Long, vast stretches of uninterrupted space and glorious, almost-empty grasslands. These are the landscapes of the Torres Del Paine W-Trek, a four-day point-to-point trek in one of the most remote and captivating places on our planet. Bruce Chatwin called it “Somewhere to live when the rest of the world blew up.”

the Best Hikes In Europe | Best Hiking Adventures in Europe 20 of the Best Hikes In Europe | Best Hiking Adventures in Europe

From there, you'll pass through cave villages and mountain viewpoints, until you descend through rare subtropical laurisilva forest. From there, you'll slowly descend through the Agaete Valley, the most fertile valley on the island, until you reach the coastal village of Agaete. And yes, it is time to go for a swim and relax now. If you want an island traverse that's easier than Corsica's iconic GR20 hike, whilst serving up equally beautiful views, then consider hiking the lesser-known trails across Madeira. There are plenty of wonderful day hikes which can be linked together to create a coast to coast traverse.Compare French, Italian, and Swiss cuisine while trekking through all three countries on this circuit around 15,781-foot Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Western Europe. This is a full-on immersion course in real mountain living: you’ll gain some 32,000 feet, spy the most stunning peaks in the Alps, and stop in serious mountain towns like Chamonix and Courmayeur. Unlike other circuits, there are multiple starting points, plenty of route options, public transportation to shorten the trip if something goes awry, and a variety of accommodations, from mountain huts to five-star hotels. For a true vacation, let someone else handle all the logistics, like Ryder-Walker Alpine Adventures or MT Sobek. Or if your legs and lungs can handle it, the route also makes for the most luxurious trail run over 100 miles. When it comes to hiking in Europe, this mother of all treks circumnavigates the mighty slopes of the highest mountain in the Alps: Mont Blanc. Trekking the Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB) introduces the ambitious trekker to some of the most dramatic and versatile scenery in the world. It's one of the most famous hiking tours in Europe, up there with the likes of the Camino de Santiago, and one of the best European walking holidays. With its 170 kilometres, it is certainly a long-distance trek - and you'll be walking on high mountain trails with a lot of elevation gain (around 10,600m/35,000ft) over the course of the 11-day hike. There are some superb kayaking destinations in Patagonia, particularly in the Chilean half with its multitude of fjords, pristine rivers, and glacial lakes. Besides international operators such as Swoop Patagonia arranging multi-day kayaking adventures on Chile’s Río Baker, in Parque Nacional Pumalín and in Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, there are local operators who offer day trips in popular locales. The trek: Spanning 270 miles in Sweden’s far north Lapland province, The King's Trail is superlative for its remote edge-of-the-world vibe, its 24/7 midsummer daylight that reboots your Circadian rhythm, and the August/September aurora borealis that lights up the sky. Hiking the entire trail takes about a month, but because it is broken into sections, you can choose the length of your hike; the most popular section (between Abisko and Nikkaluokta) covers 65 miles and takes between 10 to 12 days. Hiking this incredible feat of human engineering is one of the finest ways to comprehend its magnitude, contrasting the popular restored sections with the wild, rugged and romantic sections where nature has begun its reclamation.

25 Best Hikes in the World to Put on Your Bucket List (2023)

Six high passes with views so spectacular they cross into neighbouring countries, seven idyllic valleys echoing with cowbells, and ten perfect days amongst the fine alpine landscapes that have captured the imagination of mountains and walkers for generations. When to go: The maritime hiking season is best November through March, when Austral temperatures hover between 55° and 75° F Skirting the eponymous 4810m-high mountain, the iconic Tour du Mont Blanc takes you 105 miles into the heart of the continent. The trail passes through Switzerland, France and Italy, and hikers can easily customize their route to take in dense forest scenery or mountain passes, historical sights or all of the above!For many, the highlight will always be arriving at the Sun Gate, the fantastic finale and the moment you first see iconic Machu Picchu spread out beneath you. But for others, it’s waking up and peering from your tent pitched above the clouds to see a magnificent cloud inversion sunrise. When to go: Any time of year is open season for the hike, as temperatures seldom drop below 60 F, though October to May can bring unpredictable rain showers. Gran Canaria Traverse, Spain The volcanic landscape of the Canary Islands makes for an interesting hike. Photo: Getty.

