The World's 100 Best Walks

Here is our (currently preliminary) list of the world’s Top 100 walks, created as part of William Mackesy’s research for his planned book on the World’s Best Walks. See our Walks Assessment System.

The Top 100 is a distillation: some walks on our All Walks list have been combined for creating a definitive Top 100 that avoids inappropriate duplication. (See the footnote below for further explanation.)

See below for some "near misses" from the Top 100.

The rating of walks marked * is currently provisional.

The Top 100

Ranking Walk Name Country Region Beauty Natural Interest Human Interest Charisma Negative Points Total
                   
1 Mount Kailash Kora China Tibet 35 16 19 39 (7) 102
2 Inca Trails * Peru 34 15 17 35 (3) 98
3 Alta Via No. 1 * Italy Dolomites 37 17 6 36 (0) 96
4 Grand Canyon USA Southwest 37 20 2 38 (1) 96
5 Torajaland Indonesia Sulawesi 31 14 17 36 (2) 96
6 Via Ferratas * Italy Dolomites 37 17 2 38 (0) 94
7 Huangshan China 35 17 12.5 36 (7) 93.5
8 Annapurna Massif * Nepal 36 17 10 37 (7) 93
9 Brenta Dolomites * Italy 37 17 3 36 (0) 93
10 Ganden and Tsurphu Koras China Tibet 30 14 18 34 (3) 93
11 Torres Del Paine/ Fitzroy Massif * Chile/Argentina 38 17 2 36 (0) 93
12 Around Yangshuo, Guilin China 32 18 12 34 (4) 92
13 Crater Lake USA Northwest 37 18 2 35 (0) 92
14 Drakensberg Escarpment * South Africa 36 16 4 36 (0) 92
15 Great Wall China 31 13 18 34 (4) 92
16 Hadrian's Wall UK England 31 14 16 34 (3) 92
17 Hunza Area Pakistan 32 16 14 32 (2) 92
18 Manaslu Circuit * Nepal 37 16 10 35 (6) 92
19 Meteora Greece 33 17 16 34 (8) 92
20 Petra * Jordan 31 14 16 35 (4) 92
21 Pindos/Vikos Circuit Greece 33 17 8 34 (0) 92
22 Royal Trek * Nepal 34 14 12 32 (0) 92
23 Tour of Mt Blanc * France 36 16 6 35 (1) 92
24 Alpine Pass Route * Switzerland 36 16 6 34 (1) 91
25 Cappadocia * Turkey 30 17 12 34 (2) 91
26 Lofoten Islands Norway 35 16 7 33 (0) 91
27 Mustang * Nepal 31 15 14 34 (3) 91
28 Tiger Leaping Gorge China 34 17 6 34 (0) 91
29 Jomolhari trek Bhutan 36 17 8 34 (5) 90
30 Lower Singalila Ridge * Nepal 34 15 10 32 (1) 90
31 Markha Valley * India Ladakh 34 15 10 34 (3) 90
32 Mount Rinjani * Indonesia Lombok 36 19 2 34 (1) 90
33 Mt Athos * Greece 31 13 14 32 (0) 90
34 Nanda Devi and Kinai Pass * India 35 16 8 34 (3) 90
35 The Arsenale to the Salute, Venice Italy 36 4 20 36 (6) 90
36 Zanskar * India Ladakh 34 15 10 34 (3) 90
37 Angkor Cambodia 32 11 20 36 (10) 89
38 Bagan * Myanmar 30 10 18 34 (3) 89
39 Caldera de Taburiente, La Palma Spain Canary Islands 35 19 3 35 (3) 89
40 Canyonlands NP * USA Southwest 36 17 0 36 (0) 89
41 Colca and Cotahuasi Treks * Peru 34 18 6 34 (3) 89
42 Lares Trek * Peru 34 15 12 30 (2) 89
43 Matterhorn Circuit * Switzerland 34 15 8 34 (2) 89
44 Monte Rosa Circuit * Switzerland and Italy 36 16 6 32 (1) 89
45 Mt Meru Tanzania 36 19 2 34 (2) 89
46 Simien Mountains * Ethiopia 34 16 8 33 (2) 89
47 Stubai Alps * Austria 36 15 4 34 (0) 89
48 Tongariro Alpine Crossing New Zealand North Island 34 19 2 36 (2) 89
49 Uluru (Ayers Rock) Australia 33 16 14 34 (8) 89
