The World's 100 Best Walks

William Mackesy is on a long quest to identify the world's 100 best walks. He is hoping to tackle and assess all the walks himself, and has so far done more than 40% of the likely Top 100 (listed on our about page). His planned book on these walks is provisionally titled "Fat Man Walking: a Good Wheeze". But, as he is over 50 and his knees are in decline, he suspects his ambitions may have to be reduced at some point.

Identifying the best walks requires a system as well as stamina: but what are the essential ingredients of a great walk? See our approach and our walks assessment system.

See William's personal favourites walks.

See our all walks list. And see the countries with the highest concentration of great 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

Rank	Walk Name	Country	Region	Beauty	Natural Interest	Human Interest	Charisma	Negative Points	Total

1	Mount Kailash Kora	China Tibet	Tibet	35	16	18	38	(7)	100
2	Inca Trails *	Peru Cuzco/Inca Heartlands Area	Cuzco/Inca Heartlands Area	34	15	18	35	(3)	99
3	Mustang	Nepal Annapurna & Mustang	Annapurna & Mustang	32.5	17	16.5	34	(2)	98
4=	Grand Canyon	USA SW: Grand Canyon	SW: Grand Canyon	38	18	5	38	(3)	96
4=	The Dolomites	Italy Dolomites	Dolomites	37	17	8	36	(2)	96
6=	Garwhal, Kumaon Himalaya *	India NW: Uttarakhand	NW: Uttarakhand	36	17	12	34	(5)	94
6=	Mount Kilimanjaro	Tanzania Mount Kilimanjaro	Mount Kilimanjaro	37	19	3	37	(2)	94
6=	Mt Everest Region *	Nepal Everest Region	Everest Region	38	19	6	38	(7)	94
6=	Svaneti Region	Georgia Gt Caucasus, Svaneti	Gt Caucasus, Svaneti	34	17	10	33	(0)	94
6=	Tusheti and Khevsureti *	Georgia Gt Caucasus, Tusheti and Khevsureti	Gt Caucasus, Tusheti and Khevsureti	34	15	12	33	(0)	94
11	Petra Area	Jordan Petra	Petra	31.5	15	19	35	(7)	93.5
12=	Annapurna Region *	Nepal Annapurna & Mustang	Annapurna & Mustang	36	17	10	37	(7)	93
12=	Himalayan Far North *	Myanmar		33	16	12	32	(0)	93
12=	Kangchenjunga / Singalila	India/Nepal Sikkim / E Nepal	Sikkim / E Nepal	37	17	8	35	(4)	93
12=	Manaslu Circuit *	Nepal		34	17	12	34	(4)	93
12=	Mount Kenya	Kenya Mount Kenya	Mount Kenya	36	19	5	36	(3)	93
17=	Mt Meru	Tanzania		35.5	20	3	36	(2)	92.5
17=	Source of the Ganges and Above	India NW: Uttarakhand/Garwhal	NW: Uttarakhand/Garwhal	35	16.5	12	34	(5)	92.5
19=	Cappadocia	Turkey Central Anatolia, Cappadocia	Central Anatolia, Cappadocia	31	17.5	14.5	33	(4)	92
19=	Gemmi Pass *	Switzerland Bernese Oberland	Bernese Oberland	34	15	10	33	(0)	92
19=	Great Wall	China		31	13	18	34	(4)	92
19=	Hadrian's Wall Path	United Kingdom England	England	31	14	18	34	(5)	92
19=	Khevi, Kazbegi and the Military Highway	Georgia Gt Caucasus, Khevi	Gt Caucasus, Khevi	34	17	8	33	(0)	92
19=	Lofoten Islands	Norway		35	17	7	33	(0)	92
19=	Madeira *	Portugal Madeira	Madeira	34	17	8	33	(0)	92
19=	Peaks of the Balkans Trail *	Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro		33	15	12	32	(0)	92
19=	Q'adisha Valley *	Lebanon		31	14.5	16	32.5	(2)	92
19=	Torajaland	Indonesia Sulawesi	Sulawesi	31	14	17	31	(1)	92
19=	Utah's Canyon Lands	USA South-west	South-west	36	18	4	36	(2)	92
19=	Wollo Highlands *	Ethiopia		31	14.5	15	31.5	(0)	92
