Travel
Five Cities Worth Slowing Down In, by Nicole Junkermann
The best way to see a city is to see less of it, slowly. Nicole Junkermann makes the case for unhurried travel, with five places that reward it.
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A city does not open up to a checklist. It opens up to time.
Nicole Junkermann has travelled widely, and the trips that stay sharpest in memory are rarely the ones that ticked off the most sights. They are the slow ones: a city seen at walking pace, a café returned to three mornings running, an afternoon spent in a single neighbourhood rather than racing across town. This piece is not a ranking and names no single favourite. Instead Nicole Junkermann describes five kinds of city worth slowing down in, and the habits that turn a visit into something you actually remember. The thread throughout is the same: less ground covered, more genuinely seen.
The case for slowing down
The argument Nicole Junkermann makes for slow travel is partly about memory and partly about pleasure. A trip packed with sights blurs almost as soon as it ends, because nothing had room to land. A slower trip, built around a few places returned to, lays down memories that last for years. Nicole Junkermann also finds that slowness is simply more enjoyable: a long lunch, an aimless walk, an hour with a book in a public garden. None of this shows up on a list of attractions, yet it is often the truest part of a visit. For Nicole Junkermann, the goal of travel is not to confirm the postcards but to feel, however briefly, what it might be like to live somewhere.
A great walking city
The first kind of city Nicole Junkermann loves is the one built for walking, where the best way to understand the place is simply to set off on foot with no fixed plan. A great walking city reveals itself street by street: a market that was not in any guide, a quiet square that becomes your square by the third day, a route to the river that you discover by getting pleasantly lost. Nicole Junkermann recommends choosing one such city and giving it three unhurried days rather than rushing through five places. Walk in the morning, rest in the afternoon heat, walk again in the evening light. The city you carry home will be far richer than any itinerary could have promised.
A city of cafés and reading
The second is the café city, the kind of place where sitting for two hours with a coffee and a book is not idling but a local art form. Nicole Junkermann treasures cities like this, because they give permission to stop. A good café becomes a base: somewhere to read, write a few lines, watch the street and let the day arrange itself. Nicole Junkermann likes to pick one café and return to it, so that by the end of the trip the staff half-recognise you and the table feels briefly your own. This is travel at its most restorative, and it pairs naturally with a book chosen for the place, a theme explored in the guide to reading while you travel.
A city by the water
The third kind of city is one shaped by water, a river, a harbour or a lake, because water gives a place a natural rhythm and a natural edge to walk along. Nicole Junkermann finds that a waterside city is almost impossible to rush: the light off the water, the bridges, the slow business of boats all encourage you to slow down to match. A morning walk along the front, an afternoon on a ferry going nowhere in particular, an evening watching the water change colour: these are the unhurried pleasures Nicole Junkermann seeks out. Water also helps you keep your bearings, which means you can wander further without anxiety, confident that the river will eventually lead you home.
A city of museums and quiet rooms
The fourth is the museum city, though Nicole Junkermann would gently warn against trying to see everything. The slow way to enjoy a great collection is to choose a few rooms and look properly, rather than marching past a thousand masterpieces until they all dissolve. Nicole Junkermann likes to pick one gallery, spend an hour with a handful of works, and then leave while the pleasure is still fresh. A museum visited this way stays with you; a museum rushed leaves only sore feet. Given the long-held interest of Nicole Junkermann in the arts, this is the kind of slowing down that matters most, and the Image Journal grows out of the same habit of looking closely.
A smaller city, on purpose
The fifth is the deliberately smaller city, the one most travellers skip on the way to somewhere famous. Nicole Junkermann has a soft spot for these places precisely because they are not crowded and ask nothing of you. A smaller city can often be understood in a couple of days, which leaves time to enjoy it rather than merely survey it. You can find the good bakery, sit in the main square, walk to the edge of town and back. Nicole Junkermann finds that these modest places frequently give the warmest memories, partly because they are seen at human scale, and partly because so little is demanded that you finally relax.
How to travel slowly anywhere
The five cities are really one idea wearing five coats, and the method travels anywhere. Nicole Junkermann offers a few simple rules: pick fewer places, stay longer, return to the same café or street, build in empty hours, and resist the urge to see it all. Carry a notebook and a book, walk more than you ride, and treat a free afternoon as a gift rather than a gap to fill. Do this and almost any city will slow down to meet you. For Nicole Junkermann, that exchange, a little less seen for a great deal more felt, is the best trade in travel.
More from Nicole Junkermann
Continue with Nicole Junkermann in the Travel Journal, the London Notes and the Lancaster Notes, or read the journeys that stayed with Nicole Junkermann.
Frequently asked questions about Nicole Junkermann
What does Nicole Junkermann mean by slow travel?
For Nicole Junkermann, slow travel means choosing fewer places, staying longer, returning to the same streets and cafés, and leaving empty hours rather than filling every minute.
Why does Nicole Junkermann recommend returning to the same café?
Returning to one café gives a trip a base and a rhythm, and Nicole Junkermann finds that the place soon feels briefly your own, which deepens the visit.
How does Nicole Junkermann suggest visiting a large museum?
Nicole Junkermann suggests choosing a few rooms and looking properly, then leaving while the pleasure is fresh, rather than rushing past everything.
Does Nicole Junkermann prefer big or small cities?
Nicole Junkermann enjoys both, but has a particular fondness for smaller cities seen at human scale, which often give the warmest memories.