We love treks. The views, the climb, the air; there’s something exhilarating about it. If you know us, you will know that we also love making lists and ticking them off. We have one travel bucket list which is ever growing, but we thought we should have one specifically for treks! Here is goes.
Table of Contents
1. Everest Base Camp, Nepal
Length: 70 miles | Best time to go: March to May, September to November
How can we not start with Everest Base Camp! It is one of the most popular trekking routes in the Himalayas. Other than Mount Everest you can also see mountains like Lhotse, Cho Oyu, Makalu and Ama Dablam on this trek. Breathtaking scenic valleys, villages, glaciers, monasteries, museums and of course snow capped mountains await. You can also stay in Sherpa houses and lodges and get to know more about their culture.
2. Inca Trail Trek, Peru
Length: 26 miles | Best time to go: May to September
Are you curious about the lost city of the Incas? Then this trek will excite you as much as it excites us. The old capital of Cuzco, high passes, ancient sites and of course Machu Picchu! This trek ranges from medium to difficult. It starts at an altitude of about 2,800 metres and ends four days later at Machu Picchu, at 2,500 metres. To limit damage, the Peruvian government now limits access to 500 people per day, including porters. Plan ahead; you can’t just wing it unless you are staying in Peru for months and don’t mind doing it at a later date. If you are not a fan of trekking in the cold; March, April, October and November are warmer but there may be some rain.
3. Kalalau, Hawaii
Length: 11 miles | Best time to go: May and October
Compared to 70 miles of Everest Base Camp or 105 miles of Tour du Mont Blanc, Kalalau trail might sound too short. If you are an expert hiker can complete the roundtrip of 22 miles in a day. But for us mere mortals who aren’t in such fantastic shape, we will probably need 2 days. This idyllic trail boasts of 180-degrees views of the Pacific ocean along ridges and virgin beaches.4. Torres del Paine, Chile
Length: 50 miles | Best time to go: June to September
The trek through Torres del Paine or “W trek” as it is known is a four-day hiking route through Chile’s Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. It can take 3-5 days and is called the “W trek” because of its shape. Apart from the standard “W trek”, you can also do the full loop which goes around the back of the mountains. It adds another 3 days and around 30 miles. The Torres del Paine are 3 granite peaks of the Paine mountain range and extend up to 2,500 meters above sea level. Valleys, lakes and stunning glaciers are a few on this Patagonian itinerary.
[bctt tweet=”8 bucket list worthy treks” username=”SiddharthShruti”]5. Tour du Mont Blanc, France, Switzerland and Italy
Length: 105 miles | Best time to go: June to September
Epic, would be a good way to describe this crazy long walk adventure. In case you have never heard of this, it is an 11-day trek through the French, Italian and Swiss Alps on a circular route around Mont Blanc. The traditional way is to do the Tour du Mont Blanc is counter-clockwise. The highest point is 2,584m. One of the challenges in this trek is the 13 miles walk from Les Contamines to Les Chapieux. which involves a total ascent of 1,430m to cross the Col de la Croix du Bonhomme at 2,479m. Are you going to go for it?6. Kilimanjaro, Africa
Length: 35 miles | Best time to go: January, February or September
Kilimanjaro is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. The success rate on certain routes to reach the top, Uhuru Peak, the summit of Kilimanjaro is low. The reason – the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro is an astounding 5,895 meters!The Rongai route takes 6 days, the Machame route has two options, a 6-day hike and a 7-day hike, the Marangu route is the shortest route which is 5 days. Kilimanjaro requires you to be in pretty good shape. There is an average of 6 hours of walking per day except on the summit day which involves roughly 15 hours of walking. The most rewarding experience on this trek is the gaze up to the heavens. The view of the stars is unobstructed due to the lack of light pollution and can seem quite magical.
7. Kungsleden, Sweden
Length: 65 miles | Best time to go: August to September
King’s Trail or Kungsleden is Sweden’s most popular hiking trail. It crosses Lapland from north to south.The Swedish landscape keeps constantly changing as you walk along. Although the best time to do this is the summer, many expert skiers do this trail in winter! You might catch a glimpse of the northern lights. The entire Kungsleden is 270 miles and takes a month to cover. Most trekkers do the 65 mile distance which takes 3-5 days.
8. Bay of Fires, Australia
Length: 37 miles | Best time to go: All year round
Bay of Fires is a 16 miles trail of spectacular white sand beaches, turquoise waters, and red lichen stained rocks. You can only do this trek with a guide. The Bay of Fires roughly require 4-6 days. The rugged coastline resides on the edge of the Mt William National Park. Most tours include a kayaking and campfire experience in this trek.Like it? Pin it for later.
Have you ever done any or all of these amazing treks ?(If you have, you are our hero!) Do you have a list? Anything we missed out on that should be on our list? Comment below!
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I am a hiker and love to do all these treks. Havent got round to them yet. I have been to that area of France/Switzerland but I was lazy that week and took the car/cable rides. 😀
Personally, I’m not a hiking person, but these places are so stunning. Machu Pichu, specially, is on my list. How many have you been to?
