Travel around the world to nine gorgeous ecotourism destinations.

After two weeks of indulgent ecotourism destinations, my appetite for travel is fierce. The exotic locations, natural luxury, pure relaxation, pristine beaches, handsome forests, rugged adventure, and everything from simple canvas tents to opulent organic sheets have been inspirational. Here’s a quick recap of our two week series.

Alina Villas Uluwatu (Indonesia)

Paperbark Camp (Australia)

Juvet Landscape Hotel (Norway)

Canvas Hotel (Norway)

Six Senses Ninh Van Bay (Vietnam)

Eco Beach (Australia)

In case you are craving something with rustic charm, urban edge, or beautiful snow, check out these sustainable destinations from the EcoSalon archives.

Hotel Basico (Mexico)

Waterhouse Hotel (China)

White Pod Resort (Switzerland)

There’s only one thing left to do – decide where to visit first. Of course we did all the research for our featured destinations, but this piece by Kim Derby will help you ensure any hotel you choose is sustainable.

So, have you made reservations yet?

This is the final installment in our seven-part series, Places & Spaces at EcoSalon, a travel guide to inspire you to carve out a vacation on your calendar. All of the gorgeous locations and accommodations in our guide share our concern for the environment. From tent glamping to lavish built environments, fair warning, you’ll feel compelled to pack your suitcase.

Soak in the warm sand and fresh Australian air at Eco Beach.

Eco Beach is an oasis of earthen colors adjacent to tropical blue waters in northwestern Australia. The resort has an impressive history of destruction and construction. After a tropical cyclone delivered extensive ruin, Eco Beach was renovated and rebuilt with strict sustainability decisions to set a new “global benchmark for ecologically sustainable tourism.”

The Eco Credentials are extensive – this is a destination that completely embraces the definition of ecotourism without compromising the adventure and comfort of travelers.

“Eco Beach oozes comfort, class and perfectly balances the luxury and convenience of a beach resort with the simplicity and sophistication of a truly unique eco retreat.”

Slumber softly in an Eco Tent or Eco Villa, then share the sunshine with whales, turtles, birds, dolphins, dugongs, sea snakes, wallabies, kangaroos, dingoes, frogs, goannas, and lizards; it’s a natural zoo of fascinating variety. The combination of a close connection to nature and minimal impact on the surroundings is inspiring.

Rates start at $165/night – Australian bush, complimentary yoga, and uncompromising environmental morals included.

This is the sixth in our seven-part series, Places & Spaces at EcoSalon, a travel guide that will inspire you to carve out a vacation on your calendar. All of the gorgeous locations and accommodations in our guide share our concern for the environment. From tent glamping to lavish built environments, fair warning, you’ll feel compelled to pack your suitcase.

Ninh Van Bay is a resort that balances luxury and sustainability.

The vivid imagery of Six Senses Ninh Van Bay caught my eye, but the casual atmosphere held my attention.

“You will not need to wear shoes at any time during your visit…”

Six Senses Ninh Van Bay in Nha Trang, Vietnam is anchored in a quiet bay, accessible only by boat. The destination is framed by grains of white sand beaches delicately sandwiched between protective mountains and inviting turquoise waters. Balmy weather is nearly guaranteed, the resort is graced with sunshine 250 days a year.

Traditional Vietnamese architecture is nestled into dramatic rock formations to offer seclusion and privacy from other guests, while allowing expansive views and intimate interaction with nature. The resort’s spa is indulgent, holistic, and an imperative part of your stay. Between your healing appointments of acupuncture and massage, fill your days with magical nature excursions (snorkeling, kayaking, swimming, sunning, etc.). Dining on fusion cuisine coupled with traditional clay pot cooking will fill your nights.

Ninh Van Bay is managed by Six Senses, a company with exotic destinations speckled across the globe. The company’s core purpose is, “To create innovative and enlightening experiences that rejuvenate our guests’ love of Slow Life.” Slow is an acronym for sustainable, local, organic, and wholesome. Six Senses destinations are known for their environmental responsibility from conception through development and daily operations. The company’s resorts are regularly awarded with green and sustainable design awards for their efforts in managing energy, water, waste, chemicals, biodiversity, and community enrichment. Peruse all sixteen locations Six Senses manages to make choosing a luxurious eco-destination an effortless endeavor.

Rates start at $700/night – private villa, endless views of islands in the South China Sea, and organic meals included.

