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.
@@reb_s in national parks and nature reserves it must be marked as a biking trail otherwise it is illegal. The rest is more or less legally accessible. Just be aware that if you want to go bikepacking, some marked bike paths in Slovakia have not always high quality surface as it is e.g. in Austria and especially in the mountains it may be steep so be prepared to push some segments. PS: a hidden treasure of Slovakia is inland Danube delta with a system of distributaries, just be prepared for knee deep wading through levees between islands.
@@Cassadin1883 Happy to help! There's not much our tiny Slovakia can offer to the world, but I believe our mountains and nature are worth seeing. If my little comment helps some people to come and explore our country, I'll be super happy!
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
true, if I may add, usually national parks also add the rule that you must be at least 1 hour hike from inhabited area. This to avoid crowding the surroundings
Even in the heavily regulated ones (La Vanoise for instance) you can use your tent just next to the reguges. They have dedicated areas next to the cabin and you may have to pay a few euros for the spot
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.
As a Canadian living in Germany for about a decade now, I found this out the hard way... and damn I miss the Canadian wilderness for anything outdoors haha on the other hand, most all EU cities are beautiful though
@@ZoominRacoon There are some places you can hike like that. I know of the forststeig in Saxonia/Bohemian Swiss. 100k with only 1 town. But then again: it is nothing compared to Canada.
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.
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.
The PCT/AT/CDT are great if you like hiking with half a million other hikers on the same trail at any given time... Trails in Sweden kick North America's ass - especially the Kungsleden...
@@FunkteonExcept Kungsleden is like the most popular mountain trail in all of Sweden. If you want more of a wilderness experience there are plenty of better trails than Kungsleden, for instance Nordkalottleden/Nordkalottruta, Lapplandsleden and even Södra Kungsleden might do. Depending on when and where on those trails you hike there will be more/less people.
@@unmercifulfate Except Sweden has the same population as downtown Manhattan across a country that is the size of a few US states, so even though it is popular for Sweden, you can still go days without seeing another hiker, unlike the trails in North America which have a fucken gas station every 30 miles at most, and hundreds of hikers on every section of trail.
@@FunkteonSure, but Kungsleden is still not a great choice if you want more of a wilderness experience 😊 But maybe if you come from the US or any other crowded country, one might consider Kungsleden to be the wilderness. But there are both quite a lot of people (comparatively with other mountain trails) as well as lots of huts.
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.
an advice from me, a brewmaster/beverage producer: Don't re-use soft plastic bottles. They are meant for single-use as the microplastics get into the liquid because of the constant squashing. I'd recommend to use the hard plastic bottles instead. They are meant for a couple of re-uses.
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....
Oh. I'm German and I didn't even know that! I'm going to do the Eifel Steig this summer. 313 km. My first hike that requires a bit of planning. Wish me luck 😅
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.
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.
absolutely a great advice, i am a member of the italian CAI and it's a very good idea to join one of them, less important for smaller hikes but for thruhiking is very important.
@@RoadDestination yes, but they are not as dangerous as some believe. Or I have always been lucky. I have gotten A LOT of ticks, just twenty last summer, and every year I get some. And my family also. I have never known anyone personally with diseases from ticks. Some of my less outdoor loving friends are absolutely scared of ticks and panicked when they discovered they got them and they went to the hospital thinking it was a big deal when it really wasn't. We remove them with a drop of hand sanitizer and after a couple minutes with tweezers, you must be careful with removing them. I have gotten good at removing ticks and in the high risk weeks I use bug deterrent.
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.
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
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.
?? If ur visiting a foreign country its common courtesy to try to learn their language. U cant go to a country that doesnt speak english and then complain when they talk to you in their language lol. I know alo of eastern people that learn languages of countries they are visitng yet most of the toursits that visit eastern countries insist on speaking english or their mother langauge.
Except my aunt Megan Jones, she hate the English! So dont speak Cambridge like English! German Scottish Irish or Dutch accent are preferred! Angry because Thatcher closed the Welsh coalmines and lose her job!
A very famous day hike in the Netherlands Holward to Ameland! No trail no marks! Some emergency cabins with a 15m robe ladder! A very heavy 4 5 hour guided day hike Without a guide, your insurance can not like getting a bill from Royal Dutch Airforce or Coast Guard! Yes walking from Holward Harbor to the Island Ameland in low tide!
@@n1tronithey could try German French or Polska Or Jiddisch in Amsterdam/ Antwerpen dont speak Hebrew if you dont know them Ultra Orthodoxe Jews are commly pro Palestijn
It's a bit rude to go to a country and not bother learning at least some basics of the local language(s). It isn't difficult to learn to say hello, ask for directions or say a quick thank you. That little effort can be the difference between annoying the locals and making a valuable friend. You're a guest in their home, act like it.
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.
In Hungary you can wild camp, exception is private properties (fence or sign) and protected areas. If you are normal and just setting up a tent for a day, no one will brother you anyway.
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.
I was surprised there wasn't more focus on Scandinavia and Finland too. They are so wild and beautiful; I always go hiking there when I can. Conversely, I only do day hikes or short hikes (or otherwise hut tours in the Alps) in Germany where I live because for me it's not worth it to me to carry a heavy pack of camping gear just to spend weeks walking through farmland and villages and towns.
Will have to disagree with not understanding English. I have no experience with Eastern Europe, but Northern and central Europe, practically everyone speaks good English. Southern Europe can be a bit more of a challenge but usually you can get around pretty easily as a tourist. Also, the trails in Scandinavia are gorgeous. Not sure why those are not included. I’ve done Kungsleden (Sweden 450 km) and Nordkalottleden (Sweden/Finland/Norway, 750 km) in the last few years and they are gorgeous and remote. Massiv is Norway is next on the list ☺️
There's also Skåneleden in southern Sweden. It's fantastic, 1250km in total, most of it is very well kept and there are some simple shelters along the way. Fly into Copenhagen, come by train to Malmö and you can set off from there.
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.
In Poland there is "Zanocuj w lesie" program, which allows you to camp legally in certain forests, and there are a few long distance trails up to 500km (longest is Main Beskid Trail)
Adding to that, many polish people camp in wild, outside of those designated forests. I do not encourage this. Anyway if you apply to "leave no trace", there shouldn't be a problem.
It's a shame so many European countries don't allow people to sleep outside of their own home or designated areas. It should be a human right to be able to sleep in nature, that's what we're made for. As a Norwegian I got so shocked the first time I heard all countries don't have a version of allemannsretten.
Overnight camping is legal in Poland. The map that he posted is wrong, it's definitely not strictly prohibited, it should be yellow or orange. It's illegal to do it in forests or on the beach (outside of designated places of course), though the rule isn't enforced in practice, and the most that you can get is either the forest ranger telling you to move, or rarely a small fine. It's illegal in national parks and natural reserves, but those aren't common.
10:00 I wish you'd mentioned NPL (Norge På Langs), or Norway Lengthwise. About 3000 km and 53km of total elevation gain in ~100 days. It's my dream trip. It goes through a lot of varied terrain and several mountain ranges/plateaus (Hardangervidda, Jotunheimen, Rondane, Trollheimen og Saltfjellet.)
For anyone who is interested in the nordic countries there is also a 800 km long trail called Nordkalottruta (Nordkalotleden in Swedish or Kalottireitti in Finnish) which spans through Northern Norway, Sweden and Finland.
The Pennine Way is what kickstarted my interest in backpacking - I'm American but worked for a company in Manchester for 2 years back in 2018-2020, and taking the train down to the Peak District became a favorite weekend activity when the weather was favorable, and I stumbled on the southern terminus of it and saw some wild campers starting the trek! It brought up old memories of seeing signs about the Superior Hiking Trail when I was a teen in Minnesota, and I got interested again in the people who were walking these super long trails, day after day. A few AT logs on youtube and info gathering later, I've done over a dozen 1-3 night mini trips, and am looking to do a shorter thru-hike for the first time this autumn!
