenirs are the slow memories, not the clutter.


Activities for the Minimalist Traveler (a.k.a. The Connoisseur of Unhurried Joy)


1. The Art of Doing Almost Nothing

Sit on a balcony with a cup of locally grown, ethically sourced coffee and try to spot the exact moment your shoulders drop an inch. This is a sport. It counts. Bonus points if you leave your phone inside, trembling with abandonment.


2. Slow Walks With No Destination

Stroll through the surrounding neighborhood or nature trail as though you’re the mysterious character in a European film. Pause to admire a tree. Name it if you must. Minimalism encourages whimsical commitments.


3. A Two-Hour Breakfast Because You Can

Choose the boutique hotel that serves farm-to-table scrambled eggs cooked with the kind of intention usually reserved for wedding vows. Allow yourself pastries. Plural.

(top breakfast places at Unique Stays: Imani, Herdade da Malhadinha Nova, Casas do Côro, Areias do Seixo, Salvaterra Country House, Herdade do Ananás)


4. Read a Book in a Beautiful Chair

Minimal luxury hotels are famously good at chairs — sculptural, cozy, ethically crafted — the kind that make you feel like you should at least pretend to journal your profound thoughts. (You don’t have to. The chair already thinks highly of you.)

(Stylish chairs found at Thomar Boutique Hotel, Memmo Alfama, M'Ar de Ar Aqueduto, Noah Surf House, White Exclusive, TheVagar, Carmo's Boutique Hotel)


5. Stargazing Without Trying to Photograph It

A rooftop or countryside stay where the sky is clear enough that you briefly reconsider your place in the universe. Existential—but softly.

(best star blankets at Quinta do Vallado, Morgadio da Calçada, Vigias, Memmo Baleeira, Cooking and Nature and The Nest, Herdade do Reguenguinho, Vinhas do Calhau)


6. Slow Rituals

A long bath with biodegradable amenities. A tea ceremony hosted by the property. A sunset stretch class. Anything that forces you, kindly, to be a human with a pulse instead of a productivity spreadsheet.

(slow living at its best: Memmo Baleeira, Casa do Valle, Rio do Prado, Santa Bárbara Eco Resort, Quinta dos Peixes Falantes)

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