Responsible, sustainable holidays options in Europe?
June 22, 2019 1:37 AM   Subscribe

My partner and I are planning a holiday in January, somewhere in Europe that will have sun that time of year. My partner likes cruising but I am not keen on the environmental damage that they cause. I am also not that keen on flying, for the same reasons. Does anyone have suggestions for places, trips, or operators that offer more responsible and sustainable holidays?
posted by Grinder to Travel & Transportation (5 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Where are you coming from? How much time will you have?

The Guardian does a lot of pieces in their travel section on green holidays.

If you had more than a week and were happy to spend some time travelling, I think if you got the train to the south of Spain or Sicily and stayed somewhere locally-run, eating locally-grown food and getting around by public transport, you'd be doing quite well in terms of eco-friendliness.

Check out Seat 61's exhaustive guides to getting down there by train here:

Spain

Sicily
posted by mdonley at 2:52 AM on June 22, 2019 [1 favorite]


How much sun are you looking for? Europe in January isn't very warm at all. We have gone to the canary islands in January and even there it isn't typically warm enough to swim and is definitely cold many nights.

I went to Istanbul in December and although that was a great time to visit, it rained most days and was warmish at best.
posted by kadia_a at 3:53 AM on June 22, 2019


The Costa del Sol will have sun, it just won't be warm.

I'm not sure why you need a tour operator. Book your own accommodation, use trains and buses after your flight in?
posted by DarlingBri at 4:24 AM on June 22, 2019


Unfortunately, if by saying you want sun you mean warmth, the only places in Europe you’ll find that in January are the Canaries and Madeira, which require flying by virtue of being islands (I’ve certainly swum happily in the Canaries in Jan/Feb many times, but YMMV depending on what climate you’re used to).

Might be worth you clarifying more about the climate you’re looking for, because if you don’t mind it being cool but sunny, your options will expand to include much more of the Med.
posted by penguin pie at 9:50 AM on June 22, 2019 [1 favorite]


I'm assuming from their history that the OP is from North America. So it's important to say right off the bat: there is nowhere in the continent of Europe that is reliably sunny in January. The Mediterranean cost of Southern Spain gets an average of 5 hours a day (i.e. about 3 days/week). That's as good as it gets. And it's not going to be beach weather. You'll get highs in the 50s and low 60s. Same in the various Spanish and Portuguese Atlantic Islands.

So you may want to clarify your definition of "sunny" so people can give more useful specifics. Because honestly this seems like an impossible request.
posted by caek at 1:27 PM on June 22, 2019 [1 favorite]


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