Is a walking holiday sustainable? The short answer: it depends. In this article, we look at why a walking holiday is often considered a sustainable option, where the caveats lie, and how you can actively make your own sustainable walking holiday choices more intentional and responsible.
Walking holidays have become increasingly popular as part of the broader slow travel movement. More and more people are looking for ways to explore the world at a human pace, while also being mindful of their environmental impact. This naturally leads to the key question many walkers ask themselves before booking: is a sustainable walking holiday actually possible?
Why walking holidays are considered a sustainable option
Minimal carbon footprint while walking
One of the most obvious advantages of a walking holiday is what happens once you start walking. Day to day, you usually don’t rely on cars, buses, or trains anymore. Walking itself is a zero-emission activity – ok, you’re breathing a bit more heavily, we get it –, and replacing motorised transport with your own two feet immediately lowers the environmental impact of the trip.
That said, transparency matters. Many walkers use luggage transport services, which we’ll come back to further down, as this is one of the main factors influencing the overall footprint of a walking holiday.
Supporting local economies
Another strong argument for a sustainable walking holiday is its potential to support local economies. Walkers often stay in rural areas and eat in small local restaurants or cafés. These are places that would rarely appear on a classic tourist itinerary. Also, walking through small villages can be meaningful for local businesses, especially in countries like Spain, where large cities such as Barcelona or Madrid struggle with overtourism.
Of course, we also need to be honest about the fact that overtourism exists on some popular walking holiday routes as well. Depending on someone’s goal, the Camino, for example, can be experienced either as a pilgrimage or as a walking holiday, but regardless of the walker’s mentality, some sections of it undeniably see high visitor numbers. A well-known example is the last 100 kilometres of the Camino from Sarria to Santiago.
However, when you look at lesser-known routes, a sustainable walking holiday can make a real difference. Some of our trips like this include the Camino Inglés, the Camino Sanabrés, and the Camino Primitivo, or also our new Portuguese Fishermen’s Trail.
I remember walking the Camino in 2019 and passing through villages I would never have visited otherwise. Small cafés and family-run guesthouses were clearly supported by walkers passing through. Even as a traveller who loves the buzz of cities on holiday, this way of travelling felt like a beautiful counterbalance to city-based tourism.
At WAW, we also prefer working with smaller guesthouses or boutique hotels. This is partly because of the personal relationships we’ve built with the people behind these places, but also because we genuinely believe they add depth to a sustainable walking holiday experience. Meeting the families who run the accommodation, sharing a conversation, or even a meal, creates cultural exchange that goes far beyond simply spending the night.
A deeper connection to nature
Walking encourages a deeper connection to natural landscapes, which in turn raises environmental awareness. If you’re familiar with the biophilia hypothesis, you’ll know that time spent in nature has a direct positive impact on our health and wellbeing. Although for most people this feeling is innate, regardless of the hypothesis. 🙂
On a sustainable walking holiday, we spend hours outdoors every day. We have the chance to slow down and listen to our surroundings, often reconnecting with our own thoughts as well as the natural world. I experienced this strongly while walking the National Blue Trail in Hungary in 2023.
While the Blue Trail is more often considered a hike than a walking holiday, many people walk it in sections during weekends or annual leave, essentially making it something like a walking holiday. Spending around eight hours a day in nature and encountering abundant wildlife made me reflect deeply on my everyday choices and my personal responsibility towards environmental health, a feeling that many other walkers have shared with me throughout the years since I’ve been active in hiking and walking professionally.
The hidden environmental costs of walking holidays
While the idea of a sustainable walking holiday is appealing, it would be hypocritical to ignore the hidden environmental costs. Walking itself may be low-impact, but the broader system around a walking holiday can still have a significant environmental and social footprint.
We believe the first step is acknowledging these impacts and being transparent about them. Only then can we look at ways to reduce them, improve practices, and explore alternatives. At WAW, we openly acknowledge that some of our current practices can and should become more sustainable over time. This is something we actively work on, and if you ever have ideas or suggestions, we genuinely welcome them at [email protected].
Luggage transfers and vehicle support
Luggage transport by van or taxi does contribute significantly to the emissions of an otherwise close to zero-emission way of walking. So why do we usually include this service?
