Category: alpine

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#4 day hike – Laguna de los Tres, Argentina

One of our top 10 day hikes in the world.

Why?

The photos say it all. 😀

  • our pick for best day hike — of many — out of El Chaltén, Argentina’s Trekking Capital in Patagonia
  • the nearest airport is El Calafate
  • November – March are the best months. You might have snow on the trail in November or March, however.
  • 8+ hours round trip depending on route
  • elevation gain 2,300 ft. (700m)
  • option to tent near the lake
  • infamous for bad weather. Be prepared for extreme wind.

World → S America → Patagonian Andes → Argentina → Laguna de los Tres

vista from El Chaltén

For details click over to our Laguna de los Tres information page.

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Permit for the Wonderland Trail, Washington State

Without question, Wonderland is one of the best hikes in the world.

I’ve been only once in 2010. Fantastic.

The Wonderland Trail is an approximately 93-mile (150 km) hiking trail that circumnavigates Mount Rainier in Mount Rainier National Park, Washington …

An estimated 200 to 250 people a year complete the entire trail with several thousand others doing shorter sections of it. …

Milissa (aka Mary Poppins) and Lady on a Rock got a permit by showing up early at the ranger station on a Monday morning with no specific expectations and took whatever was available.

Read the TRIP REPORT:

HIKE THE WONDERLAND TRAIL: A JOURNEY AROUND MOUNT RAINIER

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Hiking the Southernmost Trail in the World

Kraig Adams and 2 friends hiked the Dientes de Navarino trail, Chile, March 2025.

It’s more of a route than a fixed trail. Bushwhacking required.

FIRST ➙ make your way to Puerto Williams, Chile.

Kraig’s is the best video I’ve seen yet of that remote adventure. I tried and failed to complete the Circuit myself in 2019.

The trail was covered over with snow, and I had no guide to lead the way. I only tented one night. Awoke with a a bad stomach ache. Then turned back.

AT A GLANCE

  • world’s most southerly major hike?
  • circumambulate the jagged spires of Cordon de los Dientes
  • out of Puerto Williams, Chile, on Isla Navarino (pop. 2,262 last time we counted)
  • recommended 5 days, 4 nights in the past. Most hikers are doing it in 4 days, 3 nights now as the route is better cairned and signed. Kraig did it in 3 days, 2 nights.

To find out how to do this trip yourself, click over to our Dientes Circuit information page.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

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#8 Hiking Towns – El Calafate / El Chaltén, Patagonia

All hikers plan, one day, to travel to southern Patagonia. Towers of Paine photos entice.

And anyone who hikes Paine, should also hike Fitz Roy, Argentina.

Hikers have a choice to base themselves out of Puerto Natales, Chile or El Calafate, Argentina. Though you may find yourself stopping in both, El Calafate is the better choice.

El Calafate is a small town in Patagonia, Argentina. …

… an important tourist destination as the hub to visit different parts of the Los Glaciares National Park, including the Perito Moreno Glacier (one of the most visited in the world) and the Cerro Chaltén and Cerro Torre.

… In the last census 6,143 permanent residents were counted

You could argue that El Chaltén, Argentina’s “national trekking capital“, about 220km from El Calafate, is an even better base town.

On the other hand, there are large grocery stores like Diarco in El Calafate. The shops in Chaltén in 2019 were still very limited. We couldn’t get instant mashed potatoes in Chaltén, for example. Pick up your provisions in Calafate.

And Calafate is about half way between Paine and Fitz Roy.

More interesting photos tagged El Calafate, Argentina.

More information on Wikitravel – El Calafate.

Our favourite hike hikes out of El Calafate:

• Paine Circuit (Torres del Paine), Chile

• Huemul Route, Fitz Roy, Argentina

• Around Monte Fitz Roy (Los Glaciares), Argentina

These are the most famous, but there are many more “best hikes” in the Patagonian Andes. Ground transportation is the biggest challenge in this part of the world.

Best months are December to March.

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Top 10 Hiking Destinations ➙ Patagonian Andes

Patagonia is massive and bleak. Yet we love the Patagonian Andes, 2000km (1243mi) in length, but averaging less than 100km (62mi) in width. You could take years exploring just the eastward (drier) side of the mountains.

Towering granite peaks, untouched lakes, massive glaciers, huge volcano trekking peaks. This land is phenomenal.

Mirador del Pliegue Tumbado, Fitz Roy, Argentina

Trekkers target five areas:

  • The Araucania
  • Lakes District
  • Central Patagonia
  • Southern Patagonia
  • Tierra del Fuego

Start in Mendoza, Argentina and visit the highest mountain outside Asia, Aconcagua. Next bus to the Switzerland of South America (Lake District). Some of the highest volcanoes of the world are here. Finally, work your way south by air and ferry to the granite spires at the south tip of the continent.