This is the fifth in our seven-part series, Places & Spaces at EcoSalon, a travel guide that will inspire you to carve out a vacation on your calendar. All of the gorgeous locations and accommodations in our guide share our concern for the environment. From tent glamping to lavish built environments, fair warning, you’ll feel compelled to pack your suitcase.

Canvas Hotel is a playground for adults (and bicycles).

Southern Norway is home to the enviable Canvas Hotel, sited on an island in a small lake, surrounded by big adventure. The Canvas Hotel is no ordinary hotel, the simple yurts take a backseat to a passion for peddles. This destination is about bicycles, offering courses, riding, trails, and training that ranges from beginners to skilled experts.

The adventure starts the moment you arrive. You will be picked up at the nearest train station or airport; your luggage will be transported for you while you jump on a bike and savor your first spin into camp.

After you conquer the granite trails on two wheels, head back to the yurts and plunge into the lake for a refreshing cool down. Then soak in the healing powers of a sauna (disguised as a yurt) or saturate your tired muscles in a designer hot tubs. The bathtubs are portable, so you can relax and soak anywhere you like (I would go for the floating platform suspended above the lake).

Just in case your definition of vacation includes indulging your palate, you’ll be relieved to hear the food at the Canvas Hotel is local, delicious, and hearty. The aim of the chef is to delight your appetite and fuel your rides, so there is no shortage of taste or quantity.

The playful atmosphere of the hotel is evident in this phrase from their website, “You don’t stop playing because you get old, you get old because you stop playing.” Who wouldn’t want to play here?

Rates start at $900/day – indulgent food, scintillating adventure, two wheels, pedals, and a generous guide included.

This is the fourth in our seven-part series, Places & Spaces at EcoSalon, a travel guide that will inspire you to carve out a vacation on your calendar. All of the gorgeous locations and accommodations in our guide share our concern for the environment. From tent glamping to lavish built environments, fair warning, you’ll feel compelled to pack your suitcase.

Essential questions for conscious travelers.

The series Places & Spaces could inspire even the most dedicated couch potato to pack a bag and hop a plane. The destinations featured are sustainable, but what about your average hotel claiming green sensitivity? The term is increasingly overused, so it’s important to ask questions. A well-informed traveler is a more conscious one, so ask the following before you commit your hard earned cash:

1. Do they use organic linens and bedding?

2. Can guests opt-out of daily maid service?

3. Do they use refillable hair and skincare dispensers (versus tiny plastic bottles)? And are the products organic?

4. Do they use recycled paper products, in-room and elsewhere?

5. Do they use energy efficient appliances and low-flow toilets?

6. Do they use non-toxic cleaners, paints and pesticides?

7. Are vegetarian and/or organic food choices available?

8. Do they compost food waste?

9. What are their recycle programs? Are they easily accessible to guests?

10. How do they contribute to the local community? Do they employ local people or work with local charities?

While you may not get a “yes” to every question, you’ll be able to make an informed choice and plan ahead. For example, if a hotel can’t meet one of your green criteria (i.e. eco-friendly tissues and toilet paper), maybe there’s a quick fix (bring your own or ask the concierge to provide it).

You can also do your part by taking shorter showers and turning off the television and heat or air conditioning before you leave your room.

Lastly, try to remember that any vacation, near or far from home, is a luxury. Slow down and make it meaningful; pay attention and be respectful. Leave your destination cleaner than you found it, and help our beautiful planet stay that way.

Image: Charles &  Hudson

The Juvet Landscape Hotel is a combination of unique rooms amid stunning Norwegian topography.

The Juvet Landscape Hotel consists of a handful of independent structures sprinkled around the site in Alstad, Norway. Bold architectural cubes nestled in a spectacular natural location offer an intimate setting with geography.

This destination is a series of simple rooms in the forest to nurture your relationship with nature, designed by the talented Jensen & Skodvin Architecture. The wild topography boasts seven unique individual rooms with a single glass wall, inviting the admiration of scenery.

“On a sheer river bank, amongst birch, aspen, pine and Nature-sculpted boulders, lies Juvet, Europe’s first landscape hotel. At first glance, the seven detached guest rooms seem modest and unassuming. But when you open the door and go in, it’s as if Nature rushes in to greet you through the massive panoramic windows. You can almost feel the trees brushing against you, and the snow-white drops of spray from the river Valldøla on your face.”

The surroundings are ripe for adventure, offering skiing, camping, hiking, fjord exploration, rafting, the opportunity to blaze your own trail and gorgeous scenery all around. The hotel itself is stunning, and it’s adjacent to the National Tourist Route, 18 miles of breathtaking scenery stretching from the coast to the mountainous core of Norway.

