About us
Greentraveller features over 1,000 holidays that can be reached by trainWhat is greentraveller?
greentraveller is a website that provides information on how to have a greener holiday. We feature hundreds of amazing trips that can be conveniently reached by train & ferry (as a foot passenger), as well as over 500 green and gorgeous places to stay.
We also have a blog packed with tips on how to go green from leading eco travel writers. If you need help finding your way around the site, see our quick tour of greentraveller.
What is green travel?
Let's face it, few holidays are 100% green. Most trips involve taking some form of motorised transport and unavoidably contribute to carbon emissions. Greentraveller shows how you can plan a holiday that keeps these emissions down to a minimum. If it wasn't such a mouthful, we'd name the site: greener traveller.
Who are we?
The website was founded in 2006 by travel journalist Richard Hammond - the former eco-travel correspondent for the Guardian, co-author of Clean Breaks - 500 new ways to see the world (Rough Guides) and travel editor of National Geographic Green magazine.
Greentraveller began as a blog – set up while Richard was writing his weekly green travel column in the Guardian newspaper. He received so much correspondence that he created the greentraveller forum for readers to debate the issues online. Over subsequent years the website attracted such a huge amount of attention (in November 2009 greentraveller was awarded the British Travel Press Travel Editors’ Green Award) that Richard decided to take it up a level to provide a more comprehensive guide to green holidays. The new site was launched in January 2010, and is still managed by Richard but he now has the help of a growing team of writers and researchers (see The Team).
What’s new about the re-launched site?
We have worked with over 30 of the UK's leading tour operators to fillet out those trips that are reachable by train in Europe. These are now listed in our 'holidays' section, with a link to which operator runs the trip. You can then follow the link to their website and enquire further about the trip and book directly with the operator.
We also list over 500 fabulous green places to stay (with reviews from our writers and inspectors who have visited some of the featured places) as well as low impact holidays that can be conveniently reached by train. We have also created a new feature Plan your journey by train, which gives practical advice (including prices and sample itineraries) for over 80 train journeys from London St Pancras International to Europe as well as suggestions for stopover hotels in Paris, Lille and Brussels as well as further afield in Cologne, Madrid and Copenhagen and even as far as Morocco. We also have a foot passenger ferry guide for 70 destinations between the UK, Ireland and continental Europe. Our latest addition is a detailed page on How to travel to and from Ireland without flying.
We also received a terrific boost to the blog thanks to the contributions of several leading travel writers, including Anna Shepard, Rhiannon Batten, Paul Miles, Philippa Jacks and Catherine Mack. The most popular feature (Treehouse holidays in Europe) has been read over 140,000 times.
In addition to the blog, we also send out a monthly e-newsletter, with the latest tips for green holidays and rail and ferry journeys in the UK and Europe. See a sample e-newsletter. To sign up, either register or if you are already signed in, select 'My account' (top left) and go to manage your subscriptions.
How can you have a greener holiday?
The single most effective thing we believe you can do to go green is to minimise your carbon emissions by taking the train rather than the plane. However, while rail and ferry travel is often considered the most eco-friendly form of motorised transport, a low emissions car with three or more passengers can be just as carbon efficient, as can a full coach.
If you’d like to know more about the emissions of various modes of transport, see Forum for the Future's Overland Heaven Project. As the report concludes: "Europe is criss-crossed with high-speed, low-carbon rail and coach links, which offer a practical and exciting overland alternative to flying, and the Channel Tunnel puts it all on our doorstep".
The second most effective thing we believe you can do to have a greener holiday is to choose a more eco-friendly place to stay. When judging the green credentials of hotels, villas and self-catering apartments, we look at five key factors:
- how it reduces its draw on energy
- how it minimises the amount of waste it sends to landfill
- how it minimises its consumption of water
- how much of the food it serves is sourced locally (as much as possible)
- whether it actively encourages guests to arrive by public transport.
A word on greenwashing
Key ‘ecotourism’ or ‘responsible travel’ into an internet search engine and it throws up so many results it can be difficult to be sure that any are the genuine article. Similar search terms, such as “ethical” and “sustainable” are becoming just as overused (and abused) by tourism companies looking to cash in on the green wave.
The places to stay that are featured on greentraveller have either been visited by one of our travel writers/inspectors (yes, someone actually goes to check out what the place is like!) or we make sure the place is up to scratch by checking with one of our local contacts and looking to see if it has been certified by a recognised eco label where a trained inspector has visited the property (such as Green Tourism Business Scheme). Those places that have been inspected by us are flagged up as 'Reviewed by greentraveller'.
In February 2010 we published the Green Travel List - a list of the top green travel and tourism companies, which was published in the Guardian newspaper in association with Forum for the Future. We are currently judging 2011's list, celebrating innovation in green travel.
