Planning a longer trip with poles? A weekend along the ridges, a week on a pilgrim route, or just your first walk far from home? We are happy to help. Independently, without commissions and without paid recommendations. Nobody pays us for where we send you to sleep.
What we can help with
- Where to walk. Which routes suit walking with poles, where the path is soft and where a kilometre of tarmac awaits, where you can cut short when your energy runs out.
- Where to stay. Guesthouses, hikers’ hostels, parish houses and pilgrim accommodation we know ourselves or that people on the portal recommended. Where you need to call ahead and where you can just turn up.
- Pilgrim routes. The Way of St James to Santiago de Compostela and its sections in Czechia, Austria and Germany, shorter pilgrim routes for a weekend. How to plan the stages, what to expect from pilgrim accommodation and how to get a pilgrim passport.
- What not to miss. A viewpoint just off the trail, a good inn halfway, a spring with drinking water. The things guidebooks often leave out.
- Gear for several days. What to pack and what to leave at home, how heavy the backpack should be, rubber paws for tarmac and spikes for ice, how to take poles on a train or plane.
How to ask
Best in the forum. The answer then helps others planning the same route, and often a member who walked it last year chimes in. Tell us:
- where from, where to, and when you want to walk,
- how many kilometres a day you manage comfortably (not to exhaustion),
- how you want to sleep: cheap and simple, or comfortable,
- whether you walk alone, as a pair, or with a group.
Prefer not to write publicly? Write to us and we will answer privately.
Three tips for your first multi-day walk
Plan less than you think you can do. Day after day it adds up. If you walk 20 km at home, plan a comfortable 15 with a backpack on a multi-day trip. You will be glad of it the next morning.
Take your poles even on easy paths. Uphill they bring your arms in, downhill they spare your knees, and at the end of the day they keep you upright when your back starts to complain. On tarmac, fit rubber paws so the poles do not clatter or slip.
Test shoes and socks at home. New shoes on the first long stage are the surest way to blisters. Walk at least two longer loops in them before you set off.
Where to find inspiration
Routes and stories shared by members are in Routes and stories, photos in Photos from the trail, and group walks in the events calendar. And when you are back, tell us how it went. Others planning the same route will thank you.
Nordic Walking Hub Team
