The best hikes across the world!

Experts have stated that hiking is set to surpass yoga in popularity, so why not break into the new year by venturing off on one of the hundreds of hikes around the world? Furthermore, research has also found that hiking has become the most popular adventure activity for travellers – so why not see what all the fuss is about and try a new activity this year. Where are the best hikes across the world?

You may not think that hiking is the most effective form of exercise, but even a short hike around the Cinque Terre National Park in Italy can burn up to 600 calories. Alternatively, if you fancy taking on a more physically demanding trek, why not tick the 26 mile Inca Trail to Machu Picchu off your bucket-list. The Inca Trail is not only surrounded by stunning mountain scenery, subtropical jungles and Inca paving stones, ruins and tunnels, but you can also burn up to 2,080 calories on the 4 day hike.

If you’re looking for a slightly longer hike to challenge you, then why not take on the six day, 50 mile trek through Jordan’s gorgeous countryside, following the most famous section of the ‘Jordan Trail’ from Dana to Petra. Walking across high ridges, through deep gorges and amongst sculpted sandstone, this hike can burn up to 4,000 calories and takes approximately 100,000 steps to complete. Split across the six days, this is equivalent to surpassing the recommended 10,000 average daily steps by almost 7,000 a day!

For those more experienced hikers, why not take the trek of a lifetime across the Great Himalayan Trails. The Great Himalayan Trails (GHT) is a network of trails in Nepal, spanning 1,056 miles, that makes it possible to hike mountain ranges such as the popular trekking areas of Everest and Annapurna,  as well as the more secluded treks in Dolpa and Makalu Barun. The Great Himalayan Trail is split into ten sections with several beautiful trails, meaning you can trek parts of the trail individually or take the plunge and walk across all ten sections in one go. Taking on the Great Himalayan Trail in one go is no easy feat, with the entire hike lasting 157 days, and burning up to 84,500 calories. However, with arguably some of the world’s  most spectacular mountain scenery as a constant backdrop, and the opportunity to see eight of the world’s 14 peaks, the views will almost certainly be worth it.

You can view the top ten long, medium and short distance hikes in the table below:

With stunning birds-eye views of cities, mountain ranges and countryside being a key motivator in completing a hike and reaching the top, it’s no surprise that the views of hundreds of hikes, either at the top or on the way up, are documented on Instagram. Some of the most popular hikes according to Instagram include the Appalachian Trail – a 2,650 mile hike located in the Eastern United States,  which has over 629,599 hashtags; the Inca Trail in Peru which has 171,640 hashtags  and the Pacific Crest Trail in the USA, which has almost 184,000 hashtags.

On The Go Tours Marketing Manager, Hollie Youlden comments:

“It’s interesting to see that hiking has become the most popular adventure sport for travellers, and great that more people are getting involved. There are a huge amount of hikes available for all abilities to try, in destinations all over the world. The data has revealed the number of calories you can burn on each hike, which is surprisingly high, with the longest hike burning an incredible 845,040 calories, and even the shortest hike burning an impressive 600 calories.

It’s great to see a number of the hikes are based in Europe, so if you’re a beginner you won’t have to travel far for your first hike. There are a huge number of hikes in the USA and New Zealand which offer beautiful scenery and more of a challenge to intermediate and advanced hikers.”

So what are you waiting for? Grab your walking boots and reach new heights using the interactive tool here to find the perfect hike for you.