The best walking holidays in the UK

• Distance: 630 miles/1,014km
• Duration: 30 – 60 days, or shorter sections
• Start point: Minehead, Somerset
• End point: Poole, Dorset
• Difficulty: Moderate to hard, with repeated climbs and descents
• Suitable for: There’s a small scenic section for everyone but the whole route is for those with time and stamina.

Of all my favourite walks in the UK, this one easily tops the list.

The South West Coast Path is England’s longest trail but also one of its most famous and highly rated. In the Lonely Planet Guide to Great Britain it is the first attraction mentioned and often features in lists of the world’s best walking trails.

Very few walkers complete the path in one go; for most it’s a longer-term project that’s broken up into more easily-manageable sections. Exactly how you split it up depends on how much time you have for each stretch, and how challenging you want to make it.

• Distance: 190.5 miles (306.5km)
• Duration: 14 days
• Start point: St Bees
• End point: Robin Hood’s Bay
• Difficulty: Moderate to hard – very hilly through the Lake District stages; poorly waymarked in places, particularly over the Pennines; expect rain and boggy ground at times
• Suitable for: Fit walkers with a sense of adventure

Considered by some to be the best long-distance walk in England, Wainwright’s Coast to Coast Path has many remarkable qualities, but it’s the walker camaraderie that is so often the stand-out take-home of this hugely popular cross-country hike. The scenery is at times stunning – looking at you, Lake District – but the sense of community you experience with fellow walkers is felt here on this walk perhaps more than on any other in Britain.

• Distance: 186 miles (299km)
• Duration: 16 days in total or shorter segments
• Start point: Amroth
• End point: St Dogmaels
• Difficulty: Moderate – No problem to navigate, and not technically difficult, but don’t underestimate its length, nor the steepness of some of the cliff climbs
• Suitable for: Any fit walker; great for families, though not necessarily in one go

Think South Wales is all industrial heritage and dour coastal cities? Think again: most of the southern half of Wales is rural, and the Pembrokeshire coast is truly glorious.

The 186 mile Pembrokeshire Coast Path is one of the finest long-distance footpaths in the country. It can be done in around 16 days, or in shorter segments.

Pembrokeshire has it all – dramatic clifftop vistas, seemingly endless beaches, secluded coves and tiny fishing villages, but best of all; almost no one knows about it, so you get pretty much all of it to yourself.

You’ll need two or three weeks to complete the trail in one go, most people do it in shorter segments. Some of the more remote stretches have a dearth of accommodation so you may need to adjust your daily distances accordingly. In general, there’s a good range of places to stay, from campsites and hostels, to B&Bs and guesthouses. Don’t forget to factor in one or two rest days; walking for 16 days on the trot is a tough ask.

• Difficulty: Easy
• Distance: 60 miles (98km)
• Duration: Six to seven days
• Start/end point: Hereford Cathedral

Pilgrimages are booming in popularity, for those with faith and without. While you don’t need to be a Christian to walk Herefordshire’s Golden Valley Pilgrim Way, it does have the church at its heart. On this 60-mile (98km) circuit, you stay in a different one each night.

At the end of each green-hilled hiking day, I placed my boots on centuries-old flagstones, dumped my rucksack onto time-smoothed pews, and hung my waterproof off the poppyheads at the end of choir stalls. I’ve been walking in the UK for years as a travel journalist and book author. And I can safely say this is one of the country's quirkiest long-distance walks, complete with a touch of the divine.

The route

Herefordshire gets overlooked. Lodged against Wales, merged into the Midlands, with no coast to define its edges, few walkers wander here. But it’s excellent hiking country, especially the Golden Valley, where the Black Mountains loom above a rural borderland, once fought over by the Welsh and English, now peaceful, serene.

The Golden Valley Pilgrim Way is unusual for a pilgrimage. Most lead you somewhere; on this, you finish back where you started. But the idea, says the priest behind it, is that you return a little changed. Maybe, maybe not. But spending in pubs and farm shops, and paying into church coffers, certainly feels like a positive for the countryside economy.

