Best Hiking Vacations: 9 Trips From Day Hikes to Multi-Day Treks
Lodge-based day hiking
Banff, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, and Sedona all deliver week-long hiking vacations with lodge-based nights and no backpacks required. A Banff week with daily hikes to Lake Agnes, Johnston Canyon, Larch Valley, and Sentinel Pass runs $2,200 to $4,500 per person. Yellowstone and Grand Canyon similar ranges. Sedona is the shortest-trip pick ($1,000 to $2,500 per person for four to five nights) with trails directly from most hotels.
The alpine classics
Swiss Alps (Lucerne or Zermatt as base) and the Dolomites deliver European alpine hiking with excellent trail infrastructure, cable cars that lift you to high elevations, and mountain huts for food breaks. Swiss Alps Lucerne-based week: $3,000 to $7,500 per person; Zermatt summer week: $3,500 to $9,000. Both have day-hike-only options and multi-day hut-to-hut options.
New Zealand and Iceland
Queenstown is a hiking base for day trips to Routeburn, Milford Track sections, and the Remarkables. A week-long hiking-focused trip to Queenstown runs $3,200 to $7,500 per person. Iceland hiking is landscape-first (glaciers, lava fields, geothermal) with a week running $2,500 to $6,500 per person.
The multi-day treks
The Inca Trail in Peru (four days to Machu Picchu) and the W Trek in Patagonia (four to five days through Torres del Paine) are the two most-visited multi-day treks in the Americas. Both require serious fitness and acclimatization. Inca Trail guided: $1,800 to $4,500 per person including Peru airfare and Lima nights; W Trek with eco-lodge nights: $4,500 to $12,000 per person.
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