What It’s Like to Thru-Hike in Europe (It’s Complicated)

In this video, I tell you what it's like thru-hiking in Europe. What are the main differences between thru-hiking in North America vs Europe, what are the wild camping rules, explain rifugios (mountain huts), give safety advice, and other important things. If you ever want to thru-hike in Europe, then this is the video that you should watch.

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Towards the end, I also share some popular long distance hikes in Europe, like:
1. Camino de Santiago (9 routes, 4400 km / 2730 miles)
2. Rota Vincentina (230 km / 143 miles)
3. GR11 (840 km / 522 miles)
4. GR10 (866 km / 538 miles)
5. HRP (800 km / 497 miles)
6. GR20 (180 km / 112 miles)
7. Walker’s Haute Route (225 km / 139 miles)
8. Alta Via 1 (120 km / 75 miles)
9. Alta Via 2 (160 km / 99 miles)
10. Alpe-Adria Trail (750 km / 466 miles)
11. Tour Du Mont Blanc ( km 170 / 106 miles)
12. GR5 (2290 km / 1423 miles)
13. Traumpfad (550 km / 342 miles)
14. Via Alpina (5 routes, 5482 km / 3406 miles)
15. Rennsteig (169 km / 105 miles)
16. Rheinsteig (320 km / 199 miles)
17. Rothaarsteig (154 km / 96 miles)
18. Eifelsteig (313 km / 194 miles)
19. Pieterpad (498 km / 309 miles)
20. Via Romea Francigena (2000 km / 1243 miles)
21. Via Transilvanica (1400 km / 870 miles)
22. West Highland Way (155 km / 96 miles)
23. South West Coast Way (1014 km / 630 miles)
24. Pennine Way (431 km / 268 miles)
25. The Ridgeway (139 km / 87 miles)
26. Kungsleden (450 km / 279 miles)
27. Padjelantaleden (137 km / 85 miles)
28. Long Lofoten Crossing (160 km / 100 miles)

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▼ TABLE OF CONTENTS
00:00 - Intro
00:39 - Wild Camping
02:19 - Rifugios
03:11 - Water
03:43 - Food
04:28 - Animals
06:21 - Language
06:54 - Costs
07:33 - EU Thru-Hikes

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[michal-smr]

My 2 cents towards wild camping in Slovakia:
You can wild camp anywhere except in National Parks and properties that are marked as "forests". What this means in practice is that if you're not in a National Park, find a clearing and wild camp there. Set up your tent once it's dark, pack up and leave early in the morning. Nobody is going to say anything to you, there are no rangers outside of National Parks. And if you're on a private property, if it's not fenced up, you can walk through. If they are at home, ask them if you can camp at their property and you're safe from any laws. Otherwise use common sense. The law's not super clear on this. Most places in the mountains are not private properties. They belong either to the state or to the Forests Slovakia, which is a state-owned company.
However, from my experience, as long as you respect your surroundings and leave no trace, you'll be fine.

In National Parks, there are always designated spots for wild camping. Usually next to huts or rifugios (útulňa in Slovak). Except in the High Tatras - no wild camping spots there. But, there are several well-maintained and serviced huts to spend the night in (for a fee, discounted for Alpenverein members, even German, Austrian, Polish, Hungarian, etc., which is nice. Some require a reservation in peak season).

There is one thru-hike that spans the length of Slovakia, the SNP Trail. (Slovak National Uprising Trail). Ca 760 km. It only passes through one National Park (the Low Tatras), which is quite beautiful, to be honest, and there are multiple well-placed wild camping spots either next to huts or rifugios. There might be one or two that are only next to a water source, no hut.

Other than that, we've got several 3-4-day crest trails that are worth an extended weekend. The Velka Fatra, Mala Fatra, Low Tatras (Nizke Tatry in Slovak), or Male Karpaty to name a few.

Plus, all wild water sources in Slovakia are safe to drink unfiltered.

