On a different page on this site we spoke about the economic reasons why people were more interested in looking for domestic holidays and how glamping could be the perfect choice.  In addition to a limited budget and wanting something a little bit different being factors, if you are interested in environmental issues and living a more eco-friendly life then you should definitely be considering glamping-style holidays in future.

As the cost of oil has risen, so too has the cost of fuel, which not only effects your own car’s petrol cost but effects the cost of bus, train and air travel.  We are definitely not going to argue with the fact that a holiday in the Bahamas, America or Tunisia would be memorable and luxurious; but, if you are interested in trying to reduce your own impact on the environment and carbon footprint, holidays to these places is not your best option.

With glamping you can have most of the same luxuries that any 4 or 5 star resort would offer you in the far-flung places mentioned above, without having as big an impact on the environment.  What’s more, it allows you to get back in touch with nature and enjoy the simpler things in life.  If you have been put off by camping in the past, at Discover Glamping we can’t stress enough that you should not think of camping and glamping as being the same thing.  Although with both, you stay in alternative and simpler accommodation; the experience you have on a glamping holiday would have on a camping holiday.

Unlike large package holidays at stunning resorts fully packed with facilities and features that undoubtedly have a very large carbon footprint, with glamping sites less is generally more.  Glamping doesn’t require nearly as much management or construction for instance, as many glamping accommodations make full use of the surrounding elements of the natural world around them.

Many sites for instance, now include working gardens, composting toilets and make use of solar energy.  The Adventures are Endless:

The choices range from hiking, mountain biking, white water rafting, canoeing, and animal watching to luxury hotel and resorts with outdoor sleeping accommodations and wine tasting. There’s such a variety of places and activities. From Norway, where you can stay in yurt-style accommodations that place you in the best mountain biking terrain in the world to the United States with luxury camping sites in some of its most breath-taking national parks. You can find adventures that are as vast as the big sky.

If this is your first time looking at glamping as an eco-friendly holiday, then to give you an idea of the variety of accommodation available we look at some of the most common and popular types.

Yurts – Yurts are tented dwellings that feature a cylindrical shaped wall of poles arranged in a lattice pattern with a conical roof of poles, all of which is covered by weather resistant fabrics.

Tree Houses – Although similar in principle to those little huts you or a friend used to have in the back garden to play and camp out in, modern tree houses are quite different in many ways.  For one thing, glamping holiday treehouses are often bigger and can house more than just 2 people.  They are also designed to be much more weather proof than the average kids’ tree houses and to be a lot more comfortable too.  While your old tree house might have had a small table and a bench or couple of chairs; modern tree houses have forms of underfloor and central heating, cooking facilities and comfortable beds.

Safari Tents – These tents are normally built on platforms and covered in canvas and used most prominently in Eastern Africa by people exploring the countryside and forestry areas.

Igloos – Igloos of course are the accommodation of choice for a lot of people who live in icy, cold places such as Alaska etc.   Although generally igloos are designed to be structurally strong, rather than pleasing on the eye; the growing interest in unique and different holiday destinations and accommodation has meant that fancier and more comfortable igloos have been designed and built.

Tipis – Tipis are tents that in the past were made by laying the skin of animals over a conical frame of long poles.  There is normally an opening at the top of tipis for ventilation and a flap door.

Hopleys Tipis

Bell Tents – Bell tents are cone shaped and have one, central supporting pole that holds the covering material and the frame up over those inside.  Whereas in the past, bell tents were very simple, nowadays there are some out there that are bigger than many living rooms and can house large groups of people, comfortably with beds and seating areas.

Although that might seem like a short list, it is not the full picture when it comes to the different types of glamping accommodation available out there.  As a knock-on effect of glamping and small building projects becoming more popular, people are using their ingenuity and imagination to set up offbeat and often very quirky holiday homes.  Pods, converted buses, old barns and basically anything with some form of basic structure are fair game when it comes to glamping site accommodation.

This is another reason why glamping beats most holidays in terms of being the most eco-friendly.  A large percentage of glamping sites are designed and built using repurposed materials, whether it’s basic, existing structures that have been modified and renovated or completely new structures built from recycled materials, glamping is known to be both environmentally friendly and luxurious.

So, you know what you have to do now don’t you?  If you are interested in an eco-friendly holiday in beautiful and inspiring countryside away from the daily grind of your normal life, but don’t want to have to fight with the irritating insects, cold temperatures at night and want a moderate amount of luxury that wouldn’t be out of place in a 5 star hotel – glamping should be right at the top of your list!