Today we present you eight hotels that are perfectly designed for families and make your holiday enjoyable relaxing for everyone.

1. A trip to the mountains with the whole family: Eco Park Hotel Azalea

“Freedom and Childhood” is the motto for family vacations at Eco Park Hotel Azalea in the Italian region of Trentino. The family hotel offers your children an exciting adventure holiday in nature while you enjoy a few hours of relaxation for two. The offers for the little ones are varied: from night walks with a lantern, trampolining and slacklining, longboarding, gardening and baking to the treehouse where they can search for the goblins of the Fleimstals and the miniature studio for little artist just to name a few of their options! Here your little ones will find it difficult to get bored! During all activities, an emphasis is placed on understanding and learning about processes in nature: “Perceiving, understanding, and learning with all senses” is the motto of the excursions on offer.

The colorful eco-hotel is perfectly suited to the needs of families and ensures a relaxing holiday for young and old alike. Whether it’s yoga, a cozy chat with your hosts, a delicious cup of fair-trade coffee, hiking in the mountains or simply relaxing in the garden with a book – at the Eco Park Hotel Azalea, the whole family can recharge their batteries!

Read more: Three activity-holidays with children

2. Lakeside family holiday: Hotel Speicher

The location of the Hotel Speicher alone is perfect for an active family holiday: it is located directly on the banks of the Ziegelsee complete with its own jetty – and there are ten more lakes closeby! Water babies both big and small can jump directly into the lake in the morning and let off some steam. The diverse lake landscape is also perfect for canoeing, sailing and much more. A short 15-minute walk will take you to the old town of Schwerin and from April to October the ships of the “White Fleet” shuttle back and forth several times a day between the moorings of the hotel and the impressive Schwerin Castle.

But the Hotel Speicher is also an exciting eye-catcher in itself: behind the brick walls of the building, grain used to be stored! The rooms with connecting doors are perfect for families. And by the way, you can spend the night here in a climate-friendly way. To maintain this status, the hotel has taken many different measures. One of them is the renouncement of minibars in the rooms – instead of small power guzzlers, there is 24-hour room service! This is just one example of many of the hotel’s commitment to sustainability. 🙂

3. The Maldives for big and small: Gili Lankanfushi

In the Maldives, you can do much more than “just” honeymoon or spend some time together as – you can also spend a unique and exciting yet relaxing family holiday here. The activities at Gili Lankanfushi in the Kids Exploration or the Gili Youth Discovery Program, which are specially designed for children and teenagers, provide a lot of variety. While you relax and enjoy a couple of hours together, the kids will get to know the organic garden, cook with Chef Hari, and explore the underwater world with marine biologist Sarah Davies on a treasure hunt and learn about Maldivian art and culture. Starting to get green with envy? Don’t worry, many of the activities are also available for adults! 🙂

Besides the special programs, the crystal-clear sea invites everyone to swim and snorkel, the Gili Veshi Marine Research Center helps guests learn about the state of the sea and the corals and the daily Local Hour brings a different aspect of Maldivian culture each day.

4. Time together at the Baltic Sea: Bio Kinder- und Familienhotel Gut Nisdorf

Quality time together as a family, but also relaxing and spending a few hours apart now and then – that doesn’t work anywhere else as well as in Gut Nisdorf! As parents themselves, the owners Sabine and Jürg know exactly what is important on a family holiday and have therefore designed their bio-hotel to perfectly meet the needs of young and old. The twelve apartments with two to three rooms each provide enough privacy and are equipped with a small kitchen, but you shouldn’t miss the delicious organic food!

From Monday to Friday childcare is offered for all children over the age of one. The programs are age-specific, so there are not programs for every age every day – but that doesn’t matter, because there is more than enough to experience and discover here. The large garden with a playground, Kettcars and more, a natural swimming pool and the Baltic Sea coast with beach, pony riding or canoeing, which can be reached in a few minutes on foot – all this provides a lot of variety and fun in nature. And if the weather is bad, playrooms, foosball tables and more are waiting inside for the little bundles of energy. The wellness area with bio-sauna, steam bath and more provides for some relaxation in between. By the way, children can also have their first wellness experiences here 🙂

Read more: A hotel for everyone: Arrive and unwind at Gut Nisdorf

5. Surrounded by the nature of South Tyrol: Hotel Rinner

The Hotel Rinner is situated on the Ritten in Oberbozen and is perfect for an exciting family holiday in and with nature. Besides exciting activities such as a ride on the Ritten cable car and the cable car, swimming in the Wolfsgruben lake, romping on the huge playground with trampoline, swing, foosball and table tennis, skiing and tobogganing in winter and mountain biking and hiking in summer, there is something really extraordinary to experience here: An absolute highlight for all ages is a visit to Hotel Rinner’s own organic beekeeping.