In italy, you can actually put a tent, but only in mountains from 20:00 to 8:00 only to sleep, out of parc areas. In this way it wont be considered camping but only "bivacco notturno" and it will be permitted, but as always no fire
Scotland also has many mountain huts called "bothies". These refuges are used on a leave them as you find them (or better!) basis with no charge . Given the way in which Scottish weather can turn very wild very quickly, knowing the location of bothies in the area might be a good idea even if you are on a self-sufficient camping trip with all the gear. The Mountain Bothies Association keeps many of these huts maintained. And yes Scotland does have right-to-roam (and camp) laws much like in Scandinavia.
Formally, in Poland there is no ban on pitching tents "in the wild", i.e. outside campsites. In practice, however, the problem with such camping results from the fact that the land always belongs to someone, and the owner has the right to independently decide whether it is admissible to pitch a tent on it.
'Bivouac' is allowed in the french pyrenees and alps, provided it's a 1 person tent, you set up after sunset and leave at sunrise, and are away from buildings.
The question is though, what is the difference between a thru-hike and a regular trail? To me, MassIV is quite short, so should it really be considered a thru-hike? If Norge på langs was a proper trail I'd say that is more of a thru-hike.
@@unmercifulfate it's tricky because the definition is undefined, but the MASSIV is actually listed as a thru hike. Because of the tough terrain and often terrible weather, it takes a month to hike. There are people who complete it in less time, but only if they pack super light and stay at the dnt cabins the whole way and don't have to carry food or any shelter. Otherwise, if you're wild camping and making your own meals, it's an absolute slog of a hike with atrocious weather. It definitely takes longer than the advertised time for folks who are roughing it
@Tarahhh By that definition I guess Kungsleden and Nordkalottruta should also count, since they are also quite demanding (but not quite as demanding as MASSIV I admit) since they are longer, and I'm sure some people do count them, but in my opinion it feels strange to count trails that don't either go through a whole country, or are at least 1000 km long. If it takes you a whole month you would have to be fairly slow (12 km per day) even if you hike with a full pack (which definitely doesn't have to be super heavy even packed with food and a tent. My backpack for hiking through all of Norway weighed about ~10-16 kg and I don't by any means pack ultralight). If you only eat food in the cabins and don't carry a tent you could have a reeeaally nice backpack weight though 😀 I get what you mean about it being tough, but we did almost the whole MASSIV as part of our Norge på langs hike in the second half in September which absolutely don't have favourable weather. That combination together with it be veeeery rocky and lots of elevation made it tough. But one month feels a little bit like an exaggeration unless you're untrained and carry 25+ kg (which is totally unnecessary with today's good gear). But I feel like trails that could count as thru-hikes would be like the E-trails that span the whole Europe, as well as some other long trails like the Camino (if you combine the different ones) and Hexatrek, or CLDT. But as you say, it's difficult since it doesn't have a set definition 😊
Great video! Nice that you give thru hiking in Europe some space on youtube. To be honest hiking is extrem popular here, but more on a weekend basis than as a multi weeks trip. My parents do 20-30km every weekend since i was a little child. I did some of the hikes you named and I really want to point out the GR20. What a beauty! Kind regards from Germany.
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.
You also have the Skye Trail and the Great Glen Way. Did the West Highland Way last year and had a blast. Was planning on one day visiting my aunt in Inverness and then doing the Great Glen Way and the CWT. You've got a beautiful beautiful country.
@@akswiff The smidge gets rid of the midge. As it is, Midge season is May to September. April is a good month to go. Weather? Fair weather hiker? It isn't non stop rain. Past month had some great hiking weather and a wee bit of rain doesn't hurt anyone.
@@BrokenBackMountains Did the CWT last August. Midges don't really bother me, at the end of the days hike I'm not getting out of my tent anyway. I've even got used to the freaky deer fly, which is far more annoying, for me, than the midge. The weather was pretty intense as well on a few days but I'm not sure I'd have it any other way, looking back. I find the feeling of getting into a dry space, after putting your tent up in heavy rain, beautiful.
Great video man ! Loved the background aswell, i'm now looking at the Lofoten Crossing with interest. You missed a great thru-hike that was created 2 years ago by french hikers who thru-hiked in the US and decided to create something similar in france ! It's called the Hexatrek and is approx 3000km long goes from northeastern france along every french moutains (vosges, alpes, pyrenees) right near the spanish border. Highly recommend you to check it out, it's definitely on my bucketlist btw there's a website by the same name with a lot of info
Thanks for this video. I have an addition though: in France wild camping is known as 'bivouac" and is legal between sunset and sunrise, for 1 night, in a small tent. Except in some National Parks (Vanoise) but the reason I like to hike in the French Alps is the possibility to camp almost anywhere you want.
Since I'm from Poland and I'm not a youtuber I will say that in theory there are designated woodland areas for camping, but in practice you can camp almost anywhere - except reserves and national parks. The only thing you can get into trouble is campfire, although many people do it anyway - you just need to accept the risk of paying fine.
In Spain, you can camp from 8pm to 8am in almost everywhere. Some natural parks have their own restriction but it is always free above certain height. Thats because there is a diferent law for camping and spending just one night (which we call ‘pernocta’).
Pernocta can be only in your car/van and as long as no exterior element like tables outside. You definitely cannot do wild camping and personally i have seen people getting a fine for doing so
At the end of the day 80% of the people want to hike in a cheaper country with good infrastructure and choose one of the caminos. Then you have some others that make famous thruhikes in the alps, also with good infrastructure (e.g. E5, Vienna - Nice, Munich - Venice). And then you have a minority that really wants to hike in wilderness, and those go to Scandinavia or East Europe. I think its also good, so those hikes are not crowded and nature is not so much under pressure.
Lots of people do. I'm guessing the video was based on experience in the south (despite claiming it's "Europe") because most of the info is wrong for the Nordics.
Right! I have thru-hiked both Sweden and Norway (there's no "one trail" though, so you choose your own route) and really recommend it if you want a lot of nature and solitude 🤗
Many do it, but Scandinavia is expensive for most Europeans, and the weather and terrain could be challenging for many (and the food, for us Southerners ;-)
in germany, wild camping is not prohibited, per se you are allowed to just walk into a forest and sleep there, but its NOT allowed to: sleep inside national parks, private property or nature preserves use tent or tent pegs pegs, damage the ground, damage any trees or tree bark, to be loud so its prohibited, because there is no way to find any land that no one owns. so you always need to ask for permission
Really unfortunate as the forests here are very beautiful. But it makes sense to have such laws in place when the majority of the land is private in a country this size housing a big population. I'll always just take a trip back home to friends and family back in Canada to scratch my outdoor itch.
Most large forests in Germany are public lands, and bivouacking there shouldn't be a problem. Forest rangers are called "Förster", and they do patrol their region, usually in small jeeps on forest tracks. If you encounter them, or pass by their "Forsthaus", it's a good idea to talk to them, and let them know what you're up to, because they will assume by your gear that you plan to pitch a tent for the night anyways. Unfortunately, they are the type of German less likely to be proficient in English. Even if they seem to be a bit surly, be nice to them... they can ruin your day. Many rural towns and villages have local trail networks, which include picnic spots at which it should be possible to bivouac. Be careful not to draw attention to yourself, and don't leave any traces. If you are in extensive farmlands, talk to the farmers. Some of them even have their own stores, "Hofladen", at which they sell their products. Again, farmers are less likely to be proficient in English... they may seem surly and unapproachable, but if you make the effort, they may well open up, and then you will have a friend for life.
Most German towns have a public "Grillplatz" somewhere, which locals reserve for their outdoor barbeque parties, usually on weekends. During the week, these are great places to tent for a night, because they'll be equipped with tables, water and often with shelters and toilets.
Yes. Same here in France. I wish we could do like Scandinavians. But the truth is, our population is not as 'educated' as we wished. I just did parts of the GR5 in Norte eastern France last week and unfortunately I still see a lot of toilet paper around some spots of the track. I guess these folks believe it will just melt and disappear on the ground with the first rain. Unfortunately, it's not the case. More 'LEAVE NO TRACE' education is necessary! 😢
Not only trails from north to south USA are common, but also many people go from Canada to Argentina in a motorcycle. The entire (longest) continent. It's crazy because it's more common than one would expect.
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.
