5 Bucket List Hiking Adventures For 2024

There’s no better way to explore and get a taste of a country than by hiking, the essence of slow travel. The best and most memorable hikes are usually so-called bucket list trips, journeys that may replicate historic walks. These are the hikes that people dream of, train for, and budget the time and money to make them happen. Here are five of the classic hiking trips.

New Zealand

Hiker’s Journey to New Zealand is a new trip from Wilderness Travel. New Zealand is famed for the 1,900-mile-long Te Araroa trail (Maori for “Long Pathway”) that traverses New Zealand from the bottom of the South Island to the top of the North Island. It’s a three-month hike for determined and very fit hikers. This version is a 12-day journey that is a kind of “best-of” version and includes some of the most celebrated sections of the original route, including the Queen Charlotte Track, the “Stairway to Heaven” staircases above the Kapiti Coast, and the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, known as the best one-day hike in New Zealand. Swimming with dolphins, jetboating on the Whanganui River, and enjoying the country’s cuisine and wines are a part of the trip. Rated Level 4, moderate to strenuous, it’s priced from $8,295.

The Mont Blanc Circuit

The Alps Tour du Mont Blanc Hiking Tour from MT Sobek is “The Classic Three Country Mountain Loop,” the company says, as opposed to a shortened version that some outfitters offer. Rated Level 4 or “challenging,” this 10-day walk covers the full 99 miles around 15,781-foot Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest peak. Starting in France, traveling into Italy and then Switzerland, before returning to France, the walk begins in the village of Les Houches, near Chamonix. It’s an itinerary filled with lakes, glaciers, larch forests, Alpine meadows, and astounding vistas throughout. Accommodations are in comfortable mountain hotels, and it’s a chance to experience the culture, cuisine, and landscapes of three countries. From $7,995 per person, based on double occupancy (as are all trips mentioned here).

Patagonia

Patagonia, the remote region at the tip of South America straddling large swaths of both Argentina and Chile, is justly prized as one of the most remote and beautiful places on the face of the earth. Wildland Trekking has four trips to the region, including the 12-day Torres Del Paine O Circuit. The ‘Paine O Circuit’ highlights the best features of Torres del Paine National Park, circumnavigating the mountain massif. It’s a landscape of granite towers, spires, glacial lakes, and blue icebergs. The 11-day trip covers 85 miles and is rated Level 4 “due to the heavier backpacks (25-35 pounds)” and a hike over John Garner Pass. Accommodations are in a hotel, backcountry huts (“refugios”) and tents. The trip is priced from $5,900.

Scotland’s West Highland Way

The West Highland Way is one of the world’s classic walks, a long-distance trek covering 95 miles from Milngavie on the outskirts of Glasgow to Fort William in the Highlands. Wilderness Scotland offers this as an eight-day walk “to fully appreciate the stunning scenery, learn about the area’s history and legends, and identify the flora and fauna along the route.” The route travels along Loch Lomond, Rannoch Moor, and Glencoe before finishing in Fort William, at the foot of Britain’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis. This trip is “Blue Graded,” which means “suitable for fit and experienced hikers,” from $3,395.

Japan’s Nakasendo Way

Walk Japan pioneered the Nakasendo Way, a walk along a historic road from Kyoto to Tokyo through rural and mountainous countryside trails. The Nakasendo means ‘the road through the mountains’, and the Nakasendo Way explores one of Japan’s ancient highways, used by feudal lords, samurai, itinerant merchants, and pilgrims. Starting in Kyoto, one of Japan’s ancient capitals, it follows parts of the old road through the rural countryside into the mountains of Japan’s Central Alps before arriving in the modern-day capital, Tokyo. The 11-day walk includes accommodation in hotels, Japanese inns, and hearty farmhouse cuisine. Walk Japan says that this is a walking tour, not a trek. The average daily walking distance is between six and 16 miles, and the price starts at JPY 548,000 ($3,650).