Six of the best long-distance European trails to walk in summer | Walking holidays

Switzerland’s epic Jungfrau

Distance up to 74 miles
Duration 3-9 days

Amid stiff competition, the Bernese Oberland is probably the Swiss Alps – perhaps any Alps – at their best. Here, the Jungfrau, Mönch and Eiger loom in thrilling cohort, lakes dazzle in extraordinary shades, waterfalls tumble down elvish valleys and picturesque villages teeter at dizzying heights. And, this being Switzerland, everything is connected by efficient PostBuses, gondolas, mountain railways and, of course, walking trails.

Summer is the best trekking season – trails are snow-free, mountain huts are open, the weather is most settled. Route options are numerous. Cicerone’s new trekking guide, The Bernese Oberland, recommends a nine-stage, 74-mile tour of the Jungfrau region, a magnificent moderate-grade, hut-to-hut loop from the mountain village of Grindelwald.

Those shorter on time could spend a few days walking between cute, car-free Mürren and Wengen, Kleine Scheidegg (from where the Jungfraubahn railway grinds up to 3,454m), Grindelwald and Schynige Platte – the hike to this mountain ridge, with views up to snowy peaks and down to lakes Thun and Brienz, is arguably Europe’s finest day walk.

How to do it Accommodation is plentiful; berths in Swiss Alpine Club huts can be booked in advance at sac-cas.ch. Macs Adventure offers an eight-day Grindelwald Trail trip from £1,510pp.

The Alpe Adria, the ultimate pleasure trail, Slovenia and Italy

Distance up to 465 miles
Duration 7-9+ days

If you’ve got all summer, the Alpe Adria is a hiker’s dream: more than 450 miles of leisurely ambling, from the base of Grossglockner, Austria’s highest mountain, to the shores of the Adriatic.

If you don’t have time for the whole route, go for a one week chunk in Slovenia’s Julian Alps. Despite being scenically spectacular, and cheaper than, say, Switzerland or France, Slovenia’s mountains still tend to be quieter than other regions in summer.

The section from the resort of Kranjska Gora to Cividale del Friuli, over the border in Italy, packs in the high peaks and passes of Triglav national park, the emerald-hued Soča River, mountain villages and the Isonzo Front, where Italian and Austro-Hungarian forces clashed in the first world war; old bunkers can still be seen. It’s a moderate-to-challenging 80-mile, six-day hike, but well worth the effort, with one of the best views saved for last: the final ascent over the Kolovrat mountain ridge delivers a panorama taking in both Alpine peaks and the Adriatic Sea.

How to do it See alpe-adria-trail.com. The Natural Adventure offers an eight-day self-guided trip from Kranjska Gora to Cividale del Friuli from £1,095pp.

A coastal camino in Portugal and Spain

Distance 170 miles
Duration 2 weeks

If you’re set on a summer pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, make it this coastal one. The route from Porto to the tomb of Saint James is the third most popular camino, offering plenty of peregrino camaraderie, but less human traffic than the busy Camino Francés. Plus Atlantic gusts keep things a little cooler, with lots of opportunities for refreshing dips.

Starting from Porto, the trail follows the coast, via fishing villages and swathes of blond sand, up to Caminha, where a boat across the River Minho deposits walkers in Spain. The trail continues to hug the coast to Vigo, the 100km-to-Santiago mark. Many pilgrims start here, the minimum distance required to earn a completion certificate. Soon after, the camino leaves the sea, finishing with an inland stretch, past the hot springs of Caldas de Reis and the hot peppers of Padrón.

How to do it Municipal pilgrims’ hostels can’t be pre-booked (they’re first come, first served). Private hostels and hotels should be booked in advance in summer. Exodus offers a 15-day self-guided Portuguese Coastal trip from £1,839pp

Along the Lech, an untamed Alpine river in Austria and Germany

Distance 78 miles
Duration 7-10 days

It feels cooler, walking by water. Which makes the river-tracing, shade-bathed Lechweg a good option for a summer stroll. The easy-to-moderate route was the first to be designated a Leading Quality Trail by the European Hiking Federation, an indicator of its excellent infrastructure and waymarking.

It follows the River Lech from its source in the mountains (at 1,793m, so the trail can only be accessed in full from mid-June to early October) near Austria’s Formarinsee lake to the Lechfall waterfall in Füssen, in Germany’s Bavarian Alps. Soon after that, the river becomes tamer, dammed to serve hydroelectric power stations. But before Füssen, the Lech – one of Europe’s last remaining stretches of wild river – runs free, its turquoise waters braiding over gravel plains, fed by Alpine streams, roaring through gorges and frothing amid pine forest and soaring peaks.

However, while the landscape feels untouched, facilities are plentiful, with a succession of mountain towns and villages offering comfy lodging, historic churches and artisans producing everything from beer to cheese.

How to do it Lechweg.com has details of trails and accommodation. Walkers’ Britain offers an eight-day, self-guided Lechtal trip from £990pp.

The Beara Way, a quieter and wilder side of south-west Ireland

Distance up to 128 miles
Duration 3-10 days

South-west Ireland’s remote Beara peninsula offers a respite from summer temperatures elsewhere: cooled by Atlantic breezes, it’s rarely too hot down here. And, dangling below the better-known Dingle and Iveragh peninsulas, Beara escapes some of the crowds, too.

The Beara Way makes a loop of this rugged finger of land, using tracks, bog roads and boreens (country lanes) to negotiate hills and valleys, ancient stone circles, early Christian churches, 19th-century copper mines, even a Tibetan Buddhist retreat. The full Beara Way, beginning and ending in Glengarriff, can be done in around 10 days. Or you could spend a few days tackling a selection of the route’s 15 spin-off circular walks. These include taking Ireland’s only cable car over the sea to Dursey, to make a nine-mile loop of this largely deserted isle, or catching the ferry from Castletownbere to make a circuit of Bere, an island-cum-open air museum, home to Martello tower forts, gun batteries, a lighthouse and a harbour fortified by Vikings.

How to do it See bearatourism.com/beara-way. Hillwalk Tours offers several Beara Way options, including a 10-day full loop from £935pp.

Sweden’s stunning coastal Kuststigen trail

Distance up to 234 miles
Duration 2-5+ days

The Kuststigen isn’t a continuous hike along West Sweden’s Bohuslän coast; it is 44 well-marked stages (some connected, some not, with most easily accessible by ferry or bus) showcasing this knockout shoreline’s sapphire seas, pink granite outcrops, bright-painted fishing villages and some of its 8,000 idyllic isles and skerries. This makes it an easy trail to dip into for a few days’ sea-breezy summer hiking.

The Swedish holiday season runs from July to mid-August, so go in late August to early September (or next June) when the weather will still be mild and the coast crowd-free.

Which sections to choose? Stage 22 (7 miles) loops Ramsvikslandet, a striking peninsula nature reserve known as the Kingdom of Rocks. Combine it with stage 24, the linear Kungshamn-Tullboden route (10 miles), then a ferry hop to complete stage 25, a circuit of Bohus-Malmön (6 miles), via ancient monuments and swimming lagoons. For city-accessible strolling, take the free ferry from Gothenburg’s Lilla Varholmen terminal to Hönö, to walk stages 1-3 (17 miles in total), an unfurling of flowery meadows, sandy beaches, swim spots and seabirds.

How to do it See kuststigen.westswedentrails.se. For camping, see campingvastkust.se; for buses, vasttrafik.se.