‘Slow down you move too fast, you gotta make the morning last,” sang Simon & Garfunkel. Lyrics that, in the last couple of years, I have taken to heart when planning my holidays.

Like most of us, I’ve done the ‘see a city in two days’. I’ve made the list of must-sees and moved like a spinning top, ticking them off my list.

But a few years ago, I decided that many of those holidays weren’t actually a break away. What’s the difference between ticking off a work to-do list and ticking of a holiday to-do list? So, I started to practice slow tourism.

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I’ve learned to plan a holiday with longer stays in new places, with time to meet new people and the openness to try new foods and tastes, or even learn a new craft.

It takes a bit of work to organise the details when it’s not a standard holiday. I need to find a route there, either by plane, train or automobile. Then it’s accommodation, preferably in a family run B&B or small hotel, and I need to decide how many nights at each stop. No rushing from one to another and no stress trying to drive a few hundred kilometres a day.

Some of these trips have been as far away as Canada and Mexico and some in the next county over.

In my experience, we are a pretty perfect destination for a slow travel holiday. We've so many stunning landscapes that will make any visitor stop, look and soak up the beauty. Our towns and villages with local heritage centres or small, often quirky, museums are another great reason to stop.

We are storytellers and, give us half a chance, we’ll tell that story to anyone who cares to stop. Whether it’s in a pub, the local shop, over breakfast at a B&B or while walking the beach, we are always up for a chat. Over the last few weeks while I was out for my daily walk, I’ve had long chats with tourists looking for directions (online maps can be tricky in the country). Often we get into a conversation about the area – where is good to eat, or to hear traditional music. These are visitors who don’t want to sit on a 54-seater bus and leave Dublin at the crack of dawn to do the Cliffs of Moher and Galway in a day.

From greenways, to heritage centres, from restored historical buildings to living bogs, there are local gems across every county

They want to meet locals, maybe see if anyone knew their relatives from the past. They want to hear our accents and learn our local superstitions.

Many rural communities have spent time and received funding to develop local tourist attractions or amenities. From greenways, to heritage centres, from restored historical buildings to living bogs, there are local gems across every county. These are central to attracting visitors who will then spend time and money in the local community and leave with great memories. Who couldn’t love Ireland’s only inland lighthouse in Kells, the dinosaur footprints in Kerry, or stone sculptures made in India on display in a garden in Wicklow?

Many farmers and small food producers open their gates and doors to guests. Some attractions include sheep dog trials, turf cutting or baking bread as part of the experience. There are also lots of opportunities to feed your creative side with courses in painting, sculpture, basket weaving or wool spinning. The basket you made will find a place in your home and remind you of the trip long after the Instagram holiday photos have been archived.

Slow tourism is about doing things differently. In our increasingly busy and rushed world, it’s about swapping packed agendas for meaningful encounters.

Whether you are planning a trip at home or abroad, this kind of holiday means you’ll go home with your shoulders lower and your mind rested – more at peace.

You’ll carry memories of long chats with the women behind the bar of a pub that has been in her family for over 100 years. You’ll smile at the belly laughs you shared with the locals. And you’ll remember, Mick, the farmer who you had a random chat with over a stone wall while lost up a boreen. Memories are made of this.