Trek-Specific Training

Train for your trek.

Personalised trekking training for the classic multi-day treks: Kilimanjaro, Everest Base Camp, the Inca Trail, the Tour du Mont Blanc, the Annapurna Circuit, the Walker's Haute Route, the Alta Via 1, the Tour of Monte Rosa, the GR20, the Laugavegur Trail, the Toubkal Circuit, the Huayhuash Circuit, the Santa Cruz Trek, the Salkantay Trek, the Condor Trek, the Quilotoa Loop, the Inca Trail to Ingapirca, the Torres del Paine W Trek, the Torres del Paine O Circuit, the Michinoku Coastal Trail. Each guide starts from the stage profile you will actually walk, marks the hardest day, and shows the plan that trains consecutive days, a pack and descent-ready legs. Built around your departure date, recalculated every week from your watch.

The classic treks22 treks
Kilimanjaro New
Tanzania

Kilimanjaro

7 days · 5,895 m · 19,341 ft

Six days of walking above 3,000 m, then a 12 to 16 hour summit night: 1,200 m up to Uhuru Peak, 2,800 m down before you sleep. Machame route.

Plan ready→
 Everest Base Camp New
Nepal

Everest Base Camp

11 days · 5,545 m · 18,192 ft

Eleven days from Lukla to Base Camp and back, with Kala Patthar at about 5,545 m. The trek where altitude has the most time to work: five nights at or above 4,000 m.

Plan ready→
 Inca Trail New
Peru

Inca Trail

4 days · 4,215 m · 13,829 ft

Four days from km 82 to Machu Picchu. Day 2 crosses Dead Woman's Pass at 4,215 m, and the steps on day 3 are where the knees get tested.

Plan ready→
 Tour du Mont Blanc New
France, Italy, Switzerland

Tour du Mont Blanc

11 stages · 2,532 m · 8,307 ft

About 170 km and 10,000 m of ascent around the massif in eleven stages. No summit, just a daily 1,000 m climb for a week and a half, hut to hut.

Plan ready→
 Annapurna Circuit New
Nepal

Annapurna Circuit

8 days · 5,416 m · 17,769 ft

Eight days on the modern circuit: from Dharapani up the Marsyangdi, an acclimatisation day at Manang, two nights above 4,000 m, then Thorong La at 5,416 m and the 1,650 m descent to Muktinath on day 8.

Plan ready→
 Walker's Haute Route New
France, Switzerland

Walker's Haute Route

14 stages · 2,987 m · 9,800 ft

Chamonix to Zermatt in fourteen stages, also called the Swiss Haute Route: 206 km, 14,000 m of ascent, a col most days, four hut nights and your own pack. Longer, higher and harder than the Tour du Mont Blanc.

Plan ready→
 Alta Via 1 New
Italy

Alta Via 1

11 stages · 2,752 m · 9,029 ft

11 stages rifugio to rifugio from Lago di Braies to La Pissa: 114 km, 6,180 m of ascent and 7,200 m of descent with your own 7 to 9 kg pack. Short steep days, a night at 2,752 m and a 1,400 m descent to finish.

Plan ready→
 Tour of Monte Rosa New
Switzerland, Italy

Tour of Monte Rosa

9 stages · 3,317 m · 10,883 ft

9 stages around the Monte Rosa massif from Zermatt: 172 km, 11,308 m of ascent with your own 8 to 11 kg pack. A glacier crossing and a night at 3,317 m on stage 1, then about 1,290 m of ascent a day and six descents over 1,000 m.

Plan ready→
 GR20 New
France

GR20

16 stages · 2,600 m · 8,530 ft

16 stages refuge to refuge down Corsica from Calenzana to Conca: 184 km, 12,994 m of ascent on scrambled granite with your own 8 to 12 kg pack. Slow ground (about 10.6 km takes 5.8 hours), long waterless stretches, the hardest stages first.

