Europe on Foot

Walking tours, hiking, and trekking in Europe

It may be slow going, but there's no way to see the Olde Worlde like a walking or hiking tour through Europe. For millenia, this is how anyone not rich enough to afford a horse got around, and Europe is still very much built to a human scale, criss-crossed with ancient pathways, scattered with tiny villages and hamlets with wlecoming inns each within a day's walk of the last.

Walking tours

InfoHub.com (www.infohub.com) - Hundreds of hiking, trekking, and walking tours throughout the world offered by dozens of tour operators and guides.

Butterfield & Robinson (www.butterfield.com) - Long-established, upscale walking tour outfit. Top notch.

Country Walkers (www.countrywalkers.com) - High-end (and hence pricey), but impeccably credentialed.

Wilderness Travel (www.wildernesstravel.com), specializes in walking tours, treks, and inn-to-inn hiking tours of Europe, as well as less strenuous walking tours.

Sherpa Expeditions (www.sherpa-walking-holidays.co.uk) - British company offering both self-guided and group treks through off-the-beaten-track regions.

Hiking, walking, and trekking resources

Walkers' Associations - Most European countries have associations geared toward aiding hikers and walkers, where membership also usually gets you discounts at the countries' networks of mountain huts: Austria (Österreichischer Alpenverein, www.alpenverein.at), England (Ramblers' Association, www.ramblers.org.uk), France (Club Alpin Français, www.clubalpin.com), Germany (Deutscher Alpenverein, www.alpenverein.de), Italy (Club Alpino Italiano, www.cai.it), Switzerland (Schweizer Alpenclub, www.sac-cas.ch), USA (American Alpine Club, www.americanalpineclub.org).

WALKING IN THE UK
UK Countryside Access (www.countrysideaccess.gov.uk) - The new rules (as of 2000) governing walkers' access to public and private lands across the United Kingdom. If you're buying the spiffy Ordnance Survey maps (www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/leisure), make sure you get one of the new (as of 2004) "OS Explorer Maps" with the little brown guy walking across the horizon on the cover—rather than the old "Explorer Maps"—as these new versions show all the new trails. The sister site in Scotland is Scottish Outdoor Access(www.outdooraccess-scotland.com).

Walking in Scotland (walking.visitscotland.com) - Whether it's a trek across the Scottish Highlands, climbing Ben Nevis (Britina's tallest mountain), or a simple stroll along Loch Ness and teh Caledonian Canal (all 170 miles from Inverness to Glasgow via the Great Glen Way and West Highland Way, if you'd like), you can find hints, tips, links, and basic info for hundreds upon hundreds of Scottish walks at this site maintained by the tourist board.

Walking World (www.walkingworld.com) - Taking the famed OS (Ordnance Survey; (www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/leisure) maps and plotting on them more than 2700 walks all over Britain, accompanied by photographs and descriptive text. You can only see a half-dozen or so for free; otherwise, each walks costs £1.50 to download (you print it out yourself), or pay £17.45 for an annual subscription and unlimited access.

WALKING IN IRELAND
SouthWest Walks (www.southwestwalksireland.com) - Local tour company specializing (or, rather, specialising) in both guided and self-guided walks lasting around 5 to 10 days. The greatest concentration of walks are in Ireland's popular southwest corner—Kerry (Dingle, Ring of Kerry, Beara Peninsula), Sheep's Head, the Southern Islands, The Burren, Connemara. But there are also treks through the Wicklow Moutains, Sligo and Leitrim, Donegal, and the Antrim Coast and Giant's Cauuseway in Northern Ireland.