Can walking holidays ever be a form of luxury travel?

The modern luxury idea of luxury is transitioning from assets and brands to experiences. While your car and watch were once the main status symbol, today it’s about sitting court side at an important game, or meet and greets with artists.

It begs the question of just how far can we take this. Can we take it, perhaps, to nature, hiking, and rural spots in Europe?

Long-distance hiking was always seen in the same vein as hitchhiking. It had a suffering ethos, especially in the infamous chaos of the communal albergues along the Camino de Santiago.

But while many would once look down on booking a luxury room ahead of time as inauthentic, we are increasingly realizing what we are are all there to truly do: escape from our work lives and enjoy nature.

The work hard, play hard mantra has now extended to walking holidays, especially with the rise in wellness as status and the takeover of outdoorwear fashion.

You can head on a walking holidays in Portugal knowing that there’s a hot bath and a Michelin meal waiting for you at the end of the day. Why not? It helps recharge and enjoy your walk all the more the next day.

So how far can we take this - to the Balkans perhaps, where few tourists go? On some level, there’s luxury in its exclusivity. There is an untouched feel to many of these areas, whether you’re hiking in Montenegro or crossing borders on foot.

There aren’t many five-star accommodations in these areas. Instead, you’re looking at pre-vetted guesthouses and having a company like Orbis Ways organize and book it for you. One of the main barriers to the Balkans is that people aren’t sure how to go about planning the trip - there are fewer resources.

We can push this further with luggage transfers. Orbis Ways can organise a trail where your luggage is carried from one stay to the next, leaving you with a weightless hike. That’s all of the wellness and nature, and none of the contrived hardship.

The shift toward luxury walking holidays is backed the Global Wellness Institute reportnig that wellness tourism is now a trillion-dollar market. Affluent travellers are leaning to restorative escapes over traditional sightseeing, in part to escape the tourists, but also because they have stressful jobs they need to unwind from. These statistics indicate that the modern traveler is no longer buying a destination; they are buying the removal of friction.

Logistics handling is the new white-glove service for those who head to rural areas or less visited spots. With 5G coverage, Google Maps, instructions from your agency and a 24/7 point of contact, many luxury travelers feel confident enough to branch out. Scenic trails in Romania to catch Bran Castle can be coupled with national parks and bear/wolf watching, or birding tour guides. 

Money buys knowledge, experience and logistics. When coupled with the explosion of wellness and the desire among the wealthy to live longer, it’s no surprise that hiking has well and truly been gentrified.