The Holiday Extras guide to travelling ethically, sustainably and well – now in its fifth year.
Short on time? Let us summarise this guide for you.
The Good Trip Index 2026 combines eight global indices – covering sustainability, women's rights, LGBTQI+ rights, press freedom, animal welfare, democracy, human freedom and quality of life – into one simple ranking to help UK travellers choose destinations they can feel good about. Denmark tops the list for the second year running, with Norway, Switzerland, Finland and Sweden rounding out the top five.
Travel sustainably. Leave only footprints. Support local businesses. But make sure those businesses treat their animals well and pay fair wages. Try to avoid supporting oppressive regimes. And before you book, check the country's record on press freedom, LGBTQI+ rights, women's rights and the environment.
That's a lot to carry into a holiday search. Travelling responsibly matters – but it shouldn't feel like homework.
So we did the research for you. We pulled together eight of the world's leading country-level indices, covering the ethical issues UK travellers told us matter most when choosing a destination. Sustainability. Human rights. Women's rights. LGBTQI+ rights. Press freedom. Animal welfare. Democracy. And quality of life.
Then we combined them into one simple list: the Good Trip Index.
This is the fifth year of the Good Trip Index. Five years of tracking which countries are genuinely getting better, which are slipping back, and what it all means for British travellers who want to spend their holiday money somewhere they can feel proud of.
The result is one straightforward list you can use when picking a destination – no trawling through dozens of sources, no spreadsheets, no stress.
Denmark tops the Good Trip Index for the second year running. It leads the world on women's rights and scores consistently well across democracy, press freedom and quality of life. Copenhagen is one of Europe's most liveable, walkable and food-obsessed capitals – and one of the most welcoming.
Norway holds second place with the world's top-ranked press freedom and a joint-best democracy score. The fjords, the northern lights, the long summer days – Norway has always had the scenery. It turns out it has the ethics to match.
Switzerland climbs to third this year. It leads the world on animal welfare and scores highest in the index for human freedom. Whether you're there for the Alps, the cities or the food, Switzerland delivers – and it does so as one of the world's most consistently well-governed countries.
Finland holds fourth place with outstanding scores on sustainability and women's rights, backed by strong democracy credentials. The home of saunas, silence and some of the world's cleanest air – Finland rewards travellers who are willing to go a little further north.
Sweden topped the very first Good Trip Index in 2022. Five years on, it sits fifth – a reminder that the index is a moving picture, not a fixed hierarchy. Sweden is still joint-best in the world for animal welfare and remains a world-class ethical destination. Long summers, extraordinary nature and a design culture that's influenced the whole world. Sweden is essential.
The Netherlands climbs into the top six this year with the index's strongest quality of life score, backed by excellent press freedom and LGBT+ rights credentials. Amsterdam is one of Europe's great short-break destinations – but the Netherlands rewards those who venture beyond the capital too.
Luxembourg holds its place in the top ten with joint-best quality of life scores and strong sustainability credentials. Europe's wealthiest small nation is also one of its most undervisited – a compact, fascinating country that makes an excellent addition to any Western Europe itinerary.
Iceland leads the world on LGBT+ travel safety – no country in the index scores higher. Add exceptional democracy and women's rights scores and Iceland makes a compelling case as one of the most comprehensively ethical destinations on earth.
The landscapes are like nowhere else. Pitch darkness in winter, endless light in summer – Iceland operates entirely on its own terms.
Germany sits ninth this year, with strong sustainability and animal welfare credentials underpinning its ranking. Berlin remains one of Europe's most culturally rich city-break destinations – and Germany beyond Berlin is equally worth your time.
New Zealand rounds out the top ten with the index's second-best democracy score and third-best human freedom ranking. That's an exceptional result for a country on the other side of the world that consistently punches above its weight on the metrics that matter. The flight is long. It's worth it.
To compile the index, we drew on eight pieces of original research from eight independent sources. We deliberately chose sources with a range of political perspectives.
The eight indices we used are: the Women, Peace and Security Index (Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, 2025/26); the Freedom Index by Country (World Population Review, 2026); the Democracy Index (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2025); the Gay Travel Index (Spartacus, 2026); the Environmental Performance Index (Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, 2024); the Travel and Tourism Development Index (World Economic Forum, 2024); the World Press Freedom Index (Reporters Without Borders, 2025); the Quality of Life Index (Numbeo, 2026); and the Animal Cruelty Index (Voiceless the Animal Protection Institute).
We checked the completeness and validity of each source carefully. Some countries were missing from one or more of the original indices. Where a country was absent from three or more, we left it out of our ranking entirely. Where fewer data points were missing, we used the average score for that dimension. This approach inevitably creates some discrepancies and, regrettably, disadvantages smaller and poorer countries that were overlooked by one or more original sources – but excluding those countries altogether would have created a different and more significant problem.
Our index is designed primarily for UK travellers heading overseas, and reflects the ethical concerns our research tells us matter most to that audience. That focus is inevitably Eurocentric – it produces results that tend to favour Scandinavia over sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, for example. We acknowledge that limitation openly. Researchers working with different audiences or different priorities would reasonably choose different criteria.
This is the fifth edition of the Good Trip Index. You can explore every previous year below to see how countries have changed over time.
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