All of these treks look amazing! I’d never heard of the Bay of Fires trek, but that one sounds especially incredible. Have you been on any of these treks yet? Which was your favorite?
That’s definitely a worthy bucket list! I’ve been to several of these places but not to trek, as I am not much into walking / hiking, though I know the views are amazing. I hope you get to tick these all off soon. Like you, my bucket list is always growing!
I’ve not done any of these, but I did just complete the Ghorepani trek in the Annapurna Conservation Area in Nepal. It’s 60 kilometers with quite a bit of elevation gain and had beautiful views of the Annapurna range.
Another I think you’d enjoy it the Alta Via 1 in Italy. It’s nearly 100 miles, but we think much more beautiful than the Tour de Mont Blanc.
Number 2 is on our top 10 bucket list! But now that I’ve seen your post, I so want to trek through Torres del Paine in Chile! Who knows, maybe we get to do both when we travel to South America next time! 🙂
Oh, no wonder there all on your bucket list! 🙂 Look at that photo taken from the Everest Base Camp, it’s just amazing. Well, hope you’ll tick these off as well. 😉
I am not much of a trekker but I am so mad I didn’t get to do the Inca Trail. Totally did not book early enough for that one but would to try and trek to Everest Base Camp. No way would I want to make to the top. Actually, there is no way I could. Thanks for inspiring me to get a little more active!
All these are dream trekking destination but I haven’t been to any of them. I believe that Everest Base Camp is an ultimate dream of any hiker. Though I’d love to explore Bay of Fires, Australia!
Great post, love to try the Kungsleden in Sweden, sounds different and winter sounds good. I’ve heard Kilimanjaro is very busy.
These all sound so cool! 2 and 5 are my top destinations!
I did the Inka Trail, the Kilimanjaro and the Torres del Peine. I would loved to visit the trek in Hawaii one day.
Everest Base Camp. That is the only trek I want to do. I can live with that 🙂
I absolutely love trekking. These are some really popular treks that a trek lover should to. I would certainly want to cover all of them. My best ones are 1, 2, 3 and 5. How many have you pinned yet?
Everest Base camp and Inca Trail Peru are very much in my bucket list too! Last year my friend struck off Everest BC from his list!!! I hope to do them soon as well! Best wishes to you too to do as many as possible!
I also love trekking – though I will admit to taking the train to Machu Picchu when we visited a couple of years ago – downpouring with rain at the time of year we were there so decided it wouldn’t have been rewarding lol! Everest Base camp is on my list, and we’ve just moved to Tasmania so I’m looking forward to planning on Bay of Fires at some point this year 🙂
We love trekking, those breathtaking views, and fresh air. The Everest base camp is really high on our list and some of the trails mentioned in your post are new to us. So bookmarked your post and will add it to our bucket list.
As a keen hiker and lover of nature and the great outdoors, this is a wonderful list that I would love to be able to work my way through! I agree with your choice of Everest Base Camp to occupy the number one spot. Hopefully I will get there one day and I need to get fit with regular hikes in the meanwhile. Lovely photos!
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Haha, we also need to do the same. Hopefully these regular hikes will get us in a position to do Everest base camp next year.
These all look amazing!! I’ve actually done a lot of reading on the Kalalau Trail and would love to go there one day! And of course who doesn’t dream of trekking to Mount Everest? I’d actually never heard of Tour du Mont Blanc, and may have to add that to my personal list of dream trails. Thanks for such amazing inspiration!!
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It is also quite ambitious of us to put Tour du Mont Blanc on our list. Don’t know when we will be able to do a 105 mile trek! But dream big, right?
It is not fair to include those captivating photos! Now, even I who has long fogotten trekking is thinking of training again to see these magnificent 8! Great list!
These are all really exciting treks. My favourite pick of the lot would be the Everest Base camp and the Kilmanjaro trek. Apart from these I would love to see some treks in Rwanda, East Africa in the list. Recently I did an exciting trek on the trail of Gorillas in the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda.
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Kilimanjaro sounds amazing to us as well. Hopefully we will get around to doing Everest Base Camp soon! We love your Rwanda posts!
I’m not really a hiker but I sure do like trying to conquer my fear of heights. The ones from 1 to 5 are on my list especially EBC, Machu Picchu and Patagonia! I heard so much of Kalalau trail from my Hawaiian friend and heard stories of how deadly the trail can be.
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Hawaii seems like such an amazing destination. We could do the trail and then spend a week relaxing and island hopping 😉
This is a kick-ass bucket list!! I’ve been doing some trek for a while but I’ll be honest, it’s not my cup of tea. But I’ve been dreaming to hike one of this. Hopefully I can do. Thank you for sharing.
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We have been dreaming about these as well. It’s time to turn dreams into reality 🙂
I have already done Everest Base camp trek. It was one exhilarating experience difficult to explain in words. I am very keen to take the Inca Trail trek in Peru. One of my friends was there few months ago. She said she was so overwhelmed by its sight that she had tears in her eyes.