Nah, some lot of them have charged me unprovoked. 🙂 but pretty rarely though. Most of them are friendly! Still, if your dog is so agressive that he might bite hikers, then he shouldn't be protecting your sheep on public land, where hiking trails pass through... especially a pack of 6-10 agressive dogs. What if I'd be hiking with children and they'd start running away, not knowing any better? Slightly agressive dogs is fine, because they need to be like that to protect their herd. But the problem is that some farmers use completely untrained, agressive ones...
French dog trainer here. Herd guarding dogs are usually untrained. They don't need to be. Instead, they grow up inside their herd and protect them against anything they see as a threat because their herd is basically their family. They are meant to be left unsupervised to protect against predators when the shepherd isn't here too. Sadly, if they don't often see diverse humans while growing up, they will consider us to be threats too. Some people, either not knowing, or because they're scared someone might steal their sheep, will skip that part of the socialisation process of their dogs, and that results in the kind of dogs that can bark and charge at humans, which is really meh of said people in my opinion. Do note that the shepherd is usually not in charge of the protection dogs at all, they're just here to herd the sheep and care for them. The owner of the sheep also owns the protection dogs. That being said, sheep, cattle, and the dogs that protect them, are an essential part of the ecosystem in our mountains, and to some extent, we owe them the same respect we owe wild animals. This is why there are many signs at the start of trails explaining the behaviour expected of hikers around these dogs. We hikers are on their living place, not the other way around, and they're the ones maintaining the mountains ecosystems healthy for us to enjoy in our hikes. Protection dogs should be well socialized to humans, and this isn't done enough, but the proper attitude with a herd is always to go around it with a good margin, protection dogs or not. Someone who hikes in European mountains should be aware of how to behave around said dogs (let them check you if they want to and do as @linabuttner63 explained)
@@OscarHikes It's already good enough that they have guard dogs, when the wolf started coming back many shepherds didn't want to get them, and some still don't have them and lose some animals to the wolves every year. Yes they should be better trained but you have to realize these people live hard lives on the edge of civilization. Most times they don't even own the animals nor the dogs, they're just paid (little) money to herd them. Imo guard dogs are the price we have to pay to maintain the traditional alpine landscape, along wolves and bears. Large carnivores add richness and biodiversity, but they threaten traditional herding and other activities, that if they were abandoned, the woods would invade the pastures and completely change the landscape. If we want both, large carnivores and traditional landscapes we have to accept guard dogs that can be dangerous, like we accept all other dangers inherent to hiking.
@@OscarHikesIf they can attack you unprovoked, you are way to close to their herd. Forget your notion of a nice pooch that sits besides your sofa, these are not the typical house companions you know. These are animals to protect herds from bears and wolfs and two-legged predators. They are where the herd is, you are in THEIR territory. Avoid them. Period.
For anyone chosing Denmark, the very popular Haervejen goes from the northern tip of jutland to the german border and becomes the Oxenweg. There are many campsites along the route and you can fill water at every church.
small detail to consider in most countries that ban wild camping you are totaly allowed to bivac for example you can sleep in the wood in germany using a tarp but not a tent. leaving your place in a mess tho will get you fined up to 10000€ depending on the location and mess you made. Also open fire in a forest and its vicinity (closer than 100m to the treeline) is forbidden not matter what
I'm from Portugal and I want to point out that camping here is different from just laying your tent for one night as needed, this is called "pernoitar". You can "pernoitar" in any area that is not protected by environmental laws or beaches, there are some websites that have maps of these areas.
In Croatia we have the newer thru-hike Croatian Long Distance Trail (CLDT) that goes from the southmost to the westernmost, the northernmost and easternmost points of Croatia. It has a website and an interactive app map! ❤
Just a little comment to say: if you go to Eastern Europe, definitely give Romania a try. A few months ago, I went on a geology field trip to Transylvania with my university, and I fell in love with Romania. The Carpathian mountains are something to behold! There are a lot of pension/small hotels (pensiunea) and around the mountains with low prices, great food and wonderful hospitality for when you need extra comfort after a long hiking day/when the weather is bad. (My personal favourite areas are Ditrău, the Çibin and Făgăraş mountains). And if you come to Belgium, go check out the Via Arduina (a section of the famous pilgrimage route of Santiago de Compostela). You will go through some of the most beautiful places in Belgium, and you can get stamps for each section of the via you complete. People will often cheer you on if you tell them you are doing the "Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle"). It's best to avoid wild camping, tho. And absolutely NO campfire if you do decide to risk it (which I do not recommend). If you go to Flanders, check out the coastline and beautiful cities like Gand or Bruges. A lot of Flemish people speak at least some English (quite a bit more than in Wallonia). Have fun!
Walking in Europe is a cultural experience before it is a sporting challenge, because with the exception of Scandinavia, there is no longer any ‘wilderness’: every place has a history. And culture is also about language and food - even in the mountains, you can easily find cheese and other products to buy. And before Schengen and the Euro, it was much more complicated to travel (not to mention the Iron Curtain).
In Croatia we have a Croatan Long Distance Trail (CLDT) which connects almost whole country, about 2200 km long, designed and made by Nikola Horvat (Tesla) first Croat to hike PCT.
In Poland there are couple of long distance trails, the longest being Główny Szlak Beskidzki (Main Beskidy Trail) going across whole southern part of country. Wildcamping itself wont get you (mostly) in any problems, as long as you are not camping in national parks. Camping in forests is allowed in designated areas... if you want to follow the law. Most of the young people speak english.
I second this. I go wild camping often in the lower Silesia region, in the designated camping zones. Most of the ones I’ve visited are really attractive tourism-wise, and some offer infrastructure, such as roofed shacks and campfire spots. So Poland is alright for wild camping.
I don't agree. In Poland you cannot camp in national parks, except for designated places, but in the rest of the public forests there are many places you can camp. There is even a governmental app that shows you those places on a decent map. People are encouraged to camp in the woods by the governmental project called "Zanocuj w lesie" ("Spend a night in the forest").
Actually few years ago was introduced “zanocuj w lesie” (sleep in the forest) program in Poland and it lets you sleep in the designated areas, theyre set pretty often, so there should be no problem in finding good spot while hiking. However there are plenty of hikers I know that regularly sleep anywhere they want and didn’t get any ticket. I got once “catched” wild camping and just got asked to leave the camp in an hour with no other consequences but it’s rather very rare.
Awesome video. I would definitely enjoy seeing the Bulgarian trails because they are so beautiful, they are cheap out here, and there are generally good conditions for hiking. I would recommend the E3 part in Bulgaria (Kom - Emine), which is crossing it side to side (650 km) all while on top of the longest mountain in the country. Other very good and extremely beautiful routes are the E4 and E8 parts, which are packed with hills and peaks.
Maybe check Croatia Via Adriatica Trail (1100 km) and Croatian Long Distance Trail (CLDT) ( 2200 km) . Mountain ranges, sea, rivers, lakes, 8 national parks and we still have wild animals 😉, bears, wolves, lynxes, boars and all other standard European animals . You want an adventure? Come to Croatia 😊
There are also "refugii" in Romania - unstaffed huts that are free to sleep in, that have some bunks (you need a sleeping bag and mat) and maybe a table. But the same warning applies - it might be full when you arrive, or might be in a bad state because of weather events or people. Usually I carry a tent so I have the option of setting up next to the refugiu, then you also have a place to lock your food overnight.
In Poland we have GSS and GSB. Both are a very long miles. Also is worth to mantion that Camino the santiago di compostela starts almoust ewrywhere in Europe. It can be 100 km or 5k km hike thru all Europe as you want.
A lot of forest/mountains/moors in the UK have some kind of livestock grazing, typically sheep unless you're in the New Forrest in which case it's horses. Sheep will usually ignore you if you ignore them and don't get too close. You need to be more careful around horses, but so long as you act calm and don't spook them, they're fine to be around. I'd never camp in the same field as cows.
In northern sweden/norway you really dont need a water filter. You can just fill your bottle from the small rivers. As long as the water is moving, it is clean. It comes from snow melting in the summer
In Poland Recently there were many allowed camping areas established "Zanocuj w lesie", in some of them you can use gas stove legally, but in general if you're carefull it's unlikely you get fine...
in the Czech Republic there is a difference between camping and camping.. In short, it is legal to sleep anywhere, if it is for one night, you only have a tarp shelter/hammock and you are not allowed to do open fire (There are exceptions ).