The Czech Republic is somewhat similar, although they do have a law that allows "overnighting" outside of National Parks, if I'm not mistaken. The law understands "overnighting" as sleeping outside in a bivvy bag or a hammock, not a tent. You can only spend one night in one place.

One more tip for hiking in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. We've got a massive net of hiking trails that are superbly marked and colour-coded. Download the app mapy.cz. It's free, usable offline, and it's got all the trails, water sources, huts, rifugios, and so much more.

The colour coding of our trails is as follows:
Blue and green - standard trail
Red - crest trail or any longer trail
Yellow - connecting trail

EDIT/UPDATE:
Outside of National Parks, there is one single entity you should give a VERY wide berth. The hunters.
If you're going to camp on a clearing, make EXTRA SURE there's no hunting lodge/hunting tower nearby. Especially in rut season (september-october). It's best if you're in an area inaccessible to vehicles.
Technically, the hunters don't own any of the land (most of the time) and have no right to bother you. That doesn't mean they won't. There's this weird hunter culture in Slovakia (a remnant of the commie times) where they sometimes feel like they are the lords of the wild and own everything the eye can see. Avoid them at all costs. I've had several run-ins with local hunters, almost none of them positive.
Avoid hunters at all costs. They are armed and often inebriated, consider them dangerous.
Fortunately, they usually can't be bothered to walk far and are almost completely reliant on their cars. (Understandable, I wouldn't want to carry a dead deer on my back either.)
This is less of a problem in mountainous areas, but if you're hiking through the countryside in the lowlands, keep it in mind.

Oh yeah, and we've got bears too. Not too many, they'll usually notice you before you even know they are there and they'll walk the other way, but it's nice to carry a small bear spray just in case.
Hang your food far from your tent. You'll be fine.

There's a big bear scare in Slovakia right now and the bears have become a political topic. They have been harassing some settlements close to the mountains by ravaging bins and walking around orchards. It's a problem for the locals, sure, but as a hiker, you haven't got anything to be afraid of. Just keep it in mind.

[tfrtrouble]

It's important to understand that some of these trails are really not what many people think of when they think of hiking. Many of the non-mountainous ones in more populated countries like the UK or Germany or Spain (and I assume that one in the Netherlands) are not in the "wilderness" at all. You will be mostly on broad tracks and will do a lot of hiking through farmland, sometimes you will be on little farm roads or even actual roads for a time, you will walk through or past farms and villages and even towns often.

[Hellooo]

In France you can do wild camping in many areas it’s called « bivouac » meaning you can sleep from 7pm til 9am, or sunset to sunrise, in the mountains you even see the signs sometimes. But you are not allowed to put your tent for longer than that. But if you are hidden and clean nobody will tell you anything. And it’s always a question of being respectful

[Senki]

I live (and hike extensively) in Romania. As long as you keep any food and food items away from your tent during the night, you won't have trouble with bears. Yes, most likely you WILL see bears when hiking, there's an insane amount of bears in Romania. But, if you don't provoke them or try to pet them, they're mostly afraid of or indifferent towards people. However, just because there's a lot of them, don't assume that they're friendly: all bears are wild animals and should be treated as such. Behave calmly around them and slowly move away without turning your back, they'll either carry on with what they were doing or leave the area.

Shepherd dogs are a different thing... Not only are they usually both starving and aggressive but they live in packs of 5-12. A lot of shepherd dogs live semi-feral lives where they roam, scavenge and even hunt from autumn to mid-spring. If you see sheep or cows on the mountain, give them a wide berth: the dogs usually protect the immediate area around the flock and will give chase if the herd is approached. Don't count on the shepherd calling back the dogs if they attack (even if he does, 9 times out of 10 the dogs don't listen to him). If you're attacked by a pack of dogs DO. NOT. RUN. Carry bear spray and trekking poles and stand your ground while slowly backing away. Only use the bear spray if really necessary, usually there are more dogs than you have spray for.

