Celebrate Earth Month at These Eco-Friendly Resorts & Destinations

If an eco-friendly vacation is tops on your bucket list this year, then you’ll love these Celebrate Earth Month escapes. We’ve put together a Magnificent Seven menu of ocean friendly, sustainable, and environmentally conscious destinations that are sure to deliver an unforgettable vacation memory.

CARIBBEAN

1. Ocean Club Resorts, Providenciales in Turks & Caicos

Located directly along the world-renowned Grace Bay Beach, sits Ocean Club Resorts, two all-suite properties that provide the ideal open-air setting and direct beach access for guests of all ages to enjoy. The resorts were the first properties to be Green Globe Certified in the Turks & Caicos Islands. Leading the way in sustainability, the resorts had to pass a series of rigorous eco-friendly tests and audits that measured their efforts and ultimately deemed them certifiable by the globally recognized Green Globe program.

A few of the eco-forward initiatives that made the resorts eligible for the certificate include: placing cloth reusable shopping bags in each suite; replacing plastic straws with paper and Styrofoam containers with paper boxes; use of LED lighting, encouraging guests in each suite to reduce water and energy use waste during their stay. By purchasing eco-friendly products, partnering with like-minded vendors and making sound eco-operation decisions while continuing to provide a high level of service for their guests, the resorts create a more sustainable travel destination. Including a few images of the pristine environment the resorts are working to safeguard here. 

2. Mount Cinnamon Resort, Grenada

Tucked away on the hillside atop Grand Anse Beach, the resort features an enclave of 37 luxury villas and suites, each with their own veranda of sweeping views of natural unspoiled beauty. The resort treasures the natural beauty of Grenada and puts an emphasis on leading with environmentally friendly practices, from energy conservation to recycling to growing a garden filled with vegetables, herbs, fruits, and flowers. Mount Cinnamon has been recognized for its environmentally friendly practices with a Gold Green Globe Certification. Celebrate Earth Day all year round with Mount Cinnamons special Earth Day Everyday package. Whether you’re enjoying a delicious farm-to-table meals that has been prepared with freshly grown vegetables from the resort’s own gardens, partaking in one of the many non-motorized water sports, or enjoying the Cinnamon Spa Mount Cinnamon is the ideal getaway back in nature!

Earth Month Special Programming:

• Two beach clean-ups – dates to be announced
• General Manager’s Cocktail
• Every Wednesday throughout the month of April guests can enjoy cocktails while getting to engage with a local artist who creates art from plastic
• Sun Catcher Fridays
• Each Friday morning, approximately 10am – 11am guests are invited to make a driftwood and sea glass suncatcher with members of the Mount Cinnamon staff
• Garden Tour Sundays
• Each Sunday morning guests are invited to tour the Mount Cinnamon flora and fauna grounds with Mount Cinnamon’s gardener
• Full Moon Scavenger Hunt
• On the night of Saturday, April 16^thguests are invited to venture outside to catch a glimpse of April’s full Pink Moon with an astronomer and partake in a full moon scavenger hunt

3. THE MALDIVES

Coco Collection, Maldives

Comprised of two different boutique island resorts, Coco Bodu Hithi and Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu, Coco Collection creates a unique Maldivian experience ranging from luxe amenities to eco-forward initiatives for guests to enjoy during their stay. The resorts’ marine life development (including coral and tree planting), Chef’s garden learning experiences, the Olive Ridley Project (a turtle rehabilitation program), and more, create a way for guests to get involved in their conservation efforts.

Each island resorts’ location in the Baa Atoll lends way to a richly diverse marine biodiversity and the resorts strongly believe in protecting the beautiful surroundings they invite guests to enjoy. In addition to hosting educational programming that takes students on a journey along with associates on coral tree planting sessions, reef clean-ups, and fish ID snorkeling, Coco Collection offers guests the opportunity to go on a guided snorkel excursion with marine biologists, while in residency at the resort(s), to learn more about the underwater life. Including a link here with more information on the resorts’ sustainability efforts.

4. MEXICO

Grand Residences Riviera Cancun, Puerto Morelos, Mexico

Grand Residences, an authentic coastal resort located about half an hour outside of Cancun in Puerto Morelos, has been developed in accordance with the strictest construction and ethological codes in order to promote eco-friendly travel, protect local wildlife and reduce its environmental impact since their opening. The resort prides itself on working with tour operators in the area that have the same sustainable focus.

Reducing its environmental impact and protecting local wildlife, the resort uses reverse osmosis technology to purify water through a state-of-the-art treatment plant on-property, partakes in reforestation efforts, and supports turtle conservation. The resort has also begun providing more veg-forward and plant-based menu options. See here for a few images that provide a glimpse of the resort.