Plan ready→
 Laugavegur Trail New
Iceland

Laugavegur Trail

4 days · 1,100 m · 3,609 ft

Four hut-to-hut days, 54 km, 1,461 m of ascent, high point 1,100 m on the first night. The two longest days (15.8 km, 6 to 7 h) come last. Own pack, self-catering huts, glacial river fords, highland weather.

Plan ready→
 Toubkal Circuit New
Morocco

Toubkal Circuit

6 days · 4,167 m · 13,671 ft

Six days around Jbel Toubkal from Imlil, 76 km, 6,306 m of ascent, four days over 1,000 m. Mules carry the camp; you carry a daypack. The last day goes over the 4,167 m summit and drops 2,442 m to Imlil.

Plan ready→
 Huayhuash Circuit New
Peru

Huayhuash Circuit

9 days · 5,000 m · 16,404 ft

9 days, 101 km and 4,940 m of ascent around the Cordillera Huayhuash, eight passes between 4,300 and 5,000 m and every night but one above 4,000 m. A 1,230 m re-ascent on day 7; donkeys carry the camp, you carry a daypack.

Plan ready→
 Santa Cruz Trek New
Peru

Santa Cruz Trek

4 days · 4,750 m · 15,584 ft

4 days and 44 km through the Cordillera Blanca, from Vaqueria over Punta Union (4,750 m) to Cashapampa. A 950 m ascent to the pass on day 2, the highest night at 4,250 m straight after it, a 950 m descent to finish; donkeys carry the camp.

Plan ready→
 Salkantay Trek New
Peru

Salkantay Trek

5 days · 4,630 m · 15,190 ft

5 days and 79 km from Challacancha over the Salkantay Pass (4,630 m) to Machu Picchu, open all year, no permit quota. An 8 to 11 hour pass day with 1,810 m of descent on day 2, 4,925 m down in all; mules carry the camp, you carry 5 to 8 kg.

Plan ready→
 Condor Trek New
Ecuador

Condor Trek

4 days · 4,407 m · 14,459 ft

Four days and 47 km across open, often pathless paramo from Papallacta to Cotopaxi National Park: 1,669 m of ascent, three camps at 3,642 to 4,206 m and a 4,407 m pass on the last day. Donkeys and horses carry the camp; you carry a daypack.

Plan ready→
 Quilotoa Loop New
Ecuador

Quilotoa Loop

3 days · 3,880 m · 12,730 ft

Three days and 35 km hostel to hostel from Sigchos to the Quilotoa crater rim at 3,880 m: 2,194 m of ascent, the biggest day last (1,025 m), on faint branching paths through canyon country. You carry your own pack; mules are optional.

Plan ready→
 Inca Trail to Ingapirca New
Ecuador

Inca Trail to Ingapirca

3 days · 4,414 m · 14,482 ft

Three days and 36 km on the Qhapaq Nan from Achupallas to the Ingapirca ruins, Ecuador's Inca trail: two camps at 3,950 and 3,986 m, a 4,414 m ridge on day 2 and a 929 m descent to finish. Mules carry the camp; you carry a daypack.

Plan ready→
 Torres del Paine W Trek New
Chile

Torres del Paine W Trek

5 days · 871 m · 2,858 ft

5 days, 79 km and 2,830 m of ascent, refugio to refugio with your own 7 to 11 kg pack. Day 1 goes 1,047 m up to Base Torres and back; day 3 is 9 to 11 hours. High point 871 m: wind, not altitude, is the limiter.

Plan ready→
 Torres del Paine O Circuit New
Chile

Torres del Paine O Circuit

8 days · 1,200 m · 3,937 ft

8 days, 128 km and 4,324 m of ascent around the whole Paine massif, anticlockwise, with your own 11 to 16 kg pack. Day 4 crosses the John Gardner pass (1,200 m) in 8 to 12 hours with 1,200 m down; wind, not altitude, is the limiter.

