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Travel Lighter

How we calculate your retreat's carbon footprint

Two ways to see your footprint

There's a difference between exploring on your own and looking at a real retreat, so this works in two parts.

This page

Explore on your own

Build a trip from scratch below — pick how you'd travel to Croatia, your room, your meals — and watch the number change as you go. It's here so you can compare choices freely, whether or not you've picked a retreat yet.

Every retreat

Your retreat's own number

Behind every retreat we run is a real calculation — the actual accommodation, meals, and our own team's travel to get there and host it, not a generic guess. As we roll this out retreat by retreat, each one will show its own number, and you'll be able to personalise it with your own travel, room type and diet.

Calculate my footprint

Estimate the carbon footprint of a week's trip to Croatia — your travel, accommodation and meals. Change anything to see how each choice affects your total.

Travel to destination

Accommodation

Hotel type

Room type

Number of nights

7
0.00 kg CO₂e / person

Diet

Breakfasts
7
Lunches
7
Dinners
7
0.00 kg CO₂e / person

Your footprint

Travel to destination0.00 kg
Accommodation0.00 kg
Meals0.00 kg
Total0.00 kg
Total footprint
0.00 kg CO₂e / person

A general estimate for a week's trip to Croatia. For a specific Green Yogi Traveler retreat, each retreat shows its own measured footprint you can personalise.

A real number, not a vague label

Every Green Yogi Traveler retreat carries a measured carbon footprint, in kilograms of CO2e per person. Your footprint has two parts — and we show our working for both.

Part 1

Your travel to the destination

How you get from home to the start of the retreat — flight, train, bus, ferry, car or campervan. For most guests this is the largest share of the whole footprint.

Part 2

The services during your retreat

Everything we organise on the ground:

  • Local transport
  • Accommodation
  • Meals
  • Your guide

The exact factors behind each part

The key idea is below each heading. Click “See the exact factors” to open the full table we use — for each transport type, room and meal.

1. Travel to your destination

You choose one or more ways you'll travel from home and enter the hours for each. Flights, trains, buses and ferries are counted per person; cars and campervans are counted per vehicle and then split between everyone travelling in it.

See the exact factors

In plain terms: flying produces far more per hour than any other way to travel, which is why it's the highest number below. A car is counted once and then split between everyone in it — so a full car spreads the impact much further than travelling alone.

Transportkg CO2e / hourCounted
Flight110per person
Train0.6per person
Bus2.4per person
Ferry5.3per person
Car (petrol)16.8per vehicle
Car (diesel)16.9per vehicle
Car (LPG)17.6per vehicle
Car (electric)4.6per vehicle
Car (hybrid)12.7per vehicle
Campervan (petrol)19.8per vehicle
Campervan (diesel)21.8per vehicle
Flight / train / bus / ferry: hours × factor.
Car / campervan: hours × vehicle factor ÷ passengers in the vehicle.

2. Local transport during the retreat

Our groups are small, so the emissions per person depend on how many of you share the vehicle. For 1–4 guests we use a mid-size car, for 5–8 a van, and larger groups use a combination. We also measure ferries, excursion speedboats and sailing where a retreat uses them.

See the exact factors

In plain terms: this is the driving we do together during the retreat — transfers, day trips, excursions. We share one vehicle wherever we can, because a full van produces far less per person than everyone travelling separately.

Land transport — per person, per kilometre

Group sizeVehicle(s)kg CO2e per person/km
11 car0.209
21 car0.105
31 car0.070
41 car0.052
51 van0.052
61 van0.043
71 van0.037
81 van0.032
91 car + 1 van0.052
101 car + 1 van0.047
111 car + 1 van0.042
122 vans0.043
132 vans0.040
142 vans0.037
152 vans0.034
162 vans0.032

Base factors: mid-size car (diesel) 0.2091 kg CO2e/km; van (diesel) 0.25799 kg CO2e/km. Multiplied by the kilometres driven during the retreat.

Sea transport

Typekg CO2e / km
Public ferry — per person0.02295
Public ferry — per person travelling with a vehicle0.15865
Excursion speedboat (200 HP, petrol) — whole boat3.234
Sailing catamaran (occasional diesel motor) — whole boat0.407

Boat figures are for the whole vessel and divided by the number of people aboard. Most retreats use land transport only; sailing trips use sailing only; island-hopping retreats combine land and sailing.