The start and finish is Hereford Cathedral, once a major pilgrimage site itself. Arrive early to look around – it’s home to the Mappa Mundi, the biggest surviving medieval world map. Walkers can stay in the cathedral’s 15th-century cloisters – the first cathedral in Britain to accommodate pilgrims since medieval times. The designated sleeping room is fairly plain. But following the choir into the main nave, and listening to them erupt into evensong, is spine-tingling stuff.

From Hereford the route heads west towards Wales, a moderate loop around the Abbeydore Deanery – it isn’t waymarked but you can download GPX files. This is a landscape of apple orchards, woody vales, castle ruins, grazing sheep; of timelessness and stories. There’s the gnarled ancient oaks of Moccas Park, the gurgle of St Peter’s sacred spring, the views from ridge-top Arthur’s Stone, a Neolithic dolmen where King Arthur allegedly slayed a dragon.

The route also visits many medieval churches, nine of which offer ‘night sanctuary’ for pilgrims. They are simultaneously basic and atmospheric, all soaring ceilings and tombstones. At Dorstone I slept behind the choir and was woken by sun streaming through the stained glass.

The churches are also frequently next to excellent village pubs, like Dorstone’s low-beamed Pandy Inn. Best was Cloddock, where the Cornewall Arms is more like your gran’s front room, where locals gather to drink, eat crisps and play table skittles.

Need to know

Hereford has a train station, with direct services from cities such as Cardiff (1hr), London (3hrs) and Birmingham (85mins).

The trail must be booked via Abbeydore Deanery (abbeydoredeanery.org/gvpw). You’ll be sent a pilgrim passport to stamp en route. A donation of £20pp per night is requested. You have exclusive access to the church; if someone else wants to stay the same night, you’ll be asked if you’re happy to share. It’s OK to say no.

At the night sanctuaries you get access to a sink and toilet (which might be outside) but no shower. Kitchen facilities range from full set-up to just a kettle. Simple camp beds are provided – they’re not especially comfy. Bring a warm sleeping bag and pillow; consider a sleeping mat for extra padding. At Kingstone there were pieces of carpet on the pews, which I borrowed, for extra insulation. At Dorstone bigger camp beds came with mattresses, blankets and hot water bottles – luxury indeed!

The route is open year-round – visitor books evidenced pilgrims who’d walked over Christmas. Be aware the churches are chilly, even in summer. Also, this is farming country, prone to muddiness. I walked in March, after an especially wet winter – it was a quagmire. The pay-offs were newborn lambs, daffodils and no other tourists.

• Distance: 156 miles
• Duration: 12 days
• Start point: Vatersay, Barra
• End point: Stornoway, Lewis & Harris
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Suitable for: All levels

In the westernmost reaches of Scotland, embrace Gaelic culture, archaeological wonders, and remote and wild landscapes. The Outer Hebrides island chain stretches from Barra in the south past North and South Uist, to Harris and Lewis in the North, with smaller islands dotted throughout. This is Scotland at its wildest, and The Hebridean Way makes for an excellent long-distance walking holiday, island hopping over no fewer than ten islands over around 12 days.

If you feel an urge to go further west still, take a boat to the island of St. Kilda where a 3.5 mile loop walk takes you to the highest point on the Hebrides – 1,410-foot Conachair – passing abandoned villages, and surrounded by Europe’s largest seabird colony. You can also visit the Callanish Stones in Lewis, dating back to 2900 BC, and don’t leave without sampling Stornoway Black Pudding, so coveted it now has its own protected status.

Calmac ferries depart from Oban, Mallaig, Ullapool, and also from Uig on Skye. You can then travel the 130-mile length of the islands by connecting ferries and causeways. An easy way to island-hop is with Calmac’s Island Hopscotch ferry ticket, running from Oban up through the islands and back to Ullapool. Like the Inner Hebrides, island accommodation and car spaces on ferries books up extremely quickly, so it’s best to make your plans well in advance. Travellers can fly with Loganair to Benbecula, Stornoway or Barra (the only airport in the world where scheduled flights use the beach as a runway.)

• Distance: 84 miles (135km)
• Duration: From Six to 10 days
• Start point: Wallsend, Newcastle
• End point: Bowness-on-Solway
• Difficulty: Moderate to easy – well-marked route; few steep gradients; some stiles to negotiate
• Suitable for: Any reasonably fit walker, including families.

