IF MAKING a major lifestyle change is on your to-do list for 2021 after a year in quarantine, consider making two resolutions at once: going vegan and traveling sustainably. The vegan trend has inspired massive changes in the hotel industry worldwide and is expected to grow even stronger in 2021. Vegan hotels are popping up all over the world, offering travelers a cozy, luxury experience that also helps the environment by using natural, organic materials. Staying at a vegan hotel relieves the stress of having to spend hours searching for places to eat on Google Maps, but the concept extends well beyond the food menu.
To stay at a vegan hotel means to fully implement the eco-friendly, zero-waste approach. It’s not just what’s on your plate that is low impact — these accommodations provide energy-efficient appliances and use recycled materials, with cruelty-free toiletries in the loo and plant-based alternatives to leather and ink. Here are six vegan hotels around the world to stay in 2021.
1. The Bel Air Treehouse — Los Angeles, California
Photo: The Bel Air Treehouse/Facebook
The Treehouse in Bel Air is a boutique bed and breakfast that aims to nurture guests to their optimal health while being eco-conscious. In that sense, they’re fully optimizing the wellness travel trend — and in the perfect neighborhood for it. They provide crystals, salt lamps, and aromatherapy products in each room and have replaced regular toilet paper with a bamboo alternative. All of the cleaning products on-site are also organic and free of toxins. The Treehouse is close to being completely zero-waste and only buys local, fair-trade goods. There’s also a no alcohol or cigarette policy on the property.
In true SoCal form, the hotel takes guest vibrations very seriously. They’ve placed “angel tuning forks” around the property in a general attempt to improve everyone’s mood during their stay. The forks, which work to enhance the pulse of the body, are believed to be helpful in the process of relaxation and, if you’re keen to meditate, can help with the centering process. The hotel’s wellness approach extends to the classic Continental breakfast, which is built from a biodynamic menu. Some of the meals guests can try include artichoke tapas, vegan brownies, a “guardian burger,” and Ayurvedic-based Indian recipes.
Rooms from $214
2. Villa Vegana — Mallorca, Spain
Photo: Villa Vegana/Facebook
Villa Vegana in Mallorca is the ultimate Mediterranean take on the vegan hotel, appropriately surrounded by olive, orange, and lemon trees on a mid-sea island. They have rejected the use of not only leather but also wool and silk in favor of vegan comfort, cleaning, and cosmetic products, none of which have been tested on animals. Upon arrival, guests are welcomed by the sheep, donkeys, horses, and pigs that live on the property.
In the kitchen, Villa Vegana blends Mediterranean and Asian recipes to create a healthy, 100 percent plant-based menu. What’s on offer varies weekly, but frequent staples include dishes such as soy goulash with mashed potatoes, pasta with tofu-based bacon, mushroom calamari, and a ginger-miso vegetable stew. The owners are currently working on creating their own permaculture garden in order to be able to source products on-site in hopes to deliver even more sustainable ingredients and recipes.
Rooms from $133, includes breakfast
3. The Vegan Suite at Hilton Bankside — London, England
Photo: Hilton
Of the major, continent-spanning hotel chains, Hilton has embraced the vegan travel trend much more than most. Earlier this year, it unveiled the “Vegan Suite” at the Bankside Hotel in London. The suite features exclusively vegan materials, such as a plant-based keycard and an eco-cotton carpet. The headboard, chairs, and cushions in the suite are made from Piñatex leather, which is an alternative leather material made from the cellulose fibers of pineapple leaves.
All toiletries are made of recycled materials, and the minibar offers vegan snacks from the Insta-famous Deliciously Ella brand, as well as Naked fruit and nut bars. The suite even has its own in-room dining menu offering quinoa burgers, grilled Portobello mushrooms, an avocado and quinoa scramble, and a cauliflower steak. The drawback, however, is that you’ll have to shell out to stay here — the room runs over $1,000 per night during peak periods.
Suite from $939
4. I Pini – Tuscany, Italy
Photo: Biotique Agrivilla i pini/Facebook
Italy is famous for its organic agrotourism, and Tuscany’s I Pini is the perfect example. Located in the middle of rolling hills and fig trees, this vegan hotel was renovated in 2018 in order to be even more eco-friendly than it was before, showing either a firm grasp of their craft or of the current eco-tourism boom. Either way, guests will find furniture and decor made of chalk, hemp, and clay, blended with historic terracotta floors. They only use organic soap and hand-woven linen and have completely banned plastic. The hosts spray the walls of each room with organic rice husk to promote better sleep.
I Pini’s restaurant serves traditional Italian recipes, albeit vegan, with a menu that is largely sourced on-site and entirely sourced locally. While they don’t reveal the exact dishes online as it changes based on what’s available, the dinner menu is a seasonal four-course meal. The breakfast buffet is free of all refined wheat and sugar in favor of homemade muffins, smoothies, and fruit. Guests will, of course, have access to authentic Italian moka. The lodge tends to book out a few months in advance, so if you’re heading to Tuscany, plan — and book — ahead.
Rooms from $215 per night, three-night minimum
5. Beingsattvaa Bali — Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
Photo: BeingSattvaa/Facebook
It comes as no surprise that Bali is fully on board with the vegan travel trend as the island is famous for its tranquility and emphasis on mindfulness and wellbeing. Beingsattvaa is textbook Ubud, established by a former banker who realized the importance of balance and decided to start anew. Single-use plastic is banned and rainwater harvested, complementing the solar panels. The hotel’s entire staff is representative of people from Ubud’s nearby villages.
Each room scores a point in the private tropical garden category while scoring nil for televisions. Decor consists of Indonesian teak-wood furniture, with a pool, spa, and yoga pavilion available on site for guests. The garden features edible plants such as coconuts, jackfruit, bananas, and papaya, inspiring a kitchen that also sources heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, pepper, eggplant, and corn grown in the garden or sourced locally. Meals blend Balinese, Indian, and Mediterranean recipes.
Room from $215
6. Green Haven — Hamburg, Germany
Photo: Green Haven
Germany may not be the first destination that comes to mind when you hear “vegan” because of the copious amounts of sausage, but the vegan travel trend has spread there, too. Green Haven is a small, completely vegan bed and breakfast. They use an in-house solar system for power and recycled materials for just about everything, from kitchenware to furniture.
Guests can use the community kitchen where breakfast ingredients are provided every morning. Even if you aren’t up for cooking, breakfast offerings include chocolate chia pudding, Bircher muesli with soy yogurt, buckwheat, cashew nuts, and vanilla. In the restaurant, the menu changes according to the season to offer maximum freshness, pretty standard in the wellness world, but what makes this spot unique is the way the team upcycles materials — such as using empty coffee bags as decorative pillows, bed frames built of old pallets, and glass jars filled with candles to serve as lights.
Rooms from $106 for a two-night stay, the minimum stay
The post 2021 is the year to try a vegan hotel. These are the world’s best appeared first on Matador Network.
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