Clean Breaks: 500 new ways to see the world (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

396 Pages·2009·86.73 MB·English

by  Jeremy Smith, Richard Hammond

005 082 104
About the authors
Make your next trip a Clean Break
500 fantastic experiences that will inspire you to see the world in a new light – unusual
Richard Hammond is a freelance travel holidays and alternative ways to travel that make a real difference to the lives of local
journalist who first saw the benefits of people and the planet.
genuine ecotourism while visiting the
Indian Ocean island of Rodrigues in 1993. Unique accommodation: bothies and barns in Britain; houseboats in Kerala; mud huts
Since then he has visited and reported and treehouses in Jamaica; ecolodges in Ecuador. 122 139 156
on hundreds of clean breaks for travel
magazines and newspapers, principally as Amazing wildlife: go whale-watching off Ireland; spot pink dolphins in Hong Kong; track
The Guardian’s eco-travel correspondent wolves and bears in Poland; witness the zebra migration in Botswana.
and as the founder of www.greentraveller. Climate-friendly travel: the train-hotel from Paris to Madrid; ferry-hopping across the
co.uk, an online guide to low-impact travel Mediterranean; horse-riding on the Silk Route; cargo-boat travel around the world.
worldwide. Richard is a Fellow of the Royal
Geographical Society and lives in London, a Live with the locals: camp with the Bedouin; stay in tipis with Native American Indians;
short bike ride from St Pancras International trek with nomads in Mongolia; Aboriginal bush tours in the Australian outback.
train station. 197 273 324
Extraordinary experiences: kayak around the Scottish Isles; reindeer-sledding in
Norway; ride with cowboys in Venezuela; hear the music of the desert in Mali.
Jeremy Smith is a freelance writer who
contracted the travel bug as a child and still
suffers from regular relapses. Formerly the “ The Rough Guide books are legendary.”
editor of The Ecologist magazine, he is now The Independent, UK
co-editing www.greentraveller.co.uk with “...Opinionated and refreshingly direct, Rough Guides
Richard. He also provides environmental can’t be beat.” Chicago Tribune
consultancy to several organizations and
sits on the advisory board of Garden Africa, 335 374 384
a grassroots charity working to improve
MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TIME ON EARTH
health and food security in southern Africa.
An occasional DJ with eclectic tastes, he’s
equally up for a quick dance at a festival or a
slow-food picnic.
448 467
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Cert no. SA-COC-1592 WORLD
500 NEW WAYS TO SEE THE WORLD
Clean_Breaks_final_COVER.indd 1 27/07/2009 16:24
ROUGHGUIDES
500 NEW WAYS TO
CLEAN BREAKS SEE THE WORLD
ROUGHGUIDES
500 new ways to see the world
By
richard hammond
and
Jeremy smith
CLEAN1_001_intro.indd 1 2/4/09 19:32:32
Publishing information
This 1st edition published August 2009 by
rough guides ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL
14 Local Shopping Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi 110017, India
Distributed by the Penguin group
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL
Cert no. SA-COC-1592
Penguin Group (USA) 375 Hudson Street, NY 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Australia) 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia
Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 1E4
Penguin Group (NZ) 67 Apollo Drive, Mairangi Bay, Auckland 1310, New Zealand
Typeset in Century Schoolbook and Berthold Akzidenz Grotesque to an original design by Diana Jarvis
Printed and bound in China
© Richard Hammond and Jeremy Smith 2009
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher
except for the quotation of brief passages in reviews.
392pp includes index
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-84836-047-1
The publishers and authors have done their best to ensure the accuracy and currency of all the
information in Clean breaks, however, they can accept no responsibility
for any loss, injury, or inconvenience sustained by any traveller as a result of information or advice contained in the guide.
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
CreDits
editor: James Rice Contributing editor: Lucy White managing editor: Jo Kirby
Design and layout: Diana Jarvis Picture editor: Nicole Newman Cartography: Ed Wright
Cover design: Chloë Roberts & Diana Jarvis Production: Rebecca Short Proofreader: Janet McCann
additional design input: Scott Stickland, Dan May, Michelle Bhatia, Cosima Dinkel, Joseph Freiberger, Edward Steer, Emily Taylor, Mark Thomas

