Best Treks in the World, Ranked
A ranking of the world's most iconic treks scored on accommodation, difficulty, scenery, crowds, and wow factor to help adventurers choose their next challenge.
One of the most frequent questions I get asked is, “What is your favorite trek?” This is such a difficult question to answer. It’s like asking which is your favorite kid? Each trek is different. Some have the classic big mountain views, others are remote and wild, whilst others are all about the challenge and reward of completing it.
In an attempt to answer the question, or at least provide some insight to others looking to complete some of these treks, I decided to rank treks based on a few very scientific (aka – I just made them up) criteria, giving each criteria a score of 1-5. I’ve only added a few of the top classic treks for now, but will add more over time.
Each trek includes a link to a gallery of photos to help you make up your own mind on which one to tackle next. Check back often for more rankings.
Ratings definitions
Every trek is scored 1–5 on five criteria. Here's roughly what each score means:
Accommodation
- Totally basic accommodations, in bad locations (trash, bugs, etc.)
- Basic. Good location, but too crowded.
- Good accommodation, good location.
- Lodges, or camping with amazing views/location.
- Beautiful, classic mountain refugios, or solitary camping with views to die for.
Difficulty
- Too short, too easy. Did I walk something?
- A little short, a little easy, but decent.
- Great. Manageable difficulty, but I'd like something more.
- Long, hard, quad killer. Why am I doing this again?
- Perfect distance and difficulty (usually around 10 days).
Scenery
- Kind of same ol' same ol'. Lots of trash.
- Some good viewpoints, but not much.
- Not overly diverse, and a little spoilt by tourism, trash, etc.
- Some epic views. Very little trash. Some diversity.
- Incredibly diverse. Pristine. Epic views.
Crowds
- Too crowded.
- Crowded, but manageable.
- Manageable, but I can find space to walk alone.
- Few people. I can walk alone for hours.
- Solitude. I'm alone for days!
Wow factor
- Underwhelmed based on expectations.
- Yeah it's nice, but I've seen better.
- Kind of what I expected.
- This is pretty special.
- Is this even real?
Trek rankings
| Trek | Accommodation | Difficulty | Scenery | Crowds | Wow Factor | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tour de Mont Blanc | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 21 |
| Annapurna Circuit | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 20 |
| Milford Track | 4 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 20 |
| Via Podiensis | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 20 |
| O' Trek – Torres del Paine | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 19 |
| Overland Trek | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 19 |
| Everest Base Camp | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 18 |
| Camino de Santiago (French Way) | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 18 |
| Roraima | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 18 |
| Subways | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 18 |
| Kumano Kodo (Nakahechi route) | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 18 |
| Havasu Falls | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 17 |
| Inca Trail | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 16 |
| Camino Portugués | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 16 |
| Routeburn Trek | 4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 14 |
| Kilimanjaro | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 13 |