Sustainable and still chic: From Carinthia to Amsterdam: Five cool organic hotels for holidays without climate sins
Holidays with a clear conscience: Anyone who lives in an environmentally and climate-friendly manner at home also wants to pay attention to their ecological footprint when travelling. We present five hotels that have consistently committed to sustainability.
The current “Traveler Value Index“ of the online travel agency Expedia shows what travelers are attaching more and more importance to: sustainability. 59 percent of the Germans surveyed are even willing to pay more to make a trip sustainable. 49 percent would even choose a less crowded travel destination to reduce the impact of overtourism.
Many people have a great need to make their vacation natural, environmentally friendly and sustainable. A number of hotels recognized the trend and the long-term need early on and had their entire operations converted and certified. The following five hotels in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands show that eco and organic mean no restrictions – in fact, even the opposite. The arrival is climate-friendly: They can all be reached by train and also offer their own charging stations for e-car drivers with green electricity, which is often self-produced.
1. Organic pioneer in a dream location: Berghotel Rehlegg in Berchtesgaden
The 4-star hotel, which is located on a hill in Ramsau in the Berchtesgaden National Park, has been climate-positive since 2017 – as the first hotel in Upper Bavaria. The guests experience the consistent focus on sustainability and respect for the environment, people and animals in the rooms, in the spa, at the food and in the supporting program, for which the hotel’s own e-car and e-bikes are available for excursions. Of course, there is also an own e-charging station with self-produced electricity.
The 87 rooms and suites – all with mountain views – are furnished with old natural wood floors, pine furniture and natural materials such as new wool, loden and linen.
The indoor pool and the year-round heated outdoor pool with a view of the Watzmann are heated with their own solar thermal system. Only our own natural cosmetic products are used in the spa. And the restaurant will be upscale kitchen Served exclusively with organic products and meat from the neighboring farm. The Black Alpine Pigs, which are threatened with extinction, are bred there especially for the “Rehlegg”.
Numerous hiking trails start right outside the door of the eco-hotel, which has already planted more than 23,000 trees in Panama to compensate for its unavoidable CO2 emissions.
- Price info: One week double room with half board from 798 euros per person
2. Sea view and green energy: Haffhus Hotel & Spa on the Baltic Sea
Holidays in the future: The energy transition has long since taken place in the 3-star hotel “Haffhus” in the seaside resort of Ueckermünde in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. The hotel and holiday complex, which offers accommodation in double rooms, studios and apartments, holiday homes and holiday apartments, is supplied exclusively with self-generated energy. The 100 percent concept with regard to electricity self-sufficiency, renewable energies and climate neutrality is certified and has received several awards.
On the website, guests can follow when the best charging time at the eight e-charging stations is, how much electricity the photovoltaic system or the combined heat and power plant is currently producing and how much CO2 is avoided per day.
The smart service with tablets in the rooms is also very modern, as is the wellness area newly built in 2018 (two saunas, steam bath, cold grotto, tecaldarium heat room). Those who swim in the outdoor pool can look across the sea to the island of Usedom. The hotel’s sandy beach is 200 meters away. Rowing boats and fishing routes can be rented. Users of the HolidayCheck rating and booking portal rave about the great and quiet location of the “Haffhus” on the Baltic Sea – perfect for a wellness and relaxation holiday with a green conscience.
- Price info: One week double room with breakfast from 627 euros per person
3. Vegetarian options on the panoramic mountain: Biolandhaus Arche in Carinthia
The address of the “Arche” speaks volumes: The 3-star hotel is on Vollwertweg. To be more precise, in Eberstein on the Saualm, a hiking and skiing area on one of the most beautiful mountains in Carinthia. Since 1979, the Tessmann family who own the company have relied on lacto-vegetable whole foods, for which they have received several awards and have the organic quality of the food checked annually. Their organic country house is also one of the first certified organic hotels in Europe and can proudly call itself the first in Carinthia.
The 17 rooms and apartments also meet the highest organic quality standards: clay plaster and solid wood furniture and floors are part of it. There is also a wellness area in the vegetarian hotel: with a Finnish and steam sauna, infrared cabin and Kneipp treatments.
Speaking of water: the water springs from its own forest rock spring. It not only offers clockwise drinking water quality, but is also suitable for spa treatments. HolidayCheck users praise the tranquility of the hotel on the edge of the forest, as well as the starry sky and the fantastic sunsets.
- Price info: One week double room with half board from 342 euros per person
4. The sexy eco hotel: Conscious Hotel Vondelpark in Amsterdam
Doing good and looking good at the same time: “Eco-sexy” is the name of the concept behind the 3-star hotel “Vondelpark”. It is part of the Conscious chain, which operates four sustainable hotels in green surroundings near the center of Amsterdam. In 2009, Conscious opened the first eco-certified hotel in the Dutch capital.
Sustainability looks like this there: Special shower heads and taps save up to 50 percent water. Solar panels heat the water and the energy comes 100 percent from Dutch wind turbines. Bed linen and towels are made from organic cotton, and the rental bikes are recycled.
In the restaurant, too, only organic food from the region is served, the drinks at the bar are also of organic origin and the coffee is fair trade. For its sustainability management, the “Vondelpark” has been awarded the “Green Key Gold”, a quality seal of the Dutch tourism industry. HolidayCheck users are enthusiastic about the stylish furnishings and the ideal location for a city trip. This also explains the incredible recommendation rate of 100 percent on the large rating and booking platform.
- Price info: One week double room without meals from 440 euros per person
5. Bio-design hotel in the trendy district: Almodovar Hotel in Berlin
They go together perfectly: the alternative district of Friedrichshain with its unconventional charm and the 4-star hotel “Almodovar”. For the past ten years, ethics have met aesthetics in the five-story building in East Berlin, just a few minutes’ walk from the Samariterstrasse U-Bahn station. The respectful and resource-oriented treatment of each other and the environment looks like this (stylish) in the “Almodovar”: heating and cooling with heat pumps and district heating, electricity from renewable energies.
The 60 rooms are painted with open-pored lime paint, wooden floors and furniture made from sustainable forestry in a cool design and refrigerators are deliberately missing. Bed and bath textiles are natural materials from organic cultivation, all cleaning agents are environmentally friendly.
And when it comes to food, the highest organic quality is also served: only vegetarian dishes made from fresh, seasonal organic products from regional suppliers are served in the “Almodovar”, and there are organic drinks to drink. The highlight is the Roof Top Spa in the truest sense of the word – with a view over the roofs of Berlin.
- Price info: One week double room without meals from 627 euros per person