“To do good, you actually have to do something.”

Yvon Chouinard Patagonia Inc

Travel Positive

Travel Positive is all about creating vacations which are great for you, great for local people and great for our planet.

Peru machu picchu in sunlight c michael edey pura — Travel is an extraordinary thing. It has the power to enrich our lives immensely and, done right, small-scale tourism can help local communities thrive and biodiversity to flourish.

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Chile patagonia carretera austral gaucho riding along road lago carrera — Exceptional vacations start with a specialist in your corner. By travelling more extensively in fewer countries, our knowledge runs deeper and we can better take care of the places you visit.

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Spain cantabria picos de europa inn to inn day 3 top valdecoro iguedri — As an antidote to overtourism, our trips give you the confidence and freedom to explore beautiful places that few have heard of, where nature dictates and life rumbles on in all its bumpy beauty.

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Argentina patagonia calafate perito moreno boat tour nibepo south view point c glaciar sur Florian von der Fecht — For those places that are too special to miss, we have created new ways for you to experience their true majesty in their quieter moments. If you only come once, let’s make it count.

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Spain rioja wine tasting red wine — Wherever you go, from the people you meet and the places you stay, to the food on your plate and the wine in your glass, your vacation will be deeply rooted into its local surroundings.

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Peru sacred valley mercedes chicha c sarah pura — Genuinely meaningful and organic connections with locals will enrich your travels enormously. And we make sure they enrich the lives of those who welcome you in equal measure.

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Costa rica tenorio rio perdido smiling gustavo and coffee20180829 76980 1a1j98s — As well as helping their cultures and identities flourish, small-scale tourism keeps local people in local employment. Our direct relationships mean your money goes straight to them, not intermediaries.

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Spain andalucia cordoba subbetica casa olea close up smoking chimney c diego — Staying in owner-run guesthouses is another way to enjoy a richer and deeper connection to the places you visit. There’s no sense of shutting the door on your destination at the end of each day.

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Costa rica plane wing and clouds20180829 76980 5axuc1 — Exceptional and beautifully local they may be, but we cannot hide the fact that vacations are responsible for significant damage to the planet in the form of carbon emissions.

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Brazil amazon cristalino lodge view from canopy tower down to canopy copyright thomas power pura aventura — We take responsibility for the carbon produced by our vacations and do something about it. For every kilometer travelled by air, road and sea, we carbon balance it by a mile. That's 160%.

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Brazil travel guide amazon rainforest — So, on a trip from the US to Peru and the Galápagos Islands, instead of the 2.54 tonnes of CO2 produced, we pay to mitigate 4.07 tonnes. But planting trees alone is not enough to be planet positive...

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Nicaragua taking root project worker — To be certain that our action is makes a verifiable difference over the long term, we support a world-class community development project in Nicaragua, built around reforestation.

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Chile patagonia carretera austral north of coyhaique photographer volcano 2020 11 16 143018 — It is our responsibility to make your vacation planet positive, from your front door and back again. So our actions will not cost you a cent, nor should they.

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Independent best sustainable tour operators — In their article highlighting the 11 best sustainable tour operators, The Independent praised our initiatives as "one of the travel industry’s most ambitious carbon mitigation plans".

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B corp wood cropped — In being among the first UK tour operators to certify as B Corp, we created a public and legally binding commitment to balance Profit with People and the Planet - to walk the walk, in other words.

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Conservation2 — Our actions are not absolution and we will continue to learn and share ideas. But as Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, Inc. once said "To do good, you actually have to do something."

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Taking root 3 — And our actions *are* doing good, right now, for the people of rural Nicaragua and for our wide and wonderful planet. This is only made possible by people like you choosing to travel with us.

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Brazil iguazu general view with rainbow guenter purin — So by combining our specialist knowledge, local connections and our commitment to certifiably responsible travel with your vision of an exceptional vacation, we can do special things together...

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Exceptional Vacations

From the moment you start planning to the lifelong memories you bring back, your vacation will be truly exceptional.

For 20 years and more our approach has been a simple one – to keep exploring our countries and find new ways to share them at their best, without compromises or middle people to tell us what we can and can’t do. Because we are independent, we can work directly with the local people you will meet to create special vacations you often won’t find elsewhere.

You’ll have the very best experience of the most iconic places because we’ve invested in finding unique ways to share them without the crowds. You’ll have the freedom to explore beautiful places that few are privileged to visit because we've made it our business to know them inside out.

You'll enjoy the company of the friendly locals we trust to welcome, guide and spoil you because they're all part of the Pura Aventura family. You’ll love the places you stay because we have personally visited them all and you’ll be safe and supported because we’re here for you 24/7 should you need us.

You may prefer a fuller or more leisurely pace, want to be in full control or have complete local support, and may want to walk all day or sit back and soak in your surroundings. However you travel, our job is to understand what you want from your vacation, share our opinions and use our experience and contacts to create a truly exceptional vacation with you.

Beautifully Local

Chile carretera austral pumalin luisa tampier c tompkins conservation

Spain picos de europa centenary group covadonga shepherd humartini gamoneu cheese

From the people you meet and the places you stay, to the food on your plate and the wine in your glass, your exceptional vacation will be deeply rooted into its local surroundings.

We know from talking to our guests that these sorts of lasting connections and experiences mean the world to them - stories to tell the grandchildren, pictures to hang on the wall, memories to paste into scrapbooks.

We'd love to help you create your own.

Because we work directly with our partners overseas, all part of the Pura family, we can pick up the phone and talk directly to Fernanda in sunny Alentejo or Eric in the tropical forests of Costa Rica to fine-tune any detail of your vacation and make your trip more special yet. These connections will enrich your travels enormously. We make sure they enrich the lives of those who welcome you in equal measure.

So let’s talk about your vacation - the places you’ll go, the things you’ll do and, naturally, the wonderful local people you’ll meet.

Read More: Beautifully Local

Certifiably Responsible

As a B Corp certified specialist tour operator, we believe in travel as a force for good. Your vacation will have a positive impact on the planet, the people you meet and the places you visit.

Since July 2019 we’ve operated what The Independent has described as "one of the travel industry’s most ambitious carbon mitigation plans", funded by our commitment to use 1% of our revenue to create a positive environmental legacy.

For every kilometer you travel with us by air, road and sea on our vacations, from your front door and back again, we carbon compensate by a mile. That’s 160% of your trip’s carbon mitigated.

All of our partners receive a fair local wage. And because we work directly with the majority, they keep 100% of the money we pay, rather than having it diluted by intermediaries. In rural areas where opportunities are scarce, this small scale tourism allows local people to stay in local employment.

By accessing more national parks and biosphere reserves, your visit creates a financial imperative which preserves ecosystems long term. Better still, your money helps fund conservation projects such as those which returned Bearded vultures to the Picos mountains and pumas to the grasslands of Patagonia.

Read More: Certifiably Responsible