Car hire – the ideal solution for an eco-friendly family holiday

The environment seems to be well and truly lodged in the consciousness of the modern traveller these days, and rightly so. However uncomfortable it may seem, we are slowly destroying the planet with our consumption, ignorance is quickly running out of excuses.

The environmentally conscious traveller is all about eco-tourism, taking a holiday in a sustainable manner which is going to minimise impact on the environment on the whole.

Rather than taking cheap flights abroad on holiday, one of the most environmentally beneficial ways to travel is to take the train. With the exception of a short city break though, train travel is not the most practically viable solution, especially for family holidays with kids and lots of baggage.

A great compromise is to use car hire services. The first benefit of car hire is you can cater the car to your holiday. If you are a large family going on an Easter ski break, then you’re going to need a big vehicle with a lot of boot space. As a double bonus, a lot of car hire companies now cater specifically for ski holidays with snow chain sets and top boxes for your skis.

Equally, if there’s just the two of you going on a trek to the wilderness, then a smaller car is likely to suit your needs better than a train which wont be able to take you exactly where you need to go. The buzzword of the moment is hybrid cars, which are much kinder to the environment than your run-of-the-mill gas guzzlers.

Car hire companies are catching on to the benefits of hybrid cars these days and are starting to stock more variety in their inventories. At the moment the hybrid car will almost certainly cost a premium price but the money you spend renting an environmentally friendly car will be more than compensated by the money you save by not always flying to your destination of choice.

Choosing car hire will give you a greater flexibility on your holiday, and avoids the confusion and disaster that usually follows trekking to the airport. For carefree peace of mind and to do your bit for the environment, car hire is the way forward for your holidays.

Kim has 5 years experience in the Travel industry and writing travel content for brochures. She enjoys writing on various different locations.