What Is Sketch Travel, and Why Has It Become So Popular in Europe in Recent Years?

What Is Sketch Travel, and Why Has It Become So Popular in Europe in Recent Years?

When we think of travel, we often imagine someone taking photos or recording videos in front of a beautiful view or at a restaurant table and then sharing them on social media. Yet in recent years, more and more people in Europe have been choosing a different way to discover a city: bringing a sketchbook and a pen, stopping on a street corner, in a park, or at a café, and drawing the scenery before them.

So What Is Sketching, and What Is Sketch Travel?

The word "sketch" comes from the Italian schizzo, meaning "to draw a quick outline." All you need to begin is a sheet of paper and a pen. The aim is not to produce a finished artwork but to quickly record observations, ideas, compositions, and feelings. In traditional art education, sketching is important practice for developing hand control, composition, and an understanding of light and shadow. It might involve studying a building, making a conceptual drawing, or outlining the human figure.

Today, because sketching does not demand perfection, requires only simple materials, and is easy to start, it has made drawing much more accessible. It is now considered an activity in its own right, rather than merely a preparatory step toward creating a more elaborate work of art.

Sketch travel means using the sketching process of "observe, feel, and draw" while traveling. It encourages you to slow down, experience a city anew, and use pen and paper to record both the scenery and how you felt while visiting it.

How Is Sketch Travel Different from Other Ways of Traveling?

On a typical trip, a camera captures a moment in a second. A sketch, on the other hand, often takes five minutes, ten minutes, or longer. During that time, you begin to notice the proportions of buildings, changes in light and shadow, people on the street, sounds coming from cafés, and even the rhythm of leaves moving in the wind. Details you have never noticed before come into focus. As drawing slows your pace, you also have more time to reflect on how you feel in the moment, making the travel experience more memorable.

Why, Then, Is Sketch Travel Especially Popular Among Europeans?

The first reason is that European travel culture is shifting from "seeing sights" toward "experiencing local life." According to a European tourism market study from 2024, travelers have increasingly valued ways of traveling that let them immerse themselves in local culture, interact with residents, and create genuine memories, rather than simply collecting tourist attractions and ticking them off a list.

Sketching fits this desire: it encourages travelers to slow down and spend more time in one place, and it makes conversations with passersby, shopkeepers, and even other artists more likely.

The second reason is the growing appeal of "slow travel." With hectic schedules and work-related stress, many people have begun to question the old habit of rushing from one stop to the next and constantly checking in at attractions, as though a vacation only leaves them more exhausted. Instead, they want travel to be more than consuming sights; they want to truly experience local culture.

Sketching follows no fixed route and is not about efficiency. By taking time to observe and experience a square, a café, or a tree, even an ordinary scene can become one of a journey's most memorable moments

The third reason is the power of community. Much of the rise of sketching comes from Urban Sketchers (USk), a community of people who enjoy drawing cities on location. In 2007, Spanish-born journalist and illustrator Gabriel Campanario started a Flickr community for sharing on-location sketches, hoping to encourage people to document everyday life and travel through drawing. The community has since spread around the world, including Taiwan, France, the United States, and Canada.

Today, when online communities are flourishing yet genuine face-to-face connections can feel increasingly rare, sketch travel invites people to step outside and explore cities on foot with pen and paper. It also offers a way to communicate across language barriers.

At a time when photographs can increasingly be replaced by smartphone images and AI-generated visuals, a hand-drawn sketch bearing your own unique marks—even if some lines are crooked—can convey the feelings and memories of a trip more vividly.

If you would like to experience the appeal of sketch travel yourself, you can join my Paris sketching walk. All materials are provided, making it easy to take your first step.