Let us have a look at what your destination options are, as an eco-conscious traveler on a budget.
Your options are endless! There are fantastic resources available to guide your travels so that you can find amazing eco-destinations. There are literally thousands of destinations to choose from so you are sure to find something close to home to cut those air miles and something within your budget.
There are a few things you need to think about and weigh before choosing your destination. The best thing to do is to compile a list with some key information. Firstly find out how much leave you have available and then look at your budget, bear in mind the currency exchange rates, what time of the year you’ll be travelling, and do you want to stay in a hotel, or self catering accommodation.
Once you have these factors you can decide what type of holiday you’re looking for. Are you interested in a fuss free relaxed holiday where you can spend time chilling out at the beach or enjoying nature? Or do you want to visit somewhere you’ve never been to? Do you want to do some thing worth while like volutarianism through responsible travel or experience nature through hiking trails and camping? When you’ve figured out your values and holiday expectation you have a much more solid idea on where you would like to go. You can then use the tools out there to find the holiday destination most suited to your needs and requirement.
ee relaxed holiday where you can spend time chilling out at the beach or enjoying nature? Or do you want to visit somewhere you’ve never been to? Do you want to do some thing worth while like volutarianism through responsible travel or experience nature through hiking trails and camping? When you’ve figured out your values and holiday expectation you have a much more solid idea on where you would like to go. You can then use the tools out there to find the holiday destination most suited to your needs and requirement.
Keep up to date on the latest holidays and destinations with us. We post regular news on fantastic holiday options.
Find below a few lists of the top eco-ranking cities to begin your search.
Eco-City Ranking 2010 includes the following criteria: Water availability, water potability, waste removal, sewage, air pollution and traffic congestion. Here is the eco-city ranking divided up into continents or world areas:
Eco-City Ranking of Continents
Americas
• Calgary (1st)
• Honolulu (2nd)
• Ottawa (3rd)
• Minneapolis (6th)
• Vancouver (tied 13th)
• Montreal (tied 13th)
Asia Pacific
• Wellington (5th)
• Adelaide (7th)
• Kobe (9th)
• Perth (12th)
• Auckland (13th)
Europe
• Helsinki (3rd)
• Copenhagen (8th)
• Oslo (tied 9th)
• Stockholm (tied 9th)
• Nurnberg (tied 13th)
• Bern (tied 13th)
Middle East & Africa
• Cape Town (30th)
• Victoria (38th)
• Muscat (48th)
• Johannesburg (54th)
• Abu Dhabi (tied 65th)
• Dubai (tied 65th
Vienna might be the best city in the world as far as quality of living is concerned, but Calgary and Honolulu top the charts as eco-cities with clear skies, clean water and open roads.
This is according to the Mercer 2010 Quality of Living survey.
The scores were tabulated with New York City serving as a base city with a score of 100. The oft-mentioned Green NYC is not in the top 10 or the top 50, and is probably not even among the top 100 eco-cities in the world.
Listed below are the top 50 eco-cities in the world
1 CALGARY CANADA
2 HONOLULU UNITED STATES
3 OTTAWA CANADA
4 HELSINKI FINLAND
5 WELLINGTON NEW ZEALAND
6 MINNEAPOLIS UNITED STATES
7 ADELAIDE AUSTRALIA
8 COPENHAGEN DENMARK
9 KOBE JAPAN
10 OSLO NORWAY
11 STOCKHOLM SWEDEN
12 PERTH AUSTRALIA
13 MONTREAL CANADA
14 VANCOUVER CANADA
15 NURNBERG GERMANY
16 AUCKLAND NEW ZEALAND
17 BERN SWITZERLAND
18 PITTSBURGH UNITED STATES
19 ZURICH SWITZERLAND
20 ABERDEEN UNITED KINGDOM
21 CANBERRA AUSTRALIA
22 SINGAPORE SINGAPORE
23 BRISBANE AUSTRALIA
24 WASHINGTON UNITED STATES
25 MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA
26 GENEVA SWITZERLAND
27 BOSTON UNITED STATES
28 DUSSELDORF GERMANY
29 MUNICH GERMANY
30 CAPE TOWN SOUTH AFRICA
31 BELFAST UNITED KINGDOM
32 LYON FRANCE
33 DUBLIN IRELAND
34 HAMBURG GERMANY
35 STUTTGART GERMANY
36 PHILADELPHIA UNITED STATES
37 YOKOHAMA JAPAN
38 VICTORIA SEYCHELLES
39 TORONTO CANADA
40 AMSTERDAM NETHERLANDS
41 BRUSSELS BELGIUM
42 LEIPZIG GERMANY
43 ST. LOUIS UNITED STATES
44 VIENNA AUSTRIA
45 LUXEMBOURG LUXEMBOURG
46 SYDNEY AUSTRALIA
47 GLASGOW UNITED KINGDOM
48 MUSCAT OMAN
49 POINT-A-PITRE GUADELOUPE
50 NAGOYA& OSAKA JAPAN
From the lists we can deduct that:
• European cities dominate the top 10 ranking for Quality of living, with Canada, New Zealand and Australia also featuring
• Vienna scores highest for overall quality of living, Baghdad the lowest
• Calgary is the world’s top in the Eco-city ranking, followed by Honolulu, with Ottawa and Helsinki in joint 3rd place
Data Source: Mercer
Editorial Director
