SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL

Architect Anders Lendager with a graying beard and dark bomber jacket gesturing with both hands as he speaks in front of his timber-clad TRÆ office building in the Sydhavnen port district of Aarhus, Denmark, with the wooden facade and large windows visible on the left and modern high-rise buildings, a construction crane, and a freight truck in the background under an overcast sky

Wooden skyscrapers, next-level recycling: How Aarhus wants to become one of the most sustainable cities in the world

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Aarhus is often described as Denmark’s second city, but it is quietly trying to become something more difficult to define. Behind its cafés, port cranes, hotels and waterfront developments is a city testing how far sustainability can be pushed into ordinary urban life. Its energy system has already moved away from coal, its heating network is being reshaped by geothermal plans, and even its waste, cruise terminals and new buildings tell a larger story about how climate ambition works when it leaves policy documents and enters daily infrastructure. From the Port of Aarhus to the Sydhavnen district, from Randers’ rainwater systems to ecolabelled hotels and low-impact stays near Mols Bjerge National Park, the region offers a closer look at what a greener city can become when design, energy, tourism and waste management all start moving in the same direction.

Editorial cartoon showing an anxious traveler in a blue polo shirt grimacing as he stuffs a large purple roller suitcase into an open green airport trash can, with empty seating areas and large glass windows visible in the background, illustrating the increasing trend of travelers abandoning their luggage at airports to avoid baggage fees

The great luggage abandonment: Why travelers are ditching their bags at the airport

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Travelers are increasingly abandoning their luggage at airports and hotels to avoid baggage fees that can exceed the value of the bags themselves. Hotels in Tokyo and Osaka now post warning signs about luggage abandonment fees while Narita Airport reportedly stores dozens of unclaimed bags daily. Kansai Airport in Osaka and Chubu Airport in Nagoya report similar pile-ups. Asian carriers known for strict baggage fee enforcement contribute to the trend, along with Japanese tourists buying cheap rolling luggage for shopping trips and abandoning it before flying home. Airports hold abandoned bags 30 to 90 days before disposal.

The Burgruine Trifels in Southwestern Germany's Palatinate region, which is undergoing a green transformation.

Germany has a 150-year-old rule about forests. It may be the sanest idea in travel right now.

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Southwestern Germany’s Palatinate region demonstrates how sustainable tourism can work in practice. The area combines 130 medieval castles with Germany’s only cross-border UNESCO biosphere reserve. Local foresters developed the sustainability concept Nachhaltigkeit over 150 years ago, establishing one core principle: never extract more wood from a forest annually than it can naturally produce. This simple rule of consuming only what you produce now guides everything from fungus-resistant grapevine cultivation to circular economy oil mills that repurpose press cake waste into high-protein food ingredients.

eastern germany rostock

In eastern Germany, Rostock is on a quiet green journey

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From the top floor of Dock Inn, a hotel made of shipping containers with a commanding view of the harbor and dockyards, you might see a ferry bound for Sweden sliding silently by in the distance. Beyond it, there are the dense forests of the Steilküste, a coastline with steep cliffs plunging into a cold sea.