The World’s Most Iconic Hikes: Sample Them with Backroads

The crown jewel of Alpine hiking, the Tour du Mont Blanc circles Europe’s highest peak through three countries: France, Italy and Switzerland. Backroads has handpicked breathtaking sections and combined them with comfortable, character-rich accommodations—no hostels or bunk beds here. 

With an activity level of 4-5, it’s one of our most advanced hiking trips, and dates for 2027 sold out almost immediately. Don’t want to wait till 2028? There are still a few spots available on the Women’s Adventure, or you can do a slightly less intense version on our French & Italian Alps Lodge-to-Lodge Hiking Trip. 

Sample the Tour du Mont Blanc

Whether you choose the Inca Trail or the Salkantay Pass trail, all routes lead to Machu Picchu when trekking in Peru. Backroads offers several ways to reach the ancient citadel, from an easygoing Dolce Tempo journey to one of our most challenging (activity level 3-5) Lodge-to-Lodge Hiking Trips to a family Multi-Adventure, which includes high-altitude biking.

As a longtime licensed operator, Backroads has access to highly coveted Inca Trail permits, which are limited and not available to independent hikers.  

Which of the Peru itineraries works for you? Choose the Inca Trail to begin in the Sacred Valley and hike past stone ruins at altitudes up to 12,000 feet. Choose the Lodge-to-Lodge Trekking Trip to cross the 15,200-foot high Salkantay Pass through jungles and cloud forest.

Find Your Way to Machu Picchu

Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park is the definitive landscape of Patagonia, and the W Trek (so named for its shape on the map) spans roughly 50 miles through the heart of it. But its notoriously fickle weather and backcountry conditions require careful planning and experience. Hike the most striking sections of it with Backroads logistics, route planning and seasoned Trip Leaders supporting you all the way.  

Anchored at the Hotel Las Torres, at the eastern trailhead of the W, you can tackle the bucket-list Base Torres hike to the foot of Patagonia’s recognizable granite spires. Later, venture into Valle del Francés (French Valley)—the dramatic middle point of the W. 

Explore Torres del Paine in Chile

Massachusetts and North Carolina offer contrasting sides of the Appalachian Trail, the most famous long-distance trek in the United States. Regardless of which you choose, you’ll have real food and a comfortable bed waiting for you each night.  

On the northern side, climb Mount Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts, whose wooded slopes and expansive summit views inspired literary greats like Thoreau, Melville and Hawthorne.

Try the Appalachian Trail in the North

On the southern side, trek through spruce-fir forests and along rugged ridgelines in the heart of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, one of the most well-known and scenic sections of the trail.

Try the Appalachian Trail in the South

There’s no better way to experience the legendary Pacific Crest Trail than to hike a stretch of it with no tent or freeze-dried meals required. Oh wait—we did create a better way: follow it through the dense evergreens of the Cascades, add in a visit to spectacular Crater Lake National Park and unwind in hip Bend, Oregon, with an IPA in hand. 

Kick Back on the Pacific Crest Trail

With over 13,000 hikers queued for 7,000 available spots, permits to hike the highly protected Milford Track on New Zealand’s South Island sold out within a half hour this season. You’ll walk a section of not only the Milford Track, but also another of New Zealand’s high-demand “Great Walks”—the Routeburn Track—on our South Island Fiordland Hiking Tour.

You’ll hike through temperate rain forest with ferns, waterfalls and mist clinging to hilltops and then up above treeline for sweeping views of it all, traveling through some of the most pristine and closely regulated wilderness on earth.  

Experience Great Walks in New Zealand

The granddaddy of all long-distance walks, the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage has become more and more popular in recent years, with most walkers covering an average of 12 to 26 miles per day for sometimes a month or more and sleeping in very basic, dormitory-style accommodations. But you don’t have to walk the whole length to feel the camaraderie and inspiration. Enjoy the journey with well-appointed private rooms and see the best parts in good company and fully supported with Backroads.  

Three Backroads choices, in order of least to most challenging. Your Camino, your way.

Portuguese Way

Coastal views as you cross from Portugal into Spain.

Walk Along the Coast of Portugal

Del Norte

Into the rugged Picos de Europa along Spain’s northern coast.

Hike the Rugged North Coast of Spain

Aragonese Way

A piece of the Camino in the high Pyrenees mountains.

Find Challenge in the Pyrenees

Most reach Thorsmork in Iceland’s remote Highlands only after hiking several days on the famed 37-mile Laugavegur Trail. Instead, we’ll get there by Super Jeep (a jacked-up, all-terrain vehicle and a thrill in itself), and you’ll hike in the green Thorsmork Valley across black-sand plains and a patchwork of glacial rivers.  

Hike in Iceland’s Central Highlands

The GR11, also known as La Senda Pirenaica, crosses 520 miles of Spain all the way from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, mostly parallel to its border with France. On our Pyrenees Lodge-to-Lodge Hiking Trip (demanding at levels 3-5), you’ll hike up to the Ibón de Anayet, a glacial lake at one of the most visually striking plateaus of the entire GR11. On a calm day you’ll see the reflection of the Midi d’Ossau mountain across the border in France.  

Bonus: This trip intersects with the challenging Aragonese route of the Camino de Santiago, the only itinerary on this list where you can get a taste of two iconic hikes in one journey!

Hike the Border of Spain and France