Customer Reviews

Walking the World's Most Exceptional Trails

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I spent a loooong time in the bookstore perusing this book, drooling, slowly turning the pages - and I put it on my Christmas list. No one bought it for me, so I'm buying it for myself. If you can walk and have the wherewithal to travel a bit (time and money help), this book makes it possible to easily plan a very special vacation lasting from 1-2 weeks.
Best of all, you don't have to camp out if you don't want to: there's a hotel, hostel, or inn waiting for you at the end of each day's journey. And you don't have to lug 40 pounds of gear on your back; all you carry is a day pack with your lunch, a jacket and rain gear, water, sunscreen, etc. Your luggage is driven on ahead and will be awaiting your arrival at that snug little inn where you can put your feet up, have a beer or glass of wine, and wait for dinner to be ready.
The walks are all over the world: Morocco, England, Chile, Greece, the US, etc. The trips range from easy to challenging. The directions, maps, and details appear to be excellent, tho of course I haven't checked them out thru actual usage yet. But I will, I will.

The described walks are sponsored by commercial enterprises. The book amounts to a series of advertisements. The only 'maps' offered are less than two inch rectangles showing the towns or cities that might be named in the hike. Since the commercial tour leaders themselves provide free, more detailed, and dramatically photographed books, this one amounts to a rip-off. It is farily useless for the independent traveler

Wow! This is a coffee table book that not only has sumptuous photographs, the accompanying text is equally enchanting. This is a book from which you can derive hours of satisfaction, either admiring the photos, or reading the various chapters. Napier describes some of the world's greatest walks/hikes and if you're a vicarious armchair traveler, this might entice you to actually get on a plane, lace up your boots and get going!

Rarely have I enjoyed a coffee table book this much, it's very well done, well written and a joy throughout. Highly recommended!

not nearly as good as Classic Hikes. more of an infomercial for a trekking company. not even great photos. Don't bother.

Yes, yes, it has beautiful pictures, but buying an advertisement doesn't seem quite right. The "hikes" are all guided excursions and the individual chapters are advertisements for the tour companies. The tiny maps are deliberately useless, you have to go with the guides. There's nothing here at all for the individual traveler other than pretty pictures. And even those gall at you when you realize you spent money to allow someone to try to sell tours to you.

This book provides a guide to attractive multi-day walks around the world. These are for day hikers who want to spend each night in a different inn. Each chapter has links to commercial services who will arrange the walk, move your luggage, and handle other logistics. As the introduction notes, these walks are for "softies."

Each chapter also provides you with an itinerary that seems to be taken directly from these commercial services. In the Yellowstone/Grand Teton walk, for example, this includes a tour itinerary with one day given to rafting, some days to sightseeing as you drive from one location to another, and so forth - - not exactly a point-to-point walk as promised. This feature of the book makes it seem more like a collection of advertisements or brochures, with testimonials from a happy client.

Leaving the planning to someone else is not my style, and I'd rather backpack than sleep in hotels when I hike. So I'm not likely to follow any of these itineraries. But the book gave me good ideas about places to go, and the pictures are enticing.

The book describes some great walks in some fantastic country. The sort of things you might like to do with your partner when a hot meal and a comfortable bed at night is high on the list of priorities. Definitely not for those who like to get off the beaten track.

I purchased this book for my husband who loved it. He is trying to plan our next 5 vacations. The pictures and locations are truly exceptional.