Publisher’s note
This book is printed on paper produced from environmentally sustainable sources certifed by the forest stewardship council (Wwww.fsc.org). All inks used
are vegetable-based and derived from renewable resources. The carbon emissions associated with the plane, train, bus, car and boat trips taken during the
production of this book have been offset by the authors and Rough Guides, including a donation to the World Land Trust.
ContaCt us
If you think you’ve got an experience worthy of consideration as a Clean Break – or want to give your own take on one of
the experiences included – we’d love to hear from you. If you want to submit photos of your experience, all the better.
Send in suggestions to
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Clean breaks
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contents
Introduction.................................................................................... 6
Great.Britain.and.Ireland............................................................. 8
Western.Europe..........................................................................46
Mediterranean.Islands................................................................ 76
Scandinavia.................................................................................92
Eastern.Europe.and.the.Aegean........................................... 110
Northern.Africa.and.the.Middle.East.................................... 124
Southern.Africa........................................................................ 156
North.America.......................................................................... 188
Mexico,.Central.America.and.the.Caribbean...................... 218
South.America.......................................................................... 250
Central.and.East.Asia..............................................................276
Southeast.Asia......................................................................... 292
The.Indian.Subcontinent........................................................ 316
Australia,.New.Zealand.and.the.South.Pacifc................... 346
Make.the.most.of.your.trip......................................................372
Index.......................................................................................... 385
Features Carbon.offsetting................................186
Green.festivals.in.the.UK.................... 44. Mapping.your.world............................216
Take.the.train.to.the.slopes..................74 Eco.labels.and.awards.......................248
Rail.and.sail.to.the.Med....................... 90. Live.with.the.locals.............................274
Going.green........................................108. Volunteering.........................................290
Miscellany............................................122 Local.voices.........................................314
The.New.Travellers.............................154 Travelling.by.cargo.ship.....................344

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IntrodUctIon
Kayaking around the Scottish isles, snow-shoeing in the
Pyrenees, wild swimming in Finland, learning to dance in
Rio, walking across the Serengeti… these are just some
of the hundreds of Clean Breaks featured in this book
– unusual, alternative and incredible experiences that also
make a difference to the lives of local people and the
planet.
So what makes a Clean Break? Essentially it’s about
minimizing your environmental impact – on your journey
and at your destination – by choosing carefully how you
travel and the nature of the place you choose to stay
at. It’s also about having a positive impact in other ways
– by contributing where you can to the conservation of
wildlife and local heritage, and supporting local economies.
And the good news is that this doesn’t mean you have
to sacrifce any notions of comfort or adventure: the
experiences we’ve selected are (hopefully) ones that
you’d love to do anyway – the difference is that you can
rest assured that your presence in some way benefts the
locality. Many of the properties we review are as stylish
and innovative as they are environmentally aware, from
beautifully crafted treehouses in the South of France and
luxury yurts in Andalucía to eco-chic hotels in Thailand.
We’ve also included experiences that provide a closer
connection with local culture. Seeking out less touristy
places has always been at the heart of Rough Guides, and
in this book we feature local markets and festivals as well
as tours that employ native guides, which make for more
rewarding encounters. After all, the most inspiring person
to take you on safari is likely to be a local guide whose
ancestors have lived on the land for thousands of years;
your dinner tends to be better when the cook has grown
and harvested the ingredients; and the most suitable
person to take you to meet remote tribes is someone who
Clean breaks
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understands their culture, speaks their language and is
committed to their welfare.
Along the way, consider taking more time: often the best
travel experiences are as much about enjoying the journey
as the destination itself, in contrast to fy-and-fop “we could
be anywhere” holidays. Wherever possible information is
given on how to travel by public transport to the starting
point of all the experiences featured. For further tips on how
to plan your next Clean Break, turn to the back of the book
to the section called “Make the Most of your Trip”, where we
provide a list of online resources for trip planning, including
transport options, details of ethical tour operators and how
to link up with “couch surfers”, local guides and “greeters”.
Finally, a note of caution: while many progressive travel
companies are putting environmental and social issues
at the heart of their business, there are also lots of
unscrupulous businesses that are jumping on the eco
bandwagon – meaning it can be diffcult to tell the green
from the greenwash, or environmental spin. We have done
our best to make sure all of the experiences featured in this
book show a tangible commitment to environmental and
social responsibility and refect a new, progressive way to
see the world. We hope you enjoy the journey.
Richard Hammond and Jeremy Smith
introduction
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8 Clean breaks
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