Greek Islands cycling and sailing holiday
Typically you will be sharing your experiences with between 4-20 like minded travellers (depending on the trip, operator and how many others are booked on the trip) and you'll have a group leader with you. Whether you are travelling alone or with friends its good value, and a great way to meet new people! While itineraries are pre-planned there is some flexibility and you'll have plenty of privacy. This trip will appeal to travellers of all ages who enjoy meeting new people as well as seeing new places.
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
This exceptional ship based experience is heightened by the fact that we are not using a massive cruise liner, rather, a small boat which uses much less fuel, creates fewer emissions and creates much less visual and noise pollution for the local people who encounter it during your travels.
Travelling by bicycle is one of the lowest impact forms of travel. In the company of a local guide you will travel, by bike, to some of the more remote sections of Greece’s Cyclades Islands and travel through its landscapes and villages and your guide will ensure that we leave no visible trace behind. By travelling in a small group we further minimise our impact on the landscapes and communities we visit.
Our environmental sustainable principles
True sustainability is a guiding aspect in all aspects of our business planning and operations. Specifically our tour operations should be managed in a way where the natural and cultural values of the host region are undiminished in the long-term.
Where possible, we engage in partnerships with local environmental groups and/or land managers to actively campaign for conservation or promote environmental protection and/or rehabilitation.
Our Responsible Travel Guidebook
Our philosophy since 1975 has been to leave only footprints and take only photographs. To reiterate this, every customer who travels with us receives a copy of our award-winning Responsible Travel guidebook. This detailed book outlines our environmentally sustainable principles, and outlines how each customer can minimize their impact while travelling.
Global Warming and Carbon Balancing
The root cause of Global Warming is society's dependence on emission creating fossil fuel. Planting trees is not going to reverse this trend or cancel our carbon emissions very quickly or effectively. We believe the way to reduce these dependencies is to create clean energy production. Therefore, we support renewable energy projects like wind and solar power, and we are aligned with Climate Friendly, the gold standard setter in effective, meaningful action addressing climate change. So, while we believe that tree planting can play a small role in greenhouse gas abatement, we have gone the extra mile in promoting a longer term solution. Is this cheap? No. Is it responsible? Absolutely!
Community
Your guide and crew are all local. They are people who know and love Greece and are passionate about sharing it with you in a responsible manner. They will help you maximise the encounters you have with local people allowing for a more fulfilling cultural experience. You will also assist many communities on islands that are not on the mainstream tourism trails. Since we travel by bike and yacht we are able to access places most travellers never visit hence allowing you to spread the benefits of your tourism dollars further. Unlike larger cruise style holidays, each evening you will be able to discuss your day at length with local crew and learn more about the region you are travelling through which will ultimately provide a more enriching cultural experience.
Our local partner donates €5 from each travellers tour cost to a clinic taking care of families whose children have been receiving cancer treatment. With the monies raised these families are invited to experience this trip for free, to allow them to forget about their troubles for a short time. It is an experience most of these families would not have a budget for after paying for medical expenses.
Our responsible travel principles
Our company aims to maximise the positive benefits of tourism for host communities. This includes training and employment of local staff, using local suppliers and assisting in the development of sustainable local businesses. We actively minimise the negative effects that tourism can have by ensuring that tourism does not divert resources away from local communities or drive up prices on local resources.
We provide opportunities for real cultural exchange, where locals and visitors alike can share and learn from each other in an environment of mutual respect. We contribute to the welfare of the host community. This is epitomised in our Community Project Travel program where we organise for our travellers to spend time in disadvantaged villages upgrading basic facilities such as health, education and water access.
We strive to educate our travellers about the destination and its local cultures as well as providing guidelines on appropriate behaviour to minimise impact.
No local payments policy
Local cash payments are becoming increasingly popular with many operators in the adventure travel industry. This policy seems to benefit the tour operators more than the local economies or the travellers, as it avoids local taxes and transfers the costs and risks of cash handling onto the travellers. In accordance with our Responsible Travel practices, we have chosen a policy of not asking for such payments.
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