The family has been keeping bees for over half a century – today, hotel owner and passionate beekeeper Paul Rinner is responsible for this pastime. On the bee nature trail, you will learn more about the indispensable insects, during Api-wellness treatments you will benefit from the health advantages of the beehive air and at breakfast, you will enjoy the delicious organic honey. Important note for all bee lovers: The bees of the Hotel Rinner are left with enough honey for their winter supply!

Read more: Relaxing under the sign of the bees: Api-wellness in South Tyrol

6. For little adventurers and big explorers: Inkaterra

The Inkaterra hotels are scattered throughout southern Peru: from Cusco to Machu Picchu, through the rainforest around the Madre de Dios River. In all hotels, there are special programs for the little explorers to introduce them to the extraordinary and diverse Peruvian nature.

On the trail with an Inkaterra Explorer Guide, they will follow the tracks of native plants, animals and insects, meet spectacled bears (Paddington says hello :-)) in the reception center of the Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel, learn about traditional farming methods at the Earth-to-Table initiative of the Inkaterra Hacienda Urubamba, and are woken up in the morning by howler monkeys in the Inkaterra Reserva Amazónica or can make their own chocolate. The incredible biodiversity of Peruvian nature amazes adults and children alike and makes for an exciting journey and long-lasting memories.

Read more: From the rainforest to the cloud forest and Machu Picchu

7. Vacations in the countryside: Okelmann’s

The Okelmann family has been welcoming guests to their eco-hotel Okelmann’s for four generations! Situated in the small community of Warpe in Lower Saxony, it is the perfect starting point for cycling tours through the picturesque natural landscape – make sure to ask for the snack to go, which will renew your strength on your journey. There are rooms with connecting doors especially for families as well as a playroom where the little ones can easily bake many delicious cakes and pastries while outside the adventure playground is just waiting to be explored. 🙂

8. Eco-family holiday in Tyrol: Biohotel Grafenast

Whether winter or summer: at the Biohotel Grafenast in Tyrol it is always family time. “Time for me – time for you” is the motto of the hotel, which focuses on the balance between shared experiences and the “every man for himself”. For the little ones, in particular, exciting adventures in nature are on the agenda – with a professional to accompany them on their excursions and activities as well as with peers on the playground.

Read more: Sustainability pioneers: Peter Unterlechner from Biohotel Grafenast

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Der Beitrag Family holiday: sustainable fun for young and old erschien zuerst auf GREEN TRAVEL BLOG.

On the top of the list of things making us happy are most likely good food, inner balance and time with our loved ones. Do you feel the same way? If yes, you can find here a few tips for special moments of happiness 🙂

Soul Food for a good mood

A German saying states, food and drink keep body and soul together. Today, Soul Food is the epitome of food satisfying us! Of course, the chefs at our partner hotels know how to get you good mood and happy faces with their dishes 😉

• Marcel Laversa’s culinary creations bring joy to the restaurant Twist. He is the chef at the Swiss Valsana Hotel & Apartments and pampers you with vegan, vegetarian or classic dishes. Needless to say, the ingredients are either regionally sourced or from organic farming.

• From the snack garden to the breakfast buffet: Biohotel Sturm incarnates culinary delights – and is a Slow Food member since 2006. Jams, chutneys and bread are homemade (even with home-grown ingredients), everything else comes from organic and regional agriculture! With his individual creations, chef Hartwig Buß always puts a smile on his guests’ faces when they dine at the hotel restaurant SCHULZE|S.

• How about a romantic candlelight dinner in the restaurant aurum at the Hotel Speicher am Ziegelsee? With a view of the lake Ziegelsee you can enjoy the excellent organic food and some quality time – and end the night with a walk around the lake.

Inner balance

Wellness, Selfness, stress reduction: serenity and health become more and more important and contribute to happiness. Whether forest bathing, Yoga or Ayurveda – with our partners you will find a variety of offers promoting your inner balance.

• The Selfnesshotel SCHWARZWALD PANORAMA offers a wide range of services to enhance your well-being: from a generous spa area to yoga, TCM, looked after fasting cures, basic meals and forest bathing in Bad Herrenalb – it’s all about your inner balance.

