6 of Europe’s most challenging hiking trails

Hiking trails can test you in so many ways — walks can be gruelling if the terrain is rocky and precarious; gentle ascents will exhaust you if the ground is sodden, and that’s before you’ve factored in a heavy backpack and the doubts that will dog the duller moments of the day. Meanwhile, the quitter that lurks in everyone will tempt you with thoughts of hot baths and your favourite meal back home.

But that’s the whole point — you’re there to prove yourself, so here are six magnificent journeys on which you can do just that.

1. Walker’s Haute Route, France and Switzerland 

This spectacular, 132-mile hike is generally regarded as tougher than the Tour du Mont Blanc, which also starts in Chamonix. But its challenges are not as relentless as some on this list. On route, you’ll hike gravel tracks and even asphalt roads, as well as gingerly pick your way over High Alpine trails and — at the Pas de Chevres near Arolla — climb fixed steel ladders. There’s plenty of variety when it comes to accommodation, too. Hostels, campsites and mountain huts are all on offer and can be supplemented by the odd night in a comfy mountain-town hotel. Even so, this is serious undertaking, with 46,000ft of climbing to be done, often in thin, high-altitude air. Most people take two weeks to reach Zermatt at the far end. 

2. Kamnik-Savinja Trail, Slovenia

Of course, you don’t have to take tackle the full trail. Cherry-picking sections of longer paths is standard practice, and for anyone in search of a short, sharp challenge the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, the Slovenian mountain range closest to Ljubljana, offer a tempting bite out of the epic 370-mile Slovenian Mountains Trail. You will, however, need to be fit, agile and equipped for via ferrata (a protected route with fixed cables and ladders) ascents and descents. This limestone massif is a place of vertiginous climbs, unnerving drops and paths not much wider than your boots. Book the Kamnik Saddle, Cojzova Koča and Češka koča mountain huts to be sure of a place to stay each night — and then take a very deep breath. A hair-raising — and life-affirming — long weekend awaits.

3. The Adlerweg, Austria

The Tirol is an extraordinary, relentlessly mountainous place, but it’s not as high as Alpine regions further west, and the landscape is a more benign mix of soaring peaks, sheltered valleys and serene Alpine meadows. Its tourist infrastructure is well-developed, too, so you’re never far from a well-run mountain hut or a village peppered with cute, family-owned hotels. As a result, the region’s signature long-distance path — the Adlerweg — is a place to stretch your legs and test your stamina. The main section runs from St Johann to St Christoph am Arlberg, over about 200 miles, and while some sections are tricky and exposed (notably the the Eppzirlerscharte pass, the Grossbergspitze ridge walk and the ascent of the Griesslscharte), you’ll also hike plenty of broad tracks and grassy slopes. If you’re alert, match-fit and experienced, it’s possible to walk the lot in 16 days though it would be sensible to plan a couple of rest days along the way.

4. Cape Wrath Trail, Scotland

This two-week walk through Scotland’s moody and magnificent north west, running along the west coast of Scotland, sets an unusual range of challenges. Route-finding is the most obvious. Even though it’s been hiked for nearly 30 years, it’s both an unofficial and unmarked trail (though there are guidebooks and plenty of online advice available). It will also test your expedition-planning skills, as many of its stages end with a basic bothy or a night of wild camping. And then there’s the small matter of the weather. Don’t go anywhere near it without a storm-proof jacket and trousers. In other words, it’s a mouthwatering mix of thrilling wild and remote landscapes. It has a target worthy of its 240-mile length, too — the lonely Cape Wrath lighthouse, atop its towering corner of cliffs. Up there you really are teetering on Europe’s northwestern edge. 

5. Arctic Circle Trail, Norway, Finland & Sweden

It’s called the ‘Nordkalottruta’ in Norwegian, the ‘Kalottireitti’ in Finnish and the ‘Nordkalottleden’ in Swedish, and because its entire, 500-mile length from Kilpisjävri in Finland to Kautokeino in Norway lies beyond the Arctic Circle, few people attempt the whole thing. But even short sections will test you — not least because they’re so remote. Yes, there are huts scattered along the route, but on plenty of stages you’ll need to pitch a tent. You’ll also need to prepare for wild swings in the weather, as well as extensive bogs, biting insects and rivers without bridges. In other words, this can be a mind-bending and totally wild challenge.

6. GR20, Corsica

It’s not the 112-mile length of this Grande Randonée (a network of long-distance walking routes) trail that makes it so intimidating. Nor the 40,000ft of climbing you’ll do as you pick your way along Corsica’s mountainous spine. It’s the challenge presented by its unremittingly rocky terrain — and by its famous Alpine variants. These sky-scraping detours are marked by ‘yellow blazes’ of route-marking paint, and if you try them you must be prepared to scramble rather than walk, sometimes with the help of fixed chains. Pack light, bring a climbing helmet and bear in mind that up to 30,000 people attempt the route each year so book your accommodation well in advance — even if you’re carrying your own tent, you’ll need to reserve a pitch.