Travel With Culture Trip: What Will My Carbon Footprint Look Like?

That’s why we’ve committed to a raft of carbon-cutting initiatives such as planting our own Culture Trip Forest, carbon-offsetting our workforce and creating our Sustainable Travel Hub, brimming with travel tips, articles and Places to Stay. You can find out even more by reading our commitments to responsible travel.

But ultimately, the real difference happens at ground level, when you step from that plane, train or automobile. So how do we help you travel better? Well, take a look at TRIPS by Culture Trip – small-group escapes, designed with responsible travellers in mind. Think hiking, biking and kayaking your way from A to B, supporting small-scale suppliers and staying in ecofriendly hotels. Here’s how we can help you lighten your carbon footprint, one holiday at a time.

No, we’re not talking about trapping people in giant hamster wheels. We mean taking holidays where your muscles do the work. Take our Costa Rica jungle safari trip – you’ll spend your days whitewater rafting, hiking to postcard-perfect waterfalls and surfing Pacific breakers. And your nights? Picture tiptoeing through cloud forests to spot sloths. Or how about exploring Britain’s last frontier: the Hebridean Isles? On this seven-day trip you will trek among the rugged peaks and mystical pools of the Cuillin Mountains, comb the wild beaches of the Isle of Harris – fuelled by local whisky – and kayak along the coast of the Isle of Lewis.

Eating out in a swanky restaurant is a classic holiday treat. But some of the most memorable meals are those that weave together stories of the land, the produce and the people preparing it; where seasonality and sustainability are more than just buzzwords. That’s why we try, where possible, to incorporate local dining experiences into our TRIPS. Book our Riches and Ruins discovery of Georgia, and you’ll graze your way around Tbilisi’s extraordinary Dezerter Bazaar farmer’s market; discover the world’s oldest wine-making practices; and dine on traditional, home-made food with a Georgian family. Head to Sri Lanka on our Ancient Temples and Wildlife Encounters adventure, and you’ll be guided by a host around a typical village market, before getting hands-on at a Sri Lankan cooking class.

After air miles, the biggest carbon-contributing factor of most getaways is your hotel, which requires vast amounts of energy and water to run. There’s no eco-shaming here – we love a luxury resort as much as anyone. But, to balance things out, we seek to include ecofriendly accommodation on our TRIPS wherever we can. On our Beyond Petra: Discovering Jordan’s Rugged Side holiday, you’ll spend two nights out of eight wild camping amid stunning, mountainous scenery, and one in a fully furnished Bedouin desert camp. Alternatively, check out our 12-day Vietnam Adventure, which includes one night at a four-star ecolodge and an overnight train ride – the ultimate carbon-saving sleep option – from Hanoi to Hue.

We aim to show you as much as we can of every destination we offer. But we’re also aware that, just to get there, you’ll have had to take at least one flight. That’s why we’ve created smarter itineraries that make use of more sustainable transport methods, such as trains, ferries and coaches. One of our favourite examples is the Athens to Santorini island-hopping tour of the Cyclades – you’ll take a ferry from the mainland to Milos, before moving on to Naxos and finally Santorini. You’ll find it as romantic as it gets, mingling with other visitors and locals as you cross those swathes of sparkling blue sea. Should you prefer dry land, how about being led by a pack of Siberian huskies on our Snowshoeing and Dog Sledding in a Scottish Winter Wonderland trip? Dashing through the snowy Highlands, you’ll be harnessed to one of the oldest and most ecofriendly modes of transport around. Forget about traffic lights; up there, you’re more likely to be stopped in your tracks by the Northern Lights.