Rates start at $225/night (per person) – wilderness adventure, natural inspiration, and dramatic architecture included.

This is the third in our seven-part series, Places & Spaces at EcoSalon, a travel guide that will inspire you to carve out a vacation on your calendar. All of the gorgeous locations and accommodations in our guide share our concern for the environment. From tent glamping to lavish built environments, fair warning, you’ll feel compelled to pack your suitcase.

Paperbark Camp is a glamping destination where you can truly bond with nature.

Paperbark Camp is the tangible fantasy of Irena and Jeremy Hutchings. The couple has a long history of traveling, camping, and dreaming. After experiencing the enchantment of an African safari, they couldn’t stop imagining a safari experience in their own Australian backyard. Years later, the gorgeous Jervis Bay of Australia was graced with the sustainably developed Paperbark Camp. The “100 acre site of untouched bushland with creek frontage,” is adjacent to the bay, a National Marine Park.

Paperbark Camp is a rare combination of natural beauty with luxurious amenities. Packages range from bed and breakfast options to adventure itineraries (sail cruise anyone?). The whimsy of a treetop dining room (“a tree house for possums and foodies”), provides candle-lit dinners under a gum tree canopy. The camp allows an escape into nature where you can, “Do it all…or nothing at all.”

Rates start at $300/night – soaring eucalyptus forest, starry nights, untouched nature, and intriguing paperback trees included.

This is the second in our seven-part series, Places & Spaces at EcoSalon, a travel guide that will inspire you to carve out a vacation on your calendar. All of the gorgeous locations and accommodations in our guide share our concern for the environment. From tent glamping to lavish built environments, fair warning, you’ll feel compelled to pack your suitcase.

Alila Villas Uluwatu is an opulent resort where travelers can indulge and relax.

Alila Villas Uluwatu is delicately perched above the Indian Ocean on a clifftop plateau on the Bukit Peninsula of southern Bali. The resort is fragrant with opulence and indulgence. Each villa (there are 84 total) boasts flat lava rock roofs, bamboo ceilings, and unobstructed outdoor views.

Sea breezes flow gently through the accommodations and each villa is embellished with a private pool. The architecture and interior design is a combination of contemporary influences balanced with accents of Bali.

This excerpt from Richard Hassell of WOHA, an architectural firm in Singapore, details some of the sustainability efforts:

“We are very pleased that Alila Hotels has embraced the Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) principles, and we are using many ESD measures including local materials, water conservation with soaks and rain gardens and recycling with grey water systems, using local plants from the special Bali Savannah ecosystem on the Bukit, which are being raised in a nursery on site to encourage local bird and animal life, heat pumps for water heating, salt water pools – among many others. The resort is registered for Green Globe certification, and will be the first hotel in Bali to get the highest level of certification for ESD. As it is built into the resort from the beginning, there will be a strong combination of the built fabric and on-going operations side working together to reduce the long-term ecological footprint of the resort.”

Rates start at $520/night – breathtaking views, private sanctuary, and endless (responsible) opulence included.

This is the first in our seven-part series, Places & Spaces at EcoSalon, a travel guide that will inspire you to carve out a vacation on your calendar. All of the gorgeous locations and accommodations in our guide share our concern for the environment. From tent glamping to lavish built environments, fair warning, you’ll feel compelled to pack your suitcase.

Last weekend I turned off my computer, shut down my BlackBerry and got out of the city for three whole days. That’s right. Three. Whole. Days. That’s three days without internet, email, text messages and a slew of other things on which most of us are dependent, on a regular basis. And it was pure bliss.

President Obama recently proclaimed September National Wilderness Month, stating that, ”This month, we renew our pledge to build upon the legacy of our forebears. Together, we must ensure that future generations can experience the tranquility and grandeur of America’s natural places. As we resolve to meet this responsibility, let us also reflect on the ways in which our lives have been enriched by the gift of the American wilderness.”

How often do we take time to reflect on wilderness? In my job I spend a lot of time talking and writing about it, but when it comes right down to it, the time actually spent in wild places is minimal. Which is unfortunate, because spending time in the wilderness is not only good for you, it’s downright necessary, and it’s the one time that really reminds us why it’s important to ensure that these places don’t disappear.

