Travellers are increasingly concerned with the impact they’re having on both the environment (the beautiful image above is by epSos.de) and the lives of the local people. Naturally, being eco is easier said than done.
Choosing an eco-house is one of the best ways a traveller can up the eco-credentials of their trip. Check out these fantastic eco-friendly stays.
A roundhouse in country garden in the Dordogne, France
• Not what you’d call an all-inclusive stay, on several levels. The roundhouse is actually just a 3-metre in diameter bedroom / living space replete with a double bed, wood-burning stove, desk and bedside tables. The compost toilet, solar powered shower and kitchen are all found outside. A really outdoor getaway – one for summer, we reckon!
• Built with earth, logs and used plastic bottles, reclaimed double-glazed windows and has a turf roof.
• Situated at La Petite Renaudie, 2km outside the lovely village of Villetoureix.
A straw bale cabin in Yorkshire, England
• Mostly made from straw bales, this one-bedroom cabin was built using sustainable materials, has a countryside setting, uses renewable energy and has a kitchen stocked with local food, ticking all sorts of eco-friendly boxes along the way.
• The owners declare it the first “mobile” straw bale building in the world. How and why it’s mobile is beyond us.
• In a field on a farm, in the village of Brind, three miles down the road from the market town of Howden.
A riverside lodge in Laos
• These beautifully constructed shacks built from local wood and reeds sit sympathetically against the Nam Ngun River on one side, with the thick jungle behind.
• Locals staff the lodges and the owners have an agreement with the community to only use local labour when needed. They also contribute $2 (US) a day from each occupied lodge to local education and community development initiatives. Practices are verified by the Responsible Travel Awards.
• Situated deep within rural Laos, but only a 40-minute drive from the capital Vientiane.
Honourable mentions:
This self-sustainable Earthship building in Normandy, above, …
… and a ridiculously luxurious and romantic tropical island lodge in the South Pacific.
Written by insider city guide series Hg2 | A Hedonist’s guide to…