If you meet the shepherd before the dogs, try greeting him and shaking hands with him. The dogs interpret this as you being "part of the flock" and generally leave you alone or even act friendly towards you (that, however, depends entirely on how the shepherd treats them). Don't expect the shepherds to speak English or any other language than their own (sometimes they speak both Hungarian and Romanian, usually only one of the two).

Natural springs are cleaner than tap water in most countries, they're completely safe to drink from.

[meikusje]

There are a lot of sweeping generalizations in this video, which is a bit problematic if you want to be informative. The reality is, lots of things don't just depend on the country, but also the region and how populated an area is. Shepherd dogs, for example, are often not aggressive at all, they're just trained to protect their herd from threats. If you let them figure out you're not a threat, they're generally fine. However, some areas in Europe, especially more remote ones in mountainous areas, might not have dogs that are very well trained, or who just aren't used to humans that much, and they can be dangerous. So the key is to pay attention to local signage and do some research for every area you're hiking through. Another thing: if you want to know about spending the night somewhere in a tent, you should look for 'bivouac' laws. Bivouac means to only spend the night, whereas camping often refers to more long term. Lots of countries allow bivouac under certain circumstances (often only between certain hours and away from houses, etc). And as for English, depending on where you are, people might be near-fluent in certain areas, but not speak a word of English in others. Generally, it's a good idea to know some key phrases and words, even if it's just to create some goodwill, but it certainly isn't true that 'no one will understand English' everywhere. Nordic countries especially are famous for their populations' English proficiency. So, in conclusion, if you want to prepare for certain hikes in Europe, you're better off looking up information that is specific to the countries and regions you will be hiking in/through, rather than looking up stuff about Europe in general.

[MrSowizo]

For one of the biggest challenges in European Hiking theres the "E1". It runs about 7000km from the north Cape in Norway to southern Italy.

[Nicoth]

Another interesting "trail" in Germany would be the Limes "trail" (Limesweg/Limeswanderweg).
Basically, you walk all along the former border of the Roman Empire and come across lots of ruins of old military camps and watchtowers from 2000 years ago plus museums centered around ancient Roman life in the region.
Something >500km, if I remember correctly.

[wanderlust]

Great video, thank you. We've a long trail in Germany since 2020, the NST - North-South-Trail. It goes from the nothern to the southern points and it includes 32 top trails of Germany. 3600 km long. The homepage is "Nord-Süd-Trail". They're working on the English version. The trail has a small but wonderful community of supporters and trailangels. This trail is not about wilderness - it's about cultural landscapes, history and good food, beer and wine. You are welcome....

[sebastianeck]

Some really key items are missing: The most dangerous animal, which kill the most hikers every year, are cows. People come to close to them, especially when they have calves, and those 500kg mothers don´t like that.

Another point, it is not the rifugios you are describing, but the biwaks. Major difference.

And the last point, really relevant for european thruhikers: All paths, huts etc are maintained by alpine clubs. SAS, DAV, ÖAV, to name a few. If you join one (50-80€ per year), your membership is respected in all countries. And your membership offers normally: Discount on sleeping in huts/cabanes, /rifugios.., getting a special, discount lunch and dinner in them as well, and also an insurance for rescue costs. Any thruhike related to the alps should consider such membership.

[Lyn-yvxi]

Don't forget about Wales! We have gorgeous countryside here. The Pembrokeshire coast path and Snowdonia slate trail are a couple of long distance trails worth doing. Wild camping is technically not allowed but tolerated as long as you are considerate. The Cape Wrath trail in Scotland is another in the UK.

[bjorn_]

Definitely don't agree with the language part. Yes, those 3 countries are an issue, but in the rest of Europe people are usually fluent in English and will gladly switch to English to accommodate tourists.

[ianrobertson]

Great video. YouTube is saturated with PCT/AT/CDT videos, it’s great to see Europe getting some love ❤

[martintotev]

A thru-hike I’d recommend in Eastern Europe is the Kom - Emine trail in Bulgaria. The trail follows the ridge of the Balkan Mountain range so most of the trail will be above the tree line. There’s lots of huts on the trail as well so sleeping is not an issue.

[henna]

Shame you didn't include more trails from Scandinavia. Yes, they might not be as "popular" as fewer people are living here than in central/southern Europe, thus fewer thru-hikers, but they are popular and well-known trails for people living here. A few notable and demanding ones which definitely are not popular are the UKK-route about 1100 kilometers mostly in wilderness in Finland which is part of the E10 long-distance trail from Nuorgam Finland to Tarifa Spain. Also the White and Green Ribbon (color depends if you traveled it during summer or winter) trail from Grövelsjön Sweden to the Three-Country Cairn at which the international borders of Sweden, Norway and Finland meet sure sounds demanding as it goes along the Swedish and Norwegian mountains for 1300 kilometers. Would also throw in the various St.Olav Ways, the most northern pilgrim routes in the world. Thousands walk those during summer. Those will surely get more populated in the future.

[IntoTheVoid]

Since the 1930's there is the Kéktúra / Blue Trail in Hungary, that is about 1170 km in length.
It forms the Blue Circle (around 2600 km) with other two trails, the South-Transdanubian/Pál Rockenbauer Blue Trail (around 540 km) and the Lowlands Blue Trail (around 870 km).
This is the most popular and the longest hiking trail in Hungary.

[tommasosavoia]

In Italy you can find also "Sentiero Italia" crossing the whole country, Sardinia and Sicily included, It's running on the mountain chains for almost 7.000 Km

[urbandiscount]

I think the NST, Nord Süd Trail deserves a mention: a 2000km + through hike North to South of Germany. It combines some of the best existing trails.

[BrokenBackMountains]

The West Highland way is the best known in Scotland but there are more challenging ones

More Scottish trails:

The CWT - Cape Wrath trail - 370 km unmarked trail across some very rugged terrain

The East Highland way

The Southern uplands way

The John Muir trail

The 864km Scottish National trail linking trails and running the length of Scotland.

The handy thing is thatlike many Scandinavian countries, wild camping is allowed as long as you follow the Scottish outdoor access code.We also have a bothy network. Free, open refugios They could often be full so take a tent in case

Scotland is a wee country with some impressive walks.

[linabuttner]

The shepard dogs you mentioned aren't shepard dogs, they are herd protection dogs, trained to protect the herd from preditors, they are litterly trained to keep their herd safe and can be "agressive" towards hikers if they deem them a threat, when you see these dogs, do not go closer to the herd do not make threatening movements or shooing sounds towards the dog but walk away like described in the video.

I am saying "agressive" because they are not likely to charge you unprovoked but will more likely growl at you and leave you be in peace when you distance yourself.

[flxjhnlrssn]

Sweden has marked trails criss-crossing the entire country. Each province has one or several trails crossing the entire province (and usually connecting to the trails of neighbouring provinces), as well as the other usual long distance trails like different pilgrim routes or specific trails through significant natural areas and stuff like that. Most of these trails are not particularly popular with tourists, but they are all marked and has maps and websites and stuff, and often wind shelters to stay the night in. It's mostly the trails up in the mountains (Kungsleden etc.) that are super popular.

Camping is also allowed practically everywhere. Making fires and that sort of thing is allowed as a baseline, but nature reserves or parks usually forbid it, and there are often province wide bans on making fires during the summer months depending on how dry the weather has been (due to the risk of forest fires).

That said, I think Norway is pretty much exactly the same but with amazing nature (mountains, fjords, waterfalls and shit instead of the endless pine forests of Sweden), so you should probably go there instead, haha. I guess if you really hate mountains then Sweden could be a good idea.