This unique walking trail not only crosses the width of England, but also follows the course of Britain’s largest Roman monument – a 1,900-year-old, 73-mile long fortification that once marked the northern boundary of the Roman Empire.

Accommodation is plentiful along the route, and includes campsites, hostels and B&Bs. Where you break for the night depends not only on how far you’re able to walk each day, but also on how interested you are in the numerous Roman sights along the way. It can take a few hours to visit a museum or the ruins of a Roman fort, but not every walker visits them all, so factor this into your plan.

• Distance: 79 miles (127km)
• Duration: six days
• Start point: Hessle, East Yorkshire
• End point: Filey, North Yorkshire
• Difficulty: Easy to medium
• Suitable for: Relaxed walkers who prefer quiet rural exploration over star attractions at every turn

Yorkshire isn't known for its modesty, especially not when it comes to the well-known (and busy) Dales, Moors and Peak District. In comparison, the Yorkshire Wolds is a quiet and unpretentious stretch of gentle countryside and very quiet paths. The Yorkshire Wolds Way is the best long distance walk you've never heard of; expect homely inns, B&B’s and guesthouses, real ales and hearty traditional food.

The route wends its way from the banks of the expansive Humber estuary, across the tranquil countryside and unspoilt villages of the Wolds to reach the spectacular headland of Filey Brigg on the North Yorkshire Coast.

There are no cities on the route and no serious hills either. Don’t imagine it’s dull though: this is rural England at its best. It’s an area that seems to have bigger skies with wide panoramic views. It’s easy to see why artist David Hockney spent years painting landscapes here.

Yet the Wolds Way is never crowded. In fact, this has been called ‘Britain’s least known National Trail’ by the BBC. Nevertheless, the path is generally well mapped, maintained and way-marked.

• Distance: 96 miles (154km)
• Duration: Eight days
• Start point: Milngavie
• End point: Fort William
• Difficulty: Moderate with harder northern sections – well-marked route; some remote and hilly parts
• Suitable for: Any reasonably fit walker, family-friendly sections highlighted below

Scotland's oldest and most popular long-distance walking route – the West Highland Way – appeals to serious walkers, strolling day trippers and even runners who race the 96 miles in under 35 hours! Walkers take around a week to complete the distance, travelling from the outskirts of Glasgow, past Loch Lomond’s wooded banks, via Tyndrum and across the wilds of Rannoch Moor before a final stretch to finish in the Highland town of Fort William.

• Distance: 82 miles
• Duration: Six to eight days
• Start/end point: Fort William to Aviemore
• Difficulty: Moderate

I love the East Highland Way as a much quieter alternative to the famous (and heavily marketed) West Highland Way. This trail follows the valleys eastwards through forests and loch side tracks, and into some remote mountain glens. It's not waymarked and is much less well known, so I recommend it for visitors looking for something a little different but not too difficult in the Highlands.

• Distance: 134 miles
• Duration: 10 days
• Start point: Helensburgh
• End point: Dunbar
• Difficulty: Moderate

For a less-trodden slice of Scotland, I can highly recommend the 134-mile John Muir Way which traces the emigration route of the famous Scottish-American naturalist. The moderate coast-to-coast walk is normally done from Helensburgh in the west to Dunbar in the east. The well-waymarked route takes roughly ten days to complete and cuts through the rolling landscape of the Central Belt, following part of the Forth and Clyde Canal, touching the banks of Loch Lomond, and hugging the coast along the Firth of Forth.

• Distance: 615 miles/990km
• Duration: 30 - 60 days, or shorter sections
• Start point: Worcester
• End point: Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex
• Difficulty: Easy to medium
• Suitable for: History fans and walkers who enjoy discovering little known patches of rural England

Here's another left-field suggestion you won't find in all the obvious contenders, but one I feel deserves inclusion for its historical interest as much as the walking.

The Monarch’s Way loops down from the West Midlands to the south coast of England, following the lengthy route taken by Charles II to evade capture following defeat by Cromwell at the Battle of Worcester in 1651.

