About the Slow Europe Website

The Slow Europe website launched in March 2009.
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Pauline Kenny and Steve Cohen run the Slow Europe website. Pauline is the founder of SlowTrav.com, an online travel community (now owned by Internet Brands Inc.).

Media Mentions

USA Today Travel quotes Pauline in "More destinations shut the door on vacation rentals", by Laura Bly, August 6 2010. The article discusses new laws in New York, Chicago and Paris to limit the number of vacation rentals in these cities. "Vacation rentals in the USA and elsewhere 'have been operating illegally for years, but now, it's hitting the radar,' says Pauline Kenny of SlowEurope.com, a guide to European vacation rentals. 'In a way, they're suffering from their own popularity.'"

Vacation rentals: 9 things to know on MSNBC, article by Christopher Elliott, May 2010. "Remember, you’re renting an apartment or house - not a room in a hotel. 'Some things may go wrong,' warns Pauline Kenny, a vacation rental expert who runs Slow Europe."

USA Today Travel recommends Slow Europe for vacation rental advice in "Get a great deal on a vacation rental" and "Tips for choosing a vacation rental", March 2009.

Slow Travels

Pauline and Steve are spending a year in England. Read about it on their Slow Travels blog.

What Does "Slow Europe" Mean?

For me the "Slow" concept as used by Slow Food, Slow Cities and my old website Slow Travel, means taking the time to fully appreciate what you are doing. Slow Food support quality, local food produced by artisans. Slow Cities are designed to enhance a quality life with spaces designed for people not cars. Slow Travel encourages travelers to spend more time in one place instead of less time in more places.

"Europe" because this site focuses on vacation rentals in Europe. You will find vacation rentals all over the world, but in my opinion the ones in Europe are the best. Europeans have been staying in vacation rentals for decades. The vacation rental owners have been dealing with travelers for decades. There is a large selection of vacation rentals in Europe ranging from budget to luxury, from studio apartments to large villas.

Slow Europe gives travelers the information they need to create slower, more enjoyable vacations by staying in vacation rentals instead of hotels. I think the type of accommodations shapes the entire vacation. Instead of staying in hotels and moving about (two nights in Rome, two nights in Florence, two nights in Paris), pick one location and spend a week there in a vacation rental.

Why We Created "Slow Europe"

Everyone who likes to travel to Europe and stay in vacation rentals has a personal list of good vacation rental resources. When we start planning a trip, I get out my list and use it to find and book vacation rentals.

My first website, slowtrav.com, started out as a personal website with my lists of favorite vacation rental agencies and resources by country and region. When SlowTrav turned from a personal website into an active travel community, those lists were replaced by paid classifieds. My list of favorite places became a private list again.

Now, on Slow Europe, I am trying to create the only vacation rental resource that travelers will need. I took my lists, got help from other experienced travelers, and created a master list of great vacation rental resources by country and region.

Marta Rojas helped me create the list of resources for France and Italy. Shannon Essa helped me create the list of resources for Spain. Valerie Schneider helps out with writing and research.

If someone says "where do I look for vacation rentals in Paris (or anywhere else in Europe)?", I want the Slow Europe website to give them the answer.

In 1988 - 89 Steve and I spent a year traveling in Europe and "discovered" European vacation rentals. This changed our travel lives - spending a week or two at a time, in a fully equipped apartment or cottage, let us leisurely and comfortably travel for an extended period. As we returned to Europe for vacations each year, we realized that staying in vacation rentals was the best way to go and we have been traveling like that ever since.

- Pauline Kenny, January 2009

Our Commitment to Keeping our Information Current

The information on Slow Europe is accurate and current.

We are constantly on the lookout for new and wonderful vacation rental agencies and resources. As we find them, they are added to the site.
Every six months we do a complete review of the site, checking all our resources to be sure they are accurate and current.
If a vacation rental company receives consistent bad reviews, they are removed from Slow Europe. The goal of this site is to have an excellent list of the best companies. (We keep track of companies that we reject and why we reject them so they don't sneak back onto our list by mistake.)
Every six months I review my travel information pages to be sure they are current.
I am always on the lookout for the best travel company affiliates (car rentals, cell phones, etc.). I use the companies that I affiliate with and work with them if anyone going to them from Slow Europe has any problems.
We regularly travel to Europe and stay in vacation rentals, so our own personal experience is current.

You can help by sending us your vacation rental reviews. Submit reviews.

We Want to Hear From You

We welcome your comments. Comment on my Slow Travels blog or email me. Compare my list of vacation rental resources to yours. Have I missed any? Please let me know.

We collect reviews by vacation rental agency, company or resource, so you can give us your feedback on our selected resources. Submit reviews.

Logo

The Slow Europe logo was designed in July 2008 by Ginés Valera (www.mediacomm.es and www.lumina.es (under construction) - email: info@mediacomm.es). Ginés is Lumina on FeaturePics, a great site for buying graphics and photos to use on your websites. Ginés lives in Spain. The logo for Slow Europe is a spiral to represent the "slow" concept surrounded by the elements of European travel - sea, sun and earth.

We have a page of our logos if you would like to link to us on your blog or website.

How the Site Was Built

This site was built using Dreamweaver and PHP.

Photos

In articles: When you click on the medium size photo in an article, it opens to show you the large image. You can then use the "next" and "previous" buttons to see all the photos on the page in the large format (move your cursor to the top of the photo for the buttons to appear). This effect is created using Lightbox2.

Photo Galleries: The Photo Galleries are built using PowerGallery from WebAssist.

Hosting

Slow Europe and Cotswolder are hosted on Pair Networks.

The Slow Travels blog is hosted on DreamHost, an excellent host for Wordpress sites.

Slow Europe

Traveler's Guide to Vacation Rentals in Europe