Excellent video! One set of trails you haven't mentioned are the European Long-Distance Paths ("E-Paths"), a set of 12 trans-European trails that cross the whole continent. I've been trying to advocate for them as an alternative to the US long-distance trails, because some of them are truly enormous undertakings (the E1, for example, runs from Nordkapp on the northern coast of Norway all the way south through Scandinavia, Denmark, Germany, down through Italy, and eventually to Sicily, a distance of over 7,000km). I've been gradually hiking the E10 in Germany (it runs from Rügen on the Baltic Sea down into Czechia, then across Austria, then meets the E5 in the Italian Alps), and I can confirm everything you've said about the difficulty of camping on the trail here. "Camping" for Germans seems to mean with a caravan or trailer, and the idea of a through-hiker backpacking through seems almost completely alien. But the trails cover such a wide variety of terrain, across such beautiful landscapes, I really wish more people would hike them. Anyway, thanks again for this video, and please keep advocating for long-distance hiking in Europe.
Came to the video to learn something more before a first long thru-hike which I'm going on this summer. Ended the video with few new routes planned... hahah
Hi! Nice video. I started following the channel today. If you return to Italy in future, I recommend paths around Mount Adamello in Northern Italy. Very rocky, wild and with several lakes (ex. Aviolo lake) and many grazing animals. 😅
In picos de europa national park you can overnight with your tent as long as you're over 1600 m and there is a similar law for Pyrenees but over 2.000 m or something.
@@truepaulesko right, and I love Picos de Europa; but I must drive 2'5 hours to go there, and as you said you just can overnight...and there's no many trees to place the tent comfortably as I like. Scottish laws are more flexible with that and I didn't find trash or any clue about their flexibility is wrong.
I'm sad about it too (I live in Germany), but I can also understand it. Looking at the population density here, you can see why this wouldn't work well for the UK or Germany. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_European_Union#/media/File:Population_density_by_NUTS_3_region_(2017).svg Spain some more empty areas but also some heavily populated ones, and it is also a hugely popular tourist destination. And when the numbers get too high, the problem isn't just "trash" but wildfire risk, delicate plants being constantly flattened by tents, and human waste (which not everyone is responsible about). I would love to be able to camp freely, but it's more important to me that the environment is protected.
That's horrible. Imagine the government always needing to know that you are sleeping in a registered accomodation. Spending night in nature should be as much of a fundamental human right as spending day in nature.
What about the "green areas" on the map? I mean, I'm from Hungary, and I know, that here wild camping is pretty much allowed while you stay in one place for less than 24h. And one thing that I want to mention, we have a well maintained and pretty long train here, called "Országos Kék Túra" aka Hungary's National Blue Trail, that I'd recommend for everyone, even if you don't want to spend the night in the wilderness :)
Wild camping is legal in Hungary too, except some areas in the natural parks, but you can not go to most of those areas anyway, dayhikers are also banned to enter.
maybe it's worth looking for pilgramage routes, not just the camino de santiago. they are propably a little crowded in summer time, but there are usually well-maintained. also there are many routes connecting one country with the camino de santiago, so that would make for quite a long thru-hike
3:45 thats not the case here in Norway. Freeze dried food is available pretty much everywhere. Hiking and camping is a huge part of the culture here. 🇳🇴🇸🇯
I've camped next to so much cow poo haha. Thanks for sharing the thru-hike excitement in Europe! Looking forward to do the GR11 with my dog this summer :)
What about the E-ways? Look up the European hiking association for that. In Germany we have a quite new trail from the most northern point to the most southern point called NST (Nord Süd Trail). This one connects about 3300 km of premium hiking trails crisscrossing the country.
dude why you talk about EUROPE and completely miss Central European countries? Like Czech republic and Slovakia have the best trail marking system in whole Europe (it´s not complicated, you cannot get lost there) as well as long distance hikes (in CZ longest trail has 2000km and in Slovakia 770 km). Also Slovakia has around 1200 bears. Worth to mention, don´t get it why u skipped these countries man.
@@mixererunio1757 but this guy Oscar is from Lithuania or Latvia, even smaller country than any Central European country... thats why it pissed me off :D
In Italy you will always pay in a rifugio,and they usually have a restaurant so you can eat. Whereas if you want to sleep for free and cook for yourself what you have to look for Is a bivacco. I think It can be translated into english as bivuac
Wild camping is not allowed in Ireland except some national parks and state forests.If you ask the landowner they may let you. In the National parks you have to be 400 metres from a road, no fires, leave no trace and don't poop near water sources. As for Long distance paths, there are quite a few. The busiest is the Wicklow way.
Note on the language part I'm a polish guy who studied in the Netherlands. English fluency differs from country to country. The Netherlands or Sweden are very chill with English. It is rare to find someone who cannot speak it on a communicative level. In Poland most young people know how to speak English (at least on the basic level). I would assume it is similar in different EU countries.
Anytime I'm going in a country that English is nowhere , I''m downloading the language in Google translate. Also offline maps and change some money when I arrive there if that's not euro. Speaking with a person from that country/area can also help with tips and trips .
Wild camping is only banned in Hungary in nature preserve areas and private property of course. Otherwise you can camp in one place for up to 24 hours.
![[MV] A leap of faith...ความเชื่อใจครั้งสุดท้าย (From "Petrichor the series")](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/U1piZH2CNXA/mqdefault.jpg)
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.
Great info.
Thanks for the great information! Do you know if mountain biking is allowed on trails or in National Parks in general in Slovakia?
@@reb_s in national parks and nature reserves it must be marked as a biking trail otherwise it is illegal. The rest is more or less legally accessible. Just be aware that if you want to go bikepacking, some marked bike paths in Slovakia have not always high quality surface as it is e.g. in Austria and especially in the mountains it may be steep so be prepared to push some segments.
PS: a hidden treasure of Slovakia is inland Danube delta with a system of distributaries, just be prepared for knee deep wading through levees between islands.
Man big respect that you took the time to type all that to share your information! much appreciated
@@Cassadin1883 Happy to help! There's not much our tiny Slovakia can offer to the world, but I believe our mountains and nature are worth seeing.
If my little comment helps some people to come and explore our country, I'll be super happy!
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
true, if I may add, usually national parks also add the rule that you must be at least 1 hour hike from inhabited area. This to avoid crowding the surroundings
Not allowed in many National Parks though. In which case usually it's still allowed next to the refuges.
Exactly- I hiked across France and bivouac is accepted nearly everywhere!
Same in Switzerland....
Even in the heavily regulated ones (La Vanoise for instance) you can use your tent just next to the reguges. They have dedicated areas next to the cabin and you may have to pay a few euros for the spot
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.
Correct for the one in the Netherlands!
As a Canadian living in Germany for about a decade now, I found this out the hard way... and damn I miss the Canadian wilderness for anything outdoors haha on the other hand, most all EU cities are beautiful though
@@ZoominRacoon I've never been to Canada but I sooo badly want to go hiking there! It just looks stunning.
@@ZoominRacoon go hike in the nordics
@@ZoominRacoon There are some places you can hike like that. I know of the forststeig in Saxonia/Bohemian Swiss. 100k with only 1 town.
But then again: it is nothing compared to Canada.
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.
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.
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.
Great video. TH-cam is saturated with PCT/AT/CDT videos, it’s great to see Europe getting some love ❤
The PCT/AT/CDT are great if you like hiking with half a million other hikers on the same trail at any given time... Trails in Sweden kick North America's ass - especially the Kungsleden...
@@FunkteonExcept Kungsleden is like the most popular mountain trail in all of Sweden. If you want more of a wilderness experience there are plenty of better trails than Kungsleden, for instance Nordkalottleden/Nordkalottruta, Lapplandsleden and even Södra Kungsleden might do. Depending on when and where on those trails you hike there will be more/less people.
I hiked the hexatrek across France after hiking the PCT and enjoyed hiking in France more !
@@unmercifulfate Except Sweden has the same population as downtown Manhattan across a country that is the size of a few US states, so even though it is popular for Sweden, you can still go days without seeing another hiker, unlike the trails in North America which have a fucken gas station every 30 miles at most, and hundreds of hikers on every section of trail.
