Greenpeace France's guide opens with the "golden rules of eco-travel", at the top of which are "avoid flying", "support the local economy", and "avoid busy periods so as not to overload the sites".
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Next comes respect for wildlife (don't disturb wildlife or degrade flora, we're told) and not leaving any trace of your passage, whether it's rubbish or food scraps, for example. "If you make a fire, use the dedicated places and extinguish it completely before leaving," it also says. Finally, Greenpeace France invites you to raise awareness of responsible travel among your friends and community.
41 ideas for environmentally friendly holidays
"Relaxing at the beach or taking a trip to a European capital while protecting the climate is possible. But it's not always easy to know where to go... and especially how": this is the starting point of this guide, which indicates that "to limit global warming to 1.5°C, we should emit less than three tonnes of CO2e (which allows us to calculate the total carbon impact per year and per person) by 2030 according to the UNEP. Yet flying is so polluting that we can exceed this limit with a single trip..."
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That's why the guide suggests discovering destinations just a few steps away from home, for an extended weekend, or at the other end of Europe, for a longer period.
Destinations for an ecological holiday from a few days to a week
Greenpeace has selected 14 destinations for a short stay, from a few days to a week, among the spots accessible by low-polluting means of transport, such as the train, or at least less polluting than the plane (like the ferry).
They include several places in Europe, such as Bruges in Belgium, the Black Forest in Germany, San Sebastian and Bilbao, and Cologne. Several capitals are easily accessible by train, including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Vienna and London.
Natural sites to discover include the Auvergne volcanoes, which can be explored on foot or by panoramic train, the Ossau valley, the Crozon peninsula and the Vosges mountains. Not forgetting the Channel Islands, "a stopover out of time, where nature reigns supreme, a few miles from Normandy".
The 16 destinations for a two-week eco holiday
If you have a little more time - and budget - the guide also includes itineraries in Europe for a two-week stay. In Italy, Sardinia, the second largest Mediterranean island after Sicily, and the Lombardy region (accessible by train to Milan) are among the suggestions, as are the Tyrol, in the heart of the Italian and Austrian Alps, and the Ligurian coast and the island of Elba.
The Swiss Alps, from Lake Geneva to the Austrian border, are recommended for mountaineering enthusiasts, while the Stevenson Trail, which starts in Alès, France, will take you on a hike in the footsteps of Scottish writer and traveller Robert Louis Stevenson.
Other countries are also recommended, such as Slovenia, a nature destination par excellence, which can be reached by night train from Zurich, or Ireland, which can be discovered via the "Great Western Greenway", a 42-kilometre cycle route.
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The islands are not to be outdone, with the Wadden Islands, an archipelago of eight islands in the Netherlands, as well as the Danish islands - of which there are 400. Finally, the islands of Mallorca and Menorca can be reached by night ferry from Toulon, while ferries from Barcelona, Denia or Mallorca reach Ibiza.
Finally, some regions are prime destinations for eco-responsible tourists, such as the Highlands, Cornwall,Andalusia, Asturias and Bavaria.
Green travel ideas for three weeks or more
Finally, the guide designed by Greenpeace France proposes itineraries, again in France and Europe, for trips of at least three weeks. This is an opportunity, for example, to discover Puglia and Basilicata in Italy, as well as Montenegro, the "pearl of the Balkans", whose interior can be crossed by the mythical train between Bar and Belgrade, the Serbian capital.
Bus and/or train journeys from Biarritz to Lisbon or from Rome to Tunis (with an additional ferry trip) are also available. For thrill-seekers, why not book a bloody tour through Transylvania: in Romania, the "Dracula tour" passes through Târgoviste, the capital of Wallachia, or Sibiu, a splendid medieval town in the heart of the Carpathians, elected European cultural capital in 2007. Then on to Corvin Castle, the most imposing in Transylvania, and Bistrita, the town where Francis Ford Coppola shot his film "Dracula" in 1992.
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If you want to set sail, head for Corfu and the Ionian Islands, or Corsica by sailboat! Unless you prefer a trip to the fjords in Norway.
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A guide to eco-friendly holidays available for free in one click
To find out more about all these eco-responsible travel ideas, nothing could be easier: just go to the dedicated page on the Greenpeace France website and fill in your details in the form provided. You will then receive the guide immediately and free of charge in your mailbox. It's up to you!