Low carbon holidays travel guide
Responsible tourism helps sustain livelihoods, support local communities and conserve the world’s natural and cultural heritage. That’s always been the core belief here at Responsible Travel, but the latest statistics on the rate of climate change mean that, to be truly responsible travellers, we have to drastically reduce our carbon, too. That doesn’t just mean taking the train instead of a plane (although that’s a great place to start), it means reducing carbon across every element of a holiday – accommodation, road travel, activities, the lot.
Our Low carbon Holidays
Devon eco lodge accommodation, England
Quirky eco lodges, 1 with Hot Tub, on a Devon nature reserve
Volunteering in Portugal, fight food waste
Redistribute unused food from eateries to Portugal's poor
Fitness and activity holiday in Wales
5-Day Fitness and Adventure Retreat in Pembrokeshire
Snowdonia Bed and Breakfast accommodation, Wales
Carbon Neutral 1883 guesthouse 700ft up in Snowdonia
North Devon ecolodge, England
Uniquely quirky Devon eco lodge with hot tub & great views
Electric bike cycling holiday in Devon
Explore Devon's Unesco Biosphere Reserve by electric bike
Pembrokeshire group accommodation, Wales
Group bookings for up to 40 at an activity lodge, West Wales
Rota Vicentina Fishermen's Trail walking holiday in Portugal
Fishermen's Trail, S W Portugal self-guided walking.
Pembrokeshire 5 star ecolodge in Wales
5 Star Eco Lodge on the Pembrokeshire Coast
Yoga Retreats in Valencia, Spain
Yoga and meditation in the magical countryside of Valencia
Sintra Natural Park retreats & walks in Portugal
Walking, yoga, R&R near beaches, forests, historic sites
The Northern Way walking short break
Walk along the stunning northern coast of Green Spain
Pembrokeshire self guided walking holiday
Spectacular Coastal Walking and 5* Eco Lodge Accommodation
Northern Way and Picos de Europa walking holiday in Spain
Walk the coast and mountains in Northern Spain
Camino de Santiago short break
Perfect taster to the Camino Experience!
Southern Croatia cruise in comfort
Cruise Croatia's beautiful islands on a small cruise ship
Romania adventure holiday
An amazing tour exploring medieval Europe and Transylvania
Self guided walking holiday Portugal, Sintra region
Car free holidays in Sintra Portugal
Marine Conservation in Portugal
Help on daily dives to remove debris from the ocean
Volunteer at a wolf sanctuary in Portugal
Volunteer with wolves at a sanctuary near Lisbon
Family adventure holiday to France
Life enhancing family adventure & yoga in the French Alps
Alentejo walking holidays in Portugal
Coastal and hill walking in the S. W. Alentejo, Portugal.
The Northern Way walking holiday in Spain
Walk along the stunning northern coast of Green Spain
Devon self catering cottage, England
Cottage with lake view & wood burner on Devon nature reserve
Volunteer in Portugal renovating homes
Help renovate homes of people living in poverty in Portugal
Split to Dubrovnik Luxury cruise, Croatia
Cruise Split to Dubrovnik in luxury via Croatia's islands
Dubrovnik to Venice luxury cruise
Cruise the Croatian Islands before a bus journey to Venice
Vegan yoga retreat in Spain
Yoga &meditation vegan retreat in stunning mountain location
Albania small group holiday
Explore the charming country of Albania.
What we mean by a low carbon holiday
When it comes to low carbon holidays, we are setting the bar high. Low carbon holidays are about more than simply swapping the plane for a train, although that is increasingly easy to do. Since we first looked at low carbon travel in the late 2000s, the ease of booking trains and buses has increased exponentially. It's now relatively straightforward to book train and coach tickets online (many sites are available in English), and new high speed routes are being launched across Europe each year. As all of Responsible Travel's holidays can be booked without the air fare included, it's up to our customers to choose if they'd like to fly or seek out an alternative means of arriving at their destination.Many of our small group adventure holidays use overnight trains to join the dots between key sights in a destination. As well as being a low carbon alternative to domestic flights, public transport is a great way to meet local people, too. So, there is already much good, low carbon travel included in the holidays we sell, but it's not enough - which of course bring us to aviation.
