Explore the World’s Best Hikes With Backpacker
We're partnering with Modern Adventure to take you to the best trails anywhere, from Everest to Alaska to the French Alps.
Adventure is out there! Our writers have brought it here with outdoor stories from around the country, the continent and event the globe. Find the next great adventure with their help as your read their stories of mountain rescues, river madness and tales from the trail that you won’t soon forget.
We're partnering with Modern Adventure to take you to the best trails anywhere, from Everest to Alaska to the French Alps.
Get the summits on these "iron ways", no climbing experience necessary.
A hike through Panama’s Parque Internacional La Amistad highlights wonders, both of the natural world and within the hikers themselves.
After striking out on his first attempt, the author returns to Greece's most famous mountain determined to make the summit.
Whether you're after deep powder, dusty singletrack, lively après, or all of the above, the Biggest Little City in the World delivers.
Want to do some good on your next big trip? Join us in Nepal in spring 2022. On this special adventure, we'll volunteer on a post-pandemic recovery effort, then go on a life-list trek.
Ten trails. Ten unmatched miles each. Get maximum bang for each boot step on hikes that our most-traveled contributors call their all-time favorites.
Deep in the wilds of Northern British Columbia's Spatsizi Wilderness Provincial Park, our scout proves there’s no joy like misery.
Active Pass member Robin Mino takes the rocky route on the descent from Huemul Pass to Lake Viedma in Patagonia.
Jackson Hole has world-class summer adventures waiting for every adventurer!
Socially-distanced adventures that are so worth the wait.
"You get to feel nature under your feet.”
Make memories without the crowds on five spectacular treks that aren’t household names.
57Hours is a one-stop-shop for booking adventures with experts.
Looking for a family vacation no one will ever forget? Follow photographer Kennan Harvey's lead and take the kids on the Wapta Traverse, a tour of the best that a Rocky Mountain winter has to offer. He recounts the trip in his own words.
Venture through the world’s oldest jaguar preserve to Victoria Peak in a vibrant Central American jungle.
Navarino Island is remote and rugged, with unforgiving weather. But its beauty is revealed to those willing to battle the elements.
Change your perception of canyoneering by doing it in a cave.
Immerse yourself in ancient myths and one of the last refuges for Europe’s wolves on a hike through the Transylvanian Alps.
Explore the alpine for endless vistas, mountains galore, and a touch of class.
Trek through villages that still have one foot in the past
Step inside a medieval cave dwelling and step back into history.
A trip down the Klarälven River is a journey back in time.
We've partnered with three great organizations to help you see the world, from Utah to Nepal.
They don’t call it Elephant Hill for nothing. Tackle a rugged, 11-mile day hike with some of East Africa’s most iconic fauna (if you’re lucky) and support clean water projects in the Kenyan mountains.
Sweeping ridgetop views and dense coastal rainforest put the 34-mile Paparoa Track in good standing among New Zealand’s Great Walks
Get up close and personal with a force of nature.
From Catalonia to California, our staff picks their top trails of the year.
From Canada to Peru to New Zealand, our writers have been to some wild places. Put these on your wish list for next year.
Trek deep into the heart of the mountains to find an ancient city.
On Canada's west coast, countless animals—and the occasional kayaker—thrive.
The Great Himalaya Trail combines hiking and mountaineering to reach some of the country's most remote regions. The beauty is real—but so is the danger.
Let the crowds have the South Island. We found a paddling, trekking, climbing paradise on New Zealand’s North Island, where the adventure density means you can do three life-list trips in a week.
Rise through rainforest to come face to face with a Maori god.
Score the North Island’s best scenery per mile on the Pouakai Crossing.
Paddle a wilderness waterway with a soul.
From trekking in Nepal to hiking Peru, start planning one of these bucket-list trips right now.
On a via ferrata, a new mom finds strength in the Dolomites' vertical terrain.
