Where to hike in Europe in winter

Europe is home to scores of excellent hiking destinations that can be enjoyed in any season. In fact, many of the best are simply too hot and/or crowded to be hiked comfortably in the summer months and really come into their own when it’s cooler. In others, you’ll find their edge-of-civilisation atmosphere is deepened by troubled skies and rainstorms. All, however, offer the chance to stretch your legs in a magnificent landscape with clear signposting and good-quality paths, while offering generally safe and risk-free walking.

St Ives to Treen, Cornwall, England

Best for: weathered granite and seething seas
The UK’s South West Coast Path is never dull. How could it be when every step of the way is edged by ocean? But if you’re looking for one section that boils its beauty and drama down into a single day’s walk, it has to be this — the eight-mile journey from Porthmeor Beach in St Ives to The Gurnard’s Head pub in Treen. Here, Cornwall seems to shrug off the heavy hand of England and show us how wild it really wants to be, with tumultuous seas at the bottom of every cliff and knuckles of rough granite punching through the gorse and heather. Leave St Ives by 9am so you can be at The Gurnard’s Head in time for lunch, and make sure you’ve checked bus times for the return journey.   

(Why winter is the perfect time to visit this coastal UK town.)

Route 6 to Karthaia, Kea, Greece

Best for: a different view of Greece
Kea is one of the closest Cycladic Islands to the Greek mainland. Still, it’s also one of the least touristy — and it has a network of ancient, paved pathways that are thought to date back to the seventh century BCE. Walk them in winter and you’ll get a radically different view of island life in a landscape made green and productive by the season’s rain. Route 6 is one of the loveliest, because it drops down from the little village of Stavroudaki to a quiet and sandy south-facing cove. Chances are, there won’t be any other visitors there: just you and the ghosts of the ancient city of Karthaia, whose archaeological footprint is still plain to see on the slopes around you. You can even take a seat in the ruins of its theatre.

The Path of the Gods, Campania, Italy

Best for: divine views
It’s hard to overstate just how hectic the western end of the Amalfi Coast can be in spring, summer and autumn. This precipitous landscape, south of the Bay of Naples, is without doubt worth all the attention, but if you want to enjoy its spectacular hikes without high prices and hordes of fellow visitors, then come between November and the beginning of April. Bring winter hiking gear and keep a close eye on the weather forecast — the abrupt transition between the Tyrrhenian Sea and Lattari Mountains can sometimes generate heavy rain or even snow — and keep your plans flexible. There are always options to plan a last-minute day trip to Pompeii or Naples if the weather’s bad. Then, whenever skies clear, seize your moment. The four-mile Path of the Gods is the most magnificent of the area’s hikes, hugging the side of Monte Molare as it descends from Bomerano to Positano. However, if the weather’s fine and you master both the bus and ferry schedules, a whole week of walking awaits.

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

Ponta de São Lourenço, Madeira, Portugal

Best for: a middle-of-the-ocean buzz
It’s been a long time coming, but Madeira’s place in the pantheon of exceptional hiking destinations is now assured. Not just because the island’s volcanic landscape offers such vertiginous terrain and mesmerising, Atlantic Ocean views; a big part of its attraction lies in its balmy climate, too. Even in January, the temperature can nudge 20C, and while the weather is also wetter at this time of year, that does at least deepen the colours along its gob-smacking eastern peninsula. The footpath PR8 is the way to walk it, on a four-mile round-trip from the car parks at the end of the ER109 road — and if the weather’s fine, it’s an easy walk, provided you’re properly shod and you’ve picked a clear, calm day. Every step of the way will take you deeper into Madeira’s remote, mid-ocean atmosphere.

(See Madeira’s dramatic landscapes.)

Sierra de Grazalema, Andalucia, Spain

Best for: cliffs and canyons
In winter, the mountains west of Ronda aren’t high enough to catch the snow that coats the Sierra Nevada. But there’s enough rain to create a surprisingly lush, green landscape in winter and spring, with wildflowers adding further colour to the meadows from late February onwards. The 350-metre descent into the deep Garganta Verde canyon is the most spectacular, but you’ll need a permit to walk it (free but must be booked online), and you must avoid days of heavy rain on account of slippery rocks on the way down, as well as the chance of flash flooding at the bottom. Meanwhile, if it’s views you’re after, the four-mile loop of the Peñón Grande pyramid limestone peak — just behind the white-washed town of Grazalema — will oblige.

Hadrian’s Wall, Cumbria & Northumberland, England

Best for: a sense of history
The great thing about walking Hadrian’s Wall is that it doesn’t really matter what the weather’s up to. If the skies are clear, then the frontier’s long perspectives, as it snakes along the crags of the Whin Sill, are mesmerising. If dark clouds marshal their forces — well, that just deepens the wild, edge-of-the-world atmosphere, doesn’t it? What’s more, you don’t have to walk the full 84 miles to get a proper sense of it. Wrap up warm and focus instead on its most heroic section, as it hauls itself up onto the hills between the Roman Army Museum at Walltown Crags and the bracingly remote fort at Housesteads. Very few Roman encounters will give you such a powerful sense of the Roman Empire’s iron-willed determination to impose itself on a landscape. Thanks to the world-class archaeological discoveries at Vindolanda, a fort just south of the wall, none will give you such a clear view of the weft and weave of army life. The AD122 bus service will help you get back to your car.

(Dig into the UK’s ancient past at these 7 archaeological sites.)

Chemin de l’Ecot, Bonneval-sur-Arc, France

Best for: snowshoes
Bonneval-sur-Arc is one of those Alpine villages you dream of but rarely find. Squirrelled away at the top of the Maurienne Valley in Savoie, it’s blissfully remote in winter and barely developed as a ski resort. And if you rent a pair of snowshoes and join an instructor from the local École du ski français (ESF) for a guided hike, you can carry on further, another mile up the valley to the all-but-abandoned hamlet of Écot. Here, low, hill-hugging houses are half-buried by snow and the only sounds you’ll hear are the squeak of the white stuff beneath your raquettes (snowshoes) and your own gasps of wonder at winter’s pristine white beauty. Bear in mind, however, that winter here also has sharp teeth. Due to the avalanche risk, it’s always safer to join a guided hike than wandering off on your own.