Top 15+ of the best new walks you haven’t tried yet

New Zealand: Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track

This three-day, 38 mile (61km) loop wends through a little-tramped chunk of South Island’s wild Fiordland (pictured), as New Zealand’s 11th official Great Walk. Like the other 10, it will offer superb scenery: cliffs and beaches (where dolphins might be spotted), native forest, panoramic ridges, impressive old viaducts. Unlike them, there are options to upgrade the experience, with private rooms, hot showers and even jet-boat and helicopter transfers. Learn more at the Hump Ridge Track website. (Photo: Matteo Colombo/Getty)

England: King Charles III England Coast Path

In 2022 the Government announced that this 2,700 mile (4,345km) circumnavigation of the country will be fully walkable by the end of 2024. It runs 44 miles (71km) from West Wittering’s dunes to Shoreham-by-Sea. En route it takes in sea-breezy promenades, bucket’n’spade Bognor Regis (pictured), pretty Pagham and Medmerry wetlands, a brilliant place to spot birds. Learn more at the National Trails website. (Photo: Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty)

Sri Lanka: Pekoe Trail

This 186 mile (300km), 22-stage trail – Sri Lanka’s first long-distance route – has been years in development. Its aim is to link Kandy with the tea country town of Nuwara Eliya, support remote communities and promote cultural heritage. It passes one of Sri Lanka’s oldest tea plantations. Learn more at the Pekoe Trail website. (Photo: Chloe Schultz)

Italy: Via dell’Amore

Ah, splendido! The Way of Love is the iconic cliff-hugging route linking Riomaggiore and Manarola – two of the Cinque Terre’s five knock-out coastal villages. The aim is to reduce over-tourism and better educate visitors about this Unesco-listed coast. The full trail is around 0.65 miles/1km. Learn more at the Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre website. (Photo: Romain Oudot/500px/Getty)

Rwanda: Cyinzobe Trail

In July 2023, Nyungwe National Park launched this 15.5 mile (25km) adventure through a wildlife-rich tract of the Albertine Rift mountains. The three-day experience includes guides, meals, nights camped out in wooden cabins and an immersion in one of Africa’s oldest rainforests. Walk via swamps, bogs, enormous old trees and some of the park’s residents, which include duiker antelopes, nocturnal civets, colobus and L’Hoest’s monkeys and eastern chimpanzees. For more information, visit the Inside Nyungwe National Park website. (Photo: atosan/Getty/iStockphoto)

Fiji: Highland Escape

Talanoa Treks is Fiji’s only dedicated hiking company, run as a social enterprise in partnership with the communities its hikes visit. In summer 2023, Talanoa launched this two-night, 10-mile (16km) trip into the heart of Viti Levu, Fiji’s largest island. It showcases the archipelago beyond its beaches, via rugged peaks, rich forest and refreshing rivers (there is always time for a swim). Guiding, food and simple accommodation are provided by local villages, which helps to support rural livelihoods. Learn more atthe Talanoa Treks Fiji website. (Photo: Caroline Calvert/Talanoa Treks)

Nepal: Annapurna North Base Camp

A 10-mile (16km) trail to the foot of Annapurna I has opened, following the route of the 1950 French expedition, the first to summit the world’s 10th-highest mountain. The trail fell into disuse and has been made accessible again only thanks to a long, local campaign. The three-day trek heads up the Miristi Khola Canyon to the French Base Camp; a further 6km leads to Advance Base Camp (at an altitude of 4,305m). Steve Berry, managing director of Mountain Kingdoms, compares it to hiking the Annapurna Sanctuary 50 years ago. Learn more at the Mountain Kingdoms website. (Photo: Pachanatt Ounpitipong/Getty/Moment RF)

Portugal: Barranco do Demo Walkway

Short but mighty, this walkway – inaugurated in October 2023 – is only around half a mile long (800m) but opens up exceptional views of the Barranco do Demo, aka the “Grand Canyon of Alferce”. It comprises a gorge-side boardwalk and dramatic suspension bridge high above the river. It forms part of a longer, 3.75 mile (6km) route in the Algarve’s Monchique hills, connecting Alferce village to the remains of a hill-top Islamic fort built in the ninth century. Learn more at the Visit Algarve website. (Photo: VWB photos/Getty/Moment RF)