Most of our walking holidays include luggage transport because it is one of the key services walkers expect when booking through an agency, alongside route expertise and accommodation planning. Another factor is that many of our walkers are at an age where carrying all necessities every day becomes physically challenging. Some of our absolute highlights include Henk, who walked the Camino at the age of 84, and Steffi, who did so at 89!
We believe a sustainable walking holiday should be accessible to people of different ages and physical abilities, even if that inclusivity comes with trade-offs. However, we work with local luggage transport companies on popular routes and aim to organise transfers as efficiently as possible. Still, we acknoledge that luggage transfers do increase the overall footprint of a walking holiday.
Similarly, some incredibly beautiful routes lack accommodation every 15 to 20 kilometres. In those cases, walkers may need a car or minivan transfer at the end of the day. We try to avoid these routes when possible, as they make a walking holiday less sustainable. At the same time, increased popularity can eventually lead to better local infrastructure, reducing the need for transfers in the future. So this coin definitely has two sides!
When it comes to getting to the start and from the end of a route, we actively encourage the use of public transport whenever it is practical and affordable. But let’s look at transportation in a bit more detail below.
Getting there by plane
The elephant in the room: many walking holidays still require flights, especially for some beautiful island destinations such as Menorca, Mallorca, Lanzarote, or Fuerteventura. Personal flying is one of the highest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, as aviation accounts for around 2.5% of global CO₂ emissions.
Even for inland routes within Europe, such as Via Francigena or Picos de Europa, limited time off for travellers within Europe often means prioritising walking days over slower travel to the start. For international travellers, avoiding flights is unfortunately often unrealistic. However, reducing flights is, of course, still our shared responsibility.
We are looking forward to upcoming developments, such as the expansion of high-speed rail across the EU, accepted in November 2025. Now from Amsterdam to Paris it is possible to travel by train in 3.5 hours. With the new fast trains, Paris–Madrid would be 6 hours, while Madrid–Lisbon would be an additional 3 hours. Needless to say, we are excited to encourage people to choose this option in the coming years. At the same time, for those who enjoy travelling slowly and can already spend a few extra days on the journey, some of the existing train routes are already feasible.
We’re also excited about creative alternatives, such as travelling by sailing boat. One example is our collaboration with FairFerry, offering a journey by sail from Amsterdam to A Coruña, followed by a walk to Santiago de Compostela in four days. It’s an exciting step toward rethinking what a sustainable walking holiday can look like.
Accommodation and resource use
Accommodation also plays a key role: hotels and B&Bs vary widely in their environmental practices, from water use to energy efficiency and waste management. Choosing smaller, locally run places often aligns better with the principles of a sustainable walking holiday, even if formal certifications are not always present.
The reality is that larger hotels often have more resources to obtain sustainability certifications, while smaller accommodations may lack the budget or capacity to do so, even when their day-to-day practices align closely with their sustainability goals. For this reason, we try our best to choose accommodations that reflect these principles as closely as possible.
How to make your walking holiday more sustainable
There is no such thing as a perfect trip, but there are many ways to make your sustainable walking holiday more thoughtful. To sum up, these final tips apply whether you book through an agency or organise everything yourself.
1. Choose local routes or use trains
Opt for routes closer to home when possible, or choose destinations that are easy to reach by train or bus. Reducing or avoiding flights has one of the biggest impacts on the sustainability of a walking holiday.
2. Travel light and ethically
Pack consciously, use refillable water bottles, avoid single-use plastics, and bring gear that lasts. Travelling lighter also reduces the need for extensive luggage transport.
3. Pick eco-conscious accommodations
Choose small, family-run accommodations or places that actively work on reducing their environmental impact. Supporting these businesses strengthens the local dimension of a sustainable walking holiday.
Striking a balance: walking as a thoughtful choice
A sustainable walking holiday is not about perfection, but about making informed, conscious choices. Walking allows us to move slowly, engage with places more deeply, and reduce certain impacts compared to many other forms of tourism.
We hope that these explanations have given you some insight into how we work at WAW, and how you can make your own sustainable walking holiday more thoughtful.
Is a walking holiday sustainable in today’s world?
So, here comes the verdict: is a walking holiday sustainable? The honest answer is that it can be, especially when approached with awareness and intention. By considering how you travel, where you stay, and how you engage with local communities, a sustainable walking holiday becomes one of the most responsible ways to explore the world today.
What is your opinion? Let us know at [email protected], both if you have further questions or suggestions to make our adventures more sustainable.
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