What a Cross-Country Bike Ride Taught Me About Climate Change
Reindeer herders share their wisdom about the Sami indigenous way of life at northern Sweden’s Sápmi Nature Camp.
Director Francis Ford Coppola opened Coral Caye in Belize in 2016, on a private island surrounded by a rainbow of sea life.
Costa Rica’s Lapa Rios has long been a conservation icon in this lowland tropical rainforest where visitors are sure to spot plenty of local wildlife.
The Brando, in French Polynesia, is late actor Marlon Brando’s eco-dream brought to life. The private island is run on 100 percent renewable energy sources, including solar power and coconut oil.
The new Duba Expedition Camp, a partnership between Great Plains Conservation and the Okavango Community Trust in Botswana, offers a front-row seat to Africa’s majestic wildlife.
Escape to the rare and stunning fynbos, vegetation and plants endemic to South Africa, at Grootbos on the western cape. Don't skip the resorts unique flower safari.
Find yourself in a quiet escape on the only development on Australia's Lizard Island, with access to your own slice of the world's largest reef system, the Great Barrier Reef.
Madagascar’s Tsara Komba Lodge is prime for spotting lemurs and chameleons.
Hear wolves howl at night, while staying at the Prince of Wales's Guesthouse in rural Transylvania, Romania.
Crystal rivers, deep gorges, and soaring peaks combine with Greek village life at Aristi Mountain Resort & Villas.
At the edge of a volcanic outcrop providing bright morning vistas across Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park, Three Camel’s 50 gers (yurts) appear more like a herders’ village than a lodge in Mongolia.
At Estancia Los Potreros in Argentina, gauchos lead horseback trips to hidden waterfalls.
The Lodge at Valle Chacabuco, in Chile, sits in the heart of Patagonia Park, a conservation initiative protecting nearly 200,000 acres.
Take a trip to &Beyond's pristine island resort in the Indian Ocean, looking over Bazaruto National Park, the only marine reserve in Mozambique.
Concordia’s canvas solar cabins on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, were one of the early ecotourism landmarks.
On a hilltop overlooking New Zealand’s Coromandel Peninsula, Manawa Ridge merges eco-living with adventure outings.
Deep in Bolivia’s Madidi National Park, indigenous guides welcome intrepid travelers to Chalalan Ecolodge, an ideal base camp for jungle exploration.
Channel your inner royalty in the 800-year-old Ashford Castle in Mayo, Ireland. Beyond the 20 miles of trail, gold course, and lake hikes, visitors can try falconry, archery, or horseback riding.
Ted Turner’s Sierra Grande Lodge in New Mexico provides access to over half a million acres of private wilderness, part of the conservation crusader’s efforts to rewild America.
Deep in the Alaskan wilderness, Winterlake Lodge houses and trains 20 sled dogs; it also offers miles of trails to explore and helicopter excursions to fly-fish or ski in remote areas.
Families flock to O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat on Australia’s Gold Coast for activities such as a hike to one of 500 nearby waterfalls, complete with a pre-packed picnic, or a visit to the Glow Worm grotto.
In the Toledo District–one of the most remote and diverse in Belize–visitors can enjoy a chocolate-making class or kayak the Rio Grande. Not to be missed at Copal Tree Lodge: the "snorkel with the chef" experience.
Each September, the UNESCO-protected Cape Floral Region bursts into living color with some of the greatest concentrations of floral species in the world. Bushmans Kloof, a century-old homestead turned nature reserve, cares for 18,532 acres of this rare habitat—home to endangered Cape mountain zebras and archaeological sites that include 10,000-year-old San rock paintings.
This eco-hideaway, consisting of 13 breezy bungalows handcrafted from salvaged driftwood isn't easy to reach. Located in Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago, at the center of Southeast Asia’s famed Coral Triangle, Misool provides front-row access to an underwater world teeming with marine life—there are more kinds of fish and coral here than bird species in the Amazon.
The remote rain forest lodge Inkaterra Machu Picchu has supported over 20 years of ongoing scientific research. “Peru contains more than two-thirds of Earth’s diverse ecological life zones, and we have a responsibility to help protect this biodiversity,” explains Peruvian José Koechlin, Inkaterra's founder and president.
Tucked away in the Great Bear Rainforest, this hideaway in British Columbia has been operated by the Murray family since the 1980s.
Located on the grounds of the Conservation Ecology Centre in Australia, the Great Ocean Ecolodge also borders Great Otway National Park, which protects swaths of eucalyptus forests, thundering waterfalls, and windswept heathlands that end at dramatic cliffs above the churning ocean. Its five elegant rooms overlook grassy fields where wild kangaroos come to feed and play.
