Stretch your legs on these epic new walking holidays

Albania is having a moment. If you have a friend who’s always the first to discover a destination, they have probably already been raving about Albania’s golden beaches, its Ottoman-era towns with old-style bazaars, its UNESCO World-Heritage sites – and the far-flung village of Theth.

“Everybody’s talking about Theth,” says Kate Baker, general manager of UTracks, specialists in European walking holidays. This village in a remote valley in the north of the country is drawing adventurous travellers drawn with its lost-in-time vibe, its family-run guesthouses and its dramatic scenery, ringed by a series of soaring peaks.

Day walks like the 17km Theth to Valbona Peak hike, with its head-spinning views, are for some the highlight of their trip. For others, they are merely a warm-up. The area’s multi-day hikes are increasingly popular, including the 190km Peaks of the Balkans Trail, which travels through Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo at altitudes of between 670m and 2300m.

“It’s a 10-day circuit, it’s pretty hard work but the views are amazing, the valleys are spectacular, and you get a sense of the very different cultures between the countries,” Baker says. “It’s really beautiful.”

Albania is far from the only country hoping for a walking-led tourism boom. As the popularity of walking holidays continues to climb, countries as diverse as Jordan and Sweden are developing new trails to lure holidayers who have already ticked off Spain’s Camino or Japan’s Kumano Kodo.

Many of the new paths wind through remote or regional areas, with the aim of easing overtourism and spreading tourist dollars over a wider area – including a new island-hopping route through the Stockholm Archipelago.

“We have 30,000 islands and people say, ‘I don’t know what island to go to, I don’t know how to get there,’” explains Marie Östblom of Stockholm Business Region AB, the city’s business and destination development agency.

The 270km Stockholm Archipelago Trail provides some answers. It connects more than 20 islands scattered across the archipelago from north with a series of self-guided hikes. All the islands are accessible by public ferries and most offer some form of accommodation, from glamping and B&Bs to hotels. (Be aware that many lodgings are only open during the warmer months.)

The individual trails are often on the shorter side, between 8km and 14km, although there are longer routes on the islands of Runmarö (18.5km), Yxlan (24km) and Ornö (27.9km). Some sections are easy to link together, including the trails on Ingmarsö, Brottö, and Finnhamn.

Each of the islands has its own charms according to Östblom, who says, “We have white sandy beaches that are like the best beaches in the Mediterranean.” Some islands have lush forests, others are home to thriving farming communities. Some, such as Svartsö, have inviting lakes to cool off in.

A very different experience awaits on Jordan’s Wadi Rum Trail, which launched in 2023 and has opened up underexplored parts of one of Jordan’s most starkly beautiful landscapes, where movies such as Dune, John Wick Chapter Four, and The Martian were filmed.

“The landscapes are absolutely mesmerising and there are parts that are very wild – there is absolutely no tourism at all. All you may see is a few Bedouin goatherd families and perhaps ibex, wolves or other wildlife,” says Ben Hoffler, part of the team that proposed and mapped the120km, 10-day hiking circuit.

The varied landscapes include the rugged crags and pinnacles of the towering Jebel Um Ashreen, the tablelands of the Juloof and the granite mounds of the Hejaz Hills, which offer stunning panoramas across Wadi Rum’s famous sandstone massifs.

For Hollis, a geographer who has put together routes in other parts of the Middle East, the best trails are about more than scenery. “It’s about choosing which series of paths we connect to show the history and culture of the area,” he says.

In the case of Wadi Rum, Hoffler’s team decided to include rock climbing sections for confident climbers – easier alternatives for hikers are also available – once they found traces of a long local history of climbers.

“The nomadic forerunners of the Bedouin were scaling cliff faces that look almost unclimbable – they were geniuses at route finding,” he says.

Travellers don’t need to commit to the whole trail: most visitors sign up with a Bedouin tour operator for one to three days. For many, that may be the most they are willing to put up with the bare-bones amenities on offer, which include make-shift campsites and pit toilets.

The good news is that, as the field expands, travellers have more choice in how much comfort they build into their holiday – although UTracks’ Baker says that travellers willing to “stay true to the trail” will have a much more memorable experience.

“You get the local flavour so much more when you’re sharing a hut with shepherds, drinking their local brew and eating the cheese they have been making,” she says.

If you prefer a higher comfort quotient then the Uluru-Kata Tjuta Signature Walk, debuting next year, may appeal. The five-day trip will include two nights in private camps and two nights in a specially-built private lodge. As with other walks from the Tasmanian Walking Company, fine food and wine are guaranteed.

“From all three sites you can see both Kata Tjuta and Uluru,” says Heath Garrett, general manager of the Tasmanian Walking Company. “On the last night you’re close to Uluru – the view is incredible.”

The trail was developed in cooperation with the local Anungu people. In the absence of a traditional route through the area, Garrett says the team worked with archaeologists and anthropologists to create a low-impact route.

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