Less Carbon, More Fun!
All of Inntravel's walking holidays in Switzerland featured on greentraveller are all reachable by train
Founder and Chief Executive
Not the bloke on Top Gear... though I've got used to the disappointment when I turn up to review a hotel and the mates of the owner's son have come to meet the TV celebrity and not me. But anyway, here I am, the founder of greentraveller and generally the bloke who looks after the site. It all came about in 2006 while I was writing a green travel column for the Guardian and I just couldn't adequately deal with the piles of correspondence sent in from readers. So I set up greentraveller as an online forum and as a resource to link to all the places I'd visited. In the last couple of years there has been a surge in interest in the site (in November 2009 greentraveller was awarded the British Travel Press Green Award) so I figured it was high time it stepped up a gear. In November 2009, I hired Julien Queyrane to design a new site, hooked up with Catherine and Anna and the rest of the team below, and we re-launched the site in January 2010. Since then the site has blossomed... we now feature over 500 green places to stay and have worked with over 25 of the UK's leading tour operators to feature over 1,500 holidays reachable by train.
As well as managing greentraveller, I'm the travel editor of the Green magazine (published every two months and distributed by the Guardian newspaper) and I write a column on green travel in National Geographic Traveller magazine. I'm am also the co-author (with Jeremy Smith, the former editor of the Ecologist magazine) of Clean Breaks – 500 New Ways to See the World, published by Rough Guides in 2009 and more recently as a smaller (and cheaper!) version known as Great Escapes, which was published in October 2010 (right).
Over the last 12 years, you may have read articles I've written on green travel in BBC Wildlife, BBC Countryfile, Community Care, The Ecologist, Eve Magazine, Green Futures, Harper's Bizarre, ivillage.co.uk, Livewire, Marie Claire, The Observer, Resurgence, Sunday Times Travel magazine, The Times, Timesonline and Wanderlust.
In 2009/2010, I wrote the monthly column, The Responsible Traveller, for Geographical magazine (the magazine of the Royal Geographical Society) and I've also written several analyst reports for Mintel, including ‘Redefining Ecotourism’, ‘Sustainable Tourism in the Travel Industry’ and ‘Tourism and Poverty Alleviation’, am an inspector for the WTTC Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, am the special advisor on sustainable tourism to the Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO). I was the editor of Green Places to Stay (for the green trailblazer/publishing guru Alastair Sawday) and I was the Contributing Editor to the Travel Channel's six part TV series How to Holiday Greener. Phew, if there was more space I'd love to write more about my recent swimming holiday in the Inner Hebrides, but just before I go, we're all writing about our favourite trips so here's mine: take the Train to Nice then island-hop cross Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily before returning back by Train from Sicily to London via Rome. Now here's Holly...
Marketing and New Business Development
My green travel career kicked off in 2005 when I bought a giant map and started planning a circumnavigation of the world without flying, travelling by foot, bike, bus, train and boat. 52,000 miles, 473 vehicles and 20 months later, I completed the challenge and returned to the UK eager to spread the word about the joys of green travel. In my eyes no holiday is complete unless the journey is as fun as the destination and even better if it involves picking up a new skill and getting back to nature.
Whilst travelling the world I kept up a blog, www.3mphroundtheworld.com, alongside contributing to various publications including The Real Travel Magazine, The Guardian and Geogaphical Magazine's supplement R:Travel. Alongside travelling the world, I have also spent the last five years as a brand consultant to leading media and travel clients including the BBC, Channel 4 and TUI.
Here at greentraveller I'm responsible for marketing all the wonderful trips, places to stay and activities listed on the site, as well as finding new and exciting ways to entice people to go green for their next holiday. As for my own holidays, this year I'm looking forward to picking up some kayaking and horse riding skills in the Lot Valley and taking my bike on the Rail and Sail to Holland.
It's the people who always sell a place to me, and that is why they often feature in my travel articles. They are the real key to ensuring a truly responsible form of tourism in the future. Plus I am Irish, so I am a sucker for people and their stories. I am now living in London, and I combine travel writing with full time parenting, which calls for serious juggling sometimes. My best travel moments since completing my Msc. in Responsible Tourism Management in 2007 include: travelling round Ireland to write my book, ecoescape:Ireland (but it did make me pretty homesick); swimming from one Croatian island to the next on a Swimtrek holiday, watching my sons being taught to climb to the top of a sixty foot oak tree on the Isle of Wight, and walking with a donkey in the Alps for a week. Writing a regular slot as Ethical Traveller columnist in The Irish Times keeps me on my toes too. I am on a mission to get local food production linked in with tourism whenever possible. But one of my greatest ambitions is to see the opening of a high speed tunnel rail link from UK to Ireland within my lifetime. For more info on my work, see my website, Ethical Traveller
Anna wrote the Eco Worrier column in The Times for four years and her book, How Green Are My Wellies - Small Steps And Giant Leaps To Green Living With Style, published by Transworld in 2008, was shortlisted for a Clarion Award.