Trekking season here is Nov-Apr. (Feb-Mar often the best weather) That said, the wind and weather in Patagonia is notorious. Independent hikers need be prepared for anything and everything.

Conversational Spanish highly recommended for those travelling independently.

More information on our new Patagonia information page.

Our favourite hike in the Patagonian Andes is the Paine Circuit in Chile.


John Grey Pass, Paine Circuit – flickr – Patagonia set – Michael Bollino

See our Paine Circuit Information page.

Our original hiking bible is the now discontinued Lonely Planet Trekking in the Patagonian Andes:

Lonely Planet Trekking in the Patagonian Andes
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#9 – Haute Route (Chamonix-Zermatt), Alps

The Haute Route in Europe is one of our top 10 hikes in the world.

Sometimes called …

  • The Walker’s Haute Route
  • “High Route”
  • Mt Blanc to the Matterhorn
  • Chamonix to Zermatt

Why?

Chamonix to Zermatt, Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn – in two weeks of mountain travel you will see the greatest collection of 4000 metre peaks in the Alps!

  • Alpine charm: valleys, lakes, glaciers
  • great food, history, culture
  • from Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Europe (4810m, 15,781ft) …
  • … to the Matterhorn, the most beautiful peak in the alps
  • 9-15 days
  • 180+kms (112mi)
  • best months June-Sept
  • crosses 11 passes, gains more than 12,000m elevation
  • difficult hiking

World → Europe → Alps → Haute Route

hauterte-map

Click PLAY or watch a 1 minute preview on YouTube. 

For details click over to our Haute Route information page.

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#7 Hiking Town – Grindelwald, Switzerland

I stayed in Grindelwald again in 2023. What a terrific hiking town.

Most hikers arrive by train from Interlaken. They share that journey with hundreds of thousands of camera clutching tourists all en route to Jungfraujoch, the highest railway station in Europe.

Grindelwald is a municipality in the district of Interlaken in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. The village is located at 1,034 metres (3,390 ft) above sea level in the Bernese Alps. …

Long famed as a winter tourist destination with slopes for beginners, intermediates and the challenges of the Eiger glacier for the experienced, there are activities for the non-skiers, from tobogganing to groomed winter hiking tracks. It is the usual starting point for ascents of the Eiger and the Wetterhorn. Nowadays Grindelwald is also a popular summer activity resort with many miles of hiking trails across the Alps. …

Grindelwald has a population (as of 2007) of 3,809 …

Many experienced hikers would pooh pooh Grindelwald as too touristy, basing themselves instead out of Lauterbrunnen, Mürren or even (our pick) tiny Gimmelwald, accessible only on foot or by aerial tramway.

There are no bad hikes out of Grindelwald. It is fantastic in every direction.

vista from the Grindewald hostel

But the Tour of the Jungfrau Region, a 2wk ultimate adventure, is our best recommendation.

See more “best hikes” in the Alps.

The best day hike is the Eiger Trail.

Click PLAY or get a glimpse of my June hike on YouTube.

Most hike June to mid-October but, surprisingly, there are trails open year round close to Grindelwald.

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Heights of Alay Mountains, Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan is a fantastic hiking destination — BUT we wouldn’t recommend you trek there independently.

The Pamir Trail is a proposed 1000km+ route. A work in progress.

Jan Baaker, author of Cicerone Trekking in Tajikistan, hopes to connect the entire route soon.

Shorter and logistically easier to organize, is the Heights of Alay Mountains trail.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

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#6 best hiking region in the world is the …

Patagonian Andes

Patagonia is massive and bleak. Yet we love the Patagonian Andes, 2000km (1243mi) in length, but averaging less than 100km (62mi) in width. You could take years exploring just the eastward (drier) side of the mountains.

Towering granite peaks, untouched lakes, massive glaciers, huge volcano trekking peaks. This land is phenomenal.

Trekkers target five areas:

  • The Araucania
  • Lakes District
  • Central Patagonia
  • Southern Patagonia
  • Tierra del Fuego

Start in Mendoza, Argentina and visit the highest mountain outside Asia, Aconcagua. Next bus to the Switzerland of South America (Lake District). Some of the highest volcanoes of the world are here. Finally, work your way south by air and ferry to the granite spires at the south tip of the continent.

Trekking season here is Nov-Apr. (Feb-Mar often the best weather) That said, the wind and weather in Patagonia is notorious. Independent hikers need be prepared for anything and everything.

Conversational Spanish highly recommended for those travelling independently.

More information on our new Patagonia information page.

Our favourite hike in the Patagonian Andes is the Paine Circuit in Chile.


John Grey Pass, Paine Circuit – flickr – Patagonia set – Michael Bollino

See our Paine Circuit Information page.

Click PLAY or see how to trek Aconcagua Base Camp independently on YouTube.