50 Altai Mountains Mongolia 33 14 8 33 (0) 88
51 Easter Island * Chile 30 13 12 33 (0) 88
52 Emei Shan China 32 15 14 32 (5) 88
53 Haraz Mountains * Yemen 30 14 12 32 (0) 88
54 Hua Shan China 32 15 14 32 (5) 88
55 Kokoda Trail * Papua New Guinea 28 16 16 28 (0) 88
56 Nanga Parbat * Pakistan 36 16 5 32 (1) 88
57 Pyraneean High Route * France 36 16 4 32 (0) 88
58 Route of the Volcanoes, La Palma Spain Canary Islands 33 18 3 34 (0) 88
59 South West Coast Path UK England 32 15 13 30 (2) 88
60 Upper Humla Valley Nepal 33 15 12 30 (2) 88
61 Alpamayo Loop * Peru 36 15 8 32 (4) 87
62 Ausangate Trek * Peru 36 16 5 34 (4) 87
63 Bryce Canyon * USA Southwest 35 17 0 35 (0) 87
64 Caldeira das Sete Cidades * Portugal Azores 32 17 6 32 (0) 87
65 Cares Gorge, Picos de Europa * Spain 32 17 4 34 (0) 87
66 Cordillera Real Traverse * Bolivia 35 15 8 32 (3) 87
67 Dogon Country * Mali 30 14 14 29 (0) 87
68 Everest Base Camp * Nepal 35 17 12 33 (10) 87
69 GR4 (Verdon Gorge) * France 32 17 4 34 (0) 87
70 Huayhuash Circuit * Peru 36 16 6 34 (5) 87
71 Jebel Toubkal Circuit Morocco 33 15 8 32 (1) 87
72 Jiuzhaigou and Huanglongsi China 34 16 8 32 (3) 87
73 John Muir Trail * USA Northwest 36 16 1 34 (0) 87
74 Kangchenjunga/Singalila * India/Nepal 35 16 6 35 (5) 87
75 Lake Mansarovar China Tibet 32 15 14 32 (6) 87
76 Luxor to the Valley of the Kings * Egypt 28 14 16 32 (3) 87
77 Lycian Way * Turkey 31 14 10 32 (0) 87
78 Mt St Helens USA Northwest 30 20 4 33 (0) 87
79 Paria/Buckskin * USA Southwest 32 19 0 36 (0) 87
80 Preikestolen * Norway 36 15 4 34 (2) 87
81 Teton Crest Trail * USA Northwest 35 16 2 34 (0) 87
82 The Fugitives' Trail, Isandlwana to the Buffalo River South Africa 28 13 14 32 (0) 87
83 Valletta * Malta 32 6 20 34 (5) 87
84 Zion NP * USA Southwest 35 17 0 35 (0) 87
85 Coast to Coast UK England 32 14 12 30 (2) 86
86 Fish River Canyon * Namibia 34 18 0 34 (0) 86
87 GR20 * France Corsica 33 15 6 32 (0) 86
88 Kungsleden Sweden 32 17 6 33 (2) 86
89 Lake O'Hara * Canada Western 36 16 0 34 (0) 86
90 Lebanon Mountain Trail * Lebanon 30 14 12 30 (0) 86
91 Mount Kenya * Kenya 36 17 2 35 (4) 86
92 Mount Olympus Greece 33 16 4 33 (0) 86
93 Mount Sinai * Egypt 30 14 15 30 (3) 86
94 Mt Kinabalu Malaysia Sabah 35 16 5 34 (4) 86
95 Pembrokeshire Coast Path UK Wales 32 14 12 28 (0) 86
96 Santiago Pilgrimage Trail * Spain/France 30 13 14 29 (0) 86
97 Sentier Cathar France/Spain 30 14 12 30 (0) 86
98 Sunshine to Assiniboine * Canada Western 36 16 0 34 (0) 86
99 Tash Rabat Kyrgyzstan 33 14 10 30 (1) 86
100 Valnontey to Rehmes-Notre-Dame * Italy 34 16 2 34 (0) 86

Near Misses

And here are some superb "near misses" that merit special recognition:

Walk Name Continent Country Beauty Natural Interest Human Interest Charisma Negative Points Total
                 
M'goun Massif Africa Morocco 32 15 8 30 (0) 85
Mount Fuji Asia Japan 30 17 8 34 (5) 84
Mt Kilimanjaro Africa Tanzania 35 19 3 35 (8) 84
Mt Tiede, Tenerife Europe Spain 32 18 2 32 (0) 84

Footnote:

In the distillation process some walks in the All Walks list have been combined when creating the Top 100 walks