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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 18 38 (7) 100
2 Inca Trails * Peru Cuzco Area 34 15 17 35 (3) 98
3 Petra Area Jordan Petra 32 16 19 36 (7) 96
4 Torajaland Indonesia Sulawesi 31 14 17 34 (0) 96
5 Q'adisha Valley Lebanon 31 14 16 34 (0) 95
6 Drakensberg Escarpment South Africa 35 17 6 36 (0) 94
7 Lunana Valley * Bhutan 32 16 13 33 (0) 94
8 The Dolomites Italy Dolomites 37 17 6 36 (2) 94
9 Huangshan China 36 17 12.5 36 (8) 93.5
10 Annapurna Massif * Nepal 36 17 10 37 (7) 93
11 Grand Canyon USA Southwest 34 20 2 38 (1) 93
12 Grand Canyon USA Southwest 34 20 2 38 (1) 93
13 Torres del Paine / Fitz Roy Massif * Chile/Argentina 37 18 2 36 (0) 93
14 Great Wall China 31 13 18 34 (4) 92
15 Hunza Area Pakistan Hunza 32 16 14 32 (2) 92
16 Mont Blanc Area France Alps 36 16 6 35 (1) 92
17 Mount Athos Greece 31 14 15 32 (0) 92
18 Mt Meru Tanzania 35 20 3 36 (2) 92
19 Mustang * Nepal 31 15 14 35 (3) 92
20 Tour of Mt Blanc * France Alps 36 16 6 35 (1) 92
21 Afrodisias * Turkey 32 6 19 34 (0) 91
22 Around Yangshuo, Guilin China 32 18 12 34 (5) 91
23 Camino de Santiago * Spain 31 15 16 31 (2) 91
24 Hadrian's Wall Path UK England 31 14 17 34 (5) 91
25 Lofoten Islands Norway 35 16 7 33 (0) 91
26 Manaslu Circuit * Nepal 36 16 10 35 (6) 91
27 Picos de Europa Spain Picos de Europa 34 17 6 34 (0) 91
28 Tibet's Monastery Koras China Tibet 30 15 18 32 (4) 91
29 Pindos/Vikos Circuit Greece 33 16 8.5 33 (0) 90.5
30 Cotahuasi and Colca Canyons * Peru 34 17 8 34 (3) 90
31 Gran Paradiso * Italy Alps 35 17 4 34 (0) 90
32 Illampu Circuit * Bolivia 36 17 3 34 (0) 90
33 Jomolhari trek Bhutan 36 17 8 34 (5) 90
34 Kangchenjunga / Singalila * India/Nepal 37 17 6 35 (5) 90
35 Markha Valley * India Ladakh 34 15 10 34 (3) 90
36 Mount Everest * Nepal/China 36 17 10 33 (6) 90
37 Nanda Devi and Kinai Pass * India 35 16 8 34 (3) 90
38 Royal Trek * Nepal 32 14 12 32 (0) 90
39 Uluru (Ayers Rock) Australia 33 16.5 14 34 (8) 89.5
40 Alpine Pass Route * Switzerland 36 16 4 34 (1) 89
41 Bagan * Myanmar 30 10 18 34 (3) 89
42 Cairngorms UK Scotland, Cairngorms 33 16 6 34 (0) 89
43 Cappadocia * Turkey 30 16 12 34 (3) 89
44 Cinque Terre * Italy 32 14 12 32 (1) 89
45 Eiger Trail * Switzerland 35 16 8 32 (2) 89
46 Meteora Greece 32 17 16 34 (10) 89
47 Monte Rosa Circuit * Switzerland/Italy Alps 36 16 6 32 (1) 89
48 Mount Rinjani * Indonesia Lombok 36 19 2 34 (2) 89
49 Pyrenees * France/Spain Pyrenees 36 16 4 33 (0) 89
50 Shikoku Pilgrimage * Japan 30 14 17 30 (2) 89
51 Simien Mountains * Ethiopia 34 16 8 33 (2) 89
52 The Arsenale to the Salute, Venice Italy 34 5 20 36 (6) 89
53 The Volcanic Ridge, La Palma Spain Canary Islands 33 18 4 34 (0) 89