You may have also seen Anna on radio and TV, including BBC News 24, Countryfile, Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio Wales and she has contributed to many national newspapers and magazines, including The Guardian, The Telegraph, Prospect magazine, Red magazine, Elle magazine and The Ecologist.
Anna has recently been on a snowshoeing holiday in the Pyrenees and travelled by train to Marrakech. Now that there is a new addition to her family – her son Owen – she says she is "honing the art of the perfect family-friendly UK-based holiday that neither damages the planet nor breaks the bank. If a babysitter is thrown into the equation, all the better."
Philippa is Features Editor on the renowned travel industry newspaper Travel Trade Gazette, where she writes about responsible tourism alongside the business of travel as much as she can.
She has her own blog, Greenspaced, which explores green travel, conservation, and whatever other green issues are bothering her at the time. For greentraveller, she’ll be concentrating on wildlife holidays, voluntourism and diving, and also green travel options which make the most of the coastal areas and islands right here in the UK.
Philippa has just started volunteering for the RSPB, so at weekends you’ll find her helping people to appreciate the wildlife of London. Some of her favourite holiday experiences have been killer whale-watching in the fjords of Norway and diving with wild dolphins, but she knows she can’t put off diving British waters much longer, and is already bracing herself for the cold...
Tom is greentraveller’s Content Manager, heading up the fabulous new sustainable destination guides section of the site as well as managing the Guardian Green Travel List. He also contributes blogs and has worked on our map of Green London.
Before joining greentraveller he studied English, and has since interned with a partner site of the United Nations Environment Programme as well as spending time with both the Times and the Independent Traveller. Tom particularly enjoys exploring his home country of Wales, and could quite happily spend all his time roaming the wild hillsides of the Brecon Beacons.
Here's a snapshot of some of the press coverage of greentraveller since we launched in October 2006:
(If you have a press or media enquiry, please contact Richard Hammond: info AT greentraveller.co.uk)
2011
5 November: The Guardian publishes our Green Travel List, celebrating the 25 most innovative examples of green travel and tourism, see: The 2011 Green Travel List. The feature, written by Greentraveller's Richard Hammond, has been re-tweeted over 220 times and been recommended on facebook by over 280 readers.
27 October: Greentraveller celebrates its 5th birthday by reaching the landmark figure of over 500 green places to stay featured on the website and over 1,500 holidays reachable by train. Read more about the celebrations and our landmarks: Greentraveller celebrates its 5th birthday
18 October: Greentraveller has been shortlisted for the British Travel Press Editors' Green Award 2011, for the third year in a row
18 July: The Guardian newspaper features greentraveller in it's list of The Best Travel Websites Ever
2 July: The Sun newspaper asks greentraveller to recommend our Ten Best Green Holidays
9 June: Greentraveller's Head of Marketing and Business Development, Holly Tuppen, presents the 'Green Traveller' Award to Nicholas Crane at the inaugural Green Tourism Awards, organised by the Green Tourism Business Scheme, hosted by environmentalist Tony Juniper.
1 May: The Independent features greentraveller in its list of the 50 Best Travel Websites: "Going stronger than ever since its redesign, this site packed with inspirational trips and reviews on green places to stay".
25 April: Greentraveller's founder Richard Hammond appears on Channel 5's The Hotel Inspector to vet the green credentials of a hotel.
12 March: The Independent newspaper asked greentraveller to recommend 10 bed and breakfasts for its guide to the 50 Best B&Bs in the UK, which was published in the paper & online today.
18 February: greentraveller's chief executive and founder Richard Hammond is featured as an 'Eco Hero' on the influential green communications website Greenhouse.
10 February: National Geographic Traveller magazine features greentraveller as a "pioneering website". The full description is as follows: "Pioneering website www.greentraveller.co.uk now lists more than 200 eco-minded places to stay across 27 countries, from Scotland to Slovenia. And there's nothing 'hair-shirty' about these handpicked places, from luxury yurts in France to beautiful fincas in Spain, plus novel holidays like dolphin conservation in Greece and Alpine multi-activity breaks for families."
2010
10 November: greentraveller is shortlisted for the British Travel Press Travel Editors' Green Award
11 September: greentraveller is featured as Site of the Week in the Irish Independent newspaper
5 September: greentraveller is the featured Site of the Week in the Independent on Sunday newspaper
1 September: greentraveller's ferry guide for foot passengers is featured in TravelMole ('New Green Guide to Ferry Crossing'), E-tid ('Go greener: take ferries by foot'), Parenting Without Tears ('Ferry services for foot passengers'), and PATA ('Ferried away with green travel'),
31 August: greentraveller launches online ferry guide for foot passengers in collaboration with the Passenger Shipping Association
9 July: Sunday Times journalist and SEO expert Mark Hodson tweets: "I am increasingly impressed with Richard's website: www.greentraveller.co.uk. Sets high standards."