Plan ready→
 Michinoku Coastal Trail New
Japan

Michinoku Coastal Trail

8 days · 484 m · 1,588 ft

Eight inn-to-inn walking days on the Sanriku coast, 96 km, 3,046 m of ascent, high point 484 m. Not altitude: hours on uneven cliff paths and stairways, the longest day 14.3 km over the Ryori Pass. Daypack only, luggage goes ahead.

Plan ready→
 Toubkal New
Morocco

Toubkal

2 to 3 days · 4,167 m · 13,671 ft

North Africa's highest point as a short trek: Imlil to the refuges at 3,200 m, a 1,000 m summit day, then the descent on scree. The classic first altitude trek.

Plan ready→
 Mt Kenya, Point Lenana New
Kenya

Mt Kenya, Point Lenana

4 to 5 days · 4,985 m · 16,355 ft

The trekking summit of Mount Kenya. The difficulty is the altitude and the consecutive days, not the terrain.

Plan ready→

What a trek asks that a summit does not

A mountaineering plan builds toward one big day. A trek is six to fourteen of them in a row, and the hardest one often comes last. The engine is the same; the shape is different, and the plan is built around that shape.

Consecutive daysFatigue accumulates faster than fitness recovers. The plan schedules back-to-back long days every weekend from the middle of the block, and scores multi-day durability as its own part of your readiness.
The hardest day, sized from the itineraryKilimanjaro's summit night, Dead Woman's Pass, Thorong La, Kala Patthar: the long-day target comes from the real stage, not a generic hiking template.
Descent that arrives tiredTreks accumulate thousands of metres of descent across days. Eccentric leg work is programmed from the middle of the plan, not bolted on at the end.

Altitude is the one thing training cannot do. The itinerary handles acclimatisation; the plan makes the walking easy enough that altitude is the only hard thing left. Read the altitude acclimatisation guide and the acclimatisation training guide.

Not sure where you stand? Run a free Trek Check.

Pick your trek (or enter its hardest day), choose your tests, get one report with your biggest gap. A few minutes, no signup.

Start my Trek Check → Is this for me?

Trekking training: quick answers

Is a hiking training plan enough for a trek?

Usually not. A hiking plan prepares you for one long day. A trek asks for three to sixteen of them in a row, with a pack, often at altitude, and with the hardest day often at the end. The missing piece is consecutive-day durability, which is why trek plans schedule back-to-back long days.

How many weeks do I need to train for a trek?

Twelve to sixteen weeks from a base of two or three sessions a week, with the hardest training weeks three to six weeks before departure and a two to three week taper. Shorter treks at lower altitude (Toubkal, the Inca Trail) sit at the lower end; Kilimanjaro, Everest Base Camp and the Annapurna Circuit at the upper end.

Can training prepare me for altitude?

No training acclimatises you; the itinerary does, with its acclimatisation days. What training does is lower the cost of every walking hour, so altitude is the only hard thing left. Our two altitude guides cover what pre-acclimatisation can and cannot do.

What does the plan actually schedule for a trek?

The same engine as the mountaineering plans, pointed at a different shape: a polarised week with mostly low intensity, one hard session, eccentric leg work for the descents, and a weekend of two long days back to back. The long days are sized from the trek's stage profile and recalculated every Sunday from your watch.

Which treks are covered?

Kilimanjaro, Everest Base Camp, the Inca Trail, the Tour du Mont Blanc, the Annapurna Circuit, the Walker's Haute Route, the Alta Via 1, the Tour of Monte Rosa, the GR20, the Laugavegur Trail, the Toubkal Circuit, the Huayhuash Circuit, the Santa Cruz Trek, the Salkantay Trek, the Condor Trek, the Quilotoa Loop, the Inca Trail to Ingapirca, the Torres del Paine W Trek, the Torres del Paine O Circuit and the Michinoku Coastal Trail have dedicated pages, plus Toubkal and Mt Kenya. More treks follow; any trek can be checked today in Trek Check by entering its hardest day.