The sustainable category recognizes places that focus on responsible tourism and environmentally friendly strategies.
According to Lonely Planet, five destinations in Europe are among the top ten sustainable places to travel in 2024.
Travel experts have released their top picks for where to go in the world next year. The ranking is divided into Countries, Regions, Cities, Sustainable and Value categories.
The sustainable category recognizes places that focus on responsible tourism and environmentally friendly strategies.
From Spain to rural Wales, here are the winners in Europe.
The Spain of city parks and cycle paths
Spain It’s already one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, but the sunny country has developed strategies to boost off-season travel and promote overlooked destinations.
It has also invested in environmentally friendly forms of transport, including expanding cycle networks, switching to electric buses and launching new rail routes.
Valenciaon the east coast of Spain, is the European Green Capital for 2024 thanks to various sustainable initiatives, including the designation of new peri-urban agricultural land, the pedestrianization of 30,000 m2 of public space and improved high-speed rail links with other cities .
If you visit the city, be sure to take a tour around the Jardín del Turia, a pedestrian park created by the 9km-long bed of the Turia river. You can rent a bike or join a two-wheel tour.
Greenland for low-impact adventures on the ice
Greenland has long attracted curious and intrepid travelers to its vast lands ice sheets and tundra landscapes.
The country’s tourism board, Visit Greenland, has been working to mitigate the problems of growing numbers of visitors.
This includes ensuring the maintenance and preservation of natural environments and regulating tourism activities.
Greenland is a prime destination for northern Lights and the country will see a “spike in aurora sightings as the sun reaches peak activity over the next few years,” writes Lonely Planet.
For a low-impact adventure, the travel site recommends a two-day camping trip to the world’s second-largest ice sheet, starting in Kangerlussuaq, a short drive away.
Wales for wild nature walks
Walesone of the first countries in the world to legislate on sustainability, it made the list thanks to its renovated railway network.
Lonely Planet praises the country’s expansion for increasing “planet-friendly opportunities to explore the nation’s wild and wonderful west.”
The remote Pembrokeshire National Park is becoming more accessible thanks to new train stations and increased services planned for the South Wales mainline rail line in early 2025.
You can also sample the food of the future at Dr Beynon’s Bug Farm near St Davids.
This research center and nature reserve is home to the Grub Kitchen, the UK’s first edible insect cafe. Here you can learn about sustainable food and then munch on a cricket biscuit if you dare.
Portugal for a long-distance hike
For an epic pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, hikers can start from Portugal and extend their journey on the trail up to 620 km.
The Portuguese Way (Caminho Português de Santiago) is a scenic journey that can be undertaken on foot or by bicycle.
The journey begins in Lisbon and passes Romanesque churches, picturesque rivers and ancient villages.
You can “spend the night in locally owned albergues, dine in traditional restaurants, and visit small towns that have struggled as their residents flocked to the big cities,” says Lonely Planet.
The Baltics for meditative movement in nature
In the Baltic nationsyou will find “paths [that] they comprise what could be considered the longest meditation practice in Europe,” according to Lonely Planet.
Travel experts recommend visiting the region’s sand dunes, rivers and lakes on a journey to “discover your inner self”.
Head to Estonia for austere landscapes, Lithuania for the fine sands of the Curonian Spit and Latvia for the forested Gauja River valley, perfect for leaf-peeping in autumn.
Image:Getty Images
