Our north star
Adventure that doesn't cost the earth.
Travel changes the people who do it. It should change the places it touches for the better too, or at the very least tread lightly. Here's how we hold ourselves, and every operator we list, to that.
Why it matters to us
We sell the world.
We'd like it to last.
Let's be honest about the tension: travel has a footprint, and we're in the business of more travel. Our answer isn't greenwash. It's curation. The single biggest sustainability decision a traveler makes is who they travel with. So we made operator vetting our entire job, and we partner with operators who lead on this: small groups, local supply chains, low-impact transport, ethical wildlife policies. When you book through WanderMe, the homework is already done, and the bar is high.
Our rating system
Every trip gets a
Wander Score.
Sustainability claims are easy to make and hard to check, so we don't ask you to take ours on faith. The Wander Score is built only from signals we can verify. Where we can't verify enough, we say "Not yet rated" instead of inventing a number.
Three pillars, each scored 0 to 10 from real operator data, then averaged into one number you can compare across trips:
We keep the evidence behind every signal on file, so any score can be explained. The Wander Score is WanderMe's good-faith assessment, not a certification.
✦ Example: Patagonia: Torres del Paine & Los Glaciares
Illustrative. This trip reports a 100% Ripple Score, so its Community pillar runs high. Open any trip to see its live score and the evidence behind it.
Commitment 01
Low-impact by default
We favour trips built around shared and ground transport (trains, public transit, boats, your own two feet) over internal flights wherever the route allows, in smaller groups and locally-run stays rather than mega-resorts. It's the single biggest lever on a trip's footprint, and it's baked into the Footprint pillar of every score.
Commitment 02
Money that stays local
Family-run hotels. Community homestays. Meals at sodas, warungs and night markets, not international chains. Where an operator measures it, we surface the number: G Adventures publishes a Ripple Score, the share of on-the-ground spend that stays with locally owned businesses, and we put it straight on the trip page so you can see exactly where your money lands.
Commitment 03
Wildlife on its own terms
No elephant rides. No captive-animal selfies. No shows. Every wildlife experience we list follows strict animal-welfare standards: observation in the wild, at respectful distance, with trained guides. If an encounter wouldn't happen naturally, it doesn't happen on our trips.
Commitment 04
Partners who lead, not comply
Our anchor operators don't just pass our screening, they set the industry's pace. G Adventures, which operates most of our current collection, is a certified B Corporation and channels community work through its non-profit Planeterra Foundation. Intrepid, another B Corp, has measured and reported its emissions for years and funds projects through the Intrepid Foundation. We weigh these documented standards in every Operator score.
Straight talk
What a Wander Score is,
and isn't.
We'd rather be useful than impressive. So, plainly:
A signal, not a certification
It's our good-faith read of verifiable data to help you choose, not an accreditation or a guarantee.
"Not yet rated" is honest
When we don't have enough verifiable data, we show that rather than a flattering guess.
We reduce impact at the source
The biggest lever is who you travel with and how the trip moves, long before any carbon offset.
Travel still has a footprint
We're in the business of more travel; careful curation is how we keep it honest, not a claim that any trip is impact-free.
Every score is auditable
We keep the evidence behind each signal, so we can always show our work.
Before a trip ever reaches you
How we choose who
we work with.
The single biggest sustainability decision a traveler makes is who they travel with, so vetting operators is our actual job. We look for documented standards over marketing language:
We feature trips from operators that meet that bar, today principally G Adventures, alongside Intrepid and Exoticca, and we tell you who runs every trip, up front. When the data isn't there to back a claim, we don't make it.
Your part (it's the easy part)
Travel better by
choosing better.
You don't have to become a different person. Pick a vetted trip, pack a refillable bottle, eat where the locals eat, and let a great operator handle the rest. The system does the heavy lifting. That's the whole point of curation.
- Every trip page shows its community and conservation moments up front.
- We'll always tell you when a route can skip a flight.
- Questions about a trip's impact? Ask us. Real answers, not slogans.