How a non-hiker rates the best Europe treks!
I’m not a hiker so there’s got to be a real payoff for me to choose an adventure that involves any kind of walk that’s a mile or more here are my top five European hikes with details on how to get there how hard they are and what
You’ll see which of these belong on your bucket list We’ve made 10 trips to Europe over the last decade we’ve been on dozens of outings all over the continent but only a handful that could be considered a destination hike this map shows the location of my five favorites let’s start with the easiest and work our way
To the hardest first up is the walk in the park which could be taken both literally and figuratively Luca is a delightful Renaissance Era Italian city the the city took the ancient walls widened them with dirt to create literally a donut-shaped park that surrounds the old town with ramp access
At several points it’s the second largest Renaissance Era City with an intact wall one circuit of the walls is 4.2 km or about 2 1/2 miles if you want to walk that’s all about the journey not the destination then this is the one for you looking out you’re going to see
Sweeping views of the Italian Countryside particularly in the fall when I walked looking in you’ll see beautiful architecture close-up views of Gardens and the range of Italian living walking the path itself is like an all day pagata experience there’ll be families and singles lovers loners people exercising people relaxing
There’s plenty of shade or sun depending on your preference there’ll be duskers there to entertain you with music playgrounds and historical landmarks alike share the real estate and when you’ve completed the circuit you can descend into the city for a stop at a very interesting Cathedral and a
Piaza and a delightful Alfresco meal in multiple locations for me this is the quintessential place to experience the Sweet Life within Italy it was a wonderful day’s adventure and my favorite easy hike so how do you get there cruise ships sometimes have excursions that go to Alca the best
Option besides that is by train which is what I did our cruise ship stopped in lerno from there I took a taxi to the train station uh just a few euros and a short ride an initial 20-minute train ride brought me to Pisa from Pisa it’s another 30 minutes to Luca trains run
Several times an hour so it took me somewhere between an hour and an hour and a half to get to Luca from the ship from the train station at Luca it’s an easy walk to the wall I reverse the process to return on the more detailed
Version of this uh uh walk I’m going to explain an issue I had returning I took the wrong train and how I overcame it okay you ready for difficulty level two the walls of De brnik like that right there this might sound like the same thing in a different location but
It’s totally different Oldtown du brvenik has walls that look exactly like the medieval castle walls should built in the 1400s reaching Heights of 80 ft or 25 M the walls are a one-of-a-kind experience the distance around the walls is shorter about 2 km or 1.2 mil but
There are more than a thousand stair steps along the Route sometimes a long series of steps this is the equivalent of going up and down about 40 flights of Step stairs in addition to walk the distance walked and of course there are many places to stop and take photos
Along the Route so many people take an hour or two to complete the circuit I’ve done the wall twice different experience each time one time in good weather one time and in windy blustery conditions my advice do it as early in the day as you
Can so it gets very crowded later in the day how do you get there well the cruise port is not within easy walking distance of the wall so you can either catch a tour bus to the city uh but we chose a taxi to arrive more quickly before the
Wall got crowded so we were one of the first people on the wall as a tip when you’re done with the wall a pizza from the restaurant just outside the pile gate is a great option okay you ready for difficulty level three how about the Acropolis of lindos in Greece about the same
Elevation changes that Rob wall but a longer walk on the island of RADS there are two major attractions the medieval town of Roads itself and this further Inland Village of lindos which sits in the shadow of an impressive Acropolis the views are breathtaking from the top and the ruins are well preserved and
Fascinating it’s about a 2.2 M roundtrip walk with almost a 400t elevation gain from the village to the peak the roundtrip Journey takes most people an hour or so plus time to wander the top and there’s some nice Vantage points all along the way so you you’ll wind up
Spending well more than an hour the Switchback nature of the trail makes the climb reasonable and the path is paved but there’s a total sense of accomplishment at the top because it is a climb so how do you get there most cruise ships will offer bus or small
Group transport to lindos as well as private companies like roads Private Tours who did this map it’s also accessible by boat but takes longer we booked a small group private tour which also picked up many of the other isid sites along the way you won’t regret this
Adventure okay now we’re ramping up the energy level we’re at level four we pick up what some people would call the real hikes chineta is a collection of five small fishing villages along the luran coast of Northwest itly it’s sometimes called the Italian Riviera ranging from about 500 to 1500
Residents these five Scenic Villages attract upwards of 2 and2 million visitors a year a train connects five V all five Villages which are generally about 2 miles from each other a series of trails also connects the village with Sid Spurs that lead to even more semenic Adventures it’s a very popular bucket
List item to walk all four segments of the trail Trail the most popular Scenic and easiest of the routes is called via Amore or Lovers Lane and runs from real Maori to monola unfortunately it was closed when we were there it has been closed for several years following a
Rock slide but it’s due to reopen in the summer of 2024 I walk the section of the path from vernaza to Cornelia the path itself is deemed of moderate difficulty but it’s more difficult in this direction because it’s more uphill the the hike is 4 km or about 2 and 1/2
Miles as you can see here it is very uneven with many stairs and uh um you have to be very careful with your footwork the most scenic portions are the beginning in the end in the middle you can see little of the ocean and you’re typically surrounded by trees
There’s a small place to get Refreshments about halfway so how do you get there it’s possible to get to chinit via train or or by tour bus from a cruise port such as lasia or lerno in fact most of the visitors to the area come from cruise ships but there’s a lot
Of logistics involved in getting there walking one or more of the legs and getting back in time the better option is to stay either in shinata or one of the nearby towns we stayed in an Airbnb in Cornelia took the train to vernaza and then I did the hike back to our
Lodgings be careful of the Heat CU it can uh you need to stay well hydrated okay level five is what almost everyone agree will agree is a real hike the dolomites in northeastern Italy are perhaps the most gorgeous mountains I’ve ever seen and they are not accessible
Via a cruise ship we reached them by a combination of train and bus from Verona it was easy to find a new place to explore each of the 5 days we were there and we could have stayed longer it’s gorgeous at the end of our stay I discovered the
Possibility of a sunrise hike decided to do it it was spectacular except for one thing we never saw the sunrise the fog set in on the morning and blocked the actual Sunrise view it was still a spectacular day with a beauty all of its own how do you get there we met our
Guide in the town of or at 4:15 a.m. drove as far as the road would take us then hyped to the top of the mountain by flashlight mostly over open terrain on the way back we stopped for breakfast at a mountain hut in all it was a 6 km or
About 3 and 1/2 mile hike that took 5 hours from town back to town at age 70 I was probably 20 years older than the next oldest person but I was able to keep up and my goal was not to hold up the group so that we missed the sunrise
It was all very good if it had been normal weather and and it would have been spectacular I wouldn’t hesitate to try this again if you like this content and other travel information particularly about cruising please consider subscribing to our Channel it costs nothing and it really helps our Channel if you have
Suggestions about any other places to hike in Europe that you found exciting please let us know in the comments below we’d love to hear from you until next time good hiking safe travels
After ten trips to Europe, here are our top five bucket hikes, ranked from easiest to hardest. Which of these beyond on YOUR bucket list:
1. The quintessential Italian Renaissance Village
2. The most iconic castle walk in the world
3. An ancient acropolis with spectacular Mediterranean views
4. The most famous walk in all of Italy
5. A sunrise hike in perhaps the most beautiful mountain range in the world
Here’s what you will see, the level of difficulty, and how to get there.
Let’s go hiking!