31=	Dolpo *	Nepal Dolpo	Dolpo	34	16.5	10	33	(2)	91.5
31=	Drakensberg Escarpment	South Africa Drakensberg	Drakensberg	34	17	6	34.5	(0)	91.5
31=	Hajar Mountains	Oman		31	15.5	13	32	(0)	91.5
31=	Mount Athos	Greece		31	13.5	15	32	(0)	91.5
31=	South East Asian Hill Tribe Walks	Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam		30	14.5	16	31	(0)	91.5
31=	Taygetus and the Mani	Greece Peloponnese: Taygetus range and the Mani	Peloponnese: Taygetus range and the Mani	31	14.5	14	32	(0)	91.5
37=	French Pyrenees	France Pyrenees	Pyrenees	34	17	5	35	(0)	91
37=	Jebel Toubkal Area	Morocco High Atlas	High Atlas	33	16	10	32	(0)	91
37=	Julian Alps	Slovenia Julian Alps	Julian Alps	34	17	8	32	(0)	91
37=	Picos de Europa	Spain Picos de Europa	Picos de Europa	34	17	6	34	(0)	91
37=	The Lake District	United Kingdom England, Lake District	England, Lake District	34	16	8	33	(0)	91
37=	Tibet's Monastery Koras	China Tibet	Tibet	30	15	18	32	(4)	91
37=	Torres del Paine / Fitz Roy Massif *	Chile/Argentina Patagonia	Patagonia	37	18	2	36	(2)	91
37=	Transylvania	Romania Transylvania	Transylvania	30	15	15	31	(0)	91
37=	Utah's Slot Canyons	USA South-west	South-west	34	18	1	38	(0)	91
46=	Huangshan	China Eastern, Anhui	Eastern, Anhui	36	17	12.5	35	(10)	90.5
46=	Japan's Pilgrimage Routes	Japan		30.5	13	18	31	(2)	90.5
46=	The Amalfi Coast *	Italy Amalfi Coast	Amalfi Coast	32	14.5	15	32	(3)	90.5
49=	Avenue of the Volcanoes	Ecuador Central Andes	Central Andes	35	19	3	34	(1)	90
49=	Corsica Walking	France Corsica	Corsica	33	17	8	32	(0)	90
49=	Cotahuasi and Colca Canyons *	Peru South, Arequipa Area	South, Arequipa Area	34	17	8	34	(3)	90
49=	Gran Paradiso *	Italy Alps: Gran Paradiso	Alps: Gran Paradiso	35	17	4	34	(0)	90
49=	Huayhuash Circuit *	Peru North, Huayhuash	North, Huayhuash	36	15	6	35	(2)	90
49=	Jomolhari trek	Bhutan		36	17	8	34	(5)	90
49=	Markha Valley *	India Ladakh	Ladakh	34	15	10	34	(3)	90
49=	Menz-Guassa Conservation Area *	Ethiopia Central	Central	32	16	10	32	(0)	90
49=	Mont Blanc Area	France Alps, Mt Blanc Area	Alps, Mt Blanc Area	36	16	6	35	(3)	90
49=	Piatra Craiulai National Park *	Romania Carpathian Mountains	Carpathian Mountains	32	16	12	30	(0)	90
49=	Pindos/Vikos Circuit	Greece		32.5	16	8.5	33	(0)	90
49=	Royal Trek *	Nepal Annapurna & Mustang Region	Annapurna & Mustang Region	32	14	12	32	(0)	90
49=	Spanish Pyrenees	Spain Pyrenees	Pyrenees	34	17	2	37	(0)	90
62=	Alpine Pass Route *	Switzerland Alps	Alps	36	16.5	4	34	(1)	89.5
62=	Around Lalileba *	Ethiopia Lalileba Area	Lalileba Area	31	13.5	14	31	(0)	89.5
62=	Cockpit Country *	Jamaica		30	16.5	12	31	(0)	89.5
62=	Jasper NP *	Canada Alberta: Jasper NP	Alberta: Jasper NP	36	16.5	2	36	(1)	89.5
62=	Matterhorn Circuit *	Switzerland Alps	Alps	34	15	7.5	35	(2)	89.5
62=	Zagros Mountains *	Iran Zagros Mountains	Zagros Mountains	32	14	11.5	32	(0)	89.5
68=	Blyde River Canyon *	South Africa Mpumalanga	Mpumalanga	32	18	5	34	(0)	89
68=	Camino de Santiago *	Spain		31	15	16	31	(4)	89
68=	Concordia Trek *	Pakistan		39	18	6	38	(12)	89
68=	Copper Canyon *	Mexico		33	18	5	33	(0)	89
68=	Eiger Trail *	Switzerland Alps	Alps	35	16	8	32	(2)	89
68=	Monte Rosa Circuit *	Switzerland/Italy Alps	Alps	36	16	6	32	(1)	89
