These are the trails I send people to when they ask me where to start. Each one routes you through a story that pre-dates the trail’s tourism era by centuries. Each one is doable for someone who trains. None of them are summit objectives. All of them will change how you think about walking.
1. Kumano Kodo · Japan
The Kumano Kodo is a network of pilgrimage routes through the cedar-covered mountains of the Kii Peninsula, south of Osaka. People have been walking these trails for over a thousand years to reach the three grand shrines — Hongū, Hayatama, and Nachi. The Nakahechi route is the classic, about four to five days of walking, sleeping in family-run minshuku inns each night.
The reason this trail is on the list is that the Kumano Kodo is one of two pilgrimage routes in the world recognized by UNESCO. The other is the Camino de Santiago. If you walk both, you become a dual pilgrim — there’s an actual stamp and a small ceremony in Hongū. That’s not a marketing flourish. It’s a real tradition the local pilgrim office maintains. The fact that two pilgrimages on opposite sides of the planet recognize each other says something about why people walk these trails at all.
Season: mid-March through late May, or October through early December. Avoid June (rainy) and July through August (humid and brutal). Permit honesty: no permits required. You book minshuku ahead through Oku Japan or directly. Difficulty: moderate. Days are six to eight hours, with proper hills, but never above 2,500 feet. Who to book with: Oku Japan is the operator I trust here. They’re based in Kyoto, they walk the trail themselves, and their inn relationships are decades deep.
2. Camino del Norte · Spain
The Camino de Santiago is not one route, it’s eight. The Camino Francés — the route most people picture, the one starting in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port — is now overcrowded in the busy months. You’ll share the trail with thousands of other walkers and the albergues book out a day ahead.
Walk the Camino del Norte instead. Same UNESCO designation, same pilgrim infrastructure, dramatically fewer people. The Norte runs along the Bay of Biscay coast through Basque Country, Cantabria, and Asturias before joining the Francés near Arzúa. It’s roughly 500 miles end to end if you walk the whole thing from Irún. Most people do it in two or three week-long sections over multiple trips. The food is some of the best in Spain — Basque cider houses, Asturian fabada, Cantabrian seafood. The trail moves through working fishing villages and farm country, not heritage-managed pilgrim towns.
Season: May, June, September, October. Avoid July and August — too hot and too crowded even on the Norte. Permit honesty: no permits. Carry a pilgrim credential (the credencial) and you can sleep in albergues. Difficulty: harder than the Francés. The terrain is hillier, the days are longer, the trail is less waymarked in places. Who to book with: RAW Travel for self-guided logistics. They handle bag transfer and accommodation while you walk free.
3. Salkantay · Peru (instead of the Inca Trail)
This is the recommendation people most often push back on. The Inca Trail is iconic. It ends at the Sun Gate at Machu Picchu. It’s the trek you’ve heard of. So why route around it?
Two reasons. First, permits. The classic Inca Trail is capped at 500 people per day including porters and guides — which means roughly 200 trekkers. Permits sell out six months ahead in high season. If you didn’t book in November, you’re not walking it next July. Second, the route has been managed into a museum piece. Camping only at designated sites. Strict daily schedule. You’re moving through a corridor.
Salkantay routes you over a 15,200-foot pass with views of the Salkantay glacier, descends through cloud forest and coffee farms, and ends at Machu Picchu via Aguas Calientes. Same destination. Longer trail. Real altitude. No permit lottery — you can book three months out without panic. And the lodges, if you go with Mountain Lodges of Peru or Andean Lodges, are Quechua-community-owned eco-lodges in remote valleys you’d never see otherwise. The story along Salkantay is the still-living Andean spiritual relationship with the mountain itself, the apu. That story is louder here than on the Inca Trail.
Season: April through October, dry season. May and September are sweet spots. Permit honesty: no special permit beyond the Machu Picchu entry ticket. Difficulty: hard. Five days, real altitude (the pass crosses above 15,000 feet), cold nights. Train for it. Who to book with: Mountain Lodges of Peru for the premium lodge-to-lodge version. Andean Lodges for the community-owned alternative south of Cusco (Ausangate, technically a different route, also worth your time).
