Costa Rica has been at the forefront of the green tourism movement for many years now, so it’s no surprise the country plays host to some spectacular eco lodges. These ten represent the pick of the bunch. Lapa Rios Costa Rica’s best-known luxury ecolodge has the maximum five stars in the government’s Certificate of Sustainable…
New York’s ski resorts are the envy of the world.The service is reliably slick, the lift queues move quickly and there’s huge versatility, from the mellowness of Québec’s Most Treblant to the sophistication of Aspen, the rawness of Jackson Hole and the steep slopes of BC’s Fernie. But ploughing down perfectly groomed pistes all day…
Time does strange things in southwest Germany. Even before Einstein hit on his Theory of Relativity in Ülm, Mark Twain had realized something was up after taking to the waters in the smart spa town of Baden-Baden. “Here at the Friedrichsbad,” he wrote, ”you lose track of time within ten minutes and track of the world within twenty.”…
Packed with coral reefs, abundant tropical fish and an assortment of World War II wrecks, there is something for every diver in the Red Sea. Yet if you go to many of the popular offshore sites you can find them swamped with dive boats, while below water there can often be more divers than fish.…
Travelling from Quito, it’s easy to make a beeline along the Pan-American Highway to Cotopaxi and west to the beaches of the Pacific Coast or east to the Amazon Rainforest. But that would mean missing out on the cloud forests of Ecuador, where you’ll find some of the most fascinating birdlife in the country. Head…
On the drive up through the Imlil Valley into the foothills of the Atlas Mountains, you have a sense that you’re going somewhere special. The road passes rose-coloured adobe villages and fields terraced with ancient irrigation channels that nourish apple, cherry and walnut orchards. Mules trot along the road carrying children, women return from the…
Pine forests, wild mushrooms and a sunrise above clouds: not what you might associate with Mexico, better known for beaches, colonial cities and Aztec ruins. The mountains of the Sierra Norte, two hours’ bus journey north of Oaxaca, are home to a cluster of villages, a semi-autonomous community known as “Pueblos Mancomunados” (meaning “united villages”),…
Ask anyone on safari what they love about the African bush and many mention the mesmerizing night sky – and one of the best ways to view it is from the comfort of a “star bed” at Loisaba Lodge in northern Kenya. If the weather is fair, you can wheel these handcrafted wooden four-posters out…
If you like your Mayan ruins a little less grandiose than Tikal but all to yourself, then try those in and around Lago de Petexbatún, a spectacular expanse of water ringed by dense forest to the south of Sayaxché. The region is home to several ruins, including Dos Pilas, Ceibal and Yaxchilán, though the most…
Home to over a million plants and more than five thousand different species from around the world, the iconic “biomes” (gigantic greenhouses) at the Eden Project are the focus of the UK’s premier green attraction. Built on the site of a former clay quarry, the Rainforest Biome houses plants from tropical islands, Malaysia, West Africa…
New Zealand’s reputation as a walker’s paradise is thanks partly to its diversity of scenery, from the tropical beaches, hot springs and volcanic mountains in the north to the temperate forests, dramatic fjords and glacier-fed lakes in the south. But it’s also due to the country’s well-maintained network of backcountry trails managed by the Department…
Stretching across thousands of miles and several countries, the Amazon basin is home to an almost endless number of jungle lodges.We’ve picked out our ten best in the region, but let us know your own favourites below. Sani Lodge, Ecuador Sani Lodge comprises ten lakeside, thatch-roofed cabañas owned and operated by the Sani Isla community…
Enjoy a more eco-friendly stay in Patagonia with our green guide to the region, taken from travel bible Great Escapes. Stay in an eco camp Ecocamp is a remote, futuristic camp in Chile’s Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. Tucked up in an igloo-like geodesic dome (made from sturdy galvanized iron and raised above the ground…
Minimise your footprint in Copenhagen with our green guide to the city, taken from travel bible Great Escapes. Sleep somewhere green It wins no points for style, but Copenhagen’s greenest (and cheapest) youth hostel – conveniently located near the centre of town – has good intentions at its heart. Sleep-in Green is run by a…
Minimise your footprint in Amsterdam with our green guide to the city, taken from travel bible Great Escapes. Pedal your way around Amsterdam has an excellent network of trams, metro and buses, but cycling is usually the quickest, easiest and cheapest way to travel around the city. Nearly all the cycling lanes are separate from…
B&Bs and traditional hotels are all very well, but sometimes is fun to get in the foliage and live like a monkey for a few days. Here’s a few of our favourite treehouses around the world. Where’s your favourite? Keycamp, Northern France Choose between three treehouses at Keycamp’s family-friendly French campsites – at Carnac and…
Get up close to nature with our pick of the ten best wildlife sites across the UK, and let us know your own top British wildlife experiences below. Starling work on the Somerset Levels An eerie sight greets visitors to the Somerset Levels in late autumn and winter. At dusk between November and January a…
Yurt and tipi camps have been springing up all over Britain. They range from a single canvas structure pitched in a farmer’s spare field to multi-tent sites spread over tracts of woodland and with all the activities and facilities you’d expect at a modern campsite. Here are our top ten favourites. Larkhill Tipis, West Wales…