Multi Day Hikes

I’ve found that doing multi-day hikes is the perfect break from the keyboard.

I’ve done 5 multi-day hikes in the past 3 years and I’ve enjoyed them all.

The main benefit for me over spending a week on the beach somewhere is that my day to day is already very sedentary.

As I’m spending my life in my head I try to spend my holidays in my body.

The ingredients for a great multi-day hike are:

• be a group of 4 people
• good food
• routes with good tourist infrastructure
• as much as possible of the hike being in nature

My personal rule is that whenever I’m on a hiking holiday I will always buy any luxury one can find.

I’m never going to be a tent guy though unless there’s no other option. Granted in remote places there’s not much choice, but I’ll always treat myself with fresh towels and a good bed if I can.

The best hikes I’ve done so far was the first one, the Tour du Mont Blanc.

Tour du Mont Blanc

This was my first multi-day hike and it was a great introduction.

The Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB) is a 170km hike that circles Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Europe.

With my wife and two friends we had a great time.

We took the train to Geneva from Paris, and then a bus to the start of the hike in Les Houches - close to Chamonix.

As we didn’t have either the time or the physical condition to do the full hike we created our own itinerary, which included a short train ride on one of the days in Switzerland.

The experience was great - with the highlights being in Les Contamines and the surrounding area.

Other hikes

Over the years we’ve done a few other hikes. In these we’ve tried different types of routes to see if we’d like more other types of hikes.

Via degli Dei

We hiked from Bologna to Florence. This was a great culinary experience. As you transition from the Romagna cuisine to the Tuscan one. By far the best food on a hike I’ve had.

The route was also very well organized and at each stage there was a nice place to stay.

The down side was that the route doesn’t really have the landscape of something like the TMB.

There are also two days of it where you’re walking in the city.

Walking from Bologna to the country side and from the country side into Florence is not as nice as walking in the mountains. Lots of cars and not much nature.

Rota Vicentina

We hiked from Lisbon to Lagos with another couple.

The route is very well organized and there are lots of nice places to stay.

The seafood was amazing, and we had a great time.

The only downside is that walking along the coast just feels all the same.

There’s also not as much elevation gain as in the mountains, so it’s not as much of a challenge.

Alta Via 1

This was a great hike, we liked it as much as the TMB.

The only downside is that we had to book a spot on the hike one year in advance.

Also this time we organized a bigger group of 7 people. It wasn’t as much of a bonding experience as other hikes.

I found that usually we’d split into smaller groups of 2 or 3 people that would change during the hike and talk for a while.

On a couple of nights we took out or phones after dinner and the conversation died out. Should make a rule that no phones are allowed.

Gorges du Verdon - GR4

This was super hard to reach. We had to take a train to a small town and a cab to Moustiers-Sainte-Marie.

The hike itself was fun, even if we got a lot of rain.

The region is one of the poorest and most remote in France. So the food and accomodations we found were very basic.

There’s this very steep metal staircase (Sentier Blanc Martel) that goes down to the bottom of the gorge.

As I was walking down I was scared to death:

Go hiking!

I think I’ll keep doing multi-day hikes every year.

Exploring new places, getting exercise and enjoying the outdoors is the best kind of break for a workaholic.

Hopefully my experience will motivate you to try it out, I promise you won’t regret it.