Protecting and accessing nature
Global campaigner Conservation Collective is making waves in the Mediterranean, helping visitors protect the region’s increasingly stressed ecosystems. Her Sicily The Environment Fund is supporting local hiking company Astrid Natura and Collettivo Rewild Sicily to train more hiking guides to focus on the benefits of rewilding. Walking tours with qualified naturalist guides can be booked at federescursionismosicilia.it.
With the Spanish government announcing that it will protect AndalusiaThere’s never been a better time to visit the intensively agricultural wetlands in Doñana national park. It is possible to experience five ecosystems in one day here. The habitats provide refuge for more than 200 threatened bird species and are also home to almost 100 lynxes. Travel Advisors organize custom excursions to the area, including train travel and guided tours with a local biologist.
Relating to: Spanish minister praises deal to save Andalusian wetlands as model for green transition
Nature connection is a dominant theme in the flurry of new retreats. somersett regenerative estate 42 Acres will host one-day workshops and retreats (from £100) this year, including “wild medicines” and “powerful herbs”. It also offers self-guided but fully catered retreats (from £120 per person).
More hands-on nature activities in the UK include a new Nature View Experience. North YorkshireThe 1,200-hectare (3,000-acre) Broughton Reserve includes birdwatching, habitat spotting, wild swimming, tree planting and working with the woodland management team (£150 per day for a group of six; cottages for 4 to 11 people cost from £500 starts) for three nights). Further north, Greyhope Bay, a recently opened dolphin spotting facility in Aberdeen, offers one of the best chances of seeing bottlenose dolphins from shore and hosts regular nature workshops.
Trees for Life’s rewilding weeks are selling out fast, but new dates for the fall will begin at the end of January. New this year is Trees for Life week at RSPB Corrimony. Inverness-shireis helping to restore the landscape following last summer’s devastating bushfires. If campaigning is more important to you, join Mass Intrusion on the Right to Roam; The next event promises to be family friendly and will take place on . Dartmoor A challenge to the right to wild camp will go before the high court on February 24.
Improving local lives
With overtourism and climate commitments in mind, many European destinations are seeing visitors arrive by bike, trail or public transport this year. ValenciaThe 2024 European Green Capital is a great example, with over 195 kilometers of cycle paths and 70% of the population able to use green space five minutes from home. Ecobnb’s Zalamera Bed & Breakfast (doubles from €95) is close to Valencia’s old town, making it easy to explore on foot, but bikes are also available.
Relating to: Valencia local guide: home of paella, one of Europe’s best food markets and a unique green space
In more rural destinations, footpath restoration is a priority for purpose-driven travel businesses.
Inside SloveniaIn ‘s less-explored Logar Valley, floods destroyed hiking infrastructure in 2023, but routes have reopened, thanks in part to financial support from slow travel specialist Inntravel. Similarly, Highlands of ScotlandMacs Adventure has pledged to give £5 towards trail restoration for every guest on the West Highland Way trip, its most popular walking adventure. The self-guided holiday expert has also partnered with Loch Ness Hub & Travel, a community-owned company that manages luggage transfers for Macs in the region.
Also returning locally is a new Sawday listing called Trevassack Holidays, which has three timber-lined lakeside lodges in Helston. Cornwall (from £104 per night, sleeps 5-6 people) fully wheelchair accessible. Field experiences include canoeing and sailing; cranes, ramps and other equipment are available so no one has to miss out. Sawday’s itself is a certified B Corporation, and Trevassack Holidays, managed by the Children’s Sailing Trust (which offers accessible water-based experiences in Cornwall), is listed as a “community champion” at Sawday’s.
Supporting locally owned businesses is a quick way to ensure travel spending has a positive impact. Inside SwedenOur Best Småland is a new tour put together by four family run businesses (2-8 people, from £950 per person for four days, including all food and hostels): a stay at the Trakt Forest Hotel and a tour with Outdoor Includes nature camping. Experience Småland.
Inside London, Travel in Women’s new Indian Community and Culture tour offers a vibrant part of India close to home. The three-hour tour along Ealing Road promises a comprehensive introduction to the flavours, spirituality, clothing and traditions that define India, culminating in an Indian street food feast. Guests will visit the Shri Santana Hindu temple, taste Indian sweets and try on sarees. The tour is led by Vaishali Patel, who trained with Women in Travel’s Tour Guide Academy, and the fees pay for her time, fund the visit of business groups, and support Women in Travel’s mission to provide economic opportunities to less advantaged women.
