I did not expect a walking trail to feel like stepping into another century.
Yet on Hærvejen – Denmark’s most iconic long distance hiking route – every mile is a passage through both landscape and legacy.
This personal journey along the ancient path reveals how a national trail can be as much a hike through history as through geography, where heath and forest unfold alongside echoes of pilgrims, cattle drovers and Viking kings.
An Elven landscape. The enchanting region of Saxon Switzerland – or Sächsische Schweiz in the local tongue – in the eastern corner of Germany has bewitched us with its eroded table mountains, gnarled forest paths, mysterious woods and moss-clad boulders. And the best way to immerse yourself in a landscape is to go hiking.
We spent one month in this wondrous area and hiked 17 different trails to find the 5 best, because we know that YOU don’t have a month to spend, trying to find the best trails. We roamed the mountainsides to give you our Top5 hiking trails – and these made the list!
In the middle of Europe, the mountainous Austria is a land of milk and honey for outdoor enthusiasts.
Especially the region of Tyrol impresses with its mighty mountains, where you can ski on an icy glacier, hike the peaks of Zillertal and explore icy caves – all within a distance of 20 kilometers.
Follow Matt Johanson as he takes us with him on his Austrian adventure
Seldom have we stayed in a more enchanting realm.
Saxon Switzerland impresses with imposing table mountains and bizarre rock formations. It ignites your imagination with its gnarled forest paths, moss-clad boulders and narrow ravines from where a light mist emanates, like if this ancient earth quietly exhaled. It’s easy to believe in gnomes and elves in this fairytale landscape.
Arriving at one’s destination can be a bittersweet experience. Especially when on a pilgrimage or a hiking trail, where the journey is more important than the destination. But then again, every journey must come to an end for a new one to begin.
Ava Kabouchy finishes her Camino de Santiago, not in a cathedral but on a beach; at the End of the World in Spain.
Walking Spain’s most famous pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela is not only about overcoming physical and mental struggles, it’s also a chance to come intimately close to an everchanging landscape. The 780 kilometre route gives you a time and chance to enjoy Spain’s landscape, culture and history at first hand.
Continuing her hike on the Camino de Santiago, Ava Kabouchy encounters both pals and pests. She becomes a tramposa, and finds out what a trail husband is..
Gendarmstien, or The Gendarme Path, is an 84 km hiking route and the first European Quality Trail in Denmark. It follows the eastern part of the Danish/German border, and is roughly comprised of the same paths the old border patrol – the Gendarms – used to police the area from 1920 to 1958 to prevent smugglers bringing in contraband to Denmark.
The trail offers sights of both historic importance as well as scenic, and you encounter many fun facts about Denmark, its history, geology, flora and fauna along the way.