FEW THINGS are more enticing than the prospect of hiking through the Alps for days, even weeks on end. The peaks are high and mighty, the mountain huts are many and welcoming, and the weather (provided you stick to the right seasonal window) is often beautifully un-British.
It’s possible to trek across the range for hundreds of kilometres without once descending to reality, but not all of us have that degree of leisure. With a couple of notable exceptions, most of the walks here will fit comfortably into a week or two. They span the Alps and their outlying ranges from France to Albania, taking in sky-scraping summits, glaciers, marmot-grazed valleys, scrambly cliff faces and forests populated with bears and lynx.
Some are gentle rambles through bucolic foothills. Some are high-altitude adventures spiced with a little via ferrata. Others hop from hut to mountain hut or deliver hotels and haute cuisine at the end of each day–but all are scenically unforgettable.
1 WALKERS’ HAUTE ROUTE
Another ‘do before you die’ classic, this Alpine pilgrimage connects two near-holy mountains–Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn–via
