Asking what the most sustainable way to travel often feels like weighing our love for the world against its health.
We pack our bags. We feel the thrill of a new stamp in a passport.
Then, we feel that heavy, quiet guilt when we smell jet fuel on the tarmac.
We want to see the coral reefs before they bleach. We want to walk through old-growth forests. But we worry our very presence is wearing those places down.
It is a heavy thing to carry.
Leaving our homes does not have to mean breaking the planet.
People everywhere are finding better paths.
We can still see the world. We just need to change how we get there, where we put our money, and how we treat the ground we walk on.
Here are 10 tips from experts on how to do exactly that.
1. Save Water
I’ve spent years moving between rural Uganda, Kenya, and the Philippines, sometimes weeks at a time, so I had to figure out green travel habits fast or become a hypocrite in my own work.
The single strategy that shifted everything: I stopped treating water as disposable when I travel. Working in communities where women walk hours just to collect a single jerrycan rewired how I think about every faucet I touch. That mindset alone changed my behavior more than any app or gadget ever did.
The deeper insight I’d share is this: green living while traveling isn’t really a logistics problem, it’s a values-alignment problem. When you’ve watched a woman like Annet Nakamya in Uganda build her own rainwater tank and then sell water to her neighbors to survive, you stop treating convenience as a right. You start asking what’s actually necessary.
That reframe travels with you everywhere. It’s not about perfect choices on the road; it’s about building a reference point that makes low-impact choices the obvious default.
Gemma Bulos
Executive Director & Founder at She Builds Power2. Go Digital
People don’t usually connect going paperless with green living, but it’s one of the easiest wins out there. Every time I travel, I make it a point to go fully digital; boarding passes, hotel confirmations, receipts, all of it on my phone.
No printing, no wasted paper, no tossing anything in a trash can I’ll never see again. Working in a space where I think about homes and materials every day has made me more aware of what gets used and what gets wasted.
Whether we’re talking about flooring choices during a renovation or a stack of paper receipts at checkout, it all comes back to the same question: Does this need to exist in physical form? Going digital while traveling is my one steady rule. It sounds small, but it changes your whole relationship with the trip.
You stop carrying stuff you don’t need. You stop making decisions on autopilot. And when you get home, you’re back in your space, the one you’ve built with intention, with that same mindset intact. Green living isn’t a location. It’s a habit.
And habits built at home, like choosing the right materials for your floors, thinking about what lasts, are the same habits that follow you out the door.
Bottom line: Going fully digital while traveling, no printed boarding passes, no paper receipts, is a fast, friction-free way to cut waste on the road. Green living isn’t tied to a location; it’s a mindset you carry with you.
Patrick Dinehart
CMO at ReallyCheapFloors.com3. Bring your Stainless Steel Water Bottle
My favourite green living strategy is that I often travel with an insulated stainless steel drink bottle, one that fits perfectly into my backpack drink holder.
By bringing your own drink bottle, you’re reducing waste at the airport, as you don’t have to dispose of bottles. It also saves on cups and plastic water bottles on the airplane, as I ask the flight attendants to fill my bottle. Not to mention microplastics, which are in the drink bottles and probably the jugs used for tea and coffee.
I can easily boil water once at the hotel, and once cooled, top up my water.
Maddison Ryan
Owner at The Digital Hub4. Keep It Close
One strategy that works well for me is choosing accommodation as close as possible to where I need to be, then walking for the short trips instead of defaulting to extra car rides. It keeps the travel simpler, cuts the little bits of waste and fuel use that add up, and makes it much easier to stick to the same practical habits I’d keep at home. I also pack a refillable bottle and coffee cup, because the small repeatable things are the ones you’ll keep doing when you’re busy.
Hasan Can Soygök
Founder at Remotify5. Move Together
Running a luxury transportation company in the Seattle area since 2003 means I’m constantly thinking about how vehicles are used, routed, and loaded, and that shapes how I approach travel personally, too.
The single biggest green habit I’ve picked up is consolidating trips. When I coordinate group transfers, like moving a corporate team to a convention or shuttling cruise passengers to Pier 91 in a Mercedes Sprinter van, one vehicle replaces six or seven separate cars. I apply that same logic to my own travel: combining errands and appointments into one efficient route rather than making multiple trips.
The other thing that’s worked well is choosing shared or group rides, over solo transport whenever possible. A fully loaded Cadillac Escalade carrying six people is a fundamentally different environmental equation than six people each driving alone. When you’re away from home, especially, defaulting to shared ground transportation over renting a solo car is a simple, low-effort win.
Armani M
President at Signature Limousine Service6. Leave Only Footprints
I have been traveling around Nepal for more than 5 years, especially in the Himalaya (Everest, Manaslu, Annapurna, Langtang). Sometimes, I also work as a trek guide and lead my clients through the remotest treks of the world. In these treks, I always try to ensure that we do not harm our environment, and all our activities are sustainable.
