Key "ecolodge" or "ecotourism" into a search engine and it will throw up thousands of results, but how can you be sure that any are the genuine article? Similar search terms such as "responsible travel", "sustainable" and "ethical" are becoming just as over-used (and abused) by websites and tourism companies looking to ride the green wave.

So what makes a genuine 'clean break'? Essentially it is about minimising your environmental impact – on your journey and at your destination – by choosing carefully how you travel and the nature of the place you choose to stay. It's also about having a positive impact in other ways – by contributing where you can to the conservation of wildlife and local heritage, and supporting local economies. Below is a selection of clean breaks in Europe:

Best for wilderness: Bag a Munro on Rannoch Moor; Scotland

Board the Caledonian sleeper train one evening at Euston station and the following morning you'll wake up in the heart of the Scottish Highlands – a slow, subconscious teleport out of the urban grit and grind into the mountainous fresh and wild. From Corrour station, it's just a couple of kilometres' walk to Loch Ossian Youth Hostel, the only visible property on the bank of the spectacular loch – a long stretch of water flanked by high peaks with forest at the far end. There are eight munros (hills over 3000ft) within walking distance of the hostel and from the top of any of these you can see as far west as Ben Nevis and north beyond the River Spean, across lochs, glens and moor.

Find out more about Rannoch Moor

Best for luxury: Stay in an eco cottage on the Trelowarren Estate; Cornwall

The daily dilemma at Trelowarren is whether to stay within the privacy of the estate (where there are several woodland walks, an award winning restaurant, a Cornish arts exhibition, tennis court, outdoor heated swimming pool and walled garden) or leave the historic grounds to explore the surrounding Lizard Peninsula, the most southerly tip of the British Isles and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Find out more about the Lizard Peninsula

Best for families: Natural swimming pools

Compared with a chlorinated hotel swimming pool, a dip in a natural pool feels like swimming in Evian – and thankfully European hoteliers are recognising the draw of these natural, eco-friendly alternatives. Designs vary, but natural pools all work on the same premise: a wall separates a foil, or rubber-lined, swimming area from an aquatic plant garden, whose marsh plants and sand act as a natural filter for oxygenising and cleaning the water. Here are three of our favourites:

Casanuova; Tuscany: On the large lawn by the water's edge at Casanuova, you can sunbathe to the sound of frogs croaking, while butterflies dart among the reeds. Then it's just a 200m towel-covered stroll back to the organic farm on the hills above the Valdarno, in the valley of the Arno River.

Find out more about Tuscany

Schwoich's banana lake; Austria: Below Mount Poelven at the edge of a pine forest, Schwoich's banana-shaped lake was Austrian Tyrol's first public natural bathing pool. From its wooden jetties and pebble beach you can enjoy a refreshing dip in the crystal-clear water with wonderful views of the surrounding mountain slopes.

Find out more about the Tyrol

Chaumarty; the French Pyrenees: A three-room eco-gîte south of Toulouse in the approach to the Pyrenees, the bassin de baignade (natural pool) is exquisite: irises and papyrus surround it, plus there's a diving board and a smaller pool for children.

Find out more about the Pyrenees

Best for beaches: Corsica's Désert des Agriates

Most of Corsica's tourists go to the resorts in the south or to the umbrella-lined beaches of Ajaccio on the west coast. Yet some of the island's most idyllic beaches are in the north, in the unlikely setting of the Désert des Agriates – a remote, 50-square-kilometre protected area of dense scrubland east of Île Rousse. The most easterly of these beaches, Plage de Loto, can be reached by any number of pleasure boats from the jetty at St Florent, or you can walk there from St Florent via a 40km trek along the desert's rugged coastal path – one of the longest stretches of protected coastline in the Mediterranean.

Find out more about the Désert des Agriates

Best for adventure: Dogsledding safari in Svalbard, Norway

In Arctic conditions it's difficult to get quickly from A to B without some form of assisted transport. Yet the noise and air pollution caused by snowmobiles (in addition to the disturbance they cause to wildlife) hardly does the fragile environment much of a favour. Dog-sledding is the only viable green alternative, which is why the Arctic tours run by Svalbard Villmarkssenter have passed the strict guidelines laid down by Ecotourism Norway. It runs overnight tours as well as five-day dog-sledding trips from Longyearbyen southward through Spitsbergen's glaciers and fjords.

Find out more about Longyearbyen

Richard Hammond is the co-author of Clean Breaks – 500 new ways to see the world, and the founder of greentraveller.co.uk – an online guide to low impact holidays.

Find out more about Clean Breaks