25 May: Greentraveller's Richard Hammond writes about 'Ecotourism Breaks' in BBC Countryfile
19 May: Greentraveller's rail planner mentioned by Tom Hall (Lonely Planet) in Guardian's Live travel Q&A today.
15 May: Greentraveller's Richard Hammond writes about Responsible Whale-watching Holidays in Geographical - the magazine of the Royal Geographic Society.
10 May: Greentraveller's Richard Hammond profiles swimming holidays in National Geographic GREEN magazine supplement
20 April: Greentraveller's Richard Hammond is interviewed on BBC Radio Wales on the consequences for alternative transport in the wake of the ash fall out.
16 March: Greentraveller's Richard Hammond quoted in this Times article on sustainability in the hotel industry: The Business of going green
7 March: Greentraveller's Catherine Mack profiles Eco Breaks in the UK in Geographical -the magazine of the Royal Geographic Society.
25 February: greentraveller's entire Green Travel List is published in the Guardian newspaper, in association with Forum for the Future
3 February: greentraveller profiled as Mail Online's Website of the Week
2 February: greentraveller named as One of Europe's Best Travel Blogs by Vintage Travel.
1 February: Guardian features the relaunch of greentraveller: "Guardian: Award-winning green travel forum and blog, has relaunched with new trip-planning and booking tools"
29 January: greentraveller.co.uk relaunches.
January: Writing in Condé Nast Traveller, travel writer guru Nick Trend awards greentraveller four stars and describes it as "Quirky and personal, with a really genuine feel to it"
2009
November: greentraveller wins the British Travel Press Travel Editors' Green Award
October: greentraveller named in the Telegraph's list of the best travel websites
September: greentraveller recommended for 'greener getaways' by the Energy Savings Trust
September: greentraveller recommended on ratedpeople.com
August: greentraveller's Richard Hammond interviewed by John McCarthy on BBC Radio Four's Excess Baggage
August: greentraveller recommended on gadlinks.com
July: greentraveller named as best British eco travel blog and 7th best eco travel blog in the world in the Tripbase Travel blog awards.
July: greentraveller featured in The Telegraph's list of 'The Best Travel Websites'.
June: greentraveller recommended in the Ecologist magazine
June: greentraveller included in Cision's Top Ten Travel blogs
April: greentraveller listed in The Independent's article on the 50 Best Travel Websites.
March: greentraveller featured on Green Lashes and Fashion.
March: greentraveller is described by Timesonline as "The leading British website for eco travel - great for news, green travel tips and inspiration for a low-impact holiday."
January: greentraveller recommended in The Daily Mail's 'Green Scene': Reduce your carbon footprint in the sand
2008
December: greentraveller listed as one of the top ten green travel sites by jamblemag.com. December 2008: greentraveller featured on maketravelfair.co.uk
August: greentraveller named as one of judges "favourite websites" in the Green Web Awards
July: Sheherazade Goldsmith recommends greentraveller in her Daily Mail "Green Scene":http://www.dailymail.co.uk/you/article-1030610/Green-Scene-eco-columnist-Sheherazade-Goldsmith.html column.
July: greentraveller's Google rating goes up a notch to 5/10.
May: Alastair Sawday's Go Slow England recommends greentraveller.co.uk.
April: greentraveller recommended by BBC Bloom (the BBC's green lifestyle website)
April: Channel 4's Green Pages recommends greentraveller.co.uk.
March: The Irish Times recommends greentraveller.co.uk.
February: Raise magazine recommends greentraveller.co.uk.
January: Planeta.com in conversation with greentraveller's editor
2007
December: Marie Claire magazine recommends greentraveller.co.uk.
November: The Mail on Sunday recommends greentraveller.co.uk.
November: Tesco Greenerliving calls on greentraveller.co.uk to offer green travel advice.
October: The Sunday Times names greentraveller.co.uk as one of five 'Best On The Net' and says greentraveller is "a site we should all be using more often. The journalist Richard Hammond’s web pages are the first place to look for green holidays and for discussions on environmental issues."
June/July: The Green Parent magazine recommends greentraveller.co.uk.
June: Timesonline names greentraveller.co.uk as one of its 100 best travel websites.
May: Whatprice? recommends greentraveller.co.uk.
2006
November: The Guardian profiles greentraveller.co.uk as 'Site of the Week'.
October: greentraveller.co.uk launches!
