Shorter hikes: Fun hikes in Europe

When I was still working full time I only had six weeks of holidays like any other German. Most of this time was spent hiking in Europe and this trail was ideal for a stressed out city dweller:

Salzburger Almenweg is a 350 km circular hiking rail in Austria. An "Alm" is a mountain alp where cows are kept for grazing in summertime. And because the milk is already there butter and cheese are made in an Alm as well. This trail connects 120 "Alms" most of which offer food and some even accommodation. Food consisted mostly of self baked bread, butter, cheese and ham or bacon. For dessert there was "Topfenstrudel" made of curd. For me all this was a culinary delight! I mostly camped but also stayed in an Alm a couple of times which resulted in several marriage proposals! But it wasn't young men proposing for me but the mothers-in-law. Farmers have a hard time finding a wife because most young women don't want to live the hard farmers' life any more.

I am still not married to an Austrian farmer but have a lot of fond memories of this trail! It is easily accessible by train via Salzburg and ski lifts provide an easy way to shorten steep ascents. Staying in the alms provided a great insight into farmers' life and the scenery was always nice up to somtimes even spectacular. Only drawback: Skiwelt Amadé is located in the same area and therefore ski lifts and gondolas can be a bit of an eye sore. But on the other hand this makes the trail ideal for beginners who want to experience the alpine world without too difficult trails. The free broschure in the picture is a great hiking guide for this trail.

Welterbesteig Wachau: What was thought to be a stopgap between two Corona vaccination dates
(because I could not travel too far abroad) turned out to one of the most fun trails in Europe. The name of this 180 km long trail is derived of the nomination as UNESCO World heritage (Welterbe) of this rather short stretch of the Danube river. This is a circular trail with endless loops stretching from the river itself up to the forested slopes traversing endless vineyards. The landscape was so picture-postcard idyllic that it nearly hurt my eyes ... Plus there were self-service refrigerators with wine bottles along the way - what a pity when I hit them early in the morning ...

Even better were the Heurigen restaurants were you cannot only drink wine but feast on bread, cheese and hams for a very decent price. The trail is so well marked that you can manage even when a bit tipsy. The huge abbey churches in Melk and Göttweig were almost overwhelming with their Baroque opulence and deserve a long visit. I was able to attend a mass service in Göttweig where the monks were singing in Latin - and I realized that I had not forgotten my Latin lessons at school.

Although this area is heavily touristed I had no problem wild camping. I was always able to find a lonely piece of forest where I could tuck myself away. 

Plenty of lakes along the trail

Sörmlandsleden: I am not a big fan of hiking in Scandinavia - too expensive, too cold and no
protection from wind and rain in the big open fjell. But although hiking in Scandinavia is usually associated with trails like Kungsleden in Northern Sweden, there are also several great hiking trails in Southern Sweden where you can enjoy the Everyman's right but are protected from the elements by forests - and a great network of free shelters instead of expensive fjell stations. Best example is the Sörmlandsleden which I chose because it is close to Stockholm and easily accessible. I hiked it in early July for my birthday and had to revise the idea that it is cold in Sweden. It was freaking hot the entire time! Luckily I could jump into several lakes every day! Although not incredibly spectacular I enjoyed this trail a lot - because it provides a nice carefree holiday! Sörmlandsleden is a network of 1000 km inter-connecting trails which means you can choose your own route depending on how much time you have. I hiked around 300 km. There are several towns within reach so resupply was not a problem. There are free open huts at each stage complete with fireplaces (which I did not use because of the heat) and I was usually alone which meant I could go skinny dipping in the nearby lake.