The 10 Most Rewarding Hikes in The World

A four-day trek along Inca-built stone steps, climbing over the 4,215m Dead Woman's Pass and threading cloud forest to reach ruins at Sayacmarca and Winay Wayna.

The final pre-dawn push through the Sun Gate delivers the classic first view of Machu Picchu below.

Campsites sit on terraced mountainsides ringed by snow-streaked Andean peaks.

Permits are capped at 500 a day, and a guide is mandatory.

A 12-14 day teahouse trek from Lukla through Namche Bazaar and Sherpa villages to Everest Base Camp at 5,364m, past the prayer-flagged memorial cairns at Thukla.

Everest itself is hidden from Base Camp, so the trek is paired with a pre-dawn climb of Kala Patthar, where the summit catches the first light above Ama Dablam and Nuptse.

Altitude, not distance, is the real challenge, so itineraries build in acclimatisation days.

A 4-5 day traverse of Torres del Paine's signature sights: the granite Torres themselves, the sheer Cuernos horns, French Valley's hanging glaciers, and Grey Glacier's blue ice.

Refugios and campsites break the route into manageable days, though Patagonian wind can turn brutal without warning.

The reward is one of the most consistently spectacular multi-day trails in South America, from lenga forest to turquoise glacial lakes.

A steep 2.

5-mile round trip up Zion Canyon's sandstone spine, finishing on a knife-edge ridge with chain handholds and 1,200-foot drops on both sides.

The switchbacking approach up Walter's Wiggles gives way to an exposed scramble that rewards climbers with a sweeping view down Zion Canyon.

A permit lottery now limits how many hikers tackle the chains at once, since it's not for anyone uneasy with heights.

A roughly 170km hut-to-hut circuit around the Mont Blanc massif through France, Italy and Switzerland, climbing about 10,000m of ascent past glaciers, alpine lakes and larch forest.

Val Ferret and the Aiguilles Rouges give some of the best full-on views of Mont Blanc's summit.

Most walkers take 7-11 days, staying in refuges that range from rustic to modernised.

Huts fill fast in July and August.

New Zealand's best-known Great Walk runs 53.

5km through Fiordland from Lake Te Anau's Clinton Valley, over the alpine Mackinnon Pass, down to Milford Sound.

Along the way are hanging valleys, the country's tallest waterfall at Sutherland Falls, and dense temperate rainforest.

Only 40 independent walkers a day are allowed onto the one-way trail, and hut bookings for the season sell out within minutes.

An 11-mile coastal trail along Kauai's Na Pali Coast, climbing in and out of fluted, jungle-green valleys with the Pacific breaking against sea cliffs far below.

The route crosses Hanakapiai Stream, skirts the exposed Crawler's Ledge, and ends at the remote Kalalau Valley and beach.

Permits are required past the two-mile mark and are famously hard to secure, often selling out within seconds of release.

A two-day trek along one of the world's deepest gorges, following a high trail above the roaring Jinsha River between the Jade Dragon and Haba Snow Mountains.

The path climbs through the notorious 28 Bends before easing past small guesthouses that serve as overnight stops with gorge-view balconies.

Sheer rock walls tower more than 2,000m above the river on either side of the trail.

A 55km highland traverse from the rhyolite hot-spring valley of Landmannalaugar to the birch forest of Thorsmork, crossing black lava fields, steaming fumaroles and glacial river fords along the way.

Colour shifts constantly underfoot, from mineral-streaked mountains to green moss and white snow patches even in summer.

Mountain huts break the route into four days, though camping is also allowed alongside each hut.

A chain-ladder ascent to the top of the Amphitheatre, a 5km basalt wall in the northern Drakensberg where the Tugela River tips over the escarpment as the world's second-highest waterfall.

The trail climbs steep gullies from Sentinel Car Park before two vertical chain ladders haul hikers onto the plateau, opening onto sweeping views over KwaZulu-Natal.

Weather turns fast near 3,000m, and the ladders close in lightning or ice.