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Eco-friendly holidays: practical guide

Published on 27 April 2026

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With today’s environmental challenges, more and more travellers are becoming aware of the impact of their journeys. Transport, consumption, accommodation… our holidays can leave a bigger footprint than we might imagine. In this context, a new way of travelling is emerging: more respectful, more local, and more authentic.

Eco-friendly holidays are part of this approach. They involve reducing your environmental impact while choosing experiences closer to nature and local areas. Far from standardised stays, they encourage you to slow down, consume differently, and bring more meaning to your getaways.

The good news is that adopting responsible tourism does not mean giving up pleasure—quite the opposite. It simply means making more conscious choices, accessible to everyone, to travel differently.

In this practical guide, discover how to easily organise eco-friendly holidays while enjoying an enriching and memorable experience.

What are eco-friendly holidays?

A new way of travelling

Eco-friendly holidays are based on a different approach to travel. The goal is no longer just to discover a place, but to do so in a more respectful way by limiting your impact on the environment.

This involves making more responsible choices: reducing unnecessary travel, choosing accommodation integrated into nature, or adopting more mindful consumption habits. Travel then becomes more conscious, slower, and often more rewarding.

This type of stay fully aligns with the sustainable tourism trend, where the aim is to travel better rather than more.

The key principles of responsible tourism

Responsible tourism is based on a few simple but essential principles to reduce your impact while enhancing the places you visit.

The first is respecting nature: limiting waste, preserving natural spaces, and adopting behaviours that protect biodiversity. Every action counts, whether during a hike, an activity, or simply in daily life while travelling.

The second principle is respecting local areas and communities. This means consuming more locally by supporting regional producers, artisans, and tourism businesses. This approach helps support the local economy while discovering a more authentic culture.

Finally, sustainable tourism encourages more responsible consumption by choosing activities, accommodation, and services that follow an environmentally friendly approach.

Travelling responsibly means adopting simple habits that have a positive impact on nature and local communities.

Why choose eco-friendly holidays?

Reduce your environmental impact

Choosing eco-friendly holidays is above all a concrete way to reduce your impact on the environment. Tourism accounts for a significant share of emissions linked to transport, energy use, and waste management.

By choosing nearby destinations, more responsible means of transport, or environmentally committed accommodation, it is possible to significantly reduce your carbon footprint. Once there, simple actions such as limiting waste, reducing unnecessary consumption, and being more mindful also contribute to this approach.

Every choice matters and helps you travel in a more respectful way, without giving up the pleasure of holidays.

Reconnect with nature

Beyond the environmental impact, eco-friendly holidays offer a true return to basics. By choosing nature destinations far from urban hustle and bustle, you take the time to slow down and reconnect with your surroundings.

Walking in the forest, admiring landscapes, listening to the sounds of nature… these simple experiences have real benefits for well-being. They help reduce stress, recharge your energy, and restore a calmer pace often forgotten in everyday life.

This reconnection also benefits the whole family. Children rediscover the joy of playing outdoors, exploring, and being amazed by their environment.

Eco-friendly holidays are also an essential break to recharge and regain a more natural balance.

Enjoy a more authentic experience

Eco-friendly holidays allow you to enjoy more authentic experiences, far from mass tourism and standardised stays. By choosing human-scale places and nature-based activities, travel becomes more personal and immersive.

You discover a region differently: through its landscapes, local expertise, traditions, and encounters. This approach encourages more genuine moments, where you take the time to appreciate each experience instead of rushing from one activity to another.

This type of stay fully embraces the slow tourism trend, which encourages you to slow down, savour the moment, and give more meaning to your holidays.

Travelling in an eco-friendly way also means choosing experiences that are more genuine, more human, and more memorable.

Raise children’s awareness

Eco-friendly family holidays are also a wonderful opportunity to teach children about the environment in a practical and fun way. Far from theoretical lessons, they learn by observing, exploring, and experiencing nature firsthand.

