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 39 (7) 101
2 Inca Trails * Peru 34 15 16 35 (3) 97
3 Torajaland Indonesia Sulawesi 31 14 17 34 (0) 96
4 Q'adisha Valley * Lebanon 31 14 16 34 (0) 95
5 Drakensberg Escarpment South Africa 35 17 6 36 (0) 94
6 Petra * Jordan 32 14 18 36 (6) 94
7 The Dolomites Italy Dolomites 37 17 6 36 (2) 94
8 Huangshan China 36 17 12.5 36 (8) 93.5
9 Annapurna Massif * Nepal 36 17 10 37 (7) 93
10 Brenta Dolomites * Italy Dolomites 37 17 3 36 (0) 93
11 Grand Canyon USA Southwest 34 20 2 38 (1) 93
12 Lares Trek * Peru 35 16 12 33 (3) 93
13 Ganden and Tsurphu Koras China Tibet 30 14 18 33 (3) 92
14 Great Wall China 31 13 18 34 (4) 92
15 Hunza Area Pakistan 32 16 14 32 (2) 92
16 Mont Blanc Region * 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 Torres Del Paine/ Fitzroy Massif * Chile/Argentina 37 17 2 36 (0) 92
21 Pindos/Vikos Circuit Greece 33 16 8.5 34 (0) 91.5
22 Around Yangshuo, Guilin China 32 18 12 34 (5) 91
23 Hadrian's Wall Path UK England 31 14 17 34 (5) 91
24 Lofoten Islands Norway 35 16 7 33 (0) 91
25 Manaslu Circuit * Nepal 36 16 10 35 (6) 91
26 Colca and Cotahuasi Treks * Peru 34 17 8 34 (3) 90
27 Jomolhari trek Bhutan 36 17 8 34 (5) 90
28 Kangchenjunga/Singalila * India/Nepal 37 17 6 35 (5) 90
29 Lower Singalila Ridge * India 34 15 10 32 (1) 90
30 Markha Valley * India Ladakh 34 15 10 34 (3) 90
31 Meteora Greece 33 17 16 34 (10) 90
32 Nanda Devi and Kinai Pass * India 35 16 8 34 (3) 90
33 Royal Trek * Nepal 32 14 12 32 (0) 90
34 The Arsenale to the Salute, Venice Italy 36 4 20 36 (6) 90
35 Uluru (Ayers Rock) Australia 33 16.5 14 34 (8) 89.5
36 Alpine Pass Route * Switzerland 36 16 4 34 (1) 89
37 Bagan * Myanmar 30 10 18 34 (3) 89
38 Cappadocia * Turkey 30 16 12 34 (3) 89
39 Cinque Terre * Italy 32 14 12 32 (1) 89
40 Monte Rosa Circuit * Switzerland and Italy 36 16 6 32 (1) 89
41 Mount Rinjani * Indonesia Lombok 36 19 2 34 (2) 89
42 Simien Mountains * Ethiopia 34 16 8 33 (2) 89
43 Tongariro Alpine Crossing New Zealand North Island 34 19 2 36 (2) 89
44 Upper Humla Valley Nepal 33 15 12 31 (2) 89
45 Zanskar * India Ladakh 34 15 10 33 (3) 89
46 Altai Mountains Mongolia 33 14.5 8 33 (0) 88.5
47 Matterhorn Circuit * Switzerland 34 15 7.5 34 (2) 88.5
48 Stubai Hohenweg * Austria 35 15.5 4 34 (0) 88.5
49 Angkor Cambodia 31 11 20 36 (10) 88
50 Caldera de Taburiente, La Palma Spain Canary Islands 35 18 3 35 (3) 88
51 Canyonlands NP * USA Southwest 35 17 0 36 (0) 88
52 Easter Island * Chile 30 13 12 33 (0) 88
53 Everest Base Camp * China Tibet 36 17 10 33 (8) 88
54 Haraz Mountains * Yemen 30 14 12 32 (0) 88
