
A long-distance trail (or long-distance
footpath
A footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a type of thoroughfare that is intended for use only by pedestrians and not other forms of traffic such as motorized vehicles, bicycles and horses. They can be found in a wide ...
, track, way,
greenway) is a longer recreational
trail mainly through rural areas used for
hiking,
backpacking,
cycling,
horse riding or
cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...
. They exist on all continents except Antarctica.
Many trails are marked on maps. Typically, a long-distance route will be at least long, but many run for several hundred miles, or longer.
Many routes are
waymarked
Trail blazing or way marking is the practice of marking paths in outdoor recreational areas with signs or markings that follow each other at certain, though not necessarily exactly defined, distances and mark the direction of the trail.
A blaz ...
and may cross public or private land and/or follow existing
rights of way
Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by Easement#Easement by prescription, prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another.
A similar ''right of access'' ...
. Generally, the surface is not specially prepared, and the ground can be rough and uneven in areas, except in places such as converted rail tracks or popular walking routes where stone-pitching and slabs have been laid to prevent erosion. In some places, official trails will have the surface specially prepared to make the going easier.
Historically
Historically, and still nowadays in countries where most people move on foot or with pack animals, long-distance trails linked far away towns and regions. Such paths followed "logical" routes, that can be approximated to
least-cost paths.
Hiking trails

Europe
GR footpaths are long-distance
footpath
A footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a type of thoroughfare that is intended for use only by pedestrians and not other forms of traffic such as motorized vehicles, bicycles and horses. They can be found in a wide ...
s in Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal (the ''Alta Via'' (Italian), ''Grande Randonnée'' (French), ''Grote Routepaden'' or ''Lange-afstand-wandelpaden'' (Dutch), ''Grande Rota'' (Portuguese) or ''Gran Recorrido'' (Spanish)).
United Kingdom
National Trails are a network of officially sanctioned footpaths in the United Kingdom which are well maintained and well waymarked across England and Wales. Examples are the
Pennine Way and the
South West Coast Path
The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. Because it rises a ...
. The equivalent routes in Scotland are styled as
Scotland's Great Trails; they include the
West Highland Way and the
Speyside Way.
Republic of Ireland
The
Kerry Way, in south-west Ireland, is the longest of the Irish waymarked trails and circumnavigates the highest mountain range in Ireland. Along with the adjoining
Dingle Way it is noted for its scenic views of the
Atlantic,
loughs and mountains.
Asia
Hong Kong
Long-distance
trails in Hong Kong:
*
Hong Kong Trail,
Hong Kong
*
Lantau Trail
*
MacLehose Trail
*
Wilson Trail
Japan
Japan has a network of ten long-distance trails called Long Distance Nature Trails. Their creation is the result of a
Ministry of Environment initiative to highlight the specific environmental, cultural or historic landscapes through which the trails pass. They also aim to allow hikers a safe and easy hike in any season, as well as raising awareness of the importance of protecting natural spaces and adopting sustainable behaviors.
Long Distance Nature Trails in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
:
* Tokai Nature Trail: 1697 kilometers
*
Kyūshū Nature Trail (nicknamed Yamabikosan): 2932 kilometers
* Chūkoku Nature Trail: 2295 kilometers
* Shikoku Nature Trail (nicknamed Shikoku no Michi): 1637 kilometers
* Shutoken Nature Trail (nicknamed Kanto Fureai no Michi): 1800 kilometers
* Tōhoku Nature Trail (nicknamed Shin Oku no Hosomichi): 4374 kilometers
* Chūbu Hokuriku Nature Trail: 4085 kilometers
* Kinki Nature Trail: 3296 kilometers
* Hokkaidō Nature Trail: 4600 kilometers
* Tōhoku Pacific Coast Nature Trail (nicknamed
Michinoku Coastal Trail
The Michinoku Coastal Trail (みちのく潮風トレイル) is one of the ten Long Distance Nature Trail of Japan. It is located on the eastern coast of Tohoku.
This trail was created by the Ministry of Environment in cooperation with the loca ...