The Monarch’s Way is so long that it is usually broken into three sections for convenience of description and mapping. It’s customary to start at Worcester, as Charles did. He escaped rapidly after watching the Royalist defeat in the final battle of the English Civil War from the cathedral tower, so the grand gothic church is a good place to begin.

Within Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park, 3,196-foot Ben Lomond is a good start to any Munro-bagging mission. Slightly to the east is 3,547-foot Schiehallian, easily-scalable on a fine day and where scientists first attempted to weigh the world. With their proximity to the cities of Scotland’s Central Belt, both of these areas are fairly easy-to-reach making them great for a shorter Highland escape.

• Distance: 136 miles/219 km
• Duration: Seven to 10 days, or in shorter sections
• Start point: Rhyd-y-benwch (Wales)
• End point: Chepstow (England)
• Difficulty: Easy to medium
• Suitable for: Leafy river walking & romantic landmarks

Not one that features in most "best of" roundups. Unshowy yet stunning and dramatic in places, the Wye Valley Walk is an underrated long-distance route from mid-Wales through quiet, leafy valleys, across austere moorland and through the bucolic farmland of Herefordshire to Chepstow. The Wye Valley itself is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the trail calls at various historic landmarks and picturesque villages.

Do the full route in seven to 10 days, or in shorter segments at your leisure.

• Distance: 70 miles/113km
• Duration: 4 – 6 days
• Start point: It’s a circuit – but any of the ferry terminals make most sense
• End point: Wherever, it’s a circuit, see above!
• Difficulty: Moderate with a few gentle cliff climbs
• Suitable for: Seascape admirers and those who like a sense of achievement

As a long distance walk, the Isle of Wight coastal path is quite short but it provides an opportunity to walk right round the shoreline of England’s largest island. You might find that on return to the start point there’s great satisfaction in completing an island’s circumference, regardless of the length!

Along the way, the Isle of Wight offers a surprisingly varied sequence of landscapes, including jagged chalk headlands, long sandy bays, salt marshes and estuaries. There are certainly no boring stretches on this route.

Many islanders are keen walkers and many visitors try at least part of the coast trail. This means the local authority keeps the path well maintained and signposted. It also means you are likely to see other walkers at any time, especially round Tennyson Down and the Needles. Nevertheless the round-the-island walk is generally less crowded than mainland coastal trails simply because it’s harder for most people to get there.

• Distance: 268 miles (431km)
• Duration: Three to four weeks, or shorter segments
• Start point: Edale, Derbyshire
• End point: Kirk Yetholm, Scottish Borders
• Difficulty: Moderate/strenuous – hilly, often remote upland, long stretches between accommodation
• Suitable for: Experienced walkers

This iconic trail follows the rugged ridge forming the backbone of northern England. Don’t be deceived by crowds of day walkers at popular spots, the full route is a tough, varied but memorable undertaking.

Towards the west coast, the wild Knoydart Peninsula is for true backpacking expeditions, largely accessible only by foot or by boat to the village of Inverie. Guided hiking is advisable for all but the most competent navigators. A good challenge for experienced hillwalkers is climbing the three munros of Luinne Bheinn, Meall Buidhe and Ladhar Bheinn.

• Distance: 32 miles/51km
• Duration: Two days
• Start point: Portstewart, Derry
• End point: Ballycastle, County Antrim
• Difficulty: Moderate, with well-marked trails
• Suitable for: Fit hikers; families; geographers; photographers

This path takes in the big sights on Northern Ireland’s blockbuster shore. You’ll encounter the mesmerising Giant’s Causeway, wobbly Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and photogenic Dunluce Castle, as well as a clutch of Game of Thrones film locations.

Inevitably the big-name sights get busy, but tucked in between are vast sandy beaches and stretches of uncrowded cliffs.

• Distance: 99 miles (159km)
• Duration: Nine days
• Start point: Winchester
• End point: Eastbourne
• Difficulty: Moderate to easy – relatively short and very easy to navigate; few very steep climbs, though a lot of walking up and down small hills
• Suitable for: Any reasonably fit walker, including families; can also be cycled

You’ll walk through landscapes of rolling hills and breezy fields of corn, passing numerous pretty villages with thatched cottages, historic pubs and gardens bursting with blooms. And there’s a fitting final-day climax as you rollercoaster your way up and down the majestic chalk cliffs known as the Seven Sisters before reaching the beaches of Eastbourne for a celebratory ice cream.