@@FunkteonSure, but Kungsleden is still not a great choice if you want more of a wilderness experience 😊 But maybe if you come from the US or any other crowded country, one might consider Kungsleden to be the wilderness. But there are both quite a lot of people (comparatively with other mountain trails) as well as lots of huts.
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.
an advice from me, a brewmaster/beverage producer: Don't re-use soft plastic bottles. They are meant for single-use as the microplastics get into the liquid because of the constant squashing. I'd recommend to use the hard plastic bottles instead. They are meant for a couple of re-uses.
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....
Oh. I'm German and I didn't even know that! I'm going to do the Eifel Steig this summer. 313 km. My first hike that requires a bit of planning. Wish me luck 😅
@@raraavis7782 viel Spaß ✨
@@raraavis7782 Gutes Gelingen und viel Spaß
Interessant, kannte ich bisher noch nicht. Vielen Dank für den Kommentar!
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.
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.
absolutely a great advice, i am a member of the italian CAI and it's a very good idea to join one of them, less important for smaller hikes but for thruhiking is very important.
And don't forget the ticks....
@@RoadDestination yes, but they are not as dangerous as some believe. Or I have always been lucky.
I have gotten A LOT of ticks, just twenty last summer, and every year I get some. And my family also. I have never known anyone personally with diseases from ticks.
Some of my less outdoor loving friends are absolutely scared of ticks and panicked when they discovered they got them and they went to the hospital thinking it was a big deal when it really wasn't.
We remove them with a drop of hand sanitizer and after a couple minutes with tweezers, you must be careful with removing them.
I have gotten good at removing ticks and in the high risk weeks I use bug deterrent.
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.
Sounds fantastic!
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
Thank you so much for writing this comment. It was what was meant for me in this comment section. Now I know where I will go hiking thanks to you!
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.
?? If ur visiting a foreign country its common courtesy to try to learn their language. U cant go to a country that doesnt speak english and then complain when they talk to you in their language lol. I know alo of eastern people that learn languages of countries they are visitng yet most of the toursits that visit eastern countries insist on speaking english or their mother langauge.
Except my aunt Megan Jones, she hate the English! So dont speak Cambridge like English!
German Scottish Irish or Dutch accent are preferred!
Angry because Thatcher closed the Welsh coalmines and lose her job!
A very famous day hike in the Netherlands
Holward to Ameland!
No trail no marks!
Some emergency cabins with a 15m robe ladder!
A very heavy 4 5 hour guided day hike
Without a guide, your insurance can not like getting a bill from Royal Dutch Airforce or Coast Guard!
Yes walking from Holward Harbor to the Island Ameland in low tide!
@@n1tronithey could try German French or Polska
Or Jiddisch in Amsterdam/ Antwerpen dont speak Hebrew if you dont know them
Ultra Orthodoxe Jews are commly pro Palestijn
It's a bit rude to go to a country and not bother learning at least some basics of the local language(s). It isn't difficult to learn to say hello, ask for directions or say a quick thank you. That little effort can be the difference between annoying the locals and making a valuable friend. You're a guest in their home, act like it.
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.
In Hungary you can wild camp, exception is private properties (fence or sign) and protected areas. If you are normal and just setting up a tent for a day, no one will brother you anyway.
Rifugi (singular rifugio) are usually paid for. Bivouac shelters, which are more stripped down, are usually free.
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.
I was surprised there wasn't more focus on Scandinavia and Finland too. They are so wild and beautiful; I always go hiking there when I can. Conversely, I only do day hikes or short hikes (or otherwise hut tours in the Alps) in Germany where I live because for me it's not worth it to me to carry a heavy pack of camping gear just to spend weeks walking through farmland and villages and towns.
In Norway you have many routes to Trondheim called "Pilegrimsleden", old routes used by religious people when walking to the Nidarosdomen.
Yeah, I really was surprised that he didn't show the pilgrim routes to Trondheim.
The problem:
Cold muskitos and social awkward hillbillies and grey old grumpy altlright people on the countryside if there are some left
Will have to disagree with not understanding English. I have no experience with Eastern Europe, but Northern and central Europe, practically everyone speaks good English. Southern Europe can be a bit more of a challenge but usually you can get around pretty easily as a tourist. Also, the trails in Scandinavia are gorgeous. Not sure why those are not included. I’ve done Kungsleden (Sweden 450 km) and Nordkalottleden (Sweden/Finland/Norway, 750 km) in the last few years and they are gorgeous and remote. Massiv is Norway is next on the list ☺️
There's also Skåneleden in southern Sweden. It's fantastic, 1250km in total, most of it is very well kept and there are some simple shelters along the way. Fly into Copenhagen, come by train to Malmö and you can set off from there.
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.
Yup, pretty much the case here. Hiking, camping, and fire making is allowed almost anywhere. And the mountain trails are spectacular
In Poland there is "Zanocuj w lesie" program, which allows you to camp legally in certain forests, and there are a few long distance trails up to 500km (longest is Main Beskid Trail)
Adding to that, many polish people camp in wild, outside of those designated forests. I do not encourage this. Anyway if you apply to "leave no trace", there shouldn't be a problem.
It's a shame so many European countries don't allow people to sleep outside of their own home or designated areas. It should be a human right to be able to sleep in nature, that's what we're made for. As a Norwegian I got so shocked the first time I heard all countries don't have a version of allemannsretten.
GSB nie jest najdłuższym szlakiem w Polsce. Najdłuższy jaki znalazłam ma prawie 1000 km. A pomiędzy nim a GSB jest jeszcze kilka innych.
@@annakrzyminska8033 napisz jak się nazywa ten najdłuższy, który znalazłaś.
Overnight camping is legal in Poland. The map that he posted is wrong, it's definitely not strictly prohibited, it should be yellow or orange. It's illegal to do it in forests or on the beach (outside of designated places of course), though the rule isn't enforced in practice, and the most that you can get is either the forest ranger telling you to move, or rarely a small fine.
It's illegal in national parks and natural reserves, but those aren't common.
10:00 I wish you'd mentioned NPL (Norge På Langs), or Norway Lengthwise. About 3000 km and 53km of total elevation gain in ~100 days. It's my dream trip. It goes through a lot of varied terrain and several mountain ranges/plateaus (Hardangervidda, Jotunheimen, Rondane, Trollheimen og Saltfjellet.)
For anyone who is interested in the nordic countries there is also a 800 km long trail called Nordkalottruta (Nordkalotleden in Swedish or Kalottireitti in Finnish) which spans through Northern Norway, Sweden and Finland.
The Pennine Way is what kickstarted my interest in backpacking - I'm American but worked for a company in Manchester for 2 years back in 2018-2020, and taking the train down to the Peak District became a favorite weekend activity when the weather was favorable, and I stumbled on the southern terminus of it and saw some wild campers starting the trek! It brought up old memories of seeing signs about the Superior Hiking Trail when I was a teen in Minnesota, and I got interested again in the people who were walking these super long trails, day after day. A few AT logs on youtube and info gathering later, I've done over a dozen 1-3 night mini trips, and am looking to do a shorter thru-hike for the first time this autumn!
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.
In italy, you can actually put a tent, but only in mountains from 20:00 to 8:00 only to sleep, out of parc areas. In this way it wont be considered camping but only "bivacco notturno" and it will be permitted, but as always no fire
Do Not forget the NST in Germany, a newer thru-hike of mire than 3000 km similar to the Appalachian Trail system...
Scotland also has many mountain huts called "bothies". These refuges are used on a leave them as you find them (or better!) basis with no charge . Given the way in which Scottish weather can turn very wild very quickly, knowing the location of bothies in the area might be a good idea even if you are on a self-sufficient camping trip with all the gear. The Mountain Bothies Association keeps many of these huts maintained. And yes Scotland does have right-to-roam (and camp) laws much like in Scandinavia.
In Poland, since a few years, there is a national program allowing wild camping in many parts of the National Forest aerial.
Formally, in Poland there is no ban on pitching tents "in the wild", i.e. outside campsites. In practice, however, the problem with such camping results from the fact that the land always belongs to someone, and the owner has the right to independently decide whether it is admissible to pitch a tent on it.
Have a look to the Hexatrek 3034 km in France.
