The Lycian Way walking holiday in Turkey

Planet

CARBON REDUCTION

This trip travels overland on foot, following Turkey's Lycian Way trail. The Lycian Way is a 509km footpath around the coast of southern Turkey and one of the most beautiful long distance walks in the world. Walking is not only a low impact way to travel but it takes us to hard to visit places and small villages such as Faralya which feel a million miles away from the main tourist centres not so far away along the coast. The delicious local food is varied and healthy and suitable for vegetarians and vegans. Produce is typically locally and seasonal, thus minimising the need for transportation and maximising the local benefit.

As a travel company we are acutely aware of our impact on the environment. All of our tours display a carbon footprint, and we strive to reduce our emissions by regularly reviewing our tours and embracing low-impact styles of travel such as trains, public buses or walking – which offer the added benefit of getting a closer connection with the destination and local community.

ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITY

The local accommodations we use throughout the trip harness solar power to help generate hot water. Through our local partners and guides we help to support the maintenance of the hiking trail, clear rubbish where needed and help to direct money straight into the local economies that we are walking through.

We strive to support nature and biodiversity through protection and regeneration projects, and for every customer that travels with us we make a donation to Rewilding Britain and Cool Earth.

We actively try to discourage the use of single use plastic by encouraging clients to refill their water bottles both in accommodation and along the trail using local natural springs.

We encourage customers to avoid single-use plastic on tour, and our leaders give advice on refill points each day. Where tap water isn't safe to drink we recommend Water-to-Go bottles, a filtration bottle allowing you to drink water from any source.

People

LOCAL ECONOMY

The village houses that we stay some nights at on this trip are a fantastic way to really experience some beautiful locations, to try amazing freshly produced and traditional food and to meet the local families that live in this region. We visit small tea houses to enjoy an apple or mint tea amongst the chatter of the locals and the tour leader encourages the group the eat in Turkish restaurants to savour locally sourced food and recipes. All the accommodation is locally owned.

We also use local boat providers to access Simena village and see the sunken city of Kekova, this provides direct employment to these small businesses and ensures that money stays within the communities that we visit. Our leaders are the heart of tours. They bring passion and unrivalled knowledge of the destinations and communities that we visit. Their guidance ensures we observe the cultural norms in a destination, they act as a bridge between travellers and the local community and ensure that tourism is a positive experience for both host and guest. We believe in supporting local; staying in locally-run hotels, exploring markets, buying snacks from street vendors, and by doing this we add money to the local economy and enhance our connection with the local community.

EMPLOYMENT, INCLUSIVITY & DIVERSITY

We have worked with our local partners based in Kas for many decades. The majority of the our local staff employed by our partners are local to Kas and the surrounding villages. The accommodation all employ people from the local community which helps us meet and experience the warm hospitality of the locals. Our partners operate a positive workplace diversity strategy - nurturing equal employment without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation or nationality.