One principle we adopt is “Leave only footprints”. This method has been the most effective green living practice. Especially in the remote treks, we have to take camping equipment, one-time use goods (tissue paper, gas canister, and such), and plastic goods. A few years back, there was the practice of leaving these goods back in the trail, once they had been used. However, we have changed that, and now we make sure we bring back everything (even tissue paper) that we take to the trails. This can sometimes cost extra, and we may need to carry heavy bags while crossing the 5000-meter pass, but the effort is worth it. We only leave our footprints in the places we visit, and do not leave any waste.
When traveling, I try to choose the sustainable hotels instead of the most price-competitive hotels. If possible, I book hotels that promote green living (reduce waste and promote recycling) and also hotels that are run by the local people. I believe that local people are always better suited to maintain and protect their local environment. So, I try to support them by booking with them.
Also, I always make sure I turn off the lights and close the water tap completely before leaving my room.
Sandip Kshetri
Product Development Officer at Trek Langtang7. Act Like A Local
One of the most useful things for me is not constantly moving all over. Which makes me walk more, and use public transport more, so that I am not wasting my time or money, or energy, going from hotel to hotel.
It also allows me more time to eat at local restaurants, supporting small businesses and experiencing the area in a less contrived way. I also keep a reusable water bottle and bag on hand, and I try to decline extra plastic when possible. When I do it from the start and make it part of the trip, green living while traveling is easier for me.
Alex Veka PhD
Founder at Vibe Adventures8. Seek Sustainable Restaurants
As a vegetarian, I always seek out plant-based restaurants and options when I’m travelling. Aside from the fact that I personally prefer them, supporting vegan restaurants and foods contributes to keeping these options available for everyone. I usually bring a vegan protein shake and shaker bottle with me when I travel to supplement protein needs on the road. It makes me feel full and energized, even in transit.
Kristin Matthews
Founder at Vibe Adventures9. Rent It Out
When I travel, I maintain green living by renting the things I need at my destination instead of packing or buying them. A single effective strategy I use is to borrow items locally through platforms like iVault, so I avoid transporting or owning things I rarely use.
This approach cuts down on the resources tied up in manufacturing and reduces waste from products that sit unused for most of their lives. Practically, I search for available items near my destination and reserve them for the dates I need, which keeps my luggage light and my footprint smaller.
Arman Sarhaddar
CEO & Founder at ivault10. The most Green Product Is The One You Did not buy
One of the biggest pitfalls of going green while traveling is thinking that you must purchase certain ‘green’ items for each trip; however, in reality, you are only contributing to more consumption by doing this. Traveling, similar to how you would achieve operational excellence, is about removing friction from your travels (not just in logistics but also without producing waste).
My main strategy is to have my packing kit function like a standard operating procedure. I have a modular, solid-state toiletries container, a consistent set of reusable utensils, and a good-quality reusable water bottle that I have carried with me for years. By automating these products and incorporating them as permanent fixtures in my luggage, it means I will never have to make a ‘green choice’ again while on the road – the choice has already been made for me. One of the best ways to practice a green habit is to simply avoid convenience-driven consumption that the travel industry tries to sell to us. It is about being proactive with how you prepare so that when you are tired or rushing, you do not get forced into making a decision that produces waste.
Establishing these habits while away from home does not require any drastic lifestyle changes but just a simple pre-trip way of thinking (systems thinking). When you view sustainability as part of your logistical workflow, it no longer feels like work but rather becomes part of your day-to-day default habit.
Pratik Singh Raguwanshi
Manager, Digital Experience at LiveHelpIndia.comConclusion
At the end of the day, there is no perfect trip.
Every flight, every train ride, and every bus ticket leaves a mark.
But changing how we move makes a real difference.
When we choose the slow train over the quick flight, or spend our dollars at a local bakery instead of a global chain, we vote for the kind of world we want to keep.
We protect the places we love so other people can see them, too.
When friends ask you what the most sustainable way to travel is, tell them it is simply traveling with your eyes open.
It means moving more slowly.
Taking less.
And leaving more good behind.
FAQ
They can be, but they are not a free pass to pollute. The best step is always cutting down your own emissions first, like taking a train instead of flying. If you must fly, look for offset projects checked by strict third-party groups, like the Gold Standard. These projects often fund wind farms or plant trees, helping local communities right now.
It depends on the distance and how many people are in the car. If you are driving alone across the country in a gas-heavy truck, a direct economy flight might burn less fuel per passenger. But if a family of four packs into a hybrid car, driving wins easily. For short trips, taking a bus or a train beats driving by a wide margin.
Look past the green logos. Many hotels ask you to reuse towels but do nothing about their massive energy waste. Look for spots owned by local families. Ask if they use renewable energy, compost their food scraps, or hire people from the community. Certifications like LEED or Green Key are also good markers to check.
Slow down. Try to stay in one place longer instead of rushing through five cities in a week. Eat food grown nearby. Walk or ride a bike. When we stay put, we spend less fuel and put more money directly into the hands of the people who live there.
Earthava is an environmental collective designed to turn awareness into impact. From deep dives into ecology to daily sustainable swaps, we provide the tools and intel you need to protect the ground you stand on.