Did that one last year- incredible!
'Bivouac' is allowed in the french pyrenees and alps, provided it's a 1 person tent, you set up after sunset and leave at sunrise, and are away from buildings.
I think the MASSIV trail in Norway definitely deserves mention on this list, as it's Norway's first thru hike!
The question is though, what is the difference between a thru-hike and a regular trail? To me, MassIV is quite short, so should it really be considered a thru-hike?
If Norge på langs was a proper trail I'd say that is more of a thru-hike.
@@unmercifulfate it's tricky because the definition is undefined, but the MASSIV is actually listed as a thru hike. Because of the tough terrain and often terrible weather, it takes a month to hike. There are people who complete it in less time, but only if they pack super light and stay at the dnt cabins the whole way and don't have to carry food or any shelter. Otherwise, if you're wild camping and making your own meals, it's an absolute slog of a hike with atrocious weather. It definitely takes longer than the advertised time for folks who are roughing it
@Tarahhh By that definition I guess Kungsleden and Nordkalottruta should also count, since they are also quite demanding (but not quite as demanding as MASSIV I admit) since they are longer, and I'm sure some people do count them, but in my opinion it feels strange to count trails that don't either go through a whole country, or are at least 1000 km long.
If it takes you a whole month you would have to be fairly slow (12 km per day) even if you hike with a full pack (which definitely doesn't have to be super heavy even packed with food and a tent. My backpack for hiking through all of Norway weighed about ~10-16 kg and I don't by any means pack ultralight).
If you only eat food in the cabins and don't carry a tent you could have a reeeaally nice backpack weight though 😀
I get what you mean about it being tough, but we did almost the whole MASSIV as part of our Norge på langs hike in the second half in September which absolutely don't have favourable weather. That combination together with it be veeeery rocky and lots of elevation made it tough. But one month feels a little bit like an exaggeration unless you're untrained and carry 25+ kg (which is totally unnecessary with today's good gear).
But I feel like trails that could count as thru-hikes would be like the E-trails that span the whole Europe, as well as some other long trails like the Camino (if you combine the different ones) and Hexatrek, or CLDT.
But as you say, it's difficult since it doesn't have a set definition 😊
@@Tarahhh 'an absolute slog of a hike with atrocious weather'
Man, you really know how to sell this one ;)
Great video! Nice that you give thru hiking in Europe some space on youtube. To be honest hiking is extrem popular here, but more on a weekend basis than as a multi weeks trip. My parents do 20-30km every weekend since i was a little child.
I did some of the hikes you named and I really want to point out the GR20. What a beauty!
Kind regards from Germany.
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.
You also have the Skye Trail and the Great Glen Way. Did the West Highland Way last year and had a blast. Was planning on one day visiting my aunt in Inverness and then doing the Great Glen Way and the CWT. You've got a beautiful beautiful country.
@@RoomRar We are lucky. The list of trails is quite large and too many for one post. The website Walk Highlands has the full list.
Great in theory but 80% shit weather and smidges ruin it.
@@akswiff The smidge gets rid of the midge. As it is, Midge season is May to September. April is a good month to go.
Weather? Fair weather hiker?
It isn't non stop rain. Past month had some great hiking weather and a wee bit of rain doesn't hurt anyone.
@@BrokenBackMountains Did the CWT last August. Midges don't really bother me, at the end of the days hike I'm not getting out of my tent anyway. I've even got used to the freaky deer fly, which is far more annoying, for me, than the midge. The weather was pretty intense as well on a few days but I'm not sure I'd have it any other way, looking back. I find the feeling of getting into a dry space, after putting your tent up in heavy rain, beautiful.
The Baltic Forest and Coast Trails are also good options. They are easy and a great option for beginners to get into thru hiking.
For a few years now we have a trail that goes around the whole country its named Via Czechia long 2000km.
Via Czechia is shit, Stezka Českem is the real deal.
@@stonoczit’s the same thing 😂
Great video man ! Loved the background aswell, i'm now looking at the Lofoten Crossing with interest. You missed a great thru-hike that was created 2 years ago by french hikers who thru-hiked in the US and decided to create something similar in france ! It's called the Hexatrek and is approx 3000km long goes from northeastern france along every french moutains (vosges, alpes, pyrenees) right near the spanish border.
Highly recommend you to check it out, it's definitely on my bucketlist
btw there's a website by the same name with a lot of info
Such a great trail! I hiked it last year and loved it 😊
Thanks for this video. I have an addition though: in France wild camping is known as 'bivouac" and is legal between sunset and sunrise, for 1 night, in a small tent. Except in some National Parks (Vanoise) but the reason I like to hike in the French Alps is the possibility to camp almost anywhere you want.
Since I'm from Poland and I'm not a youtuber I will say that in theory there are designated woodland areas for camping, but in practice you can camp almost anywhere - except reserves and national parks. The only thing you can get into trouble is campfire, although many people do it anyway - you just need to accept the risk of paying fine.
In Spain, you can camp from 8pm to 8am in almost everywhere. Some natural parks have their own restriction but it is always free above certain height. Thats because there is a diferent law for camping and spending just one night (which we call ‘pernocta’).
I read that camping wild is totally illegal and a 2500€ euro fine waits for you.
Pernocta can be only in your car/van and as long as no exterior element like tables outside. You definitely cannot do wild camping and personally i have seen people getting a fine for doing so
I don't know why more people isn't hiking Norway and Sweden. Such beautiful nature. Hiking Norway from South to North is my next goal.
At the end of the day 80% of the people want to hike in a cheaper country with good infrastructure and choose one of the caminos. Then you have some others that make famous thruhikes in the alps, also with good infrastructure (e.g. E5, Vienna - Nice, Munich - Venice). And then you have a minority that really wants to hike in wilderness, and those go to Scandinavia or East Europe. I think its also good, so those hikes are not crowded and nature is not so much under pressure.
Lots of people do. I'm guessing the video was based on experience in the south (despite claiming it's "Europe") because most of the info is wrong for the Nordics.
Right! I have thru-hiked both Sweden and Norway (there's no "one trail" though, so you choose your own route) and really recommend it if you want a lot of nature and solitude 🤗
Lots of people do. I feel like most Germans who do longer hiking tours usually to do so in Sweden or Norway.
Many do it, but Scandinavia is expensive for most Europeans, and the weather and terrain could be challenging for many (and the food, for us Southerners ;-)
in germany, wild camping is not prohibited, per se
you are allowed to just walk into a forest and sleep there, but its NOT allowed to:
sleep inside national parks, private property or nature preserves
use tent or tent pegs pegs, damage the ground, damage any trees or tree bark, to be loud
so its prohibited, because there is no way to find any land that no one owns. so you always need to ask for permission
Really unfortunate as the forests here are very beautiful. But it makes sense to have such laws in place when the majority of the land is private in a country this size housing a big population. I'll always just take a trip back home to friends and family back in Canada to scratch my outdoor itch.
Most large forests in Germany are public lands, and bivouacking there shouldn't be a problem. Forest rangers are called "Förster", and they do patrol their region, usually in small jeeps on forest tracks. If you encounter them, or pass by their "Forsthaus", it's a good idea to talk to them, and let them know what you're up to, because they will assume by your gear that you plan to pitch a tent for the night anyways. Unfortunately, they are the type of German less likely to be proficient in English. Even if they seem to be a bit surly, be nice to them... they can ruin your day. Many rural towns and villages have local trail networks, which include picnic spots at which it should be possible to bivouac. Be careful not to draw attention to yourself, and don't leave any traces. If you are in extensive farmlands, talk to the farmers. Some of them even have their own stores, "Hofladen", at which they sell their products. Again, farmers are less likely to be proficient in English... they may seem surly and unapproachable, but if you make the effort, they may well open up, and then you will have a friend for life.
Most German towns have a public "Grillplatz" somewhere, which locals reserve for their outdoor barbeque parties, usually on weekends. During the week, these are great places to tent for a night, because they'll be equipped with tables, water and often with shelters and toilets.
