Surrounded by natural beauty, the Inn by the Sea on Crescent Beach in Cape Elizabeth, Maine offers luxurious accommodations.

Fall in New England marks leaf-peeping season and beautiful sunsets, making it a perfect time to visit and enjoy the cool weather. Located just outside Portland, Maine is Inn by the Sea, a coastal destination where “luxury comes naturally.” Renovated extensively just a few years ago, it’s now nationally recognized for its eco-friendly practices.

Because Inn by the Sea is adjacent to a wildlife sanctuary, it is a designated wildlife habitat, making it one of the first hotels certified as “Green Lodging” by Maine’s DEP. It seems that the Inn is leading the hospitality industry in Maine through other aspects as well. It was the first to heat with biofuel, the first to be carbon neutral, and the first to have dual flush toilets as well. Other cool eco-features include solar heating for the pool, recycled rubber floors in the fitness room, recycled cork floors in the spa, and the inn even assists eco-conscience couples in planning green weddings.

Perhaps one of the aspects of Inn by the Sea that we love so much is that it goes beyond the corporate level by engaging guests with educational classes that are offered to pass on the environmental messages. Weekly seminars and garden tours are offered on the Inn’s five acres of seaside gardens, teaching guests how to plant for wildlife, while children learn about bug ecosystems during the summer’s “Bug’s Life” series.

If you go: Check out Sea Glass, the Inn by the Sea’s restaurant featuring local ingredients from produce to cheese to sea salt. Rates start at $189USD per night.

Places & Spaces is 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.

The post Places & Spaces: Inn by the Sea, Cape Elizabeth, Maine appeared first on EcoSalon.

Clayoquot Wilderness Resort in Vancouver provides guests with luxurious “tented” accommodations and five-star dining.

Tucked in the middle of nowhere on the west coast of Vancouver Island is an eco-safari retreat called Clayoquot Wilderness Resort, which can only be reached by boat or seaplane. While the accommodations at this resort are comprised of 20 tents, each offers every bit of the luxury you are seeking. This remote Canadian getaway has dining tents that offer five-star cuisine, massage and treatment tents, lounge tents and guest tents with fluffy duvets and antiques, all inspired by late 19th century Great Camps.

But behind the luxury there is a deep and meaningful commitment to restoring the land. Located on the Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve Area on the banks of the remote Bedwell River, Clayoquot Wilderness Resort is committed to running in an environmentally sustainable manner with as low-impact operations as technology allows.

We love that every evening the Activities Director meets with guests personally to design their adventures for the next day, which depends on weather, tidal charts and animal sightings. The resort offers tons of activities so guests will never have a shortage of things to do in the wilderness.

If you go: While Clayoquot Wilderness Resort is only open May through September and guests are encouraged to make reservations in advance. Rates start at $4,650.00USD for three nights, and include return airfare from Vancouver to the Resort, deluxe tented accommodation, all meals, snacks and beverages (including alcohol), massage treatments and a wide array of guided adventure activities including instruction.

Places & Spaces is 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.

The post Places & Spaces: Clayoquot Wilderness Resort, Vancouver, Canada appeared first on EcoSalon.

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

The post 10 Cool Airstreams and Other Alternative Mobile Housing appeared first on EcoSalon.

How ’bout a swap meet? No, not the kind where you buy second-hand junk from a vendor and homemade tamales from a truck but the kind where you connect with someone who lives somewhere you want to go (like a villa in Cabo San Lucas) and you exchange your digs. Now, that’s a romantic way to meet, if you ask me.

It all starts with listing your place and finding a good trade, either via Craig’s List regional ads or through one of the many online home exchange services. According to Move Trends, the recession is generating a boost in swaps with listings jumping from 20,000 last year to 27,000 in May of 2009.

It’s a great strategy for those with homes or apartments in desirable locations. I remember a Bay Area lawyer once telling me he was able to swap his turn-of-the-century family home in Alameda for a castle in Great Britain. Another friend is headed to Israel this summer, trading her family’s L.A. digs for a nice pad in Jerusalem. She wants some holy land. They want Beverly Hills. You don’t have to own a luxury estate for your home to be attractive to other travel bugs. Simply having a pool, garden or being close to a city hub could close the deal.

Also, don’t think it’s just the last resort for folks who can’t afford a luxury hotel or other inn. A recent article on swapping in New York Magazine recounts the story of  David Drake, a wealthy NY venture capitalist, who swapped his sprawling, 4,000-square-foot Soho loft with a baby grand piano and plasma TV for a 2,000-acre cattle ranch near Houston, Texas. “It was amazing!” he shared. ” We got to shoot, we got to ride. Rather than pay $5,000 per night at the Four Seasons to get a really nice suite, why not?”

It’s a sign more moneyed homeowners are securing this form of budget travel for a variety of reasons, including being able to get an authentic cultural experience in an exotic region with all of the comforts of someone’s home. New York Magazine interviewed Margaret Carr, owner of Exclusive Exchanges, who says a man with a Tuscan villa is receiving many inquiries for his property from affluent swappers willing to trade their fancy co-ops and Manhattan penthouses.

I had concerns, myself, about swapping because of strangers using my bedding and furniture and living with my artwork and other personal belongings. This is why so often those with luxury properties swap their vacation homes rather than primary residences. The vacation homes are often staged with decor designed to be used by renters.

Which areas are most sought after for swaps? According to Carr, New York is the top destination, followed by Paris. Maybe it’s not just that these cities are exciting and romantic but also because lodging there can run a small fortune.

Images: Noah Kalina

The post House-Swapping: the Cheap Route to Ritzy Travel appeared first on EcoSalon.