LiveGreenNOW

Our U.S. National Park Service provides the most breathtakingly beautiful eco-getaways from sea to shining sea. Take an American holiday with a local eco-getaway in any one of our magnificent U.S. National Parks, like the Great Smoky Mountains.

Tucked away inside City Park, the Botanical Garden is a host of environments that will satisfy every eco-traveler, from the newly constructed, work-in-progress rain collection garden inside the Green Pavilion, to the Japanese Garden Society’s Zen-scape, the Rainforest and Living Fossils of the Conservatory, the Butterfly Garden, or even the New Orleans Historic Train Garden. Get away from your habitual grind and take a mini-eco-cation as New Orleans Botanical Garden Director Paul Soniat gives us the dirt:

While many have restricted dinosaur knowledge to what can only be called a Jurassic walk in the park, a.k.a. natural history museums, there is a wonderful stretch of coastline in the south of England where hundreds upon thousands have taken a hammer to the rocks to uncover a few bones known as the Jurassic Coast.

Ireland never disappoints. It is filled with quick-witted cab drivers who can have you laughing and blushing before you even close the door from the airport; and is populated with the friendliest folk in Europe.

Slow down, you’re moving too fast. Summer in the south means dialing it back, says Southern Living editor Eleanor Griffin. She’s talking about abandoning the swift interstates for the picturesque winding back roads, decompressing in venues that don’t insist on round-the-clock activities, slow-cooking those old favorites that don’t come in the frozen-foods section of the local grocery. She’s talking about: St. Francisville, Louisiana, the perfect place to take it easy in the dog days of summer.