If you watch Netflix, then you will be familiar with the term ‘Blue Zones’. The hype came about following the documentary series, “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones”, in which the author Dan Buettner discovers five unique communities across the world, where people live long and vibrant lives.
In the documentary, Dan visits a series of destinations including Okinawa in Japan, where residents live by an ‘Ikigai’, serene way of life motivated by a sense of purpose. He also visits remote villages in Sardinia, the Greek Island, Ikaria, and the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica. Exploring each community, he draws out their secrets to a long and healthy life.
As a result, the whole world is keen to adopt the ‘Blue Zone’ way of life. #BlueZone has 113.7M views on TikTok, people are trying everything from Blue Zone recipe challenges, to working out how to travel to the very destinations featured in the documentary. However, the majority of these destinations are extremely remote, making them very difficult to get to, and most importantly, expensive to travel to.
Huw Owen, co-founder of TravelLocal explains: “Blue Zones are an intriguing prospect for travellers, but typically hard to reach and, outside some common lifestyle factors, not necessarily endowed with masses to see and do.
“Whilst we’re all fascinated by Blue Zones and understandably want to explore these places for ourselves, there is a much more cost-effective way to experience this serene, healthy way of life.
“The alternative is to visit ‘Green Zones’, which are destinations that will go blue in time. These destinations all share all the same age-defying traits as their blue counterparts, but they are much more accessible.”
If you’re dreaming of a Blue Zone holiday, Huw shares the best ‘Green’ alternatives to some of the top destinations featured in the Netflix series of the moment:
Blue Zone destination: Costa Rica – Nicoya
Green Zone alternative: Azores – Sao Miguel and Faial
“Nicoya is known for its beauty, proximity to the sea and protected landscapes, on top of the Blue Zone factors such as excellent diet (largely plant-based, and with high polyphenol wines), time spent outdoors and a strong sense of community.
“The Azores – 7000km away – is an interesting alternative. The landscapes (and seascapes) of this chain of volcanic islands, out in the middle of the Atlantic, are renowned for their drama and beauty. Outdoors is more or less what you come for – whale watching, snorkelling and hiking in the hills. The diet is similar to, but distinctive from the Portuguese mainland, with an emphasis on local produce, including incredible seafood and wines high in polyphenols.”
Blue Zone destination: Japan – Okinawa
Green Zone alternative: Cambodia – Kampot
“Okinawa has long held a fascination for Blue Zone addicts. It has an unusual list of things that seem to mark it out from other Blue Zones, perhaps related to geographic isolation. Common factors are turmeric and ginger in the cuisine, a relatively relaxed, “low stress” culture, and staying active outdoors, including gardening.
“Kampot in Cambodia is a very different place, but strangely has a lot of similarities too. Here, you can not only eat ginger and turmeric in the national dish – fish amok – you can actually watch it growing! Stress is perhaps more of a factor here – but you wouldn’t necessarily know it from the atmosphere in the area which is, by European standards, horizontally laidback. And there’s more than enough sunshine and outdoorsy things to keep everyone moving most of the day.”
Blue Zone destination: United States – Loma Linda
Green Zone alternative: India – Kerala
“Loma Linda is a small town about an hour east of Los Angeles, with a strongly religious local community, lots of plant based eating and plenty of outdoor exercise.
“On the other side of the world we can see similarities with Kerala, specifically Kochi. India has the highest concentration of vegetarians in the world and Kerala is home to one of the most iconic vegetarian dishes of all – the dosa. Kerala is best described as a vegetarian’s paradise. The region is strongly religious, but simultaneously diverse, with Hindus, Muslims and Christians forming the majority of the population. Getting outdoors is usually easy, though it’s more humid than Loma Linda.”
Blue Zone destination: Greece – Ikaria
Green Zone alternative: Greece – Crete
“Ikaria is an island in the eastern Aegean Sea. According to the Blue Zone research undertaken by Dan Buettner, Ikarians live for such a long time because they exercise every day, they live in the mountains, drink herbal tea and strong red wine, and they take long naps in the middle of the day.
“Apart from sounding delightful, this lifestyle feels tricky to replicate, until you realise that Greece is chock full of mountainous places with a great diet and heat that may necessitate a long nap. And so, Crete is a great substitute – much easier to reach, but with an enormous amount to see and do, including sleeping!”
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