68=	Mount Rinjani *	Indonesia Lombok	Lombok	36	19	2	34	(2)	89
68=	Northern Limestone Alps	Austria		35	17	3	34	(0)	89
68=	Otavalo Area *	Ecuador Northern Andes: Otavalo Area	Northern Andes: Otavalo Area	34	17	5	33	(0)	89
68=	Simien Mountains	Ethiopia Simien Mts	Simien Mts	34	16	8	33	(2)	89
68=	The Cairngorms	United Kingdom Scotland, Cairngorms	Scotland, Cairngorms	33	16	6	34	(0)	89
68=	The Cotswolds	United Kingdom England, Cotswolds	England, Cotswolds	30	14	14	31	(0)	89
68=	Tongariro Alpine Crossing	New Zealand North Island, Tongariro Area	North Island, Tongariro Area	34	19	2	36	(2)	89
68=	Upper Humla Valley	Nepal Western Nepal	Western Nepal	33	15	12	31	(2)	89
82=	Altai Mountains	Mongolia		33	14.5	8	33	(0)	88.5
82=	Ireland's SW Peninsulas	Ireland Kerry/Cork	Kerry/Cork	34	15.5	8	33	(2)	88.5
82=	Kunisaki Peninsula *	Japan Kyushu	Kyushu	31	12	15.5	30	(0)	88.5
82=	Tash Rabat	Kyrgyzstan		33	15	10	31.5	(1)	88.5
82=	Walkers Haute Route (Chamonix to Zermatt) *	France/Switzerland Alps	Alps	35	16.5	5	34	(2)	88.5
87=	Assynt Peninsula	United Kingdom Scotland, NW Highlands, Assynt	Scotland, NW Highlands, Assynt	34	18	3	34	(1)	88
87=	Burgess Highline Trail *	Canada BC: Yoho	BC: Yoho	34	19	3	32	(0)	88
87=	Easter Island *	Chile		30	13	12	33	(0)	88
87=	Grand Teton National Park *	USA Western: Grand Teton NP	Western: Grand Teton NP	35	17	2	34	(0)	88
87=	Great Volcanic Ridge	Spain Canary Islands: La Palma	Canary Islands: La Palma	32	19	3	34	(0)	88
87=	Iceberg/Hooker Glacier Lake *	New Zealand South Island, Mount Cook Area	South Island, Mount Cook Area	35	16	5	32	(0)	88
87=	Illampu Circuit *	Bolivia		36	17	3	34	(2)	88
87=	Kullu Valley *	India NW:Himachal Pradesh	NW:Himachal Pradesh	34	16	5	33	(0)	88
87=	Las Canadas and El Tiede	Spain Canary Islands: Tenerife	Canary Islands: Tenerife	33	18	3	34	(0)	88
87=	Mount Sinai *	Egypt		30	14	15	32	(3)	88
87=	Odessa Lake *	USA Western/Rocky Mountain NP	Western/Rocky Mountain NP	36	17	2	33	(0)	88
87=	Orkney Islands	United Kingdom Scotland, Orkney Islands	Scotland, Orkney Islands	32	17	8	32	(1)	88
87=	Overland Track	Australia Tasmania	Tasmania	34	18	3	34	(1)	88
87=	Rif Mountains *	Morocco Rif Mountains	Rif Mountains	31.5	15	10	31.5	(0)	88

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 Ascent	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

Some may be separate sections of one longer trail, so, while perhaps meriting separate listings in the All Walks list, they should be treated as one walk for establshing the Top 100.
While individually superb, some are sufficiently similar or close to each other (e.g. similar landscapes in the same mountain chain, similar "slot" canyons in the US, or different walks in the same national park) to make it pointless to include them separately in the Top 100 walks: people would be likely to want to walk one but not both of them, or giving over-similar or neighbouring walks such prominence would reduce the diversity and interest of the list. Further, the inclusion of both walks separately may detract from the estimation of them both as a result of their similarity.

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Footnote: