Walking holidays in the UK can take you from coast to coast. With beautiful landscapes discoverable with countless miles of footpaths, you can discover a rich history and untouched tradition when you opt for a walking holiday.
We've analysed the top 30 longest walks from a list of 100 popular walking holiday routes in the UK and sourced information for a series of metrics to create an overall score for each walk.
And what’s a walking holiday without a cosy place to put your feet up after a long day of treks? Using Tripadvisor, we found the number of Hotels, Motels, All Inclusives and BnB's within 50 miles of each walk. We used Instagram to find the number of hashtags for each walk, to find out which is best for getting some holiday snaps and referenced the difficulty and length of each walk from the Ordnance Survey.
So, which locations around the UK will guarantee you a picturesque, moderately difficult walk with plenty of options for accommodation nearby? Find out in the ranking below.
The Top Locations for Walking Holidays in the UK
Coming in first place with a score of 85 out of 100 is South Downs Way which stretches for 17.5 miles across Winchester and Eastbourne, following old routes and driveways, offering an opportunity to get away from it all. Our analysis of this stunning walk shows the walk is moderate on our difficulty scale, making it not too challenging for beginners but also not too easy for regular walkers. You are spoilt for choice when it comes to hotels with a staggering 5,140 en route. Finally, the walk itself has 62,014 hashtags on Instagram making it a very picturesque walking holiday in the UK.
The second best walk in the UK is Cannock Chase in Staffordshire, scoring 75 out of 100 in our ranking. A much shorter walk at just 2.1 miles, but still a moderate difficulty level so appealing to all walkers. Scoring highly on the picturesque metric with 127,154 hashtags on Instagram!
Third place goes to the West Highland Way walk in the mountain peaks of Scotland with a score of 73 out of 100. The 16-mile moderate walk is the perfect opportunity to immerse yourself in Scotland’s wild landscapes and has over 1,000 (1,049) hotels en route and over 100,000 (108,961) Instagram hashtags.
Have you been inspired to take on a walking holiday in the UK? Be sure to use our UK Walking Holiday Index to help you decide where to go.
Check out our range of sport insoles to help support you on your next walking holiday.