What are the Best Travel Green Destinations?

Green travel destinations exist on nearly every continent. In many ways, the manner in which one travels is more important than the destination when it comes to traveling green and acting in environmentally friendly ways. Travel green options include eco-tourism, agritourism, volunteering for environmental causes and organizations, and visiting ecoparks. Offsetting carbon emissions is another way to travel green. When selecting a green travel destination, there are several basic questions to keep in mind.

The three most important topics are the activity level, budget, and preferred environment or ecosystem. Green travel destinations vary from a relaxing but earth friendly to performing difficult and physically demanding tasks. One way to travel green is to go on a volunteering trip that involves working on an organic farm or building eco-friendly homes or buildings. Such trips usually devote a certain number of hours per day to tasks. These trips are an excellent way for a budget traveler to travel green because accommodation and food are sometimes very low cost or even free of charge.

Organic farms or volunteer opportunities can be found worldwide in places like Mexico, British Colombia, Costa Rica, and other Central American countries, as well as locations in southeastern Europe. Volunteering websites or green travel magazines are an excellent place to look for sources. There are also dozens of eco-tourism and green travel websites that can provide helpful green travel information. Travel magazines often highlight environmentally friendly or green travel destinations, and many provide tips on making vacations even greener.

Agritourism is another green travel option. The concept is fairly new, but more and more people are enjoying this relaxed and environmentally friendly form of tourism. In agritourism, visitors head to a destination, many times someone's farm or home, and enjoy the local products, trades, and specialties. Agritourists may go out to an orchard to pick fruit for breakfast or visit the farm's chicken coop for eggs to make fresh pasta with the family of the farm.

This type of travel is greener because of the local, fresh, and homemade emphasis on every part of the experience. Recently, the most popular agritourism sites have been in regions well known for organic farming and regional cuisine. Locations include Italy, Greece, Spain, California, and ranching areas of the United States, such as Wyoming and Montana.

Another way to travel green is to reduce your travel footprint. This can be done by traveling by greener forms of transportation such as hiking, bicycling, or public transport, such as bus or train. One of the easiest ways to be green is to explore local travel destinations and utilize local products.

Travelers who are not ready to give up the more luxurious forms of travel have still more options. It is now possible to buy or pay for carbon emissions. Most major air carriers or travel agencies offer this option and can provide further information.