The 10 Longest Hiking Trails In the World

Humans have been roaming the wilderness solely for recreational purposes for centuries, and hiking is one of the most popular (and cheapest) hobbies you can take up if you want to get in touch with nature and escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Most people only need a few hours to get their fix, but you can spend much, much longer on some trails that can take months to complete.

These are the longest designated hiking trails on the planet

Petrarch, an Italian poet who lived during the 14th century, is often cited as one of the first hikers in recorded history thanks to a letter he penned in 1350, where he discussed his decision to hike to the top of  Mont Ventoux in Southern France for no other reason than to take in the view from the summit.

However, the practice of walking just to walk didn’t really become a widespread pastime until the Romantic movement, the nature-centric response to Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution, inspired people in Europe and beyond to take advantage of what the world had to offer in the 1800s, and it slowly but surely evolved into a popular hobby.

There’s an untold number of paths and trails specifically designed for hiking around the globe, and the vast majority of them can be tackled in less than a day. However, that is not the case with the designated hiking trails that top the list of the longest ones on the planet, with all of the ones here measuring in at over 3,000 miles.

Before we dive in, I should note that these numbers reflect the distances each trail (or experts familiar with them) lists, some of which account for an entire network featuring multiple branches as opposed to a dedicated stretch from Point A to Point B.

There are also some discrepancies when it comes to the definitive length, but I did everything in my power to track down the most accurate numbers.

10. The Continental Divide Trail: 3,028 Miles

The Continental Divide Trail is officially a bit shorter than the 3,100 miles that it claims to be, but there are a number of route options that can make it as “short” as 2,150 and as long as 3,150.

However, you’ll basically be getting the same experience regardless of how you decide to tackle it.

The southern trailhead is located at Crazy Cook Monument in New Mexico (directly on the Mexican border). From there, you’ll get a taste of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, get a bit of a reprieve on the altitude front in Wyoming, and straddle the border of Idaho and Montana before wrapping things up in Big Sky Country at the Alberta border in Glacier National Park.

9. Australia’s National Trail: 3,312 miles

You probably won’t be surprised to learn there isn’t a trail that runs west to east in Australia, as you need to have a death wish to try to make it across the Outback on foot.

However, there is one that runs from north to south on its eastern edge that is a bit less treacherous but still incredibly demanding, one simply known as the National Trail.

If you start in the north, you’ll begin in Cooktown, Queensland and experience plenty of geographic variety as you pass through the rainforests, the mountains of the Great Dividing Range, and the plains and meadowns you’ll encounter before the journey ends in Healesville, Victoria.

8. The E1 Path: 4,420 miles

If you want to take in the diverse geography Europe has to offer, there aren’t many options that will check that box quite like the E1 Path.

If you start at the top, you have to head to the North Cape in Norway. From there, you’ll make your way into Sweden, head across the Øresund to Denmark, and then pass through Germany, Switzerland, and Italy before wrapping things up at Capo Passero in Sicily.

7. Great Western Trail: 4,455 miles

I had more trouble than I expected finding information concerning the Great Western Trail, which can trace its origins back to the route that was used to ferry cattle from Canada to Mexico in the 18th century.

There was also a big divide when it comes to the actual length. The Department of Agriculture claims it’s around 3,100 miles, while the state of Utah pegs it at 4,455. I decided to go with the latter for no reason other than it’s bigger, but it would still be in the top ten if we went with the smaller number.

If you follow the route that the cattle did back in the day, you begin at the northern tip of Montana, and you’ll pass through Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah until arriving at Coronado National Memorial at the Arizona-Mexico border.

6. The North Country Trail: 4,800 miles

There are only 11 trails in the United States that have received a “National Scenic Trail” designation from the federal government, and none of them are longer than the North Country Trail.

As you can probably guess by the name, this one stretches through the northern part of the country.

If you go from east to west, you’ll get underway at a section of the Appalachian Trail in the Green Mountain National Forest near Rutland, Vermont. You’ll end up in the Adirondacks in New York, and weave your way through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota before ending things at Lake Sakakawea State Park in North Dakota.

5. The Grand Italian Trail: 4,878 miles

The Grand Italian Trail (a.k.a. Sentiero Italia) has a history stretching back to 1983, and it positions itself as “the world’s longest mountain trail.”

It consists of 365 individual stages, starting with the trailhead in Trieste in the northeast. From there, you make your way west across the Alps before heading into central Italy to take on the Apennines.

There are two routes that take you to either end of the bottom of “The Boot,” and if you opt for the one that transports you to the southwestern tip, you continue to Sicily before wrapping things up on the island of Sardinia.

4. The Eastern Continental Trail: 5,700 miles

This is another situation where there are multiple options at your disposal.

The southernmost tip of the Eastern Continental Trail is located in Key West, Florida, but the overall distance depends on how far you want to go if you head north from there. The trail takes you to Alabama and then into Georgia, where you walk the entirety of the Appalachian Trail before heading to Canada after you make it to Maine.

You can wrap things up in Cap Gaspé, Quebec, and if you do, you’ll have traveled around 4,800 miles. However, if you head over to Newfoundland (by way of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia) for the “symbolic” end at Belle Isle, you add another 900 to that total.

3. The American Discovery Trail: 6,810 miles

The American Discovery Trail is defined by four distinct routes located in four different parts of the country.

It begins (or ends) with the Eastern States or Western States. The former is a 1,062-mile route that weaves through Delaware, Maryland, Washington, D.C, West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky, while the latter stretches for 1,990 miles through California, Nevada, Utah, and western Colorado.

You have two options when it comes to getting between them. The longer one is the 1,956-mile “South Central” trek through southern Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, and southeastern Colorado, while the “North Central” option consists of Ohio, northern Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and northeast Colorado.

You’ll end up traversing 5,008 miles if you go south, but north is anything but a cakewalk at 4,844 miles.

2. The Great Western Loop: 6,875 miles

You could argue this doesn’t deserve to be its own entry, as the Great Western Loop consists of five distinct smaller trails: the Pacific Crest (2,655 miles), Pacific Northwest (~1,200), Continental Divide (3,082), Grand Enchantment (770), and Arizona (800).

The route was first conceived by Andrew Skurka and Backpacking Light Magazine publisher Ryan Jordan in 2006, and the former became the first to complete it in 2007 in 208 days (averaging 33 miles per day).

His journey started at the Grand Canyon, but there are plenty of ways to tackle a loop that will take you through nine different states in western America.

1. Trans Canada Trail: ~18,000 miles

The Trans Canada Trail features a few different routes you can take while making your way across the Great White North.

Its easternmost point is located in Renews-Cappahayden on the shore of Newfoundland, and you can either travel all the way west to Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia or make your way up to Tuktoyaktuk, the hamlet situated on the Arctic Ocean at the top of the Northwest Territories.

It’s technically comprised of a network of trails, but they collectively add up to around 30,000 kilometers, which makes it the biggest one in the world.