7 European hikes that end with incredible views

The European continent — and its associated islands — is full of scenic splendour and rather less overloaded with scary animals and troublesome insects than many other destinations. Arguably, it has the world’s best network of footpaths, too, and however strenuous or easy you want your walking to be, there’s a route to suit you. Here are seven paths, which showcase some of the most spectacular landscapes without demanding much physical exertion — most can be walked in just half a day. But they’ll also introduce you to regions that could easily fill a whole holiday with similarly spectacular hikes, so treat each one as a starting point — and give yourself time to do each landscape justice.

1. Mullach Coire Mhic Fhearchair, Wester Ross, Scotland

It’s a classic case of Scottish understatement: calling the three massifs north of Glen Torridon the ‘Torridon Hills’, because there are few peaks more rugged and mountainous anywhere in the British Isles. Saw-toothed, steep sided and marooned in an ocean of heather, Liathach, Beinn Eighe and Beinn Alligin are all home to hair-raising hikes if you aim for their narrow summit ridges.

However, you can still get a sense of their might and beauty without scaling them. Park the car by Lochan an Lasgair on the A896 and walk north through the deep cleft that separates Liathach from Beinn Eighe. Bear right where the path forks, start climbing and after about a mile and a half, you’re at Mullach Coire Mhic Fhearchair mountain — home to a little loch that nestles beneath towering cliffs and buttresses. It’s a two-hour walk each way. Allow another hour in the middle for one of the most magnificent picnics you’ll ever eat.

2. Plitvice Lakes, Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia

It’s not so much its 16 turquoise lakes that make Plitvice feel otherworldly but the waterfalls that connect them. Edged by moss, ferns and grasses, they look more like computer-animated backdrops from a James Cameron film than anything Mother Nature could come up with — and it’s no wonder the paths linking them are so busy in the summer.

Aim for a May visit, to get fresh spring greens as well as cooler temperatures. Pre-book your tickets for 8am, when the park opens. Bring a picnic, enter via gate 2 rather than gate 1 (which is closer to Zagreb) and head straight to the Veliki Prstavac waterfall so you can enjoy it before the boardwalks begin to fill with other awestruck visitors. More way-marked hikes beckon within the park’s forests. They’re worth exploring in the hotter hours around noon, before returning to the waterfall just before the gates shut at the end of the day.

3. Fagradalsfjall volcanic system, Reykanes, Iceland

Since 2021, Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula has entered a period of intense volcanic activity — and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. Currently, the area of the most recent eruptions is off-limits and is likely to remain that way for the foreseeable future, as further eruptions are expected. But it’s usually possible to walk close to the first volcano that formed at Geldingadalir, and to its lava field, the Fagradalshraun. Luckily, it’s not a big expedition — the drive from Reykjavik takes about an hour, while the signposted walk from the Geldingadalir Parking P2 parking area is about a mile and a half on a broad and steady path. It’s seriously impressive to get so close to the guts of the Earth, freshly strewn across the landscape. Just don’t try it without first checking the latest volcano news and warnings.

4. Path of the Gods, Amalfi Coast, Italy

This four-mile, former mule track skirts the edge of the Lattari Mountains between Bomerano and Nocelle, before dropping down roughly 1,700 steps to Positano on the Amalfi Coast. And even though it was only reopened in the late 1990s (and again in 2024 following a landslide and major improvement works), it’s quickly become one of Italy’s most famous walks.

Thronged with tourists in summer and early autumn and hiked by organised groups of walkers in between, it’s absolutely worth the hype, on account of the near-vertical view — from an altitude of around 610 metres (2,000ft), straight down to the sparkling Tyrrhenian Sea. Start before 9.30am on a sunny spring morning, when the path is empty and the steeply terraced fields below you are flushed with green, and you’re going to feel pretty god-like yourself.

(7 of the best things to do on the Amalfi Coast.)

5. Vereda do Areeiro, Madeira, Portugal

If you suffer from vertigo, don’t go anywhere near Madeira’s PR1 footpath. The four-mile Vereda do Areeiro links two of the island’s highest peaks and does so by teetering along razor-sharp ridges in a series of paved paths and staircases so precarious they’ll reduce anyone with a nervous disposition to jelly. Everyone else, by contrast, will be buzzing. Rarely has such a thrilling mountain-top environment been made so manageable and shared its gobsmacking views so willingly.

The trail has just reopened after a wildfire forced its closure in 2024, so expect it to be especially busy this year (there’s a daily permit to be paid, too). Check the forecast carefully for any signs of rain or high winds and start at first light. You’ll have to be patient, too. The path is narrow and most people will be walking it there and back from the car park at the Pico di Areeiro, so you may be held up by some human traffic.

(See Madeira's dramatic landscapes, from sea pools to volcanic heights.)

6. Val Venegia, Trentino, Italy

Maximum reward for minimum effort is the name of the game in the Val Venegia. Just over two miles of hiking leads to one of the most perfectly framed views in the Italian Dolomites. From the Passo Rolle car park, there’s a gentle forest climb — before the trees suddenly part and reveal a verdant, U-shaped valley walled off by the west face of the Pale di San Martino massif. Even by the stellar, Unesco-protected standards of the region, this is a majestic set of mountains, where crumbling spikes of rock jostle for space like teeth along a shark’s jawline and no amount of looking will exhaust the sense of grandeur.

Aim for a long lunch at the Malga Venegiota di Tonadico mountain restaurant at the valley’s far end. The trail does extend beyond this point, up to the Rifugio Volpi al Mulaz at an altitude of 2,770 metres (8,435ft), but it’s a more serious undertaking.

(Learn the secrets of nature’s larder on a foraging trip to Italy’s Brenta Dolomites.)

7. The Royal Postal Road, Nærøyfjord, Norway

You don’t need to hike for eight hours and climb very high to enjoy a Norwegian fjord. Their sea-to-sky landscapes are just as awe-inspiring at the water’s edge as they are from a mountain top — as this three-mile trail along Nærøyfjord’s eastern shore attests. Accessed by regular electric ferries from either Gudvangen or Flåm, it follows the 18th-century post road that links the hamlets of Styvi and Bleiklindi, serving up views of lush meadows, pretty hamlets and broadleaf woodland en route. Near Styvi, a diversion up to the thunderous Odnefossen waterfall will deepen the sense of splendour, as will a night camping in one of the meadows at Styvi, if you feel up to it.

(5 ways to embrace the great outdoors in Norway.)