Our promise
Adventure that doesn't cost the earth.
All travel leaves a mark. Our goal is to keep ours light and make it count for the places we visit, measured on every trip with our Wander Score.
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 is curation.
The single biggest sustainability decision a traveler makes is who they travel with. WanderMe takes the time to research and vet every operator we work with, partnering with companies that lead on it: small groups, local supply chains, low-impact transport, ethical wildlife policies. When you book through WanderMe, the research 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 what we can verify in a trip's itinerary. Where the data isn't there, we say "Not enough info" instead of inventing a number.
Four metrics, each scored from 0 to 100, then weighted into one number you can compare across trips. Low-impact transport and local economic benefit carry the most weight. Tap any metric to see what we look at:
One score, four metrics: the weights always add up to 100%.
See it on a real trip
Real trip.
Real numbers.
The score reflects the trip's own in-trip impact and excludes your travel to and from the start point. The Wander Score is WanderMe's good-faith assessment, not a certification.
Evidence on file. Every number can be explained with what's actually in the itinerary.
Weighted, not averaged. Each metric carries a set weight in the final score.
Live from the catalog. A real example from a real Wander Verified trip, exactly as it appears on its trip page.
Commitment 01
Low-impact by default
We favor trips built around shared, ground-based travel (trains, public transit, overland vehicles, boats and your own two feet) over internal flights. Shared transport moves a lot of people at once, so the impact per traveler stays low. It's the biggest lever on a trip's footprint, and we score it directly in every Wander Score.
Commitment 02
Money that stays local
Family-run hotels. Community homestays. Meals at local markets and family-owned restaurants, not international chains. Every trip is different, so where an operator measures it, we put the real number, the share of on-the-ground spend that stays with locally owned businesses, straight on the trip page. You see exactly where your money lands, and you decide.
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
We only score what we can verify
We only score what we can verify from a trip's own itinerary. When the data isn't there, we say "not enough info." We don't dress up a high-impact trip to look greener than it is. An honest number you can trust is worth more to us than a flattering one.
What a Wander Score is,
and isn't.
We'd rather be useful than impressive. So, plainly:
It is
- A signal to help you choose. Our good-faith read of the verifiable data in a trip's own itinerary.
- Focused where impact happens. Who you travel with and how the trip moves shape a trip's footprint long before any carbon offset.
- Auditable. We keep the evidence behind each metric, so we can always show our work.
- Honest about gaps. When the verifiable data isn't there, we say "Not enough info" rather than a flattering guess.
It isn't
- A certification. Not an accreditation, and not a guarantee.
- A claim that any trip is impact-free. Travel still has a footprint. We're in the business of more travel; careful curation is how we keep it honest.
- A flattering guess. No invented numbers, ever.
Your part (it's the easy part)
Travel better by
choosing better.
You don't have to become a different traveler overnight. Pick a trip with a strong Wander Score, bring a refillable bottle, eat where the locals eat, and let the trip's local team carry the rest. That's the whole point: the hard part is already handled, so the responsible choice is also the easy one.
- Every trip page shows its local-impact and community moments up front.
- We flag when a route can skip a flight for ground travel.
- Questions about a trip's impact? Ask us and we'll do our best to provide you with answers.