Ireland & Wales: Wexford-Pembrokeshire Pilgrim Way

Stretching 100 on-land miles (160km) – with an Irish Sea crossing, from Rosslare to Fishguard, in the middle – this route is the new Camino of Ireland and Wales. It follows the journey made by St Aidan in the sixth century, when he travelled from Ferns in Wexford to meet his teacher, St David, in South Wales. Full waymarking should be in place this year. And guided walks are already available on the Welsh leg, which traces the wonderful Pembrokeshire coast via hermit cells, Neolithic tombs and St Patrick’s Chapel. Learn more at the Wexford-Pembrokeshire Pilgrim Way website. (Photo: Matt Gibson/Getty)

Australia: Snowies Alpine Walk

More than 460 miles (740km) of new walk and cycle tracks across New South Wales. This includes the Snowies Alpine Walk, a four-day, 34 mile (55km) hike across Kosciuszko National Park hoping to rival Tasmania’s famous Overland Track. The route encompasses high plains, snow gums, native wildlife and the 2,228m summit of Australia’s highest peak. Learn more at the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service website. (Photo: Andrew Merry/Getty/Moment RF)

Lithuania: Touch & Hear Vilnius

This trail around the Lithuanian capital is less than a mile (1.1km) but could change your entire perspective. Taking around 90 minutes, it is led by an audioguide (free to download) and designed specifically for people with visual impairments, opening up the city’s Old Town in new ways. The guide includes clear, safe directions, enhanced soundscapes and stories, and instructions to engage the senses, from feeling the cobbles underfoot to touching sculptures and listening to acoustic changes around the medieval buildings. Learn more at the Neakivaizdinis Vilnius website. (Photo: Westend61/Getty/Carmen Steiner)

Namibia: Onguma Trails

There's immersive walking at Onguma, a privately owned game reserve on the eastern fringe of Etosha National Park (pictured). Guests will walk 8-10km a day, starting from one of Onguma’s five lodges (which range from low-key to luxe), and spending two nights in the wilderness in tented “glamps” with expert guides. It will be a thrilling way to explore the reserve’s salt pans and mopane woodland, perhaps encountering free-roaming antelopes, elephants, cheetahs and black rhinos too. Learn more at the Onguma website. (Photo: Buena Vista Images/Getty/Stone RF)

Croatia & Bosnia and Herzegovina: Camino Dubrovnik Medjugorje

Croatia is a long way from Santiago de Compostela, but pilgrims have been walking from here to there since the 13th century. The Croatian Confraternity of St James has been restoring medieval routes, including linking the monastery of St Jakov in Dubrovnik to Medjugorje’s St Jakov Church, Bosnia and Herzegovina, an unofficial pilgrimage place since the Virgin Mary allegedly appeared here in 1981. Learn more at the Camino Croatia website. (Photo: serfeo/Getty/iStockphoto/Sergio Feola)

Spain: Cieza and Chicharra Greenways

The Spanish network of Vías Verdes grows from strength to strength. More than 2,050 miles (3,300km) of hike and bike trails have now been created from the country’s abandoned railways, including seven new ones in 2023. Two of the latest were in the south-eastern province of Murcia. Highlights include The Cieza Flowering Greenway (6 miles/9.8km) and linked Chicharra Greenway (8.5 miles/13.7km). Learn more at the Vías Verdes website. (Photo: Chamonlord/Getty)

US: Adirondack Rail Trail

Progress on the Great American Rail Trail continues apace – over half of this Washington, DC to Washington State cross-country epic is complete. Smaller projects to look out for include New York State’s 34 mile (55km) Adirondack Rail Trail. Repurposing the old New York Central line, it will ultimately provide a link between Lake Placid and Tupper Lake. Learn more at the Rails to Trails website. (Photo: Diana Robinson Photography/Getty/Moment RF)