Want Your Own Private ‘EcoPod’ in the Middle of the Atlantic?

Look at a map of the Atlantic and you might be surprised at how remote, and how tiny, the Azores are: that Portuguese archipelago where the man-made environment takes up just five percent of the islands’ landmass and tropical currents ensure that the vibe is more tropics than chilly.

It’s the kind of place that demands protection, even as it opens itself up to tourism with agreements for higher passenger loads and more flights.

These are all reasons to head for the “EcoPods” in the Vila Franca Do Campo Region of São Miguel Island, the Azores’ biggest. The smallest model of these “tiny lodges” is only 161 square feet, powered by solar energy and constructed with the islands’ native materials, like locally harvested timber. Windows are made from recycled plastic.

Ready to go? Look for the EcoPods to open some time in 2017.

Meet your guide

Diane Rommel

Diane Rommel has written for The Wall Street Journal, Outside, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Travel + Leisure, Wallpaper and Afar, as well as The Cut, Buzzfeed, Huffington Post and McSweeney’s. She once drove from London to Mongolia, via Siberia.