A return flight from London to Barcelona emits approximately 0.3 tonnes of CO₂ per passenger, the equivalent of driving a petrol car for 1,500 miles, or the annual carbon budget of a citizen of Madagascar. The calculation is uncomfortable, and the response, the defensiveness, the guilt, or the decision to ignore the calculation entirely, is the three-way split of the modern traveller. The eco-friendly getaway offers a fourth response: the holiday that does not require a flight, that supports the local economy, and that leaves the landscape, the woodland, the lake, the coast, as beautiful as you found it. The UK has the most developed eco-tourism infrastructure in Europe, the green hotels, the farm-stay cottages, the car-free travel options, and the rewilding projects that are transforming the British countryside, and the best eco-friendly getaways in the UK are better holidays, not just better for the planet. Here are the best.

Best Eco-Friendly Getaways in the UK

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• The green hotel, where luxury meets sustainability: The eco-hotel is no longer the yurt with the composting toilet and the solar-powered torch (though these still exist, and they are still wonderful). The new eco-hotels are beautiful, comfortable, and run on principles that are invisible to the guest: the ground-source heat pump, the grey-water recycling, the locally sourced menu, and the staff paid the Living Wage. The best in the UK: The Scarlet Hotel in Cornwall (the adults-only eco-spa on the cliffs of Mawgan Porth, the reed-bed swimming pool, the Ayurvedic spa, and the view of the Atlantic. The building is carbon-neutral, the hot water comes from the solar panels, and the experience, the silence, the sea, and the sunset, is the best eco-hotel break in the UK. ~£250/night, and the best investment in your sanity you will make all year), the Fish Hotel in the Cotswolds (the hotel in the hills, the treehouses, the shepherd’s huts, and the most beautiful eco-hotel in middle England. The kitchen garden supplies the restaurant, the biomass boiler heats the water, and the luxury, the roll-top bath, the fire pit, and the view of the valley, is as green as it is comfortable. ~£180/night), and the Saorsa 1875 in Pitlochry (the UK’s first 100% vegan hotel, the plant-based menu, the vintage furniture, and the Highland landscape that is the background to the best vegan retreat in Britain. ~£150/night). More UK →

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• The car-free holiday, the train, the bike, and the bus: The single most effective thing you can do for the environment on your holiday is to leave the car at home. The UK’s car-free travel infrastructure is the best it has ever been: the national rail network (the scenic routes, the West Highland Line from Glasgow to Mallaig, the Settle–Carlisle line through the Yorkshire Dales and the Pennines, and the Cambrian Coast line through Snowdonia), the long-distance cycle routes (the National Cycle Network, the 16,575 miles of traffic-free paths, quiet lanes, and signed on-road routes, and the Sustrans website, the essential planning tool for the car-free UK holiday), and the bus networks (the Scottish Citylink through the Highlands, the Stagecoach network through the rural areas, and the surprisingly good bus services that connect the villages, the towns, and the trailheads). The essential car-free holidays: the West Highland Line to the Isle of Skye (the train from Glasgow to Mallaig, the most beautiful railway journey in Britain, the crossing of Rannoch Moor, the Glenfinnan Viaduct, and the arrival at Mallaig, the ferry to Armadale, and the bus to Portree. The journey is the holiday), the South Downs Way by bike (the train to Winchester, the cycle to Eastbourne, 4 days, the B&Bs, and the car-free crossing of the loveliest landscape in southern England), and the Yorkshire Dales by bus (the DalesBus network, the summer services that connect the villages, the trailheads, and the pubs. The walk from Kettlewell to Grassington, the bus there, the bus back, and the most beautiful day in the Dales)

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• The rewilding holiday, the landscape that is healing: The rewilding movement, the restoration of the natural landscape: the trees, the wildflowers, the beavers, and the birds, is the most exciting environmental project in Britain, and several of the rewilding sites now offer accommodation and experiences. The essential rewilding getaways: the Knepp Estate in West Sussex (the 3,500-acre rewilding project, the longhorn cattle, the Exmoor ponies, and the nightingales that now sing in the largest breeding population in the UK, and the safari-style accommodation: the shepherd’s huts, the tree houses, and the camping. The Knepp Safari, the guided walk or the vehicle safari, the wildlife, and the story of the land, is the essential experience. ~£45 for the safari; the accommodation from ~£150/night), the Ecoshelter on the Isle of Eigg (the off-grid eco-hut on the community-owned island in the Inner Hebrides, the wind turbine, the solar panels, the rainwater harvesting, and the view of Rùm. ~£80/night), and the Cabins at the Llyndy Isaf Farm in Snowdonia (the 614-acre National Trust farm, the rewilding project, the Welsh mountain sheep, and the cabins, the wood-burning stove, the view of Snowdon, and the silence. ~£100/night)

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