Quick answer: The world’s great walks: Torres del Paine’s W Trek, the Tour du Mont Blanc, Everest Base Camp, New Zealand’s Milford Track and Iceland’s Laugavegur — each a different masterpiece of trail design.
1. Torres del Paine W Trek, Chile
Five days past granite towers, the French Valley and the Grey Glacier, sleeping in refugios or camps. Book refugios months ahead for December–February; the wind is part of the experience.
2. Tour du Mont Blanc
170km around Western Europe’s highest massif through France, Italy and Switzerland — pastries in one valley, polenta in the next. Ten to eleven days, hut-to-hut, mid-June to mid-September.
3. Everest Base Camp, Nepal
Twelve days through Sherpa villages and monasteries to the foot of the world’s highest mountain. Teahouses make it logistics-light; acclimatization days make it safe. October–November and March–May.
4. Milford Track, New Zealand
“The finest walk in the world” — four days of rainforest, alpine passes and thousand-metre waterfalls in Fiordland. Hut places release months ahead and vanish in minutes; book the day they open.
5. Laugavegur, Iceland
Four days through rhyolite mountains in sherbet colours, obsidian fields, hot-spring valleys and black deserts. Mid-July to early September only — and worth planning a year around.
6. The Inca Trail, Peru
Four days of cloud forest and Inca stonework ending at the Sun Gate above Machu Picchu at dawn. Permits cap the trail; reserve 4–6 months out or take the quieter Salkantay route.
7. Kungsleden, Sweden
The King’s Trail: 440km of Arctic Lapland, best sampled on the hut-served Abisko–Nikkaluokta stretch in late August when the blueberries ripen and the mosquitoes relent.
Trail wisdom
Book huts and permits the day they open, train with a loaded pack on real hills, and build a weather day into anything alpine. The best souvenir is knees that still work — walk poles earn their place.
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John Morrison is the founder and lead travel writer at Packzup. Over the past decade he has explored destinations across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania — always self-funded, never on a press trip.