): 1000 kilometers
South America
Brazil
In Brazil, long-distance trails are regulated by two Federal Government decrees, and implemented and managed by government agencies in partnership with the Brazilian Trails Network Association
(''Associação Rede Brasileira de Trilhas'' in Portuguese) and its affiliated trails and partners. The aim is to create a national system of trails that are pleasant to hike, but that also generate employment and income and function as conservation tools by linking protected areas with natural corridors.
There are more than 120 trails in different stages of implementation in 25 of the 27
Brazilian states, connecting all Brazilian biomes. As of January 2022, Brazil has more than 5,500 km of managed trails and another 20,500 km planned.
Long-distance trails in Brazil:
* Transmantiqueira National Trail: 1200 km
* Transcarioca Trail: 180 km
* Atlantic Amazon Trail: 350 km
* Pioneers Route: 390 km
* Serra do Mar Trail: 300 km
Coastal trails

These follow coastlines; examples are the
Brittany Coast Path in France, the
California Coastal Trail in the US, the
South West Coast Path
The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. Because it rises a ...
in England, the
East Coast Trail
The East Coast Trail (ECT) is a long-distance coastal footpath located in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is a developed trail over long, creation of which began in 1994. It is made up of 25 linked wilderness paths and pas ...
in Canada, and the
Otter Trail in South Africa.
The
England Coast Path, in development by
Natural England, will be around long. It is expected to open in 2020 as the longest coastal walking route in the world and Britain's longest
National Trail.
Coast-to-coast trails
These may be cross-country paths, or may follow roads or other ways, and often intersect with many other trails. Examples are
Wainwright's Coast-to-Coast path in northern England, and the
GR 10 in France. The English Coast to Coast route, despite being amongst the best-known long-distance walking routes in England, is not an official
National Trail, but simply a series of connected pre-existing rights of way, roads and open country with some informal links between them. There is also a coast-to-coast mountain-bike route in northern England that has the same trailheads as the walkers' path. GR 10 is a French
GR footpath that runs the length of the
Pyrenees Mountains, roughly paralleling the French–Spanish border on the French side. It runs west to east, from
Hendaye on the
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...
to
Banyuls-sur-Mer on the
Mediterranean Sea.
The
American Discovery Trail is a hiking and biking trail that crosses the continental United States from east to west, across the mid-tier of the United States . Horses can also be ridden on most of this trail. The eastern terminus is the
Delmarva Peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean and the western terminus is
Point Reyes, on the northern California coast at the Pacific Ocean. The
Iditarod Trail connects the coastal cities of
Seward and
Nome, Alaska
Nome (; ik, Sitŋasuaq, ) is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of Alaska, United States. The city is located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. It had a population of 3,699 recorded ...
: a distance of around .
*
Trans Canada Trail –
Canada
Cross-continent trails
The
European long-distance paths (E-paths) traverse Europe, passing through many different countries.
Among the longest are
European walking route E8
The E8 European long distance path or E8 path is one of the European long-distance paths, leading 4,700 km (2,920 miles) across Europe, from Cork in Ireland to Bulgaria.
Route
After Ireland it crosses the Irish Sea into Wales and then int ...
and the
Iron Curtain Trail (also known as
EuroVelo 13). The latter is a partially complete
long-distance cycling route which will run along the entire length of the former
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...
. During the period of the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
(c. 1947–1991), the Iron Curtain delineated the border between the
Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
East and the capitalist West.
*
E4 European long-distance path
The E4 European long distance path or E4 path is one of the European long-distance paths. Starting at Tarifa Andalusia, located at the southernmost end of the Iberian Peninsula, across the Strait of Gibraltar facing Morocco, it continues th ...
From
Tarifa,
Andalusia,
Spain, to
Crete and
Cyprus – not yet completely defined.
*
E8 European long-distance path from
Cork, Ireland to the
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
border of
Bulgaria (incomplete).