Most of the gradients are reassuringly manageable along the pleasant chalk hills of the South Downs Way, and the weather down here is usually pretty favourable.

The Northern Isles feel a world away from the mainland UK—both Orkney and Shetland are closer to the Arctic circle than to London—yet these rugged archipelagos at the collision of North Sea and Atlantic Ocean are surprisingly accessible.

Most walkers here come for centre-based holidays, although there are some 'official' long distance footpaths even up here, such as St Magnus Way and the island-hopping Shetland Walks. There are a handful of walking companies that offer both guided and self-guided holidays on Orkney and Shetland. Keep in mind that longer walks from most rural locations will require a car.

On Hoy, the ‘High Isle’, walk from Moaness to Rackwick Bay through Orcadian novelist George Mackay Browne’s “hidden valley of light.” Continue along a cliff path toward the towering sandstone sea stack, the Old Man of Hoy. The newly developed St Magnus Way pilgrimage route follows the 55-mile journey of the martyred Earl of Orkney as it crosses Egilsay, then zig-zags across the Orkney mainland. On Shetland, ferry to the Island of Noss National Nature Reserve for a challenging 5-mile coastal loop and some of the best birdwatching in the Northern Isles.

• Distance: 78 miles (125km)
• Duration: Five to seven days
• Start point: Fort William
• End point: Inverness
• Difficulty: First half flat, then some very hilly sections
• Suitable for: All levels

The Great Glen fault line bisects the Scottish highlands to create an epic backdrop for this spectacular hike. The largely low-level Great Glen Way has beautiful and varied scenery throughout as you follow canal towpaths, pass forests, moorland and mountains on a well-marked path.

The Great Glen Way is well served by various walking holiday companies and services. You can book your own accommodation and baggage transfer, or let a specialist organise your entire trip.

• Distance: 94 miles/151km
• Duration: 5 – 8 days
• Start point: Circular route
• End point: Circular route
• Difficulty: Moderate, with some hills
• Suitable for: Walkers who like history, legends… and great views

The White Horse Trail is a circular long distance walking route through the Wiltshire countryside linking eight white horse chalk figures and visiting historic sites like Avebury, Silbury Hill and the Kennet and Avon Canal.

The eponymous chalk figures are famous sights across the Wiltshire Downs and each has a different story and associated legends.

It’s a very rural trail using well-established paths across classic chalky hills and neat Wiltshire farmland. It can be muddy but there are no wilderness sections.

It’s rated moderate because there’s a fair amount of clambering up the sides of chalk hills - all the horse figures are cut on the sides of escarpments. The total elevation of the White Horse Trail is 6,703ft/2,043m and the highest point is 932ft/284m.

• Distance: 65 miles (105km)
• Duration: Five to eight days
• Start point: Buckie
• End point: Aviemore
• Difficulty: Easy to moderate – well-marked route; few steep gradients; some stiles to negotiate
• Suitable for: Most walkers, family friendly sections

The Speyside Way is one of four official Long Distance Routes in Scotland (the others are the West Highland Way, the Southern Upland Way and the Great Glen Way). It largely follows the course of the majestic River Spey from the Moray coast to the Cairngorms National Park gateway town of Aviemore. Along the route one passes myriad whisky distilleries and stands of ancient pine and birch woods.

If you want something truly different, I can highly recommend the Cape Wrath Trail: the UK's most challenging long-distance trekking route and probably my favourite place to trek in Scotland.

With many pathless sections through rough terrain, across rivers and mountain passes, it really lives up to its reputation. The route starts in Fort William, finishes at the Cape Wrath lighthouse, and takes in many of northwest Scotland's best mountain landscapes.

There are a number of variations on this route. For our guests we break the route into three stages, the Knoydart Expedition (57 miles), Cape Wrath Trail South (81 miles), and Cape Wrath Trail North (101 miles). Each section is between six and eight nights, including several nights wild camping, or they can be combined into one single mega expedition!