• Are you looking for a holistic wellness vacation? In the heart of Sri Lanka, Amaya Lake Resort is the perfect setting for outdoor yoga. If you prefer, you can enjoy certified Ayurveda treatments and the silence of the vast landscape.

• Letting go, the motto when joining selected therapies and treatments at Keemala: The Purify Retreat will help you to reduce stress – physically and mentally alike. Enjoy meditation, yoga, saunas, massages, herbal packs (and much more!) as well as cleansing menus and drinks during the relaxation and detoxification cure.

Me, you, us

According to two long-term studies conducted by Robert Waldinger, a formula for happiness seems to exist. His results show that good relationships make us happy, because the better our friendships and relationships are, the healthier and older we get. Be it with your partner or your best friend, some hotels will give you shared time:

• Cuddling days for two are available at the Hotel Lamm in the Black Forest, for example, including a cozy bath in a wooden barrel, use of the sauna landscape, a foot or neck massage – and plenty of quality time of course 😉

• How about a girls’ night in East Tyrol? At Naturhotel Outside you can book “Mädls Time” (girls time) with your best friends, including a suite, breakfast, afternoon buffet, dinner, full use of the spa area and fantastic mountain scenery for extended hikes!

• Have you always wanted to sail towards the sunset? An unforgettable experience like this awaits you at Reethi Faru Resort on the Maldives. Enjoy dinner for two, a flower bath and of course romantic walks along the beach with the romantic package!

We hope you can draw some inspiration from our tips! Either for mindfulness, time for two (or three) and once again a really tasty meal! Probably you can think of many more things that make you happy 😉

Der Beitrag Happy moments on the Day of Happiness erschien zuerst auf GREEN TRAVEL BLOG.

Underground spa

Outdoor fans regularly lose their hearts here! Far and wide there’s nothing but mountains, forests and valleys around the small eco-village Sagna Rotonda in the Piedmont. The 17^th century hamlet was passionately rebuilt preserving a piece of history. You can find a small pool and Finnish sauna in the vaulted cellar of the sustainable and energy self-sufficient hamlet.

History of Schwerin 2.0

Once grains were stowed here to be later processed to bread, now, Hotel Speicher am Ziegelsee is located in the historic building. Built in 1939, the listed granary was renovated regarding sustainable standards, and offers guests climate-free stays and rooms with view of the lake.

Vivid cobblestoned streets

Cusco is not only picturesquely situated in the Peruvian Andes, but also has a charming, vibrant old town. Inkaterra La Casona is located in a traditional 16^th century manor house, thus, preserving the characteristic historic townscape. Today, Inkaterra La Casona merges the Incan history and Spanish conquerors’ influences.

Bathing culture reloaded

Since 1898, Strandhotel Kurhaus Juist sits enthroned on a dune above the city of Juist. During the turn of the century, the elegant building was constructed as a luxurious spa hotel. It still is a place for unwinding, recovering, and having thalassic therapies. Our tip: Enjoy the impressive view over the whole island Juist from the (new) glass dome!

Between vines and olive groves

Experience a hint of the Italian Renaissance at i pini in Tuscany. The walls of the 16^th century Agrivilla have been renovated in a sustainable way. Only natural, organically sourced, and non-animal materials were used such as lime, clay, and rice.

Der Beitrag 5 accommodations for sustainable sleep in ancient masonry erschien zuerst auf GREEN TRAVEL BLOG.

1.  January

Traveling in the monsoon season bears two advantages: fewer tourists and lush greenery! In the rainforest you probably won’t notice the rainy season much, because it is quite humid anyway 😉 Hence, our tip for January: Peru. In the Andean region, the monsoon season usually lasts until May. You can stay amidst the rain forest at the Inkaterra Reserva Amazónica and enjoy an impressive view of the Andes and the Sacred Valley of the Incas from the Inkaterra Hacienda Urubamba.

2. February

February – neither winter nor spring. Freiburg, however, does not need spring to charm the pants off its visitors. The charismatic city center has a lot to offer; especially the historic architecture, the Freiburger Bächle (a stream running through the whole city) and the weekly market around the Freiburg Cathedral are among the city’s landmarks. In Freiburg’s eco-district Vauban, you can check in the sustainable Green City Hotel Vauban after an eventful day. Best of all: Whether winter or spring-like temperatures – you can visit the beautiful Black Forest at any time easily from here.