Other trails
Some of the longest walking routes worldwide:
*
Te Araroa –
New Zealand
*
Skåneleden
The Skåneleden trail is a Long-distance trail, long-distance walking trail that stretches all over the beautiful countryside of Scania, Skåne, situated in the very south of Sweden. The trail is 1250 km long and divided into five separate trails, ...
–
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
*
Transmantiqueira Trail –
Brazil
*
National Blue Trail
The National Blue Trail (in Hungarian: Országos Kéktúra, Kéktúra or simply OKT) is a national trail in Hungary incorporated into the European Long Distance Walking Route E4. The route starts atop the Irottkő Mountain (884 m) on the Austrian ...
–
Hungary
*
TransPanama Trail TransPanama Trail or TransPanama Hike is a walking trail in length located in Panama. This hiking trail was opened during 2009 and involves walking, hiking, canoeing and passes through neighboring provinces like the Darién Gap. Rick Morales was t ...
–
Panama
*
Israel National Trail –
Israel
Mountain trails

Long-distance mountain trails are of two broad kinds: linear trails and loop trails.
Europe
In Europe the
Via Alpina consists of five connected hiking trails across the
alpine regions of
Slovenia,
Austria,
Germany,
Liechtenstein,
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
,
Italy,
France and
Monaco. It is long, with 342 day stages. Circular routes include the
Tour du Mont Blanc, which passes through the
Alps of France, Switzerland, and Italy. In the
Balkans region, the Peaks of the Balkans Trail and High Scardus Trail connect
Albania,
Kosovo and
Montenegro or
North Macedonia respectively through a network of combined almost .
United States
In the United States, notable linear trails include the
Appalachian Trail, , the
Pacific Crest Trail,
and the
Continental Divide Trail, . The first long-distance hiking trail in the US was begun in 1910 and named The
Long Trail. Notable circular trails include the
Tahoe Rim Trail and the
Wonderland Trail (which encircles
Mount Rainier
Mount Rainier (), indigenously known as Tahoma, Tacoma, Tacobet, or təqʷubəʔ, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, located in Mount Rainier National Park about south-southeast of Seattle. With a s ...
).
Australia
The
Australian Alps Walking Track traverses the
alpine areas of
Victoria,
New South Wales and the
Australian Capital Territory. It is long, starting at
Walhalla, Victoria, and running through to
Tharwa, Australian Capital Territory near
Canberra
Canberra ( )
is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
.
Himalayas
The
Himalayan routes are famous for attracting a large number of trekkers (
backpackers). Typical trekking regions in
Nepal are
Annapurna,
Dolpo,
Langtang,
Manaslu,
Kangchenjunga and
Mount Everest. In India, the
Kashmir Valley
The Kashmir Valley, also known as the ''Vale of Kashmir'', is an intermontane valley concentrated in the Kashmir Division of the Indian- union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The valley is bounded on the southwest by the Pir Panjal Range and ...
is home to several trekking routes that traverse western sections of the Himalayas.
Vishansar Lake,
Gangabal Lake
The Gangabal Lake, also called Haramukh Ganga, is a lake situated at the foot of Mount Haramukh in Ganderbal district, north of Srinagar, in Indian-administered Kashmir. It is an alpine high altitude oligotrophic lake, home to many species o ...
and
Tarsar Lakes are accessible only through different trekking routes. Other popular trekking routes in India include
Chandra Taal, Dzongri, Goechala,
Gomukh,
Hemkund,
Kafni Glacier,
Kailash-
Manasarovar,
Kedarnath,
Kedartal
Kedartal (also known as Shiva's lake) is a glacial lake situated at an altitude of in the Garhwal region of the Himalayas in India. The lake is fed by the snowfall over Thalay Sagar (6,904 m), Meru (6,672 m), Bhrigupanth (6,772 m) and other su ...
,
Milam Glacier,
Nanda Devi Sanctuary
The Nanda Devi National Park or Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, established in 1982 is a national park situated around the peak of Nanda Devi (7816 m) in Chamoli Garhwal district of Uttarakhand, in northern India. The entire park lies at an elev ...
