Pilgrimage Trails

St Cuthbert’s Way links Melrose Abbey to Holy Island over 100 km, mixing riverside, farmland, woodland, moorland, hills and coast in a moderate five-day point-to-point pilgrimage.

The Borders Abbeys Way is an abbey-focused Scottish loop, linking Melrose, Dryburgh, Kelso and Jedburgh Abbeys over 109 km through riverside lowland, farmland, woodland and rough high ground.

This Lucca-to-Siena section distils the medieval Via Francigena into a 7-day Tuscan pilgrimage, with rolling hills, vineyards, olive groves, woodland and clay fields at a moderate walking grade.

The Pilgrims’ Way follows a classic English cathedral-to-cathedral line, covering 214 km from Winchester to Canterbury through forest, hills and farmland over a standard 15-day schedule.

The GR65, or Le Puy Camino, is a major French Way of St James: 735 km from Le Puy-en-Velay to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port across plateau, hills, forest and river valleys.

The Nakahechi Route is a compact but hard Japanese pilgrimage: 70 km over mountainous forest terrain on the Kii Peninsula, usually walked in four days by hikers wanting a serious historic route.

The Via di Francesco earns its place as a demanding central Italian pilgrimage, running about 500 km from the Sanctuary of La Verna to Rome through mountainous, forest, valley, rural and urban terrain.

The Cistercian Way is a vast Welsh monastic circuit: 969 km linking all 16 medieval Cistercian houses plus modern successor communities, across coast, upland, farmland, valleys and mountain ranges.

The Caminho Português gives Camino walkers a full 620 km approach from Lisbon Cathedral to Santiago, with moderate walking through forest, woodland, farmland, vineyards and rolling terrain.

Tóchar Phádraig is short but intense: a 35 km County Mayo pilgrim path from Ballintubber Abbey to Croagh Patrick’s summit, graded hard for its mountainous finish.

This Bulgarian route offers a one-day monastery pilgrimage from Rila Monastery into the Rilska River valley, climbing through forest and mountains to hermitage sites on a 13 km out-and-back walk.

St. Olav’s Way brings a northern European pilgrim tradition into a 580 km, 30-day journey from Selanger near Sundsvall to Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, crossing forest, lakes, mountains and farmland.

The Choishi Michi Trail is a long but moderate one-day Japanese pilgrimage, walking about 24 km from Jison-in Temple near Kudoyama to Koyasan’s Daimon Gate and Danjo Garan.

The Camino Francés is the benchmark for pilgrimage hikes: a 780 km moderate point-to-point crossing of northern Spain, linking Pyrenean mountains, farmland, vineyards and plains on the way to Santiago de Compostela.

The Shikoku Pilgrimage is the collection’s great Buddhist circuit: a hard 1,200 km loop around southern Japan, linking 88 official temples across coastal, forest, farmland and urban landscapes.