In the best-selling book and motion picture ‘Eat Pray Love,’ Elizabeth Gilbert spends an entire year on the road. She visits three different countries for four months each. How did she do it? Apart from having a book deal already in place to fund her journey, she also travelled smart and travelled slow, especially in her choice of lodging. From Italy to India and Indonesia, she chose longer-term apartment and lodge rental.

We’ve asked our global network of local tourism professionals about the ‘length of stay’ factor in their destinations. Answers varied, but they all agree on one thing: the average tourist isn’t a slow traveller and just doesn’t stay long enough to really appreciate a place. Here are their thoughts on how long is long enough and what the average fast traveller is missing.

There are lessons to be learned from time-lapse photography about the beauty of slow travel. Park yourself somewhere and stay awhile. Be still. Go for long exposure. Reconsider time, stretch it, condense it and watch its flow. Leave a place with a long time-lapse memory of it rather than a handful of sporadic snapshot seconds. Here, we’ve asked our local partners from all over the world for time-lapse footage that moves them.

The Hill of Podbrdo of Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina is Our Lady first appeared to six children back in 1981. Since then, millions of pilgrims have, in a special way, encountered Our Lady for themselves when climbing the hill. Ever since the first days of the events, Podbrdo has been known as Apparition Hill.

Over the past two weeks, in honour of the end-of-year holidays, we’ve shared some of the fourth-quarter stirrings from a few places around the world. Sikh pilgrimages, Orthodox Christmas, Eid in the Maldives and more. We’ve offered our top five picks of places where you can tap into a mystical vibe if you’re not already adept at just finding the spiritual experience in all travel. Even after all that, we still had a few items on our list that we wanted to share.

Spiritual travel runs the gamut of transcendental experiences, from traditional religious pilgrimages to yoga retreats and shamanic healing. The global religious travel market generates almost $20 billion per year and is growing fast, however, religious belief is not a prerequisite. An interest in the culture and history of the world’s most mystical places is reason enough to visit our top five picks of spiritual travel destinations.