Barefoot luxury is an amalgamation of enjoying a slower pace of travel while also enjoying the comforts of staying in a boutique hotel. It’s kicking off your shoes and feeling the sand between your toes while sipping a cocktail. It’s travelling by train but enjoying the privacy of your own cabin. It’s getting back to nature but having a stylish suite to return to at the end of the day. A barefoot lifestyle is all about having a more mindful, conscious life and finding joy in the smaller moments – but that can come hand-in-hand with a more luxurious way of travelling.

The hotels that we feature on Hôtel Weekend are the perfect blend of barefoot and luxury. We love interiors with simple styling, a focus on sustainability and natural materials – but we also love those little added extras like rainfall showers, private infinity pools and spacious balconies. Many small boutique hotels are now focusing on creating conscious and sustainable environments, carving a pathway for barefoot luxury travelling that is kind on the environment without sacrificing comfort.

Not only are these hotels focused on protecting and conserving the natural landscapes that surround them, but they seek innovative ways to draw the local culture inside their walls. Accommodation filled with furniture and accessories crafted by indigenous tradespeople, in-house spas promoting traditional treatments, and menus boasting regionally grown, seasonal cuisine all cater towards travellers seeking both a slower and a more luxurious way to travel.

However, barefoot luxury is not something that can be experienced from solely within the four walls of your hotel room. To adopt a slower and more laidback approach to the way that you travel, you must surround yourself with nature and experience the natural landscapes of the places that you visit. You can literally walk barefoot, grounding yourself, but you can also leap into the ocean for a salty swim, wander below the boughs of a forest and walk paths that lead to mountains, fields or desert. True to this style of travelling, creature comforts will always be close to hand, but you must allow the sea breeze to tousle your hair or feel the grass beneath your feet to forge a deeper connection with the environment.

Barefoot travel encourages you to let go of technology and take a break from the stresses and pressures of daily life. For this reason, you should leave your laptop at home and put down your phone to fully commit to this way of travelling. This isn’t about taking endless photos to instantly share on social media – it’s about living in the moment and savouring each moment. You can’t truly connect to your surroundings if you’re endlessly scrolling through your phone. There may be wifi readily available and an iPhone dock waiting in your room but try to fight that reliance on technology. Even if you are used to using maps on your phone to find your way around, try using a physical map or allow yourself to get lost.

Where and how you dine is an easy way to embrace this way of seeing the world. Barefoot luxury dining is farm-to-table, local produce, and authentic cuisine with a contemporary twist – it is not fast food, imported ingredients or relying on what you eat back home. Look for the restaurants that local’s favour, dine in hotels that grow their own ingredients or source locally, and try traditional dishes that will refine your palette.

Consider how you spend your time while travelling. Focus on relaxation, enjoying relaxing dips in the pool, reading a book on a lounger and sipping cocktails while watching the sun go down – but also make time to live like a local. Make conversation with the people that you meet, visit artisan makers, swim in the places the residents swim, and take part in activities specific to the area where you are staying, such as trying surfing lessons or exploring the local terrain.

Barefoot travel encourages a slower pace of seeing the world, and when combined with small luxuries invites the possibility to travel more sustainably and consciously without compromising on comfort. There is pleasure and beauty to be found in adopting a more mindful way of travelling that will help you to appreciate those little luxuries all the more.