Yes. Same here in France. I wish we could do like Scandinavians. But the truth is, our population is not as 'educated' as we wished. I just did parts of the GR5 in Norte eastern France last week and unfortunately I still see a lot of toilet paper around some spots of the track. I guess these folks believe it will just melt and disappear on the ground with the first rain. Unfortunately, it's not the case. More 'LEAVE NO TRACE' education is necessary! 😢
Saw the same on the GR34 in Brittany and GR223 in Manche. Shame as there were toilets in most villages and elsewhere you could bury or carry out.
Not too uncommon in Sweden either, especially in forests or along popular trails. In particular where people often camp.
Not only trails from north to south USA are common, but also many people go from Canada to Argentina in a motorcycle. The entire (longest) continent. It's crazy because it's more common than one would expect.
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.
Nah, some lot of them have charged me unprovoked. 🙂 but pretty rarely though. Most of them are friendly! Still, if your dog is so agressive that he might bite hikers, then he shouldn't be protecting your sheep on public land, where hiking trails pass through... especially a pack of 6-10 agressive dogs. What if I'd be hiking with children and they'd start running away, not knowing any better? Slightly agressive dogs is fine, because they need to be like that to protect their herd. But the problem is that some farmers use completely untrained, agressive ones...
French dog trainer here.
Herd guarding dogs are usually untrained. They don't need to be. Instead, they grow up inside their herd and protect them against anything they see as a threat because their herd is basically their family. They are meant to be left unsupervised to protect against predators when the shepherd isn't here too. Sadly, if they don't often see diverse humans while growing up, they will consider us to be threats too.
Some people, either not knowing, or because they're scared someone might steal their sheep, will skip that part of the socialisation process of their dogs, and that results in the kind of dogs that can bark and charge at humans, which is really meh of said people in my opinion.
Do note that the shepherd is usually not in charge of the protection dogs at all, they're just here to herd the sheep and care for them. The owner of the sheep also owns the protection dogs.
That being said, sheep, cattle, and the dogs that protect them, are an essential part of the ecosystem in our mountains, and to some extent, we owe them the same respect we owe wild animals. This is why there are many signs at the start of trails explaining the behaviour expected of hikers around these dogs. We hikers are on their living place, not the other way around, and they're the ones maintaining the mountains ecosystems healthy for us to enjoy in our hikes.
Protection dogs should be well socialized to humans, and this isn't done enough, but the proper attitude with a herd is always to go around it with a good margin, protection dogs or not. Someone who hikes in European mountains should be aware of how to behave around said dogs (let them check you if they want to and do as @linabuttner63 explained)
@@OscarHikes It's already good enough that they have guard dogs, when the wolf started coming back many shepherds didn't want to get them, and some still don't have them and lose some animals to the wolves every year. Yes they should be better trained but you have to realize these people live hard lives on the edge of civilization. Most times they don't even own the animals nor the dogs, they're just paid (little) money to herd them. Imo guard dogs are the price we have to pay to maintain the traditional alpine landscape, along wolves and bears. Large carnivores add richness and biodiversity, but they threaten traditional herding and other activities, that if they were abandoned, the woods would invade the pastures and completely change the landscape. If we want both, large carnivores and traditional landscapes we have to accept guard dogs that can be dangerous, like we accept all other dangers inherent to hiking.
@@OscarHikesIf they can attack you unprovoked, you are way to close to their herd. Forget your notion of a nice pooch that sits besides your sofa, these are not the typical house companions you know. These are animals to protect herds from bears and wolfs and two-legged predators. They are where the herd is, you are in THEIR territory.
Avoid them. Period.
For anyone chosing Denmark, the very popular Haervejen goes from the northern tip of jutland to the german border and becomes the Oxenweg. There are many campsites along the route and you can fill water at every church.
small detail to consider in most countries that ban wild camping you are totaly allowed to bivac for example you can sleep in the wood in germany using a tarp but not a tent. leaving your place in a mess tho will get you fined up to 10000€ depending on the location and mess you made. Also open fire in a forest and its vicinity (closer than 100m to the treeline) is forbidden not matter what
I'm from Portugal and I want to point out that camping here is different from just laying your tent for one night as needed, this is called "pernoitar". You can "pernoitar" in any area that is not protected by environmental laws or beaches, there are some websites that have maps of these areas.
In Croatia we have the newer thru-hike Croatian Long Distance Trail (CLDT) that goes from the southmost to the westernmost, the northernmost and easternmost points of Croatia. It has a website and an interactive app map! ❤
Just a little comment to say: if you go to Eastern Europe, definitely give Romania a try. A few months ago, I went on a geology field trip to Transylvania with my university, and I fell in love with Romania. The Carpathian mountains are something to behold! There are a lot of pension/small hotels (pensiunea) and around the mountains with low prices, great food and wonderful hospitality for when you need extra comfort after a long hiking day/when the weather is bad. (My personal favourite areas are Ditrău, the Çibin and Făgăraş mountains).
And if you come to Belgium, go check out the Via Arduina (a section of the famous pilgrimage route of Santiago de Compostela). You will go through some of the most beautiful places in Belgium, and you can get stamps for each section of the via you complete. People will often cheer you on if you tell them you are doing the "Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle"). It's best to avoid wild camping, tho. And absolutely NO campfire if you do decide to risk it (which I do not recommend).
If you go to Flanders, check out the coastline and beautiful cities like Gand or Bruges. A lot of Flemish people speak at least some English (quite a bit more than in Wallonia).
Have fun!
Walking in Europe is a cultural experience before it is a sporting challenge, because with the exception of Scandinavia, there is no longer any ‘wilderness’: every place has a history. And culture is also about language and food - even in the mountains, you can easily find cheese and other products to buy.
And before Schengen and the Euro, it was much more complicated to travel (not to mention the Iron Curtain).
In Croatia we have a Croatan Long Distance Trail (CLDT) which connects almost whole country, about 2200 km long, designed and made by Nikola Horvat (Tesla) first Croat to hike PCT.
SNP Trail - from Dukla to Devin castle (768km in Slovakia)
In Poland there are couple of long distance trails, the longest being Główny Szlak Beskidzki (Main Beskidy Trail) going across whole southern part of country. Wildcamping itself wont get you (mostly) in any problems, as long as you are not camping in national parks. Camping in forests is allowed in designated areas... if you want to follow the law. Most of the young people speak english.
I second this. I go wild camping often in the lower Silesia region, in the designated camping zones. Most of the ones I’ve visited are really attractive tourism-wise, and some offer infrastructure, such as roofed shacks and campfire spots. So Poland is alright for wild camping.
LOL 2:50 I was a guest there for one night, very nice hut. :D great work Oscar
Yeah that one was definitely top 5 on the GR11!
Brought back memories seeing the baguette :D I hiked through Spain (GR11 east-west and the continued to Santiago) and my breakfast was exactly that.
I don't agree. In Poland you cannot camp in national parks, except for designated places, but in the rest of the public forests there are many places you can camp. There is even a governmental app that shows you those places on a decent map. People are encouraged to camp in the woods by the governmental project called "Zanocuj w lesie" ("Spend a night in the forest").
There is also the Via Dinarica, a thru hike that crosses 5 countries in the Balcans! You should check it out :)
Actually few years ago was introduced “zanocuj w lesie” (sleep in the forest) program in Poland and it lets you sleep in the designated areas, theyre set pretty often, so there should be no problem in finding good spot while hiking. However there are plenty of hikers I know that regularly sleep anywhere they want and didn’t get any ticket. I got once “catched” wild camping and just got asked to leave the camp in an hour with no other consequences but it’s rather very rare.
Will be doing the Padjelantaleden this year, probably ordering a customized poster afterwards!
Awesome video. I would definitely enjoy seeing the Bulgarian trails because they are so beautiful, they are cheap out here, and there are generally good conditions for hiking. I would recommend the E3 part in Bulgaria (Kom - Emine), which is crossing it side to side (650 km) all while on top of the longest mountain in the country. Other very good and extremely beautiful routes are the E4 and E8 parts, which are packed with hills and peaks.
Maybe check Croatia Via Adriatica Trail (1100 km) and Croatian Long Distance Trail (CLDT) ( 2200 km) . Mountain ranges, sea, rivers, lakes, 8 national parks and we still have wild animals 😉, bears, wolves, lynxes, boars and all other standard European animals . You want an adventure? Come to Croatia 😊
There are also "refugii" in Romania - unstaffed huts that are free to sleep in, that have some bunks (you need a sleeping bag and mat) and maybe a table. But the same warning applies - it might be full when you arrive, or might be in a bad state because of weather events or people. Usually I carry a tent so I have the option of setting up next to the refugiu, then you also have a place to lock your food overnight.