3. Accommodation

We count the emissions of your room per night, based on the type of property. Sharing a room splits that figure between you — so a double room is half, a triple a third.

See the exact factors

In plain terms: more comfort usually means more energy to run, so the number rises with the star rating. Sharing a room is one of the simplest ways to lower your own number — with two people sharing, the room's footprint is split in half; with three, into thirds.

Property typekg CO2e / room / night
2-star hotel & private accommodation6
3-star hotel9.7
4-star hotel11.9
5-star hotel19.6
Per person: nights × room factor ÷ people in the room (single = full, double = ÷2, triple = ÷3).

4. Meals

Food matters more than most people expect. A vegan or vegetarian menu has a markedly lower footprint than a mixed-diet one — here are the per-meal figures we use.

See the exact factors

In plain terms: meat and dairy take far more land, water and energy to produce than plant-based food, which is why a vegetarian or vegan plate has a noticeably smaller footprint than a mixed one — even for a similar-sized meal.

MealVeganVegetarianMixed
Breakfast0.401.633.84
Lunch / dinner0.653.304.01

Figures in kg CO2e per meal, per person, multiplied by the number of breakfasts and main meals during the retreat.

5. Our team

Every retreat is run by a small Green Yogi Traveler team — usually a host and a chef. Getting them to the destination, plus their accommodation and meals while they're there, is part of the retreat's real footprint, so we include it and divide it across the group, the same as everything else.

See the exact factors

In plain terms: someone has to travel there to set everything up and look after you, so their trip counts too — we just make sure it's shared fairly across everyone on the retreat, not left out of the number.

DetailDefault
Team size2 people (usually the host + chef)
DietVegetarian, same as the retreat default
AccommodationVilla/guesthouse retreats — private 2★-standard rooms, separate from guests. Hotel retreats — the same hotel as guests.
Travel from ZagrebCar (LPG) under 1000 km · flight plus local transfers further away
Our team's travel, accommodation and meals are calculated with the same factors above, then divided by the number of guests and added to the retreat's default footprint.

Units and your “default footprint”

Everything is in kg CO2e per person

That's kilograms of carbon-dioxide equivalent — the standard unit that rolls all greenhouse gases into one comparable number, shown per person so you can see your own impact.

What the “default footprint” on a retreat means

Every retreat we run has real people and real logistics behind it, so its default footprint isn't a guess. It already includes: most guests sharing a room (with a few travelling solo), everyone eating vegetarian, and our own small team's travel to reach the destination and run the retreat for you — all divided across the group.

The one thing it doesn't include is your own journey to get there, because that's different for everyone and usually the biggest single number. That's why, once you're looking at a specific retreat, you'll be able to add your own travel — plus adjust your room type or diet if they're different from the default — to see your personal total.

Carbon footprint — frequently asked questions

What is kg CO2e?

It stands for kilograms of carbon-dioxide equivalent — the standard unit that combines all greenhouse gases into one comparable figure, expressed per person.

Why is travel to the destination usually the biggest part?

Flights and long car journeys emit far more per hour than the services during a retreat. For many guests, how they reach the destination is the single largest factor — which is why the calculator lets you compare transport options.

What is a default footprint?

Every retreat we run has real accommodation, meals and our own team's travel behind it — not a guess. The default already includes typical room-sharing, a vegetarian menu, and our team getting there and running it for you, divided across the group. The one thing it leaves out is your own journey to the destination, since that's different for everyone — add that once you're looking at a specific retreat to get your personal total.

What's the difference between this calculator and a specific retreat's footprint?

This page's calculator is a general tool for exploring your options — pick any transport, room and diet combination to see the effect. A specific retreat's footprint is built from that retreat's real details, including our own team's travel to run it, so it's a truer starting point than a generic estimate.

How can I lower my retreat carbon footprint?

Take the train or bus instead of flying where you can, share a car with other guests, choose a vegetarian or vegan menu, share a room, and consider a destination closer to home. The calculator shows the impact of each choice.

Where do your emission numbers come from?

Our conversion factors are drawn from recognised, published greenhouse-gas emission datasets used across the travel industry. We're happy to share our sources on request.

Is your sustainability independently checked?

Yes — we are a Travelife Partner, which means our sustainability practices are independently audited. The footprint method itself is our own and fully transparent, which is why we publish it here.

Travel lighter on your next retreat

Browse our retreats, or plan your own — we'll handle the logistics and the footprint.

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