Andy Devaney
When two brands obsessed with adventure put their heads together, the World’s best hiking routes were always going to get a serious audit. That’s exactly what’s happened as group travel specialist WeRoad and iconic footwear brand Vans have teamed up to create a new list of the World’s best hiking routes, pulling together trails that actually deserve the overused phrase “bucket list”.
The joint project has produced a “World’s Top Hikes” ranking built by experts who know their way around a switchback. Instead of just picking pretty postcards, they’ve weighed up scenery, effort levels, terrain and overall experience to work out which trails genuinely deliver – from Peru’s cloud-brushing citadels to Europe’s jagged Dolomites.
Top destinations to take in nature on the list include Machu Picchu in Peru, the Amazon Rainforest, Tortuguero National Park in Costa Rica and, closer to home for European hikers, Italy’s Dolomites – the fabled ‘Pale Mountains’ that look like they were designed to make office workers question their life choices.
THE WORLD’S TOP TEN HIKES
- Machu Picchu, Peru
- Quilotoa Lagoon, Ecuador
- Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica
- Petra ‘The Lost City’, Jordan
- Tena, Amazon Rainforest
- Mount Bromo, Indonesia
- Cotopaxi National Park, Ecuador
- Rainbow Mountain, Peru
- Ásbyrgi Canyon, Iceland
- The Dolomites, Italy
To go with the list, a set of itineraries has been rolled out—think Cuzco to Machu Picchu, Atlas Mountain ridgelines, and crunching across Andean highlands into Amazonian heat. These routes aren’t just sold as trips; they’re pitched as passages into the world’s last remaining pockets of untouched wonder.
Ecuador: The Country That Refuses to Be Outdone
Ecuador is the show-off sibling of South America—mountains, rainforest, volcanic teeth and glassy crater lakes all crammed into one compact country. You can thread through Quito’s historic core, march the slopes of Cotopaxi (which looks like someone carved a volcano straight from childhood memory), then stumble wide-eyed upon the neon-blue brilliance of Laguna Quilotoa.
Top Tip: Cotopaxi National Park isn’t messing about. It hosts three volcanoes, including Cotopaxi itself—one of the largest active volcanoes alive and twitching. More than 90 bird species fill the skies, while foxes, pumas, deer and condors stalk the land like they’re in charge. Wind through the network of trails and take on the base of the snow-capped giant if you’ve got legs—and lungs—to spare.
Jordan: Where History and Nature Fight for Your Attention
Jordan is one of those places that feels curated by someone with expensive taste. Desert canyons, ancient kingdoms, landscapes that jump from gold to red in a breath—it’s a five-and-a-half-hour flight from the UK, but spiritually it’s another universe.
The route sweeps you from the Dead Sea’s mineral pools to the narrow gorges of Wadi Mujib, down kilometres of the legendary Kings’ Road, and finally into Petra—the kind of “lost city” that makes every childhood adventure book seem timid.
Top Tip: Wadi Mujib isn’t your polite little riverside ramble. You hike against the current, climbing, scrambling and getting drenched long before the final plunge beneath a roaring waterfall. Several route options mean both beginners and grizzled veterans can earn their bragging rights.
Costa Rica: Nature With the Volume Turned Up
Costa Rica holds 5% of the planet’s biodiversity, and it isn’t shy about showing it. Jungle trails slither past waterfalls, mangrove channels echo with unseen creatures, and Tortuguero National Park looks like evolution left the taps running.
Hike up Cerro Tortuguero and you’ll encounter monkeys, lizards, geckos and birds who all seem far more at home than you are.
Top Tip: Arenal Volcano National Park centres on a near-perfect conical volcano that used to erupt so often locals treated it like weather. Now dormant, it allows hikers to explore thermal pools surrounded by jungle thick enough to lose yourself in—and maybe not mind it.
The Bottom Line
Whether you’re chasing a lost city, a volcanic crater, or the kind of silence you only find far from civilisation, the World’s best hiking routes aren’t just calling—they’re shouting your name.
And with this new list laying out the world’s most extraordinary trails, the only thing left to decide is how soon you can lace up and get going.
