Top 5 best eco-friendly hotels in the world

It’s becoming increasingly important and popular to travel consciously. Make yourself and Mother Nature happy by staying at an eco-friendly hotel when you travel. When planning a holiday, most people first decide on the country they want to visit and they then decide on choosing a hotel to lodge in. However, what most people are not aware of is that there are many luxury hotels out there doing their very best to reduce the environmental impact and carbon footprint by recycling waste and working in a ‘green’ way to preserve both the culture and support the local economy.

Continue reading and celebrate with us the World Environment Day’s 45th year anniversary, by checking out a list of some of our favourite luxury, high-tech, and of course, sustainable alternative hotels that will make you rethink the way you travel. Be sure to also check out our page on Eco-friendly airlines, making your travel even more eco-friendly.

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Vietnam

1. Six Senses Con Dao

Are you looking for a five-star eco-friendly hotel? Six Senses Con Dao is the right choice for you! Not only does it offer the best Vietnamese hospitality, but it’s also an eco-friendly five-star resort based in the archipelago islands. What more can you ask for? This green hotel has been identified by National Geographic Travellers as one of the world’s top eco-friendly hotels. Built to reduce consumption, help grow local produce, support communities and ecosystems and provide initiatives to involve its guests with feeding the wildlife and help with beach cleanups. Great care has been taken by the resort to minimise the impact on the environment.

The hotel has committed itself to improve the ecological and carbon footprint resulting from the operation of its resort and spa. As well as sustainable initiatives practised within the resort and outside, endangered animals such as dugongs and sea turtles are protected in the national park and guests are encouraged to plant sea grass to help these sea creatures feed.

Six Senses Con Dao hotel has been built using sustainable materials, it’s designed to bring in fresh air from its natural surroundings, which flows into all the rooms within the hotel. Who needs air conditioning when you have the natural cool breeze of the ocean?

The resort even has its own Crystal Water system. The drinking water is bottled in reusable glass bottles, saving 10,000 plastic bottles each month from heading to landfill. Six Senses Con Dao has also installed solar panels to provide a renewable source of electricity to be used to heat the water. In addition to all of this, the hotel recycles in large amounts, uses grey water for its organic garden plantation and offers its guests holistic personalised lifestyle programs such as outdoor yoga, spa treatments, medication and hammam treatment.

Take me to Six Senses Con Dao

To get to Six Senses Con Dao hotel, you would need to fly to Tan Son Nhat Airport in the city of Ho Chi Minh with Emirates, Qatar Airways, Thai Airways, Delta Airlines. You then need to fly to the Co Ong Airport with Vietnam Airlines, or you can travel by Superdong speedboat which takes around three hours and departs from Soc Trang. From the Co Ong Airport, a taxi ride can take around 15 minutes to reach the hotel.

Price: Rooms can be found for around $400 USD a night.

Credit: @Kuoni

The Maldives

2. Jumeirah Vittaveli

The unimaginable Jumeirah Vittaveli hotel resort in the Maldives has perfected the combination of a luxury holiday experience and eco-friendly travel. This hotel resort has been built by the Jumeirah Group, who is famously known for building the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah in Dubai. Jumeirah Vittaveli has been awarded the Green Globe Certification after a sustainability audit gave them high sustainability marks. The luxury eco-friendly hotel has taken many green steps in line with its corporate social responsibility programme.

The Jumeirah Vittaveli has integrated eco-friendly measures, including switching to LED light bulbs (saving up to 75% more electricity on a daily basis) and pools heated by generators that run on heat recovery systems. The hotel also uses an ‘Eco Pure’ water cleaning system that is used to transform seawater and create pure drinking water, and they bottles this fresh water in reusable glass bottles, saving around 50,000 plastic bottles each year, which is an amazing eco-friendly achievement.

The design layout of the hotel is open-concept, making guests take in the tropical beach views, while being touched by cool breezes, and not needing much air conditioning. Also, it is home to the country’s first ice rink, which is the world’s first eco-friendly ‘green’ synthetic ice rink using non-existing water and electricity costs.

Take me to Jumeirah Vittaveli

To get to the Jumeirah Vittaveli, you would need to fly to Male International Airport with any of the following airlines: Turkish Airlines, Etihad Airways, Sri Lankan Airlines, United Airlines, and from there it’s a short 20-minute boat ride to the hotel from the Airport.

Price: Rooms can be found for around $900 USD a night.

