With these walking holidays, we’re talking summits and serious long-distance trails where you need to get up early to hit the hills, or maybe time that peak moment for sunset. Our moderate/strenuous walking holidays are for regular hikers, who have tried out multi-day hiking holidays before and know that they can hold their own over many days.
This category opens up a few more destination options than easier walking holidays, from Cape Verde to Colombia, the Faroe Islands or the French Pyrenees. This may also be your time to take on a complete Camino de Santiago. All of these walking holidays have soupçons of strenuous, but with a menu full of moderate level walking options too.
How do we define moderate/strenuous walking holidays?
In terms of our difficulty grades, moderate/strenuous walking holidays will have longer ascents and descents and take you into more remote terrain. Walking is on average 6-9h per day (up to 30km), so you need to make sure you are trip fit and have all the right gear for being out on the hills, valleys or coastal walks all day long.
Many of these walking holidays are to lesser-known mountain regions such as the Dinaric Alps in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Accursed Mountains in Albania or the High Tatras of Slovakia. Trails may also include high mountain terrain which is rugged and rough underfoot, with some sections of scrambling, as well as some hut to hut walks, where you need to carry your overnight backpack for some stretches. We also have several small group, fully guided walking holidays in this category.
Popular moderate/strenuous walking tours
Peaks of the Balkans Classic Route (Self-guided)
Annapurna Sanctuary Trek
Slovenia: Karawanken, Kamnik and Julian Alps
Walking on the Isle of Skye
Walking the South West Coast Path: St Ives to Penzance
Rila and Pirin Mountains and Lakes
Walking the Gorges in Western Crete
