Go Green: Eco Travel 101

Denmark is so eco-conscious that the arriving traveler doesn’t have to seek out green oases: examples of sustainable development are all around.

With our two young kids in tow, ages two and eight months, my husband Matt and I drove nearly 10,000 miles from Los Angeles to Alaska and back, spending a month in a cabin on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula.

When the first European travelers saw Hawaii, they thought they’d found paradise. But the 50th state, Hawaii is no longer so Edenic. Waikiki Beach has become a high-rise hell, and Honolulu, on the main island of Oahu, is America’s 11th largest urban center (though it remains the only U.S. city with a rainforest).

Even the most remote trails in Nepal are littered with bright orange Kodak film boxes and granola bar wrappers. So what’s a solitdue-loving ecotourist to do? the best bet these days is to buy a ticket to Australia, where the population density is among the lowest in the world and the Outback offers thousands of square miles of untrampeled wilderness.

Environmentalists, thankfully, aren’t couch potatoes, and eco-travel is becoming more and more popular every year. This new column will explore not only travel destinations but trends in environmental travel and operating standards that this fledging industry is attempting to meet.

Ogden, Utah is poised to become a popular year-round tourist destination for outdoorsy types who seek an alternative to Colorado’s saturated ski resorts and sky-high tourist towns. It features miles of hiking and mountain biking trails and two ski resorts, tucked into the valley of the Wasatch Mountains. But Ogden faces the same challenge as many nature-centered towns—how to best enjoy the natural world without exploiting it.

Mesmerized by a Mini-Continent Along the road in rural Madagascar, giant baobab trees sit like vegetable elephants and malnourished children dance in hopes that travelers will toss them money. Our van, lurching over the rutted Malagasy National Highway, had long passed the last wooden shanty when the front tire fell off and rolled away. Some […]

Adventure Travel vs. Ecotourism: Can the Road Less Traveled Get Trampled Too Often?

Canoeing in Canada’s Barrenlands.

Finding Respite–and a Real Meal–While on Vacation For a growing number of travelers, the Sweet Onion Inn is a sweet site indeed. The white-shingled structure nestles along Route 100 in Hancock, Vermont, a rustic spot between unbroken expanses of Green Mountain forest and winding White River. The front walk of the inn rustles with fallen […]

Taos is More Than Great Skiing It was nearly 50 years ago that Swiss-born Ernie Blake flew over the Taos mountains in his Cessna 170, and noted that it offered skiing comparable to his native land. The Taos Ski Valley resort, now named as one of the top 10 destinations in North America by Skiing […]

Next Time Don't Just Watch the Whales, Study Them Last year, Muriel Horacek spent two weeks camping in a cave in China as she monitored an endangered species of monkey. She has also radio-tracked cheetahs by airplane over Namibia, taken water samples from a rowboat in a German lake, and in St. Croix caught the […]

The Ecotourism Society Sets the Standards.

Great Expeditions: Documenting the Changing Ice-Scape on Alaska’s Lost Coast—With the Kids—Thanks to Ground Truth Trekking…

Thank Nutmeg for Grenada’s Unspoiled Beauty Grenada Board of Tourism Grenada is a relative newcomer on the tourism bandwagon, which explains why this lush, unspoiled Caribbean nation is such a well-kept secret. But not for long. As soon as nature lovers discover its rainforest hikes, white-sand beaches lapping warm turquoise seas, and private coastlines with […]

In America's First Environmentally-Smart Hotel To what some may consider a rather stagnant hotel industry, the newly opened Sheraton Rittenhouse Square is a breath of fresh air…literally. Every 34 minutes, guests of this Philadelphia establishment are bathed in an atmosphere that's been completely filtered of such air pollutants as mold, pollen and bacteria. The hotel's […]

New England’s coastal towns are some of America’s oldest, and few have a more storied or colorful past than Mystic, Connecticut in the southeastern part of the state. Wedged roughly half way between Boston and New York City, Mystic Harbor is filled with sailboats and surrounded by gently rolling hills and quaint, historic buildings.

Stroll barefoot along Jamaica’s white sand beaches, get acquainted with dolphins in crystal-clear water, and ascend mystical mountain peaks through rainforest pathways. But before you arrive, make sure the place where you stay has made a commitment to preserving this biodiversity hot-spot for the future.

Tagging loggerheads and patrolling Wassaw’s beaches during nesting season are just part of what the Georgia-based Caretta Research Project does…

This year, ski areas were issued a challenge: Could they reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and help to undo some of the global warming damage that would inevitably be their downfall? They didn’t have to go it alone. The National Ski Area Association’s Sustainable Slopes program teamed up with Clif Bar & Company, the Natural […]

Dirty Canals, Organic Farms and Mud Flats Offer Low-Impact Fun Schlerrp. Schlerrp. Schlerrp. Thigh-deep in rich brown mud, tourists in the Waddenzee note the salty tang to the air, the distant sea, and the shrieking gulls protecting a nearby nest. A guide, garbed in bright yellow, red and blue and leaning on a wooden staff, […]