Credit: @The Telegraph

Puerto Rico

3. The Hix Island House

Have you ever dreamt of living on a Caribbean island, enjoying and being fascinated by the nature around you? Well Hix Island House, Puerto Rico can make your dream come true. In a remote location away from the island’s busy capital city San Juan, all you can experience here is peace and tranquillity. This green hotel was designed and built in the year 2000 as a luxurious hill-side eco-retreat by John Hix, who specialises in combining energy efficient buildings with the natural surroundings.

Placed on a hilltop, you can always hope for a constant flow of cool breeze making sure you’ll never break into a single sweat. The hotel has been created in a way to let in as much wind as possible in order to cut down on energy wastage and maximise on the natural resources. This eco-hotel has also been built to stand ground against natural causes: the hotel is earthquake, hurricane and fireproof.

Each of the 13 hotel apartments has in-built solar power technology and are designed to collect rainwater, which is heated by the sun throughout the property to provide lodgers with eco-friendly hot water. The grey water is then used to water the bananas, papayas and guavas that are grown nearby — no food miles to worry about with this fruit! This is sustainability to the highest degree. In addition to all of this, you can enjoy a spacious sleeping area, outdoor showers, yoga classes and a kitchen to cook in.

Take me to Hix Island House

To get to the Hix Island House, you would need to fly to San Juan International Airport with Delta Airlines, United Airlines, British Airways, American Airlines, and from there it’s a 22 minutes flight with Cape Air to Antonio Rivera Rodríguez Airport, Vieques Island. From the airport, a quick seven minute taxi ride will get you to the hotel in no time.

Price: Rooms can be found for around $150 USD a night.

Credit: @Hix Island House

Grenada

4. Spice Island Beach Resort

For those looking for a guaranteed holiday of a lifetime, Spice Island Beach Resort will not disappoint. A short walk from the famous Grand Anse Beach, this hotel is a combination of heaven and love for the planet. The hotel island beach resort has received numerous Green Globe Certification awards. Owned and managed by Sir Royston Hopkin and his family, the Spice Island Beach Resort is a luxurious place for lodgers intending to indulge in the natural beauty of the Isle of Spice.

To save energy, the resort uses many forms of energy conservation such as solar heating to warm water and desalination plants that ensure that water taken from the sea can be used. The community make it a priority to maximise the preservation of the island through community beach clean-ups, replanting of trees and recycling. The best part is that all the swimming pools are non-chlorinated and smoking is not permitted in the resort, placing an emphasis on body and soul health and renewal.

Take me to Spice Island Beach Resort

To get to the Spice Island Beach Resort, you would need to fly to Maurice Bishop International Airport with any of the following airlines: Air Canada, British Airways, Caribbean Airlines, American Airlines. A taxi ride to Spice Island Beach Resort takes only 10 minutes from Maurice Bishop International Airport.

Price: Rooms can be found for around $800 USD a night.

Credit: @Spice Island Beach Resort

Indonesia

5. Alila Villas Soori Bali

Situated on the coast of the isle of Bali, between Mount Batukaru and vast fields of rice, Soori Bali is a hidden sanctuary. Rejuvenating and relaxing, it’s isolated from the busy cities. Designed and owned by Soo Chan in accordance with the requirements of the EarthCheck international environmental standards, the resort focuses on the growing trends of sustainable luxury and cultural sustainability. Crafted out of locally sourced materials such as sandstones and indigenous volcanic rocks leaving a natural cooling effect, the hotel resort gives you a true sense of the high life, with stunning architecture and interior design.

Bali has a monsoon season between the months of October and April when it never stops raining. This hotel has been built to use this rainy season to its advantage through the installation of rainwater filtration systems which meet all of its water needs. Soori Bali has also been designed in a way that allows the passing of filtered natural light and natural ventilation into the rooms all while reducing heat gain during daytime and minimising the need for air conditioning. The hotel reduces water and energy wastage by using water and energy efficient appliances in all rooms.

Keeping things natural, its restaurants use fresh ingredients from farms close by and spices from its own garden. The spa aims to guide guests towards a lasting sense of well-being through holistic healing and nurturing treatments, as well as traditional medicine practitioners and herbal pharmacists.

Take me to Alila Villas Soori Bali

To get to the Alilla Villas Soori Bali, you would need to fly to Nhurah Rai International Airport with any of the following airlines: Lufthansa, China Southern, Qatar Airways, Malaysia Airlines, and from the airport, it’s an hour drive to the hotel.

Price: Rooms can be found for around $500 USD a night.

Credit: @SOORI BALI