Ideas - Where in Europe should I go hiking??

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keb

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I know, nice problem to have, but I really could use advice/ideas. First background, I have hiked the German/Austrian Alps, Spanish Pyrenees, Irish hills as well as Chile and Ecuador. I have a friend living in the Netherlands and we were planning to go to the Tatras Mts. in Slovakia for about a 5 days, in mid July.

We waited too long to inquire, and now cannot get reservations in any of the mountain huts. We do not yet have airfare, so are free to go anywhere, but we are at high season and will run into the same crowding problems in any of the popular locales. I have my airfare to Amsterdam all set. After a couple of days visiting with he and his wife (and the North Sea Jazz Festival), we plan to take off.

Currently in the running are Sardinia and, about as different as you can get, Arctic Sweden. Any further ideas, insight or ponderings would be greatly appreciated from this very knowledgable crowd.
 
It's funny, last year I had the same happy problem: we spent 2 weeks in the Netherlands to visit my girlfriend's relatives (in Deventer), then we had to choose a place for mountain hiking (Netherlands are, well, kind of flat:rolleyes: ).

We chose Scotland, and it was a very good choice. The flight between Amsterdam and Glasgow is short and cheap, and the Munros offer very sweet hikes and scrambles. Treeline is low there, ridges are narrow and rocky, and you can choose the difficulty you want, from a mellow walk-in-the-park to a why-did-I-left-my-rope-in-the-car scrambling:)
 
Scotland

I'll definitely second Scotland. As already indicated it offers a great variety of difficulties. It's also incredibly beautiful (of course, there aren't any mountainous regions that qualify as ugly in my book, but anyway, it's different). If you spend enough time :eek: you could bag all however-many-it-is munlos with the munlo walkers group (I don't remember the name...(?)). Munlo is their name for hill/mountain of that sort.

The Pyrénées would be neat too, but, well, you've been there and tons of other places.:mad: :rolleyes:
 
Another area to consider is the Italian Dolomites. Hauntingly beautiful mountains, great trails, extensive mountain hut system and wonderful food. Getting a space in huts shouldn't be too much of a problem in mid-July, although it will probably be busier than when I was there late June last year. August is to be avoided.
 
In Scotland, there are 284 Munros (peaks above 3000'), so if you want to bag them all, allow at least a year...:D
 
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