Things that usually matter lose their importance – who cares what time it is! – and you’re given the chance to truly be in the moment, which might just be why Henry David Thoreau once said, “In wilderness is the preservation of the world.” It’s also the place where we find self preservation. That place that’s completely disconnected from the distractions of everyday life that keep us from focusing on what’s important.

There is simplicity in a routine that only requires you to focus on staying hydrated and fueled; a simplicity that is so easy to forget, but essential to our mental sanity.

So take National Wilderness Month as an inspiration to plan some time outdoors. An afternoon trail run, a weekend trip to the lake or a week road-trip exploring some National Parks; just use the time to remind yourself when you’re choosing to live a more balanced and conscious lifestyle. Turn the BlackBerry and internet time and take some time to just think, completely uninterrupted. I promise that it will do some good.

Images: Anna Brones

In the 1950s, Airstream trailers were the pinnacle of luxurious travel: roomy, comfortable and futuristic, resembling nothing more than a Jetsons-like flying vehicle ready to take to the skies. Today, Airstream aficionados drool over the rounded aluminum bodies and mid-century modern interiors. While many still function as campers, others have been transformed into homes, studios, traveling boutiques and even bowling alleys. These 10 Airstreams and other tiny mobile dwellings prove that small can be stylish and surprisingly multi-functional.

Kristina Spaulding’s Dreamy Curves

Can this Airstream get any dreamier? Pale birch, linen and chrome adorn the curvilinear interior of Kristina Spaulding’s 1967 Tradewind. Spaulding wanted the inside to have the same feel as the iconic exterior, cutting many of the curved shapes herself with a jigsaw. The postcard-covered kitchen counter is a nod to the many journeys Spaulding has made in her traveling home.

Masculine Wood MObi

Modern minimalists who still crave organic textures will love MObi, a restored Airstream with lots of wood and white. Packed with a surprisingly large kitchen, a sleek bathroom and a flat screen television with surround sound, this more masculine version of the tricked-out classic camper has all the necessities and more.

Tiny Modern Airstream Abode

Imagine waking up every day in a bright and cozy Airstream trailer that serves as your home, and then heading to work – in the converted cargo trailer that’s towed behind your truck. That’s reality for architect Andreas Stavropoulos, who has converted both from run-of-the-mill prefab boxes into comfortable, livable spaces.

Sarah’s Airstream Studio

Of course, Airstreams aren’t just for livin’ on the road. They make ridiculously adorable work studios, as proven by this extreme makeover by crafter Sarah of 26 Letters. Sarah’s eye for design is obvious, with carefully chosen modern furniture and accessories and pops of color against a bright white ‘canvas’.

Airstream, or Bowling Alley?

Of all the wacky things you might come across in Vegas, would you ever expect a bowling alley in an Airstream? The trailer – located at the Silverton Casino – seems to have been widened to accommodate two lanes of fun.

Adelante Boutique’s Airstream ‘Curb Service’

Austin, Texas boutique Adelante has repurposed an Airstream into the chicest little mobile boutique you ever saw. The customized 1976 model will roll up to any curb for private parties including bridal showers, with partygoers sipping on “streamtinis” while perusing racks of clothing, shoes and accessories.

Eye-Popping Airstreams at Grand Daddy Hotel

Need someplace to stay while traveling in South Africa? It would be hard to find a more unique experience than the curious gaggle of rentable Airstreams at the Grand Daddy Hotel. This one, designed by Sarah Pratt, was inspired by the blue dress of a certain heroine in The Wizard of Oz.

Contemporary Prairie Schooner

A young couple named Libby Reinish and Tristan Chambers made this ‘contemporary prairie schooner’ in a span of just a few months and now live in it while traveling cross-country. Inspired by gypsy wagons, this tiny portable home packs in plenty of creature comforts, but perhaps none quite as unexpected as the little caged lookout for their cat.

Woodie Love Bug Custom Trailer

The small and shiny ‘Woodie Love Bug’ is like a homemade cross between an Airstream and a teardrop trailer. Custom-made by Dayton Taylor and Vintage Trailer Crazy, these trailers are 12-feet-long fully customizable mobile homes crafted from oak, birch and metal.

Protostoga: 21st Century Wagon

Another project taking a cue from the shiny metal of Airstream exteriors is the ‘Protostoga‘, built as an extension for the owners’ more traditional-looking – but still highly unusual – tiny house. “It will function as a flex space,” creator Ann Holley told Tiny House Blog. “It can be a guesthouse, vacation cottage, dining room, mobile studio, escape pod, reading room and much more.”

Main image: Grand Daddy Hotel