Green hotels near lakes and mountains

Six green places to stay near some of Europe's spectacular lakes and mountains. All are reachable by train from the UK...

Hotel Monte D'Oro, Corsica
At the foot of the eponymous mountain, Hotel Monte d'Oro (left) is a classy, turn-of-the-century, family-run hotel. Beneath the ivy-strung wooden beams of the restaurant you'll feast on produce from the owner's farm, washed down with Corsican wine. The hotel is near Vizzavona, which is on the main railway line between Bastia and Ajaccio, where you can explore forests of beech and laricio pine and swim by the waterfalls at Cascade des Anglais. Vizzavona is also the mid point of the GR20 hiking route, so it can get crowded with walkers in the summer, but the hotel is 10 minutes from the village by car - far enough to feel like a proper mountain refuge.
· Rooms from €80 (monte-oro.com, 0033 4 95 47 21 06). Train from London to Nice then ferry from Nice to Bastia (3-5 hours). Train from Bastia to Vizzavona, where the owner can collect.

Eco gîtes, French Pyrenees
Explore the French Pyrenees from the eco-friendly La Bergerie near the village of Gaillagos, south of Lourdes in the Parc National des Pyrenees. These gîtes have earned the WWF's "panda gîte" eco label for conservation, hot water comes courtesy of solar panels, and you're provided with binoculars and guides to the flora and fauna of the stunning Val D'Azun.
· 0033 5 62 34 21 83, gites-france-pyrenees.fr. From €510 per week (sleeps 4). Train from London to Tarbes (via Paris) from £97 pp rtn (0844 848 4070, raileurope.co.uk) then bus to Gaillagos from where it's a 2km walk.

Camping and canoeing, Denmark
Pitch and paddle your way across Denmark's lake district in Jutland, the location of some of the country's highest peaks. Silkeborg's tourist office organises three-day guided canoe trips along the Gudenå river or you can do-it-yourself by hiring canoes at the Gudenåens campsite, 150m from the water's edge and a 20-minute walk from Silkeborg.
· Three-day trip from around £130, including camping (silkeborg.com). A pitch at Gudenåens (0045 86 82 22 01, indelukket.dk) costs €9.70; cabins from €43 (sleep 6). Train from London to Silkeborg via Brussels and Cologne then overnight train via Copenhagen and Skanderborg, costs from £295.

Cool pool, Austria
High up in the hills overlooking Lake Zeller near Salzburg, you can spend the morning walking up Schmittenhöhe mountain then return in the afternoon and cool off at the family-run Jaga Alm Hotel's natural swimming pool, enjoying views of the Hohe Tauern national park.
· 0043 6542 72969, jaga-alm.at. Doubles from €108 B&B. Train from London to Zell am See (via Paris and Milan) from £256 rtn, from where you can get a transfer to the hotel.

Lake swimming, Austria
Below Mount Poelven at the edge of a pine forest, Schwoich's 2,000 sq m "banana lake" is the Tyrol's first public natural bathing pool, a lake that has been treated using plant filters to clean the water. It has wooden jetties, a pebble beach and is surrounded by forest and mountain slopes. Self-cater at Ferienwohnung Steinbacher, a farmhouse apartment in Schwoich, with organic eggs and milk from the farm and fresh bread from the baker.
· Apartment costs €40 a night for two (0043 5372 58810, kufstein.com). Train from London to Kufstein (Kufstein via Paris and Mannheim) costs from £274 rtn, then bus to Schwoich (€2.50).

Beach retreat, Italian Lakes
Relax on a private beach that's part of a protected shoreline by Lake Maggiore. Polidora is a converted farm in Cerro, just south of Laveno, where you'll stay in the restored hayloft and have access to the owner's 19th-century, terraced botanical garden that leads down to the water's edge for views of the Borromeo Islands.
· 0039 349 78 26 474, polidora.com. Room €120 B&B. Train from London to Milan from £119, then take the local train to Laveno from where it's a 10-minute taxi ride to Polidora.

An edited version of this article, by Richard Hammond, was first published in the Guardian.