Survey ranks best hikes, destinations for photos in the world and US

Experts from an adventure travel company have analyzed data to find the most picturesque trail destinations around the world which have “captivated the imagination of photographers worldwide.”

Explore Worldwide — which has led “adventure trips” since 1981, according to the company — searched photos tagged with “walking trail” or “hiking trail” on shutterstock.com and unsplash.com to find the most photographed (and therefore the most picturesque) hiking trails in the world, according to how many photos of each were uploaded in the area. The data was also analyzed to reveal which regions and mountain ranges around the world have the highest number of walking trail photos linked to them.

As of July 2023, over 1.7 million stock images in total were counted from over 414 countries, regions, cities, states, 63 mountain ranges.

If you’re an enthusiast who’s looking for inspiration on where to go next, see the most photographed destinations in the world, according to Explore Worldwide.

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Top 10 most photographed walking and hiking trails

1. GR20 – Corsico, France (45,187 photos)
2. Everest Base Camp Trek – Himalayas, Nepal (13,711 photos)
3. The Westweg – Black Forest, Germany (13,105 photos)
4. Camino de Santiago – Northern Spain, Spain (10,738 photos)
5. Inca Trail – Andes, Peru (10,170 photos)
6. Appalachian Trail – Eastern United States (9,754 photos)
7. The Jordan Trail – Jordan (9,343 photos)
8. West Coast Trail – Vancouver Island, Canada (8,700 photos)
9. Laugavegur Trail – Iceland (5,992 photos)
10. The Lycian Way – Turkey (5,945 photos)

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Top 10 most picturesque trail destinations

1. California – U.S. (123,036 photos)
2. Utah – U.S.  (118,769 photos)
3. Colorado – U.S. (89,966 photos)
4. Arizona – U.S. (85,127 photos)
5. England – United Kingdom (63,407 photos)
6. Georgia – U.S. (54,339 photos)
7. Canary Islands – Spain (51,126 photos)