Epic Hikes of the World (Paperback) - Lonely Planet

Whether it's Cape Town's Three Peaks, Jasper National Park's Skyline Trail or Gubeikou to Jinshanling on the Great Wall, you're sure to be inspired."

Panorama Ridge

Dramatic silver-grey mountains, spearing upwards towards the sky. Gnarled, fairytale forests swirling with mist, their eerie twisted silhouettes emerging with each footstep forward. Wind-blasted viewpoints jutting out over iceberg-dotted lakes. Bias of locations. The book isn’t so much great hikes of the world, but pretty good hikes NEAR YOU. Lonely Planet, the publisher, is at its heart an Australian company. The trouble is that a book purporting to be about the world’s epic hikes should be as agnostic as possible, with a small nod to practicalities. The upshot of this is that Australia receives 5 of the 50 hikes, USA gets 6 of the 11 bequeathed to all the Americas, yet Africa receives only 3 hikes in total. The balance is out and as such I'm sure there are many hikes which should have received deeper coverage that are missed. It’s been described as embryonic by locals; this is not a well-developed tourist trail. Aside from the history, there’s the natural splendour of the mountains: miles and miles of remote shepherds’ huts, rural rambling and airy mountain ridges to take in. Expect to be in the wilderness – no frills or life’s little luxuries await you here, simply miles and miles of a Europe few of us ever get to see. Read more: Spain's Best Kept Secret: Hiking in the Picos de Europa 4. The Madeira Coast to Coast Trek, Portugal Madeira's rugged coastline is an ideal hiking destination. Photo: Getty. Matterhorn is the mountain you can’t stop gawping at – and this circular hike in Zermatt gets you up close and personal to the beauty.

12 of the world’s most epic hikes - Lonely Planet

Aysén (north Chilean Patagonia) offers world-class fly-fishing, particularly for rainbow and brown trout, with fly-fishing lodges such as the Cinco Rios Lodge, Patagonian BaseCamp, and Coyhaique River Lodge dotted around in the wilderness along the Palena and Simpson rivers, accessed from the city of Coyhaique. In Argentina, keen fishers head for the likes of Kau Tapen Lodge and Aurelia Lodge in Tierra del Fuego to try their hand at fly-fishing on the Rio Grande, home of the world’s biggest sea-run brown trout and golden dorado. The sights: Naturally, there is no shortage of Patagonian splendour. Like the famed Torres del Paine, the spiky Dientes rise from the sea and reach almost 4,000 feet at the Dientes de Navarino massif. But unlike trekking in popular Torres del Paine, the Dientes offer an unadulterated man-on-the-moon experience that is almost unheard of these days, and any group of trekkers will likely be the only ones on the circuit. When to go: Climbing between June and February is considered optimum, with December to February being the best months for clear views of Kilimanjaro.

Mount Washington via Tuckerman Ravine

The trek: Mention Patagonia, and images of the toothy Three Towers of Paine in Torres del Paine National Park come to mind, with the Torres del Paine Circuit being one of the world’s most sought hiking circuits. But roughly 560 miles southeast lays a lesser-known circuit every bit as worthy of a hiker’s obsession as its northern flagship sibling. The Dientes Circuit Trek (or 'Teeth of Navarino') is the southernmost trek in the world, a 23-mile circuit in the Chilean Patagonia just 60 miles from the tip of South America and, by all counts, one of the world’s most remote treks. It was established in the early 1990s and receives fewer than a hundred trekkers a year, partly due to its isolation. The staging point is Puerto Williams, a remote home to about 2,000 residents connected to the outside world by six prop flights a week. The sights: The 11-mile trail is maintained but steep as it crosses above towering sea cliffs and through lush tropical valleys festooned with exotic birds and waterfall rivulets. The first two miles of the trail are a popular day hike and provide a sublime snippet of what’s to come, but to proceed beyond Hanakapiai Valley, hikers must have an overnight camping permit . Read more: Hiking the Secret Hinterlands of Gran Canaria 11. The Laugavegur Trek, Iceland The unusual multi-coloured landscape of Iceland There are plenty of other hikes in Georgia, if you're interested in exploring this underrated hiking destinations. The country's third highest peak, Mount Kazbek (5054m), can be climbed too.