Trek Patagonia, see a grizzly, or hike the Grand Canyon in a single day: The choice is yours.
Backpacking abroad doesn't need to be intimidating. Plan, prep, and go on your next international adventure with confidence using our handy guide.
Click your way through our adventure guide to Baja California, Mexico.
Go deep in Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park to find the heart of the country’s fight for freedom
And why you should keep hiking them
Venture into the bush to see Africa’s wildlife the wild way.
Peru’s Cordillera Blanca contains more than 880 alpine tarns, but one stands out among the rest.
With a bit of luck, you can see nature’s most electric light show.
Star-shot skies over vast deserts, fertile valleys, and a footpath that follows some of humanity’s oldest trade routes: The new, 400-mile Jordan Trail offers a month-long immersion in the Middle East.
Can there be too much of a good thing? For backpackers who like a challenge as big as the reward, New Zealand’s Dusky Track tests the limits.
On a four-day traverse through the spectacularly glaciated Coast Mountains, the BACKPACKER team learns—and embraces—the four steps of overcoming adversity.
The only thing better than experiencing some of Italy and Switzerland's finest scenery—and huts—on the Tour de Monte Rosa? Taking first-timers with you on one of the best beginner hikes in the Alps.
After decades of conflict, it’s finally the right time to backpack in the Colombian Andes.
Hike the wild terrain that shaped America’s patron saint of wilderness.
Trek to the bottom of South America, where sawtoothed mountains and bright-blue glaciers collide with the Southern Ocean.
Venture to the Ring of Fire to see geology at work on Nicaragua's Volcán Telica.
Travel the world or go for a long walk? You don't have to choose.
Oregon harbors some of the greatest gems on the Pacific Crest Trail—but you’ll never know it if you don’t take your time.
Only have a few days? Sample the best of the Pacific Crest Trail on this bite-size trip.
The Trans-Alaska Trail would be America’s wildest path—if a determined group of Alaskans can make it happen.
We sent Amanda “Zuul” Jameson to the PCT to share what it’s really like to live the life of an end-to-ender.
The Packing It Out crew hauled thousands of pounds of trash off the AT and PCT over the last two years. If we all followed their lead, perhaps there’d be nothing left to pick up.
In Ethiopia, the Bale Mountains’ glacier-carved plateaus and canyons teem with rare wildlife.
Surrounded by mountain ranges, this Canadian mountain town packs a punch with beautiful hikes that you have to see to believe
Is ice-bikepacking the cutting edge of adventure? Probably not. But being first is always worth the effort.
Backcountry bliss is closer to the Beltway than you might expect. [Sponsored]
This fall, our editors took an 8-day journey along Turkey's Lycian Way trail. Here's the hikers' paradise they discovered.
Plans to make 20,000-mile trip in five years
Wander the famed Scottish Highlands by day and enjoy refined, trailside B&Bs by night on the West Highland Way in the British Isles.
Our planet is an amazing place. These incredible photos, excerpted from the book "The Art of Adventure," celebrate all kinds of ways to enjoy it.
Take an up-and-down tour of Ontario's lake district.
Machu Picchu + mountains = Peru's most gorgeous alpine route.
Solitude lovers, rejoice: Peru's Choquequirao Trek offers all the Incan wonders of Machu Picchu with none of the crowds.
Deep in the wilds of Northern British Columbia's Spatsizi Wilderness Provincial Park, our scout proves there’s no joy like misery.
New Zealand’s Ivory Lake Hut is a true gem. All you have to do is get there.
Someday the Manaslu Loop will be just as famous as the Annapurna Circuit. Hike it now.
Take a hikers-only route to one of the world's best archeological sites.
The only way to truly appreciate America's vast, diverse wilderness? Hike it all.
Steve Brumbach's top 5-star rated hikes in America
It’s prime time to visit Patagonia’s brand new park—before anyone else even knows it’s there.
Trace the seam between land and sea on Vancouver Island.