Eating and drinking for a better future
The UK Sustainable Food Places silver award for Visit Leicestershire’s Taste the Place campaign has put the county on the map by supporting local and sustainable producers. One famous experience is Leicestershire’s only Michelin Star restaurant, farm-to-plate John’s House. It has recently opened two guest cottages in a converted barn and hay barn (from £480 for bed and breakfast and a seven-course tasting menu for two).
Natural and biodynamic wines are on the rise in the UK and Europe. Estonia’s The Wine Trail features 20 small-scale wineries that are certified organic or follow organic and biodynamic principles. One of the latest entrants is Rüüp, in the north of the country, where accommodation includes a sauna and a wood-fired hot tub. Natural wine enthusiasts will also enjoy Trippin World’s new guide ParisOffering a tour of the capital’s natural wine bars, including the newly opened Lolo Bistrot.
last lap from Bristolbased Good: Stories in Food is a full-day wine and cheese tasting adventure in Cheddar Valley. The day trip (from £110p) includes a visit to a local cheesemaker, two biodynamic vineyards and lunch at Pony, Chew Valley.
A business center in the hills between the River Lynher and Saltash also supports regenerative agriculture. Cornwall. Regenerative specialist Tim Williams runs a 120-hectare (300-acre) estate called Erth Barton, part of the Antony Estate, where Polly Moore and Shaun Treloar have recently launched a series of recreational areas. Further inland, Williams and his wife, Claire Hannington-Williams, help run a permaculture scheme at the Crocadan farm. The soil-centered farm is chef Dan Cox’s latest project, with a new restaurant of the same name. The couple runs a café called Mamm, a bakery and a farmers market, creating a one-stop shop for local regenerative farmers. Nearby Greenhouse Spa Retreat has two-person pods from £95 per night.
In June, hertfordshire It hosts the Groundswell festival, which has been called the Glastonbury of farming, and hosts many events covering the regenerative agriculture movement. Last year’s program included talks by science and food writer Anne Biklé; Mike Berners-Lee, carbon footprint expert and author of How Bad Are Bananas; and Abby Allen, owner of Pipers Farm in Devon.
jump on the train
According to Man in Seat 61, choosing a train instead of a plane can reduce emissions from travel by up to 90%. The good news for railway enthusiasts is that the social cooperative European Sleeper will expand its coverage from March 2024. Shuttle from Brussels to Berlin Dresden and Prague. Last year Nightjet opened new routes, including Paris to Berlin and Vienna to Genoa. It’s also easier to reach the Alps by train this winter with the Ouigo service from Paris to Paris. Bourg-Saint-Maurice Until the end of March. 61. The Man in Seat continues to provide the most comprehensive and up-to-date information for independent bookers.
Relating to: Night trains and border crossings: Europe’s best new rail routes
More and more tour operators are partnering with rail experts and canceling flights. Ramble Worldwide now offers 22 no-fly trips: A new seven-day Historic Normandy tour (£1,699 per person including train travel) is linked to Normandy’s 80th anniversary. Normandy Landing in June. One of Exodus’ newest outings is walking quieter Portuguese Camino (nine days, £2,199 per person) can now be done by train, thanks to a partnership with Byway. Intrepid launches new ground tours from London to Madrid and to Madrid marrakech.
Sustainable Journeys is developing lower-emission journeys by choosing to use more sustainable accommodation, flight-free options and using public transport, cycling or walking wherever possible. It’s an eight-day adventure around Latvia by rail or an EV tour of the west Sweden.
ditch car for cycling and walks
Cycling for Softies has done some carbon labeling work with carbon consultancy ecollective, showing that guests on some of its trips emit less carbon each day than the average person in their UK household. One of them is Classic Vineyards. burgundy Self-guided journey, with the starting point reachable by train from Paris in just over two hours. Closer to home, the Great Sussex Way has launched a new wine tour by bike, with routes suitable for road, mountain or e-bike and accessible by public transport.
Other new rail and cycle or walking holidays include Responsible Travel’s latest south-west coast cycle holiday (eight days, £965pp). swansea four-day guided tour of the station and Welsh Walking Offa’s Dyke Journey from Leominster station to Hereford station (£997 per person). Pura Aventura’s nine-day Picos de Europa Inn to Inn trip (£1,500 per person) is part of a new collaboration with TourSpain to offer more affordable and sustainable adventures from the UK.
Inside Western BalkansThe Trans Dinarica Bike Route will also welcome bikepackers for the first time starting in July this year, connecting more than 2,500 miles of roads, trails and bike paths. The route provides income to less visited regions of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Albania. Highlights include the massive wilderness of Sutjeska national park and Albania’s jagged Cursed Mountains and Dinaric Alps.