In 2019, we’ve gone even further. We are calling for a Green Flying Duty – a new global tax on aviation – that will be ringfenced for research and development into electric planes and improving railway connectivity. Individuals can reduce their personal CO2 emissions by taking fewer (but longer) holidays, for example, but it’s our belief that a dramatic reduction in the galloping growth in emissions from aviation must come via the world’s governments.
Truly low carbon holidays encompass more than just the transportation to and from the destination, though. To make a substantial impact, reducing greenhouse gas emissions should influence every decision a travel company makes when it designs and runs a trip. To drive responsible tourism towards a decarbonised future, emissions reduction measures need to be bold, ambitious and all encompassing. Why shouldn’t accommodation be run off solar panels, a small wind turbine or, at the very least, be signed up to a green energy tariff? Why shouldn’t the cars on a self drive holiday be electric vehicles, and why can’t hotels and lodges offer free and fast EV charge points?
First steps
Decarbonising travel is in its early stages - and any gains are simply not compensating for the rapid rise in travel and tourism. Global dismay at climate change may drive interest and urgency around low carbon travel, but the growth in affordable green technology will help turn it into reality. Increasingly, responsible travellers will demand low carbon facilities and alternatives on their travels, too, and when both the responsible tourism sector and the responsible traveller push for change in unison, low carbon travel will undoubtedly grow.Change is in the air – literally, in the case of Canada. Vancouver’s Harbour Air, which is North America’s largest seaplane airline, hopes to fly all-electric sea planes within three years, from March 2019. Whether it achieves that remains to be seen, but the ambition is there, and this progress towards electric plane use on short haul flights is exciting.
Closer to home, some of the holidays companies we work with are already operating completely sustainably. In Devon, southwest England, a collection of three ecolodges on eight hectares of farmland is run on 100 percent renewable energy, most of it generated onsite via a wind turbine. The low carbon initiatives don’t stop there, but extend to every moment of each stay, with free arrival and departure pick up from the local train or bus station, a hassle-free recharging point for electric vehicles onsite, electric bikes available to hire and regular push bikes free to use.
Our top Low carbon Holiday
Devon eco lodge accommodation, England
Quirky eco lodges, 1 with Hot Tub, on a Devon nature reserve
Our low carbon plans
To push carbon reduction up the responsible travel agenda and begin to decarbonise travel, we all need to be ambitious - not tomorrow or next year, but right now. It's time to dive into the possibilities of low carbon travel, and expand its scope through new technology but also good old fashioned common sense. So, we'll be asking lots of questions of the travel companies we work with. Some offer ostensibly low carbon breaks, like cycling holidays, which are great, but we will be asking about additional low carbon features, beyond the guys in Lycra on two wheels. Is the support vehicle tailing the cyclists run on petrol or electric power, for instance? Or, on a walking break, are the routes designed to start and end at a public bus stop, so walkers can return to their guesthouse without using a carbon footprint-boosting taxi? If not, why not?In kind, we are encouraging the holiday companies we work with to really shout about the carbon reducing steps they’re taking. Many of them are already running impressively sustainable trips and accommodations, but it's now vital that we celebrate every last low carbon detail, to keep the issue of carbon emissions at the core of the travel planning process. Got a wind turbine on your farm? Big it up! Running a solar powered boat? We want to hear about it! The more we celebrate the low carbon initiatives and intentions out there in travel, the more travellers can make informed choices, and the more other holiday companies can gain inspiration for change.
Through clearly accessible information we hope to empower travellers to shop around for a low carbon holiday. Our trip pages will contain a detailed explanation of the low carbon initiatives in place on each holiday - whether that be in the accommodation, or relating to the transfers, transport and activities. We wil update these pages regularly, to keep pace with new developments. Transparent, positive information about carbon reduction measures keeps the concept of low carbon travel front and centre. It helps travellers make informed choices and it celebrates the advances made - and those planned - by responsible holiday companies around the world.