5. Fairmount Mayakoba, Riviera, Mexico

Fairmont Mayakoba is committed to sustainability and plays an active role in giving back to the planet and community. Since May 2015, Fairmont Mayakoba has begun collaborating with the reef restoration program in partnership with Oceanus AC a local organization dedicated to the conservation of coral reefs. For the implementation of this initiative, Oceanus installed three nurseries in the Puerto Morelos National Park. Fairmont Mayakoba obtained healthy fragments of the more significant colonies of coral which are transferred to the site of restoration of the Hotel. Fairmont fixes the corals in bases that hold them until they reach the ideal size to be transplanted to the seabed, where they will naturally continue their growth.

Fairmont Mayakoba encourages guests to participate through a snorkel tour to get to know the nurseries actively and better understand the process that Fairmont follows to preserve the corals. Guests can participate in a snorkel tour to see the work being done to restore the reef firsthand through the coral reef restoration program. In this activity guests will learn about the ecosystem and restoration program on the way to the site, where you will see the team of biologists “in action” carrying out the colony seeding process.

Fairmont’s goal is to train and certify local coral reef restoration groups to recover from the current erosion and tach everyday eco-conscious practices. Learn more about ways you can celebrate Earth Day year-round at Fairmont Mayakoba and the property’s commitment to sustainability here. For more information or to book a stay, visit fairmont.com/Mayakoba.  Peruse this video of the Fairmont Maykoba in all its sustainable glory here ….detailing the Coral Reef Restoration project.

6. SOUTH AMERICA

Hotel Belmar, Costa Rica

Every day is Earth Day at Hotel Belmar, the first sustainable luxury hotel in Costa Rica, a pioneer of tourism in the Monteverde region and a leader in eco-tourism in the country. Located in the Monteverde cloud forest, the hotel has been globally recognized with the coveted Level 5 Certificate for Sustainable Tourism by the Costa Rica Tourism Board. The family-owned resort celebrates the art of nature every day and for the past few years has been certified as carbon neutral by the Institute of Technical Standards of Costa Rica. Always aiming to educate guests and visitors in the best sustainable practices, Hotel Belmar provides a variety of unique experiences within their hospitality offerings including visits to Finca Madre Tierra to learn about their organic and carbon neutral farm while picking coffee beans, grinding sugar cane, and milking cows; participating in a farm-to-table experience visiting an organic garden and learning about organic agriculture while harvesting your own salad and picking herbs and flowers to use during the garden to glass cocktail-making experience, among many others.

Those seeking a personalized organic connection to nature, the SAVIA private reserve offers visitors an opportunity to explore a tropical forest full of adventures, which only allows 6 guests at a time to allow for an intimate immersion experience while respecting nature. The hotel also features 25 elegant guestrooms and suites, an organic restaurant, a bar, a juice bar and tearoom, a spring water pond, a sun deck, a microbrewery, and a food store. With its charming alpine architecture and boasting open views of the Pacific Ocean, Hotel Belmar hopes to inspire the next generation of caretakers of the world’s eco-systems. Please visit hotelbelmar.net for more information.

7. CANADA

Montreal, Quebec Canada

Placing an emphasis on long-term sustainability, Montreal was the first Canadian city to join the Global Destination Sustainability Index in 2020. For the environmentally conscious traveler, Montreal offers countless eco-friendly spots and activities from eco-friendly hotels and pedestrian only streets, to the geo-thermal energy powered Bota-Bota Spa. Foodies can book Round Table Tours’ Sustaining City Tour, which features urban farmers, food production sites, restaurants and a creative workshop around healthy eating. Take it one step further and visit Agriculture Center, the largest cooperative in urban agriculture located in the bustling Central District in Montreal. The city balances big-city comforts and culture with an abundance of parkland where visitors and locals alike can hang out and connect through music, markets, theater and more.

Some upcoming sustainable architecture projects include:

• Montreal’s new light rail system (REM): This 100% electric light rail REM (Réseau express métropolitain) will directly connect Montréal’s North Shore, South Shore, West Island and YUL Montréal-Trudeau International Airport, with the first trains scheduled to run in summer 2022.
• Royalmount: The Royalmount project promises an eco-innovative neighborhood that’s more than just an upcoming must-have address, but also a leafy oasis well-stocked with shops, theatres, hotels and park spaces with phase 1 scheduled for August 2023.  

ATTRACTIONS

Tiqets

Tiqets is Making Environmental-Friendly Attractions More Accessible this Earth Day. Tiqets, a leading platform for purchasing tickets to museums and attractions across the globe, is highlighting a number of popular attractions available on its site that help visitors learn about, get inspired by or give back to environmental causes just in time for Earth Day. Throughout the entire month of April, Tiqets is offering a limited-time discount of 15% on tickets to venues like One World Observatory, Florida Aquarium, California Academy of Sciences, and more eco-friendly attractions on its site. The discount can be applied by using promo code ‘EARTHDAYUS15’ on Tiqets.com or on the Tiqets mobile app. For more information, please visit: www.Tiqets.com.