Travel walking routes?

May 6, 2009 9:45 AM

What are some established walking routes for tourists around the world?

I know about the Camino de Santiago and light trekking in Nepal. What are some other established walking routes for tourists around the world? Bonus points if it's a route (like the Camino) rather than a set of trails.

posted by pintapicasso to travel & transportation (19 answers total)

Do you mean things like the Appalachian Trail? Because there are several similar trails in the U.S. and Canada -- Pacific Crest Trail, Continental Divide Trail, North Country Trail.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:52 AM on May 6, 2009

Or perhaps the Freedom Trail?
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:53 AM on May 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

The West Highland Way, Scotland.
posted by fire&wings at 9:54 AM on May 6, 2009

What designates a trail or route for tourists instead of locals? Are you looking for walks that take someone past key points in local history, or specific scenes of local interest?
posted by filthy light thief at 9:55 AM on May 6, 2009

The European Rambler's Association has a list of major long distance routes.
posted by gyusan at 9:59 AM on May 6, 2009

Hadrian's Wall, England.
posted by rtha at 9:59 AM on May 6, 2009

There's the London Loop which is 150 miles round London.
posted by patricio at 10:07 AM on May 6, 2009

In Ontario there is the Waterfront Trail for 900 km through cities, towns and countryside. It also hooks up to the Bruce Trail which is a almost entirely forested/farmland along the edge of the escarpment.
posted by saucysault at 10:09 AM on May 6, 2009

The Pacific Crest Trail. But it's not for the faint of heart, or the fat of butt. It's an extreme challenge.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:22 AM on May 6, 2009

The C&O Canal?
posted by Pollomacho at 10:24 AM on May 6, 2009

New Zealand has its ten Great Walks which are a series of multi-day hikes (or tramps as they are called in NZ). The Great Walks are spread across the country, and are not linked as such, but travel between them is not that difficult given the size of the country. Some of these walks are set up specifically in mind for tourists (in terms of upgraded facilities, options to have your gear carried for you to the next hut, etc.). I've done 3 of them myself.

One of the Great Walks actually is actually a multi-day river journey, with walks possible along the way.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 10:52 AM on May 6, 2009

There are shorter ones all over the place. For instance, the Larch Mountain trail.

This web site I just ran into lists hundreds of those.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:01 AM on May 6, 2009

The Lyke Wake Walk in North Yorkshire is more hiking than tourism, but it's beautiful country.
posted by anadem at 11:36 AM on May 6, 2009

Via Dolorosa? (apologies to all the pilgrims that I just called "tourists.")
posted by nax at 12:24 PM on May 6, 2009

The Inca trail is more of a hike than a walk but may be of interest in this category.
posted by nzydarkxj at 12:49 PM on May 6, 2009

The Lebanon Mountain Trail is pretty new. A group of 6 finished a complete through-walk recently and blogged about it.
posted by xqwzts at 1:05 PM on May 6, 2009

The many variants of the Camino de Santiago!
The map on that page shows some of the main routes, but one can start the "pilgrimage" from a number of points farther afield, such as Rome, Paris, Canterbury or Cologne. Here's the site for the French portion of the route (only in French, I'm afraid). Also in France there are the Grand Randonees in France. A thorough, but hard to sift through website is found here. In the UK, they have many Long Distance Paths. See the Long Distance Walkers Association site or the Ramblers site. the Ramblers also has links showing paths and trails in other countries.
posted by HE Amb. T. S. L. DuVal at 2:18 PM on May 6, 2009

Another famous pilgrimage ends in Trondheim, Norway.
posted by mammary16 at 3:09 PM on May 6, 2009

I'll second the Pacific Crest Trail and add the Tahoe Rim Trail, if you're on the West Coast USA. You don't have to hike the whole length of either (but if you do have a fat butt, it will definately be smaller when you're done).

I had a blast hiking the South Coast Track in Tasmania years ago, as well as the Overland Track.
posted by elendil71 at 4:11 PM on May 6, 2009