,
Pindari Glacier,
Richenpong,
Roopkund
Roopkund (locally known as Mystery Lake or Skeleton Lake) is a high altitude glacial lake in the Uttarakhand state of India. It lies in the lap of Trishul massif. Located in the Himalayas, the area around the lake is uninhabited and is roughly ...
,
Sar Pass,
Satopanth Tal,
Saurkundi Pass and the
Valley of Flowers.
The Great Himalaya Trail
The Great Himalaya Trail is a route across the Himalayas from east to west. The original concept was to establish a single long distance trekking trail from the east end to the west end of Nepal that includes a total of roughly of path. There is ...
is proposed to follow the Greater Himalaya Range from
Namche Barwa in Tibet to
Nanga Parbat in Pakistan, forming the world's highest mountain trail.
Andes
A long-distance trail network in the southern Andes, the
Greater Patagonian Trail, was first described in 2014. It currently connects Santiago de Chile with the Southern Patagonian Icefield and explores the remote areas of the Patagonian Andes in the border region between Chile and Argentina. The entire network currently incorporates more than of routes and provides many packrafting options.
Eastern Africa
*
Kilimandjaro
Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world: above sea level and ab ...
in Tanzania
*
Simien Mountains in Ethiopia
*
Dogu'a Tembien in Ethiopia
Other types
Cycling
These routes have been constructed mainly for
bicycle touring. Some are restricted to use by only non-motorized bikes while others are multi-use recreational (i.e. hiking, horseback riding, jogging, rollerblading or walking). Some long-distance cycling routes are hundreds of miles long, such as Australia's mainly off-road
Munda Biddi Trail, or even thousands of miles, such as the
EuroVelo routes.
Canal towpaths
Some trails follow the
towpaths of canal systems. A good example is the
New York State Canal System in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. There also numerous routes that can be followed in Europe, which may be suitable for walkers, cyclists, horse riders and canoeists.
Equestrian

Many long-distance trails have sections suitable for equestrians, and a few are suitable for horse riding throughout their length, or have been developed primarily for horse riding. The
Bicentennial National Trail (BNT) in Australia is the longest marked multi-use trail in the world, stretching from
Cooktown, Queensland, through
New South Wales to
Healesville, Victoria. This non-motorised trail runs the length of the rugged
Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...
through
national park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
s and private property and alongside
wilderness areas. One of the objectives was to develop a trail that linked up the
brumby tracks,
[The Bicentennial National Trail, Welcome to One of the World's Great Natural Adventures] mustering
Muster may refer to:
Military terminology
* Muster (military), a process or event for the accounting for members in a military unit
* Muster list, list of the functions for team members
* A mustering, in military terminology, is a specialised for ...
and
stock routes along the Great Dividing Range, thus allowing one legally to ride the routes of
stockmen and
drovers who once traveled these areas with
pack horses.
The Bicentennial National Trail is suitable for self-reliant horse riders, fit walkers and mountain bike riders.
In the United Kingdom, the
British Horse Society is developing a network of
horse trails
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million ...
known as the ''National Bridleroute Network''.
A number of long-distance
multi-use trails have been created in England, including three
National Trails: the
Pennine Bridleway, ,
The Ridgeway, , and the
South Downs Way, .
[Ride-UK: National Bridle Route Network provides details of other long-distance bridle routes at http://www.ride-uk.org.uk.]
Rail trails
Rail trails (or rail paths) are shared-use paths that make use of abandoned railway corridors. There are also
rails with trails in the US that follow working rail tracks. Most rail trails have a gravel or dirt surface and can be used for walking, cycling, and often horse riding as well. The following description comes from
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, but is applicable to other rail trails that exist throughout the world:
In the US, the
Cheshire Rail Trail, in
New Hampshire, can be used by hikers, horseback riders, snowmobilers, cross-country skiers, cyclists, or even dog-sledders. In
Canada, following the abandonment of the
Prince Edward Island Railway in 1989, the government of
Prince Edward Island purchased the right-of-way to the entire railway system. The
Confederation Trail was developed as a tip-to-tip walking and cycling gravel rail trail which doubles as a monitored and groomed snowmobile trail during the winter months, operated by the PEI Snowmobile Association.