🐝Thanks for the great video🌻 Love the europe ways!!!
In Poland we have GSS and GSB. Both are a very long miles. Also is worth to mantion that Camino the santiago di compostela starts almoust ewrywhere in Europe. It can be 100 km or 5k km hike thru all Europe as you want.
A lot of forest/mountains/moors in the UK have some kind of livestock grazing, typically sheep unless you're in the New Forrest in which case it's horses. Sheep will usually ignore you if you ignore them and don't get too close. You need to be more careful around horses, but so long as you act calm and don't spook them, they're fine to be around. I'd never camp in the same field as cows.
In northern sweden/norway you really dont need a water filter. You can just fill your bottle from the small rivers. As long as the water is moving, it is clean. It comes from snow melting in the summer
Wild camping is not ban in France. It a regulated in some parks... From 7 to 7 you can use your tent unless you are in a specific park that bans it.
In Poland Recently there were many allowed camping areas established "Zanocuj w lesie", in some of them you can use gas stove legally, but in general if you're carefull it's unlikely you get fine...
The availability of baguette, rillettes, cheese and cornichon almost everywhere in France is highly underrated.
in the Czech Republic there is a difference between camping and camping.. In short, it is legal to sleep anywhere, if it is for one night, you only have a tarp shelter/hammock and you are not allowed to do open fire (There are exceptions ).
Excellent video! One set of trails you haven't mentioned are the European Long-Distance Paths ("E-Paths"), a set of 12 trans-European trails that cross the whole continent. I've been trying to advocate for them as an alternative to the US long-distance trails, because some of them are truly enormous undertakings (the E1, for example, runs from Nordkapp on the northern coast of Norway all the way south through Scandinavia, Denmark, Germany, down through Italy, and eventually to Sicily, a distance of over 7,000km).
I've been gradually hiking the E10 in Germany (it runs from Rügen on the Baltic Sea down into Czechia, then across Austria, then meets the E5 in the Italian Alps), and I can confirm everything you've said about the difficulty of camping on the trail here. "Camping" for Germans seems to mean with a caravan or trailer, and the idea of a through-hiker backpacking through seems almost completely alien.
But the trails cover such a wide variety of terrain, across such beautiful landscapes, I really wish more people would hike them.
Anyway, thanks again for this video, and please keep advocating for long-distance hiking in Europe.
In the uk we have bothies that are free to stay mountain houses etc like you describe they are very few tho
Came to the video to learn something more before a first long thru-hike which I'm going on this summer. Ended the video with few new routes planned... hahah
Hi! Nice video. I started following the channel today. If you return to Italy in future, I recommend paths around Mount Adamello in Northern Italy. Very rocky, wild and with several lakes (ex. Aviolo lake) and many grazing animals. 😅
Thanks and the area looks great! I live in Abruzzo, so I will definitely check it out someday!
@@OscarHikes were you at Campo Imperatore during the filming of the video?
Here in Spain laws are awful. We must practice "stealth camping" to avoid autorities; just for enjoying the nature. It's sad af.
In picos de europa national park you can overnight with your tent as long as you're over 1600 m and there is a similar law for Pyrenees but over 2.000 m or something.
@@truepaulesko right, and I love Picos de Europa; but I must drive 2'5 hours to go there, and as you said you just can overnight...and there's no many trees to place the tent comfortably as I like. Scottish laws are more flexible with that and I didn't find trash or any clue about their flexibility is wrong.
Same here in Germany.
I'm sad about it too (I live in Germany), but I can also understand it. Looking at the population density here, you can see why this wouldn't work well for the UK or Germany.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_European_Union#/media/File:Population_density_by_NUTS_3_region_(2017).svg
Spain some more empty areas but also some heavily populated ones, and it is also a hugely popular tourist destination. And when the numbers get too high, the problem isn't just "trash" but wildfire risk, delicate plants being constantly flattened by tents, and human waste (which not everyone is responsible about). I would love to be able to camp freely, but it's more important to me that the environment is protected.
That's horrible. Imagine the government always needing to know that you are sleeping in a registered accomodation. Spending night in nature should be as much of a fundamental human right as spending day in nature.
Oooh really excited for the recipe video!
You missed Nordkalottleden that is a 800 km long distance trail in northern Finland Sweden and Norway (Which I plan to walk this fall) =)
Poland allows wild camping in very many locations maintained by the National Forestry Department -- in fact, they kind of encourage it.
What about the "green areas" on the map? I mean, I'm from Hungary, and I know, that here wild camping is pretty much allowed while you stay in one place for less than 24h.
And one thing that I want to mention, we have a well maintained and pretty long train here, called "Országos Kék Túra" aka Hungary's National Blue Trail, that I'd recommend for everyone, even if you don't want to spend the night in the wilderness :)
Wild camping is legal in Hungary too, except some areas in the natural parks, but you can not go to most of those areas anyway, dayhikers are also banned to enter.
10:05
I'm surprised that you didn't list more Norwegian trails, we have so, so many.
Guys in italy there is path called sentiero italia that goes through every region of Italy, from north to south.
maybe it's worth looking for pilgramage routes, not just the camino de santiago. they are propably a little crowded in summer time, but there are usually well-maintained. also there are many routes connecting one country with the camino de santiago, so that would make for quite a long thru-hike
You can hike all the way around the coast of Wales. And there is Offas Dyke
3:45 thats not the case here in Norway. Freeze dried food is available pretty much everywhere. Hiking and camping is a huge part of the culture here. 🇳🇴🇸🇯
I've camped next to so much cow poo haha. Thanks for sharing the thru-hike excitement in Europe! Looking forward to do the GR11 with my dog this summer :)
What about the E-ways? Look up the European hiking association for that. In Germany we have a quite new trail from the most northern point to the most southern point called NST (Nord Süd Trail). This one connects about 3300 km of premium hiking trails crisscrossing the country.
Add the Hexatrek with 3034km thru-hike trail. Wissembourg to Hendaye :) Am walking stage 1.
dude why you talk about EUROPE and completely miss Central European countries? Like Czech republic and Slovakia have the best trail marking system in whole Europe (it´s not complicated, you cannot get lost there) as well as long distance hikes (in CZ longest trail has 2000km and in Slovakia 770 km). Also Slovakia has around 1200 bears. Worth to mention, don´t get it why u skipped these countries man.
Muricans when thinking "Europe" think France+UK+Germany+Italy+Spain. If they are adventurous maybe Scandinavia.
It's nothing new...
@@mixererunio1757 but this guy Oscar is from Lithuania or Latvia, even smaller country than any Central European country... thats why it pissed me off :D
nice, do more about europe cominnity
You mean cumyewknittee?
In Italy you will always pay in a rifugio,and they usually have a restaurant so you can eat. Whereas if you want to sleep for free and cook for yourself what you have to look for Is a bivacco. I think It can be translated into english as bivuac
Wild camping is not allowed in Ireland except some national parks and state forests.If you ask the landowner they may let you.
In the National parks you have to be 400 metres from a road, no fires, leave no trace and don't poop near water sources.
As for Long distance paths, there are quite a few. The busiest is the Wicklow way.
I hiked few years in europe but this year i tried something new and went to himalayas nepal and oh boy its much better overall for me
Note on the language part
I'm a polish guy who studied in the Netherlands. English fluency differs from country to country.
The Netherlands or Sweden are very chill with English. It is rare to find someone who cannot speak it on a communicative level.
In Poland most young people know how to speak English (at least on the basic level). I would assume it is similar in different EU countries.
Anytime I'm going in a country that English is nowhere , I''m downloading the language in Google translate. Also offline maps and change some money when I arrive there if that's not euro. Speaking with a person from that country/area can also help with tips and trips .
Off on my first proper ling distance walk this year in may
The Cambrian way 300miles across wales ❤
Wild camping is only banned in Hungary in nature preserve areas and private property of course. Otherwise you can camp in one place for up to 24 hours.