54 Tongariro Alpine Crossing New Zealand North Island 34 19 2 36 (2) 89
55 Upper Humla Valley Nepal 33 15 12 31 (2) 89
56 Vilcabamba Trail * Peru 30 16 13 30 (0) 89
57 Altai Mountains Mongolia 33 14.5 8 33 (0) 88.5
58 Matterhorn Circuit * Switzerland 34 15 7.5 34 (2) 88.5
59 Stubai Hohenweg * Austria 35 15.5 4 34 (0) 88.5
60 Angkor Cambodia 31 11 20 36 (10) 88
61 Burgess Highline Trail * Canada Western 34 19 3 32 (0) 88
62 Canyonlands NP * USA Southwest 35 17 0 36 (0) 88
63 Easter Island * Chile 30 13 12 33 (0) 88
64 Haraz Mountains * Yemen 30 14 12 32 (0) 88
65 Mount Sinai * Egypt 30 14 15 32 (3) 88
66 Nanga Parbat * Pakistan 36 16 5 32 (1) 88
67 St Paul Trail * Turkey 32 16 8 32 (0) 88
68 The Fugitives' Trail, Isandlwana to the Buffalo River South Africa 28 13 15 32 (0) 88
69 Tiger Leaping Gorge China 33 17 6 34 (2) 88
70 Wadi Rum Jordan Wadi Rum 32 17 5 34 (0) 88
71 Western Ghats * India 31 15 14 30 (2) 88
72 Wulingyuan * China 32 18 5 36 (3) 88
73 Zanskar * India Ladakh 33 15 10 33 (3) 88
74 Pembrokeshire Coast Path UK Wales 31.5 14.5 12.5 29 (0) 87.5
75 South West Coast Path UK England 31.5 15 13 30 (2) 87.5
76 Alpamayo Loop * Peru 36 15 8 32 (4) 87
77 Ausangate Trek * Peru 36 16 5 34 (4) 87
78 Banaue Rice Terraces The Philippines 30 13 15 32 (3) 87
79 Banff NP: Lake Louise to Lake Agnes * Canada Western 34 16 5 34 (2) 87
80 Caldeira das Sete Cidades * Portugal Azores 32 17 6 32 (0) 87
81 Coast to Coast UK England 32 14 12 31 (2) 87
82 Cordillera Real Traverse * Bolivia 35 15 8 32 (3) 87
83 Cotswold Way UK England 31 14 14 31 (3) 87
84 Crater Lake USA Northwest 35 18 3 35 (4) 87
85 Dogon Country * Mali 30 14 14 29 (0) 87
86 Druk Path * Bhutan 34 15 6 34 (2) 87
87 Emei Shan China 31 15 14 32 (5) 87
88 Gonggashan * China 32 17 10 32 (4) 87
89 GR4 (Verdon Gorge) * France 32 17 4 34 (0) 87
90 Huayhuash Circuit * Peru 36 16 6 34 (5) 87
91 Jatbula Trail, Northern Territories * Australia 30 17 10 30 (0) 87
92 Jebel Toubkal Circuit Morocco 33 15 8 32 (1) 87
93 John Muir Trail * USA Northwest 36 17 1 34 (1) 87
94 Jotunheimen * Norway 35 16 3 33 (0) 87
95 Kungsleden Sweden 32 17 6 33 (1) 87
96 Lake District UK England, Lake District 34 15 8 32 (2) 87
97 Lake Manasarovar China Tibet 33 15 14 32 (7) 87
98 Las Canadas and El Tiede, Tenerife Spain Canary Islands 33 18 2 34 (0) 87
99 Lycian Way Turkey 31 14 10 32 (0) 87
100 Mount Kenya * Kenya 36 18 2 35 (4) 87

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
                 
Chemin St Jacques Europe France 28 15 15 28 (0) 86
Hua Shan Asia China 32 15 14 32 (8) 85
M'goun Massif Africa Morocco 32 15 8 30 (0) 85
Atacama Desert South America Chile 32 18 0 34 (0) 84
Mount Fuji Asia Japan 30 17 8 34 (5) 84

Footnote:

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