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
Accommodation Difficulty Scenery Crowds Wow Factor
totally basic accommodations, in bad too short, too easy. Did I kind of same ol’ same ol’. Lots underwhelmed 1 too crowded locations (trash, bugs, etc) walk something? of trash based on expectations
basic. good location, but too little short, a little easy, but some good viewpoints, but not crowded, but yeah it’s nice, but 2 crowded decent much manageable i’ve seen better
good distance, manageable great. Not overly diverse, but a manageable, but I good accommodation, good kind of what i 3 difficulty, but I’d like little spoilt by tourism, trash, can find space to location. expected something more etc walk alone
few people. I can lodges, or camping with long, hard, quad killer. some epic views. Very little This is pretty 4 walk alone for amazing views/location why am I doing this again? trash. some diversity special hours
beautiful, classic mountain perfect distance and incredibly diverse. pristine. solitude. I’m alone 5 refugios, or solitary camping difficulty (usually around epic views. This is what I get Is this even real? for days! with views to die for 10 days) out of my tent for
Trek Rankings Wow Accommodations Difficulty Scenery Crowds Score Factor Everest Base Camp 4 4 4 2 4 18 Annapurna Circuit 3 5 4 3 5 20 Kilimanjaro 2 4 3 1 3 13 O’ Trek – Torres del 4 5 4 3 3 19 Paine Tour de Mont Blanc 5 3 5 4 4 21 Inca Trail 4 3 3 2 4 16 Milford Track 4 2 5 4 5 20 Camino de Santiago 3 4 3 4 4 18 Roraima 3 4 4 4 3 18 Routeburn Trek 4 1 4 2 3 14 Havasu Falls 4 3 3 3 4 17 Subways 3 3 4 4 4 18 Kumano Kodo 3 4 4 3 4 18 (Nackahechi route)