In the 1980s, when many Greeks left their villages to ride the wave of tourism development along the coast, two local friends took to the mountains of Crete instead. Their vision: restore an abandoned medieval village and turn it into a retreat based on living in harmony with nature. Today, travelers flock to this off-the-grid stone village to hike on wild mountain trails, sleep in rustic cottages, and savor authentic Cretan dishes like roasted rabbit with mizithra goat cheese and spearmint, washed down with Milia’s own organic wine.
This is the place for anyone who has pondered going back to the land and living a sustainable lifestyle. Located in the Carpathian Mountains on a wedge of Poland between the borders of Slovakia and Ukraine, the cabin-like rooms sleep up to seven guests and are surrounded by some of Europe’s most spectacular wilderness, where wolves, bears, and lynx still roam.
A bumpy ride down a long dirt track ends at Bulungula on South Africa's "Wild Coast," where ten whitewashed rondavels (traditional rounded thatched huts), co-owned and managed by Xhosa villagers, use the sun, wind, and rain to provide daily energy needs. Shoestring travelers are welcomed like family to this rustic lodge that also provides economic opportunities for the rural community. Breakfast? Down a fresh fruit smoothie, then join villagers in activities like brickmaking, beer brewing, and maize stamping.
The Dana Biosphere Reserve—a gold and crimson desert carved by ancient wadis—is the backdrop for Feynan Ecolodge, owned by Jordan’s Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature. Bedouin hosts lead activities like making flatbread over an open fire and exploring 4,000-year-old copper mines that existed in the time of the Roman Empire.
A 28,167-acre rain forest reserve in southern Mato Grosso, Brazil envelops Cristalino’s wood-and-tile bungalows, designed to take advantage of cooling breezes and natural light. The languid Cristalino River provides plenty of opportunities for canoeing, swimming, nature walks, and wildlife viewing—from the rare giant otters playfully at home in the water to Brazil's endemic red-nosed bearded saki monkeys traversing the treetops.
Tucked along the shore of Lake Atitlán, Guatemala with its misty volcanoes and Maya villages, Laguna’s six suites artfully blend adobe bricks, river stone, and brightly embroidered huipils and hand-loomed blankets. A hundred-acre nature reserve established by the lodge reaches from the shore up 1,305 feet. Old Maya trails wind through some of the last remaining primary tropical dry forest around the lake, home to belted flycatchers and other endemic birds. Adrenaline buffs can jump from high rock faces into the deep water.
No shirt, no shoes, no problem could be the daily mantra at this Six Senses haven constructed from reclaimed teak, including over a thousand recycled antique wooden panels. The resort dangles on a slice of world-class beach in Con Dao National Park—a 45-minute flight from frenetic Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Sustainability takes center stage, with initiatives including local and organic meals, no plastic water bottles, and nontoxic biodegradable cleaning products and amenities. Windsurfing, body boarding, and sailing start right outside the door. But for many guests, the activity of choice is simply immersion in the unspoiled nature that surrounds the private villas.
It’s hard to get more environmentally friendly than Chumbe’s seven eco-bungalows on a sun-splashed coral island in the Zanzibar archipelago. Rainwater is collected for daily needs, the sun provides energy, and composting toilets keep the surrounding marine park pollution free. Guests can also explore Zanzibar’s historic towns, don masks and fins to snorkel the healthy private reef, then retire at night to dine by lantern on Tanzania's traditional Swahili cuisine.
Overlooking the subarctic waterways of the tidal Moose River in northern Ontario, the 20-room lodge is designed in the style of a Cree village shabatwon—a traditional long tepee with doors at each end. The soaring structure of pine, cedar, and hickory lets in the nearly 20 hours of summer light; stone fireplaces and warm guest rooms padded with thick carpets and blankets of natural wool keep winter’s chill at bay. Guests can hike in Tidewater Provincial Park, take a boat to James Bay for seal- and whale-spotting led by local guides, or view the northern lights at night.
This meticulously restored, family-owned plantation house is located 44 miles south of the colonial city of Mérida on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. Santa Rosa combines environmental stewardship with community projects such as directly supporting small-business development for local Maya women. Guests can spend time with village artisans; savor Maya recipes like chicken pibil, handed down through generations; swim in hidden cenotes; and sniff around an on-site botanic garden.
Visitors come for the adventure and stay for the romance at Pacuare, located on 25,000 protected acres of high-biodiversity rain forest in the Talamanca Mountains of Costa Rica—home to jaguars, ocelots, monkeys, and sloths. Candlelight dinners accompanied by fine wines are the hallmark of the owners, who are Costa Rican foodies. Afterward, sink into one of the big canopy beds, serenaded by nature’s lullaby.
Watching the sky radiate its sunset palette from the riverside tables of Kabini’s open-air restaurant brings a tranquil end to active days. Visitors explore India's Nagarhole National Park in search of the elusive Bengal tiger and India’s largest herds of Asian elephants, along with other flagship species (leopard and wild dog). The lodge supports the Kuruba heritage with interactive storytelling sessions, dance performances, and river outings in a handmade coracle.
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