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Oh wow! How was your Everest Base camp experience? Do you have a post about it? We would love to read!
The Incan trail is #1 on my list but I’ve been warned it can get touristy. Would be so worth it for the spectacular views and history behind it!
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We’ve heard that as well. We also heard that there are other beautiful trails in Peru that are less touristy. But we surely would want to visit once to see it for ourselves.
Some stunning locations here.
A few I’ve visited, others I know of only through pictures.
Which is next on your list?
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We are looking at Everest Base Camp for next year. Fingers crossed.
I love hiking but have only really done it in Canada. The Everest Base Camp Trek looks epic. I’ve been reading a few books about it recently.
I’m a hiker too and no.2 is on the top of our list. I never knew about Torres del Paine, Chile. Thanks for sharing your list. Among those 8, which are is your favorite?
I haven’t gone on a hiking trip that went on for days and I’m wondering if I could do it. I mean, I’m the kind of person who always needs to pee, and I’m not comfortable doing it just anywhere (in fact, while most people can pee in the pool or out in the sea, I cannot do it). I also have a love-hate relationship with scaling mountains, I do like the prospect of doing it and of course reaching the summit, but I hate the process, if you know what I mean. Given a chance though, I’d love to do trek these mountains most especially the Inca trail in Peru, my dream!
Wow..just wow…everest base camp is like a dream come true. What an achievement it is to be able to trek onto the everest or even it’s base. I am yet to try that out but your pictures and narration are super inspiring
I am just importing this list to my own. Everyone of them! A perfect list indeed . The one that I am most keen on is the Peru one and then of course the Everest Base camp. All the best to you guys
This is the best list! I wish i could trek the highest mountain in the world or any of the others in this list. Each trail offers different views and at the top it is sure breathtaking! I only hiked two mountains in japan and the others just here in my country. Id love to trek more! Thanks for your tips!
of this entire list – I want to do Macchu Picchu and Kalalau the most! Small treks only make you feel so amazing. I can only imagine how thrilling the experience of treks in these mountains would be!
Such an inspirational list guys. Me and Phil are not hikers, we’re not really fit enough yet to take on a big challenge like the Inca Trail, but it’s on our bucket list and something we know we would need to get fit to do, as it looks really challenging. Hawaii is another one on our list, argh, so many places to see and experience! Thanks for the ideas
Such an amazing list! I haven’t got round to doing any of these yet but most of these were on the list and the rest have joined it now! I need to get training! Thanks for sharing
I haven’t done any of these, but hope to get to Peru someday soon! Pinned this for later.
Sadly we have never been to any of these! We have so much work to do. Adding to the endless bucket list 🙂
Sadly I’ve not managed to do any of these! Machu Pichu is definitely edging its way closer to the top of my list of places to go though. I also really want to do the stairway to heaven in hawaii – I think technically its illegal though!?
Great bucket-list of treks to do and ones I have yet to hike. I love to hike and will have to add these to my list of places to try. The top of my list is Machu Pichu and now Everest Base Camp. I pinned this for later use! 🙂 #feetdotravel
Oooooo guys, you started this list off in a way I didn’t expect! I honestly thought it would be small treks and it hadn’t occurred to me that you would go for the big ones …and literally the best!! You had to start with Everest Base Camp, I totally agree, then you followed it up with the Inca Trail – awesome! These top two are treks I would love to do but you have opened my eyes to many others as well so thank you! Pinned for future reference – great stuff! #feetdotravel
While many of these have been on my list for some time now, there are some great places here I haven’t heard of yet too. Would love to do any of these treks!!
I was lucky enough to do the Inca Trail and it made me really keen to try more treks. Would definitely be keen to do all of these, even head back to Peru and do some of the other trails around Cusco. Great list!
Am not a hiker but my, I can see the fascination as the photos you’ve just shared are stunning. Chile especially 🙂 I can appreciate the beauty even though I am partial to more relaxed kind of travel, hehe
Spectacular list! I have recently hiked to Everest Base Camp and it has been the best thing I have ever done in my life. I can’t stop thinking about it and I can’t believe it’s all over. Planning another trip to the Himalayas already! Love that you have included some of the places I have never even heard of. Like the Bay of Fires! Being in Australia, I will intend to check that out for sure!
There are some wonderful locations on this bucket list of treks. The question is, which trek to choose first? I think I’d choose Tour du Mont Blanc because I’ve been watching the Tour de France all week. A trek of Torres del Paine in Chile I’d imagine to be the most beautiful.
We recently discovered that we love hiking as we have been in South America for the last 6 months. We went to Torres del Paine but we unfortunately couldn’t do the W trek as we needed to book in advance as we were there during the high season! Cécile is from the French Alps and never hike near the Mont Blanc! It’s definitely on our list as we will be there soon! Thanks for sharing a great list. Patrick and Cécile