Updated January 2019.
top 10 hikes
#1) West Coast Trail, BC, Canada
#2) John Muir Trail, California, USA
#3) Tongariro Northern Circuit, New Zealand
#4) Ausangate Circuit, Peru
#5) Sunshine to Assiniboine, Alberta, Canada
#6) Glacier North Circle, Montana, USA
#7) Otter Trail, South Africa
#8) Everest Base Camp / 3 Passes, Nepal
#9) Haute Route (Chamonix-Zermatt), Alps
10) Overland Track, Tasmania
Be the first to hike those 10 in series in 5 months.
top 10 hiking regions
#1 New Zealand
#2 Southwest USA
#3 The Rockies
#4 Sierra Nevada USA
#5 Central Andes
#6 Patagonian Andes
#7 Nepal
#8 Australia
#9 The Alps
T #10 Indian Himalaya
T #10 Dolomites
New Zealand is #1 for us. But the wealth of options in North America make it a more compelling destination for most.
top 10 hiking towns
#1) Queenstown, New Zealand
#2) Huaraz, Peru
#3) Namche Bazaar, Nepal
#4) Cortina, Italy
#5) Chamonix, France
#6) Banff, Canada or Canmore, or Jasper
#7) Grindelwald, Switzerland
#8) El Calafate / El Chaltén Argentina
#9) Zermatt, Switzerland
10) Moab, Utah
More candidate towns.
top 10 coastal hikes NEW
#1) West Coast Trail, BC Canada
#2) Otter Trail, South Africa
#3) Abel Tasman Track, New Zealand
#4) Lost Coast Trail, California
#5) Thorsborne Trail, Australia
#7) Kalalau Trail, Kauai, Hawaii
#8) Pembrokeshire Coast Path, U.K.
#9) South Coast Track, Tasmania
10) Great Ocean Walk, Australia
More candidate coastal hikes.
top 10 trekking peaks NEW
#1) Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania 5895m
#2) Cotopaxi, Ecuador 5897m <wiki><pb><sp>
#3) Imja Tse (Island Peak), Nepal 6189m <wiki><pb><sp>
#4) Mera Peak, Nepal 6476m <wiki><pb><sp>
#5) Chimborazo, Ecuador 6263m <wiki><pb><sp>
#6) Huayna Potosí, Bolivia 6088m <wiki><pb><sp>
#7) Misti Volcano, Peru 5822m
#8) Stok Kangri, India 6153m <wiki><pb<sp><trip><video><info><trip>
#9) Mt. Rainier, USA 4392m <wiki><pb><sp>
#10) Mont Blanc, France 4810m <wiki><pb><sp>
Aconcágua, Argentina 6,960.8m can be a walk-up. But not many would be willing to call it a trekking peak. 🙂
Trekking peaks are mountains under 7,000 metres (22,970 ft) climbable by anyone with a moderate amount of mountaineering experience and minimal gear.
Others considered for the top 10:
- Mt. Toubkal, Morocco 4167m <wiki><pb><sp><trip>
- Mt. Elbrus, Russia 5642m <wiki><pb><sp><info>
- Lhakpa Ri, Tibet 7045m <pb>
Thanks to Kraig Becker, the Adventure Blog, for help on the trekking peak section.
besthike.com 
Given your Top Ten list it seems obvious you have not trekked in Patagonia in Chile and Argentina: Fitz Roy, Torres del Paine, Cerro Torre, etc.
Actually I’ve done both Paine Circuit and Fitz Roy.
Paine is definitely a contender for top 10. It’s arguably as good as some on the list.
But list like that are just conversation starters. Obviously there are no objective criteria compared. It’s subjective.
You must have run into bad weather in Torres del Paine. We hiked WCT in 2013, and had hiked the TdP circuit (O) trek in 2011 and Q trek in 2017. We love Torres del Paine more.
Ah it is subjective. These lists are meaningless, in reality.
I could be biased in having done the WCT 4 times, Paine only once.
Thanks Rick for your time and efforts, you have wonderful lists; I came to your site while planning my next hiking trip.
I have to agree with you and Readers Digest that WCT is one of the best trails.
http://www.readersdigest.ca/travel/world/top-10-hikes-world/
if you haven’t hiked Concordia or snow lake,you are kidding yourself if you think you’ve seen real mountains.i’ve hiked all your top 10 hikes and they are all quite good, but there is no feeling like standing at
Concordia with those huge fierce peeks all around you. nowhere else comes close.
plus because the bad guys live there almost no tourists!
We’d love to recommend Pakistan.
But after 11 were killed in the mountains in 2013, we consider it a no go zone. Shame. 😦
What are your own top 10 hikes, kel?
Including Pakistan.
its very tough to pick. I also love huayhash, muir, arrigetch peaks in brooks range. Julian alps and dolomites are great but crowded. all western u.s. national parks are great.
we love southern Utah.
one thing I would like to say is not to listen to the news about Pakistan. baltistan is ok! those poor people need tourists and love having us.
oh, also tien shan are quite nice. so many.
btw, I love your website. keep up the good work.
Thanks Kelly.
Agree. Thankfully things are much better now. It’s safe now. The thing that stood out for me was the true wilderness. All the time I could even hear my own heart beat. The views were majestic. Pakistan number 1 for me so far. But all these places are wonderful.
Hi there,
I can also recommend the crossing of the Alpes from Germany (Oberstdorf) to Italy (Meran) via the path E5, an incredible tour!
Here you can find lots of impressions of the tour and useful information (in German):
http://www.alpenspaziergang.de/bildergalerie/
Enjoy! 🙂
Thanks Chris.
Great trek’s we chalked up in our middle age.
Thanks Rick, some amazing hikes that we still want to go and do. We definitely want to do The Otter when we go back home to SA. Hiking around Ilha Grande in Brazil was also an amazing coastal hike. How did the Otter compare with all these other famous hikes? We are seriously looking at Pakistan. Here is our top 5 http://stingynomads.com/top-5-hikes/
The Otter Trail is fantastic. And very easy to organize. It’s a bit similar to our top hike – West Coast Trail on the western Canada coast.
My friends loved guided trekking in Pakistan. It’s high on my list too. … But it’s not easy to do Pakistan independently.
Love your site!