Long-distance hiking and wild camping, the perfect combo

Name a better duo than long-distance hiking and wild camping. In a world full of hectic schedules, few things offer such freedom as packing your backpack and heading out for a couple of days or weeks on the trail. Unfortunately, wild camping isn’t allowed everywhere. On these routes, however, it’s possible:

For beginners

Bivouac Trek in Belgium

A short bivouac trek is the most accessible way to discover if this combination is for you. While wild camping isn’t legal in Belgium, you can pitch your tent for free for one night at bivouac zones. A bivouac trek combines hikes along GRs and knooppunten (junction points) with overnight stays at official bivouac zones. On bivakzone.be, you can find inspiration for short overnight trips and longer hikes. First time hiking with a full backpack? Start small. How about the Trappist Trail in and around Achel or a trek through the Meerdaalwoud?

Regional GR Haspengouw

The Regional GR Haspengouw loops 130 kilometres around the ‘Tuscany of the North’. Two four-day variations of the route, including short cuts, lead hikers to bivouac zones. There are five bivouac zones, an initiative of Regional Haspengouw en Voeren. Three of these require reservations. Expect plenty to see along the way: not only will you hike between boundless orchards of apples and pears, but also along winding hollow roads, old railway beds, through fields, and past marl caves.

Sentiers d’arts

A 141-kilometre route through the Condroz region takes you past 42 landscape art installations. In six of those, you can spend the night. The organisation calls them ‘poetic shelters’ — for example, a cabin made of tree trunks or a wooden shell. For adventurous sleepers only.

For advanced hikers

La Grande Traversée de la Forêt du Pays de Chimay

The translation of this route requires you to take a deep breath: The Great Crossing of the Forest of the Land of Chimay. In the Land of Chimay and the Viroin-Hermeton Nature Park, a quiet corner of Belgium, nearly 180 kilometres of hiking trails await. Four sections allow for different route options. Whichever you choose, natural beauty is guaranteed — endless forests, sleepy villages, cute valleys, and limestone hills such as the Fondry des Chiens. Along the way, you can camp at nine bivouac zones. Most require reservations. This is the first long-distance trail in Wallonia that allows legal bivouacking along the entire route.

Dartmoor Way

Dartmoor National Park is the only place in England where wild camping is legally allowed. The Dartmoor Way is a 173-kilometre loop around this nature park in the southwest of the country — along hollow roads and old bridle paths, through wooded valleys and over streams flowing down from the high moors. Every 15 to 20 kilometres, you pass a charming village, so swapping your tent for a B&B with a warm shower is an option. Note: wild camping is not allowed everywhere, so study the map beforehand.

Hetta – Pallas

One of Finland’s most popular trails winds through Pallas-Yllastunturi National Park, in the far north of Finnish Lapland. The adventure starts before the first step: a boat takes you across a lake to the trailhead. Barely 50 kilometres separates Hetta from Pallas, but along the way, you climb three fells — ‘tunturi’ in Finnish. After each peaks follows a descent deep into the ravine, so plan for some elevation. Along the way, you’ll spot more reindeer than trees. Finland honours the everyman’s right, although there are exceptions for national parks. Here, you can only camp at designated sites — mainly around wilderness huts. Most hikers complete the route in four days.

For experts

Oandu – Ikla

Every wild camper considers Northern Europe as a bivouac paradise. But the Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – also adhere to the everyman’s right. Following long-distance trails like the Baltic Forest Trail and the Baltic Coastal Trail, you can explore the wilderness of the Baltics, the forests where bears, moose and wolves roam, and where locals eagerly collect berries and mushrooms.

Four other long-distance trails crisscross Estonia. The 370-kilometre route from Oandu to Ikla starts in Lahemaa National Park, crosses the bogs of Soomaa, and eventually reaches the sandy beaches and fishing villages of the southern coast. Along the way, you can pitch your tent anywhere. Or opt for a free bivouac zone with facilities. The difficulty lies not in the terrain, but in the distances and remoteness — resupplying requires some planning.

Kungsleden

The most famous long-distance trail in Sweden lies well above the Arctic Circle. The Kungsleden, or King’s Trail, explores rugged fells, carved-out valleys, clear lakes, and soggy tundra. Except for the stretches through four national parks, you can camp freely anywhere. You decide whether to pitch your tent beside a turquoise lake or beneath a cascading waterfall. The elevation gain is manageable, and navigation is usually straightforward, but the distance is what makes the Kungsleden a challenge: 440 kilometres, which for many takes a full month to complete. Too much? Opt for the shorter version—the Dag Hammarskjöld Trail, 110 kilometres between Nikkaluokta and Abisko.

Cape Wrath Trail

Unlike England, Scotland is generous to campers. The right to roam allows you to pitch your tent almost anywhere. It’s the endless emptiness of Scotland, the vastness, that makes it so attractive for trekking. Advanced hikers can tackle the West Highland Way, but the 370-kilometre Cape Wrath Trail is only for seasoned trekkers. This route, in northwest Scotland, often passes through rugged terrain without paths—what Scottish writer Nan Shepherd called ‘unpaths.’ In those instances, you navigate with a map and compass, which isn’t easy when thick mist envelops the landscape. Prepare also for river crossings and wet feet. Resupplying is a logistical challenge in these sparsely populated regions. It’s no wonder the Cape Wrath Trail is known as ‘the toughest long-distance trail in Great Britain.’ The reward is immense: stunning landscapes and beaches that look like the Caribbean.

This post first appeared in Dutch on Pasar.