See also
*
Backpacking
*
Fastpacking
*
Freedom Trail (South Africa). A mountain bike trail.
*
Historic roads and trails
*
International Appalachian Trail
The International Appalachian Trail (IAT; french: Sentier international des Appalaches, SIA) was originally a hiking trail which ran from Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, in Maine, through New Brunswick, to the Gaspé Peninsula of Q ...
*
List of longest cross-country trails
Here is a list of the longest hiking trails in the world from longest to shortest.
Trails over 1,500 kilometres in length
*Trans Canada Trail – In Canada, this trail extends to around from coast to coast and is still in need of completion.
*Am ...
*
List of long-distance footpaths
*
List of long-distance hiking tracks in Australia
This is a list of published trails in Australia, suitable for walking in three days or longer.
Trails
See also
*Trail
*Long-distance trail
*List of long-distance trails
*Walking
*Hiking
*Backpacking
Backpacking may refer to:
* Backpacking ( ...
*
Long-distance trails in the United States
*
Long Distance Walkers Association, UK.
*
Multi-day race
*
New Zealand tramping tracks
*
Pilgrimage
*
Thru-hiking
*
Ultramarathon
An ultramarathon, also called ultra distance or ultra running, is any footrace longer than the traditional marathon length of . Various distances are raced competitively, from the shortest common ultramarathon of to over . 50k and 100k are bot ...
*
Walking
*
Walking in the United Kingdom
Bibliography
*
Alan Booth
Alan Booth (5 December 194624 January 1993)
(''The Independent'', 5 February 1993)
, ''
The Roads to Sata
''The Roads to Sata'', written in 1985 by Alan Booth, tells the story of his journey in 1977, on foot, from Cape Sōya in Hokkaidō, the northernmost point of Japan, to Sata
SATA (Serial AT Attachment) is a computer bus interface that conne ...
: A Two-Thousand-Mile Walk Through Japan'' (1985).
*
Patrick Leigh Fermor, ''
A Time of Gifts'' (1977), ''
Between the Woods and the Water
''Between the Woods and the Water'' is a travel book by British author Patrick Leigh Fermor, the second in a series of three books narrating the author's journey on foot across Europe from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople in 1933/34.
The fi ...
'' (1986), and ''
The Broken Road'' (2013); describes a walk across Europe in the 1930s.
*
John Hillaby
John Donald Hillaby (24 July 1917 – 19 October 1996) was a British travel writer and explorer.
Early life and education
Hillaby was the eldest of three sons of printer Albert Ewart Hillaby (d. 1967), of Pontefract, West Yorkshire, and Ma ...
''Journey to the Jade Sea'' (1964); an account of an African walking tour using camels as pack animals.
** ''Journey through Britain'' (1968). From
Land's End to John o' Groats.
** ''Journey through Europe'' (1972).
** ''Journey to the Gods'' (1991); describes a tour through the mountains of Greece.
*
George Meegan, ''The Longest Walk – Odyssey of the Human Spirit'' (1988); describes an unbroken walk from
Tierra del Fuego at the southernmost tip of
South America to the northern coast of
Alaska at
Prudhoe Bay between 1977 and 1983.
*
Rory Stewart, ''
The Places in Between'' (2006); recounts a walk across
Afghanistan in 2002, after the Russians had left.
*
Bill Bryson, ''
A Walk in the Woods'' (1998); an account of the author's partial completion of the
Appalachian Trail
*
Laurie Lee
Laurence Edward Alan "Laurie" Lee, MBE (26 June 1914 – 13 May 1997) was an English poet, novelist and screenwriter, who was brought up in the small village of Slad in Gloucestershire.
His most notable work is the autobiographical trilogy ...
, ''
As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning''; an account of Lee walking from his family home in the
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale.
The area is defined by the bedrock of Jur ...
to
London, and then across Spain before the outbreak of the
Spanish Civil War.
References
{{Authority control
Hiking
Trails
Footpaths
Long distance travel