Highland Lake Inn
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It's nearing the end of summer. The kids are getting ready to go back to school, work is about to kick into high gear again, and it's a great time to take a last minute eco-friendly trip. For many of us, the budget is busted and there's just no room for splurging. But that's the best part about eco-tourism, nature is the luxury instead of the resort. Therefore, you can choose a minimal resort that's inexpensive yet dramatic and amazing. These destinations have tons to offer for a very slight price. However, these trips do not include transportation which would be impossible to calculate for varying locations.
1. Corcovado Adventures Tent Camp in Costa Rica
Corcovado National Park is a stunning masterpiece of biodiversity in Costa Rica. Home of the dramatic scarlet macaw amongst a wide variety of frolicking monkeys, sloths, snakes, and other rainforest species, it's an amazing trip for the eco-tourist in all of us. Stay at Corcovado Adventures Tent Camp. A package for three nights starts at $400 and includes all meals, free use of kayaks, snorkeling gear, canoes, surfboards, boogie boards, free laundry service, hiking in the park, as well as scuba diving at Caņo Island. Facing the ocean and backed up to the jungle, this is as close to nature as real comfort will allow. Tarp-roofed shelters keep your tent cool and dry, and an elevated wooden palette gets you well off the ground while affording a spacious front porch for a couple of armchairs. Outfitted with full-size beds, bedding and night tables; each tent is strategically positioned to provide privacy and a spectacular Pacific view.
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| www.govisitcostarica.com |
2. Maho Bay Camps on St. John
Maho Bay Resort on St. John, is also a great spot. Maho Bay Camps offer canvas platform lodges nestled next to the National Park on St. John for about $80 per night. The roomy tent-cottages are nearly entirely hidden by the lush foliage. Eco-design features, including translucent fabric on wood frames, screened windows, and open air terraces, which take advantage of the cooling island trade winds. Each has a separate sleeping area with comfortable twin beds and an extra mattress behind the sleeping-couch in the living area.
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| @iStockphoto/pxlar8 |
3. Big Bend National Park in Texas
Tucked deep in the southwestern corner of Texas you'll find Big Bend National Park, 800 acres of impeccably beautiful public lands. Surprisingly, the best time to visit is actually late summer when it's cooler. May and June are the hottest months in the park. The park is the largest national park in the nation and also the least visited. Don't be one of those visitors that just drives around viewing animals from your car (sadly the most popular activity in our nation's parks) get out there and enjoy the park's beauty with outdoor activities. The cost of a vehicle is $20 for a seven day pass good at any park entrance. The cost of an individual is $10 for a seven day pass. Children 15 years old and younger are admitted free of charge. The park has three different campgrounds: Rio Grande Village, the Chisos Basin, and the Cottonwood campground, near Castolon. The cost is $14.00 per night for a site. A full hook-up RV campground is also available at Rio Grande Village.
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| Jeremy Woodhouse/Getty Images |
4. The Black Sheep Inn in Ecuador
Visit the Ecuadorian highlands and stay at the Black Sheep Inn. Check out the Black Sheep Inn. It's an inexpensive, ecologically friendly hotel high in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador. This hotel is a true eco-gem that produces less than one ounce of non-recyclable trash daily per person. It recycles wine and liquor bottles by building bottle walls. The sauna, bunkhouse shower, and showers in the private bathrooms all use the bottled wall architecture. Rooms start at $32.50 per night for shared facilities and go up to $100 for private rooms and bathrooms.
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| Black Sheep Inn |
5. The Highland Lake Inn in Flat Rock, N.C.
Check out the Highland Lake Inn in Flat Rock, N.C. Enjoy this adorable country inn hidden deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina. You can even bring your pup. Go hiking, fishing, or just relax. The inn has installed solar thermal water heating panels in one of its houses. It also has a two acre organic garden, when in season, providing the freshest ingredients possible for the gourmet restaurant. The restaurant buys local, sustainable food from local growers. Highland Lake Inn provides special organic garden tours and lunches throughout the summer and early fall to educate guests about how to grow, harvest, and then cook the vegetables, fresh herbs, and flowers in the garden. The hotel is a member of the Green Hotel Association. Book a room on a weekday and stay for only $89.00 per night.
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| Highland Lake Inn |
6. Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine
Acadia National Park contains spectacular views from its rugged Atlantic coastline and stunning granite peaks. Acadia was the first National Park established east of the Mississippi River and is home to the tallest mountain on the eastern coast of the United States. Don't leave without checking out the beautiful Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. Blackwoods Campground is $20 per night and Seawall Campground is $14 for walk-ins, $20 for drive-ins. Entrance fees for the park are $5 for an individual and $20 for a vehicle.
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| Todd M. Edgar |
7. Oarsman's Bay Lodge, Fiji
Part of the Turtle Island ecolodge group, Oarsman's is on a calm beach in the remote Yasawa Islands of Fiji, near the historic village of Nacula. This is Fiji at its best, showcasing all the natural beauty that the island has to offer. Stay in a 20-bed dorm for just $21 a night. Proceeds from the ecolodges help fund area medical clinics.
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| Oarsman's Bay Lodge |
More on Eco-Tourism:
How to Go Green: Travel & Outdoors
3 Ways to Green Your Canoeing Trip
Don't Ruin The Reefs We Love: Dive Trips That Tread Lightly
