Vegan vacations travel guide

These are regular vacations (well, about as regular as the awesome vacations we offer can ever be) – cultural, foodie, multi activity – but with one key difference, they are infused throughout with amazing plant-based cuisine, with all eating establishments, meals and snacks thoroughly screened beforehand by operators. This is especially useful for when you’re traveling in countries where you face a language barrier, and where you can’t be sure that what you consider to be vegan is the same as what the chef considers to be vegan.

Make no mistake, though – while these trips may be designed with the vegan traveler in mind, you don’t need to be a vegan to enjoy them. Maybe you want to spend a week enjoying a different, healthier lifestyle. Maybe you’re a vegetarian or pescatarian looking to see if you’re ready to go a step further. Maybe you plan to sneak the odd meaty treat in while touring a street market. Or maybe you simply like the sound of the itinerary, from touring the ancient churches of Lalibela in Ethiopia, to snorkelling and trekking in Belize, or admiring India’s magnificent Golden Triangle, and you’re happy to tuck into vegan food along the way.

For the most part these are small group tours, accompanied by tour leaders that are usually either vegans or vegetarians themselves. Itineraries have been carefully crafted to ensure that everything you’ll eat is entirely vegan, and depending where you go, much of the food will also be seasonal, organic and locally sourced. In Central American countries such as Guatemala and Belize, for instance, this is pretty much the only way.

Some trips are center based while others move from place to place allowing for a very broad cultural immersion, and will frequently involve market tours, restaurant visits and even hands-on cookery classes. These are fantastic if you want to explore how veganism fits in with different world cuisines.

If you like your vegan vacations flavoured with a little extra adventure, then Central American countries such as Belize and Guatemala will get your heart racing. The best time to visit Central America is the dry season. By November the rains are fading and you can expect warm weather for activities such as snorkelling, kayaking and hiking forest trails. Slightly further south, December is peak season in Colombia, another destination perfectly suited to active travelers. If you’re considering a trip to Ethiopia then January can be a good month – mild, and coinciding with the huge Christian festival of Timkat. Any time between October and June is suitable however, as this is the dry season with temperatures up to around 21°C. Outside of that, trekking around Lalibela can be more difficult due to the heat. February is the best month for a vegan vacation in Thailand, right in the middle of the country’s cooler dry season, so exploring cities such as Bangkok and Chiang Mai is far more pleasant. India’s majestic Golden Triangle, a very popular jaunt for travelers looking to explore the country’s superb vegan cuisine, is at its best in October, November, December and also March and April, when temperatures tend to be toasty but not scorching hot. Key destinations such as the Taj Mahal and Jaipur are busy around now however. We would usually recommend giving popular destinations in Greece, Italy and Spain a miss during the summer months due to the heat and the crowds. Venice and Rome, or the beaches of Fuerteventura, are usually unpleasantly busy in July and August so look instead at months such as May or September, either side of peak season, when it should still be lovely and warm. Late September in particular is fantastic for vegan vacations in Europe, with lots of seasonal fruit and veg around.