The best walking trails in Europe: a walked-in guide

People have asked us for years which are the most beautiful walking trails in Europe, and for years we gave the same honest answer: it depends on what you are after. But a list can be made, if the person writing it has actually walked them. These are the trails we recommend first, grouped by country, with real distances and real days, and none of the usual list copied from Wikipedia.

One caveat: "the most beautiful" does not exist in the absolute. What exists is the one best suited to you, your legs and your time. Here are our favourites and why, so you can choose for real. If you want help deciding, our guide on which Camino de Santiago to choose goes even deeper.

The table: the best walking trails in Europe at a glance

Trail	Country	Km	Days
French Way, full route	Spain	800	36
Camino del Norte	Spain	815	38
Camino Primitivo	Spain	320	15
Camino de los Faros	Spain	200	10
Camí de Cavalls	Spain	185	12
Portuguese Coastal Way	Portugal	280	15
Rota Vicentina	Portugal	206	13
Fisherman's Trail	Portugal	65	6
Via Francigena, Siena to Rome	Italy	275	13
Via degli Dei	Italy	130	6
Via di Francesco	Italy	190	15
Wicklow Way	Ireland	130	8
Kerry Way	Ireland	180	10
GR34 Brittany	France	92	7
Hadrian's Wall Path	England	135	9

The figures are the real ones from our trip pages. The full catalogue is on all our itineraries.

Spain: where it all began

Spain is still the walking country par excellence, and not only because of Santiago. The full French Way, 800 km from Saint Jean Pied de Port, is the most famous route in the world for a reason: it crosses the Pyrenees, the Meseta and Galicia in an arc that changes under your feet every week. Short on time? Start from Sarria, the last 100 km, the minimum for the Compostela.

But if you are after silence, our pick is the Camino Primitivo: 320 km of Asturian mountains, the oldest and hardest route, with fewer people and more forest. On the coast, the Camino del Norte follows the Cantabrian sea for over 800 km. And for Finisterre without the pilgrimage, the Camino de los Faros in Galicia is pure Atlantic cliff.

Off the mainland, the Camí de Cavalls circles the whole of Menorca: 185 km of coves and clifftop path, ideal in spring.

Portugal: the finest coast you can walk

Portugal has two souls. In the north, the Portuguese Coastal Way climbs from Porto toward Santiago along the ocean, gentler than the French and with the best seafood in Europe. To see every variant, the guide on the Portuguese Way lines them up.

In the south, across the Alentejo and the Algarve, the Rota Vicentina and its Fisherman's Trail are the wildest, most spectacular coast on the continent: sand, cliffs, no resorts. The Fisherman's Trail is short but tough, walked on the dune itself. The full picture is in our guide to the Rota Vicentina and Fishermen's Trail.

Italy: trails of history, not only nature

In Italy a walk is almost always a story too. The Via Francigena from Siena to Rome crosses Tuscany and Lazio all the way to St Peter's; the final stretch with the Testimonium is in the guide to the last 100 km of the Francigena. Shorter and greener, the Via degli Dei links Bologna to Florence over the Apennines in under a week: the stages are in the guide to the Via degli Dei.

For the spiritual side without the Santiago crowds, the Via di Francesco from Assisi to Rome is our absolute favourite: 190 km between Umbria and Lazio, woods, hermitages, villages that seem to stand still.

Ireland and the UK: green, wind and almost nobody

Ireland walks like nowhere else. The Wicklow Way, the oldest waymarked trail in the country, starts almost in Dublin and climbs into the mountains right behind the city. In the west, the Kerry Way and the Dingle Way loop around the finest peninsulas of Kerry, between ocean and sheep. We covered them all in the guide to walking in Ireland.

In England, Hadrian's Wall Path follows the Roman wall coast to coast: 135 km of open-air history. In France, the GR34 in Brittany reaches Mont Saint Michel along the old customs-officers' path, one of the most photographed coastlines in the country.

How to choose, in practice

If it is your first walk, go short and famous: Sarria, the Via degli Dei, the Wicklow Way. If you have already done one and want silence, gain altitude and solitude: Primitivo, Kerry Way, Rota Vicentina. Beauty, almost always, is inversely proportional to the crowd.

What are the most beautiful walking trails in Europe?

There is no objective ranking, but the trails we recommend most often are the Camino Primitivo in Spain, the Rota Vicentina in Portugal, the Via di Francesco in Italy and the Kerry Way in Ireland: four very different landscapes, all walkable independently, stage by stage, with your luggage moved ahead and your bed already booked. You will find every itinerary, with real distances and days, among our walks.