55 Mount Sinai * Egypt 30 14 15 32 (3) 88
56 Nanga Parbat * Pakistan 36 16 5 32 (1) 88
57 Stalking UK Scotland 32 18 4 34 (0) 88
58 The Fugitives' Trail, Isandlwana to the Buffalo River South Africa 28 13 15 32 (0) 88
59 Tiger Leaping Gorge China 33 17 6 34 (2) 88
60 Wadi Rum * Jordan 32 17 5 34 (0) 88
61 Pembrokeshire Coast Path UK Wales 31.5 14.5 12.5 29 (0) 87.5
62 Pyraneean High Route * France 35.5 16 4 32 (0) 87.5
63 South West Coast Path UK England 31.5 15 13 30 (2) 87.5
64 Alpamayo Loop * Peru 36 15 8 32 (4) 87
65 Ausangate Trek * Peru 36 16 5 34 (4) 87
66 Banaue Rice Terraces The Philippines 30 13 15 32 (3) 87
67 Caldeira das Sete Cidades * Portugal Azores 32 17 6 32 (0) 87
68 Coast to Coast UK England 32 14 12 31 (2) 87
69 Cordillera Real Traverse * Bolivia 35 15 8 32 (3) 87
70 Crater Lake USA Northwest 35 18 3 35 (4) 87
71 Dogon Country * Mali 30 14 14 29 (0) 87
72 Emei Shan China 31 15 14 32 (5) 87
73 GR4 (Verdon Gorge) * France 32 17 4 34 (0) 87
74 Huayhuash Circuit * Peru 36 16 6 34 (5) 87
75 Jebel Toubkal Circuit Morocco 33 15 8 32 (1) 87
76 John Muir Trail * USA Northwest 36 17 1 34 (1) 87
77 Lake Manasarovar China Tibet 33 15 14 32 (7) 87
78 Lycian Way * Turkey 31 14 10 32 (0) 87
79 Mt Kinabalu Malaysia Sabah 34 17 5 34 (3) 87
80 Paria/Buckskin * USA Southwest 32 19 0 36 (0) 87
81 Preikestolen * Norway 36 15 4 34 (2) 87
82 Teton Crest Trail * USA Northwest 35 16 2 34 (0) 87
83 Zion NP * USA Southwest 35 17 0 35 (0) 87
84 Cares Gorge, Picos de Europa * Spain 31.5 17 4 34 (0) 86.5
85 Route of the Volcanoes, La Palma Spain Canary Islands 31.5 18 3 34 (0) 86.5
86 Barrah Canyon, Wadi Rum Jordan 32 16 6 32 (0) 86
87 Black Cuillin Ridge * UK Scotland 34 15 5 32 (0) 86
88 Bryce Canyon * USA Southwest 34 17 0 35 (0) 86
89 Eiger Trail * Switzerland 35 15 4 34 (2) 86
90 Everest Base Camp * Nepal 36 17 10 33 (10) 86
91 Jiuzhaigou and Huanglongsi China 34 16 8 32 (4) 86
92 Lake O'Hara * Canada Western 36 16 0 34 (0) 86
93 Lebanon Mountain Trail * Lebanon 30 14 12 30 (0) 86
94 Mount Kenya * Kenya 36 17 2 35 (4) 86
95 Mount Olympus Greece 33 16 4 33 (0) 86
96 Mt St Helens USA Northwest 30 19 4 33 (0) 86
97 Mt Tiede, Tenerife * Spain Canary Islands 32 18 2 34 (0) 86
98 Overland Track * Australia Tasmania 35 16 2 34 (1) 86
99 Santiago Pilgrimage Trail * Spain/France 30 13 14 29 (0) 86
100 Sentier Cathar France/Spain 30 14 12 30 (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
                 
Mt Tiede, Tenerife Europe Spain 32 18 2 34 (0) 86
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 34 19 3 35 (8) 83

Footnote:

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