3. March

In the snow-sure region of Balderschwang, you can enjoy cross-country skiing until the end of March. Until March 28, 2019, you can book the winter sports offer “Spurwechsel” (English: lane change) with the HUBERTUS Alpin Lodge & Spa. Together with the Nordic-Active Center you explore the beautiful winter landscape for 3 days. In total, you will stay for four nights at Hotel HUBERTUS when booking “Spurwechsel” getting indulged with a HolisticDeep spa-treatment. What more could you want?

4. April

How about forest bathing instead of the Easter egg hunt? The selfness-hotel SCHWALRZWALD PANORAMA offers this relatively new cure during the Easter season. Forest bathing has health-promoting effects on your entire organism, strengthens the immune system and is heart-balming. The meditative excursions of forest bathing into the green are specifically suitable for stress management. Moreover, the cure is most breathtaking in Bad Herrenalb, since the forest is beautifully unspoiled!

5. May

A beach holiday on the Baltic Sea in May? Why not! The sun is already shining and the beaches are not very crowded at the same time. Moreover, bathing in the (admittedly, still cold) sea promotes blood circulation and strengthens the immune system like a climate therapy. If you want to warm up afterwards, it’s best to enjoy the view of the rooftop sauna at the SAND Lifestylehotel on Timmendorfer Beach.

6. June

Thailand is one of the most popular destinations in recent years – for a reason! Even during your holiday, you can take responsibility for your destination and avoid the high season to avoid mass tourism. That’s why our tip for Thailand is likewise traveling during the monsoon season. In Southern Thailand, it rains most during the European summer, but usually only a few hours per day. And time can be easily bridged at the sustainable luxury resort Zeavola on Koh Phi Phi or at the Mala Spa of Keemala on Phuket, an architectural highlight.

7. July

Our tip to escape full beaches during the high season: Beach holidays at Lake Schwerin. If everyone else is at the sea, you can enjoy the sun at the lake. The ideal accommodation is the climate-positive Hotel Speicher am Ziegelsee. Lake Ziegelsee is connected to Lake Schwerin. Not only a paradise for water sports lovers, but also the perfect starting point for bike rides and walks, for example to Schwerin Castle.

8. August

The best way to enjoy late summer is visiting the Dolomites! When the sunset bathes the mountains in red and gold (called “Enrosadira” by locals), you don’t want to be anywhere else. The location of the Dolomit Homes and the Dolomit Boutique Hotel is excellent for viewing the spectacle. It’s also ideal for exploring the landscape around Alta Badia on your mountain bikes or hiking.

9. September

Maira Valley is specifically popular for outdoor activities in summer and winter, and neglected in autumn for no reason! The eco-village Sagna Rotonda is located amidst the untouched nature of the valley, surrounded only by mountains, meadows and forests. With one foot out the door, you can start your hikes directly through the colorful autumn forest. With a bit of luck you can even see deer in the forest!

Known as a winter sports paradise and hiking oasis in summer, the Swiss village Arosa alike is appealing in autumn. The Indian summer around the Valsana Hotel & Apartments is great for relaxed hikes.

10. October

Sri Lanka is regarded as one of the most enchanting and greenest countries! Here, too, we recommend traveling during the rainy season with sustainability in mind. In the northeast, the monsoon season begins in October, and, thus it only rains a few days per month. On the eastern coast in Passikudah Bay – right by the sea – Amaya Beach Resort & Spa is located. If it rains during your stay, get pampered in the spa.

11. November

The best way to escape the grey November is staying at Arosea Life Balance Hotel! In bad weather, you can easily spend several days indoor and switch between the pool, hay bath, beauty treatments, massages and a huge sauna paradise on two floors. We promise, you won’t be bored! And for those among you who are “wind- and waterproof,” the South Tyrolean Ulten Valley offers plenty hiking trails.

12. December

Although winter sports are classic in December and therefore have less to do with off-season travel, you may enjoy the winter holidays snowshoe hiking instead of skiing or snowboarding – and leave the hustle and bustle of the slopes behind. At the Naturhotel Outside in Matrei, you will wander across the white National Park Hohe Tauern.

Also, in the Berchtesgaden Alps you can explore the snowy hiking trails in the last month of the year, and warm up in the heated outdoor pool of the Berghotel Rehlegg enjoying the view of the snow-covered mountains.

Der Beitrag Green travel calendar 2019 erschien zuerst auf GREEN TRAVEL BLOG.