4. Annapurna Circuit · Nepal (with the modern road realities)
The Annapurna Circuit was the great Himalayan teahouse trek for decades. Two and a half weeks around the Annapurna massif, over the Thorong La pass at 17,769 feet, through Hindu lowlands and Tibetan-Buddhist high country. It is still one of the most varied trails on earth.
The honesty: a road has been built along significant portions of the circuit. You will see jeeps on stretches where you used to see only mules. The traditional 21-day version is now closer to 14 days because most people start in Chame instead of Besisahar and take a jeep around some of the lower sections. Purists hate this. Realists — myself included — recognize that the road has changed the trip but not killed it. The high section from Manang over the pass to Muktinath remains one of the most powerful weeks of walking available anywhere.
If you want the pre-road experience, consider Annapurna Base Camp (a separate trek, seven to ten days, no road interference, lower altitude) or Mardi Himal (five days, quieter, stunning ridge walk). The full Circuit is still worth doing — it’s just no longer the only Annapurna option that matters.
Season: October and November, or March through May. Avoid the monsoon, June through September. Permit honesty: ACAP permit plus TIMS card, both straightforward, handled in Kathmandu or Pokhara in an afternoon. Difficulty: hard. Altitude is the variable. Acclimatize properly — stay two nights in Manang before the pass. Who to book with: Wilderness Travel for premium guided. Mountain Travel Sobek for slightly larger groups with strong logistics. Or hire a local guide direct in Kathmandu — many of the best Sherpas freelance.
5. Markha Valley · Ladakh, India
Ladakh sits in the Indian Himalaya at altitudes that match Tibet. The culture is Tibetan-Buddhist. The landscape is high desert — barren, ochre, immense. The Markha Valley trek is a seven-to-nine-day route through a series of villages, monasteries, and high passes (Ganda La and Kongmaru La, both over 16,000 feet), ending near Hemis Monastery.
The reason this trail is on the list is that the monasteries along the Markha are still living monastic institutions. Monks live there. Pujas happen at dawn. You can sleep in homestays in the villages — Skiu, Markha, Hankar — that are part of a community-managed network designed to keep tourism revenue in the valley. The food is local, the bedding is local, the morning butter tea is local. This is the closest thing to walking in living Tibetan-Buddhist culture you can do without a Tibet permit, which is currently very difficult to obtain anyway.
Season: mid-June through mid-September. The valley is snowed in the rest of the year. Permit honesty: no special permit for Markha itself, but you’ll want an Inner Line Permit for some Ladakh side trips. Difficulty: moderate-to-hard. Altitude is real — Leh sits at 11,500 feet and you go up from there. Allow three to four days in Leh to acclimatize before starting. Who to book with: Mountain Travel Sobek runs strong Ladakh programs. Local Leh-based operators (your hotel can recommend) are often equal quality at lower cost.
6. Bhutan Druk Path · Bhutan
Bhutan is the only Himalayan country that managed its tourism opening with intention. The high-value, low-impact policy means a daily visitor fee, a mandatory local guide, and accommodations capped at certain standards. The result is a country that hasn’t been overrun. The trails reflect that.
The Druk Path is a five-to-six-day trek connecting Paro and Thimphu through alpine lakes, rhododendron forest, and high passes around 13,000 feet. It’s the classic Bhutan introduction. You walk past meditation retreats, prayer flag-draped passes, and the occasional yak herder camp. The harder Snowman Trek (25 days, four passes above 16,000 feet) is the legend, but most people should start with the Druk.
Season: April, May, October, November. Permit honesty: all foreign visitors require a licensed Bhutanese guide and pay the Sustainable Development Fee. Plan and budget accordingly — this is by design. Difficulty: moderate. Altitude is the main challenge. Who to book with: Black Tomato for the bespoke version with private guide and the upgraded camp setup. Wilderness Travel for the group version with strong cultural depth.
The shape of a year.
If you want a frame: spring is Kumano and Camino del Norte. Summer is Markha and the Annapurna shoulder. Fall is Bhutan and back to Camino. Salkantay anchors the dry season in the southern hemisphere. You can build a five-year life around walking these six trails and not run out of country.
Want one routed for you? hello@thebespoketraveler.co.