Watching animals, understanding ecosystems, discovering simple ways to protect the planet… these experiences spark their curiosity and develop their environmental awareness. These learning moments are often experienced as games or adventures, making them even more memorable.

By involving children in this approach, parents pass on essential values while sharing meaningful moments together.

Eco-friendly holidays therefore become an educational, fun, and enriching experience for the whole family.

How to organise eco-friendly holidays? (Practical guide)

Choose a nearby destination

One of the first ways to organise eco-friendly holidays is to choose a destination close to home. Since transport is one of the main sources of environmental impact, reducing travel distances can significantly lower your carbon footprint.

Choosing a local or regional destination also allows you to rediscover areas that are sometimes overlooked, while avoiding long journeys that can be tiring—especially for families. It also makes organising the trip easier and reduces logistical constraints.

Travelling close to home means combining ecology, simplicity, and discovery.

Choose responsible accommodation

Choosing the right accommodation is a key element in successful eco-friendly holidays. Some places are now designed to minimise their environmental impact by blending harmoniously into nature and adopting more sustainable practices.

This may include eco-designed accommodation built with natural materials, or unusual lodgings set in preserved natural environments. These places often prioritise responsible resource management: controlled energy use, water conservation, and waste reduction.

Beyond the ecological aspect, these accommodations also offer a different kind of experience—more immersive and closer to nature.

Choosing responsible accommodation means combining comfort, experience, and respect for the environment.

Prioritise nature-based activities

Activities play an essential role in successful eco-friendly holidays. Choosing outdoor activities allows you to enjoy nature while limiting your environmental impact.

Hiking, cycling, observing wildlife and plants, forest walks, or exploration games… these simple activities encourage the discovery of the local area while respecting ecosystems. They require little infrastructure and offer authentic experiences accessible to the whole family.

In addition to being eco-friendly, these activities encourage movement, curiosity, and shared moments between children and adults.

Nature-based activities make holidays more meaningful while staying in harmony with the environment.

Adopt the right habits on site

Once you arrive, a few simple habits can make your eco-friendly holidays even more consistent and respectful of the environment.

Reducing waste is a key first step: choose reusable products, limit packaging, and sort your waste whenever possible. It is also recommended to consume locally by choosing seasonal products or items from regional producers.

Respecting the environment also means adopting responsible behaviours: staying on marked paths, not disturbing wildlife and plants, and limiting your water and energy consumption.

Adopting these everyday habits allows you to travel more responsibly, effortlessly, and with a positive impact.

Which destinations should you choose for eco-friendly holidays?

Natural regions in France

France is full of ideal destinations for organising eco-friendly holidays, thanks to the diversity of its natural landscapes. Forests, countryside, regional nature parks, and rural areas provide the perfect setting to reconnect with nature while limiting your environmental impact.

These areas allow you to enjoy gentle activities such as hiking, cycling, or observing biodiversity, while benefiting from a preserved environment. They also encourage more local tourism by promoting short supply chains, regional producers, and traditional know-how.

Choosing this type of destination means favouring less urbanised places, often quieter and more authentic, where the travel experience takes on its full meaning.

Natural regions are ideal destinations to combine ecology, discovery, and disconnection.

Nature and eco-friendly resorts

Beyond natural regions, some places go even further by offering true responsible tourism experiences. Nature and eco-friendly resorts combine accommodation, activities, and environmental awareness in one place, for a stay that is both immersive and consistent.

These places allow you to enjoy more committed holidays without making organisation more complicated. Everything is designed to limit environmental impact: accommodation integrated into nature, activities that respect ecosystems, and the promotion of local resources… Travel then becomes a complete experience—fun, educational, and responsible.

This is the approach taken by some resorts in France, which offer a practical and accessible vision of sustainable tourism, ideal for families who want to travel differently.

Nature resorts offer an all-in-one solution for simple, immersive, and enriching eco-friendly holidays.