Slovenia: Pri Lenart
Pri Lenart is a gorgeous traditional hotel with a huge fireplace and airy, wood-beamed bedrooms, perched in the verdant Slovenian countryside. But what makes it really special is that it’s home to Walk Slovenia - their laid-back hiking holidays are perfect for walkers who prefer the ease of following an expert guide on local trails.
Slovenia may be small but it boasts more than 6,000 miles of marked paths, including the famed Trans-European trail, which runs right past the hotel. And when you get back from the day’s trek Pri Lenart’s hot tub and a fresh, ecologically-sourced dinner (dumplings, anyone?) will be waiting for you.
Price: From £895 per person for an all-inclusive
seven-night walking holiday
Iceland: Hotel Rangá
It doesn’t get cosier than this wooden lodge in the heart of the glacially-formed hills of southern Iceland, an hour from Reykjavik. The only tough decision to make is whether you fancy visiting in winter, when snow covers the ground and there’s a chance of spotting the aurora borealis in the sky, or summer, when Iceland’s volcanic landscape is a hiker’s dream.
Trek to the iconic Eyjafjallajökull volcano or roam the empty hills around Rangá, then bed down in the hotel’s slightly kitsch but charming bedrooms or chill out in a hot tub under the stars.
Price: Doubles from £250 per night
Norway: Union Oye
If you pictured a fairy-tale hillside hotel suitable as a location for a Disney flick it would look exactly like Union Oye – a wedding cake of a chalet in the Norwegian fjords complete with balconies, turrets and an epic mountain backdrop. Rooms and food are as traditional and charming as you’d expect from a hotel that has been loved by famous walkers such as Karen Blixen and explorer Roald Amundsen since 1891.
There are challenging hikes and easy rambles alike in the surrounding hills, from conquering Slogen’s peak high above the fjords to wandering in Norangsdalen’s lush green valley. Or come in winter for a snowshoeing trip into a winter wonderland.
Price: Doubles from £128 per night
Nepal: Hotel Everest View
The highest hotel in the world at 3,962 metres, Everest View does exactly what it says on the tin. There are just twelve rooms at this simple but comfortable hotel, all offering possibly the most mesmerising view on the planet – that of the sun rising and setting over coveted Everest herself.
Food is surprisingly amazing at these great heights, too. Just staying here in the Sagarmatha National Park means you’re acclimatising to altitude, making the hotel perfect as a base for challenging but rewarding treks to nearby monasteries and Sherpa villages. Even arriving is epic – you can choose either to helicopter in or trek in from Namche Bazaar.
Price: Doubles from £126 per night
Canada: Assiniboine Lodge
It may be 16 miles from the nearest road but Assiniboine in British Columbia still manages to offer old-timey charm and a warm welcome. First built in 1928, the lodge reckons it was North America’s first backcountry lodge and we’d argue that it is one of the best. Expect cabin-style rooms and tons of tasty food to fuel your hike, including everything you need to make your own picnic lunch.
Popular with the ski crowd in winter, in summer Assiniboine is the starting point for more marked trails than you could ever hike, through alpine meadows, past pristine lakes, into the foothills of Mount Assiniboine or towards Banff – or the hosts can also let you in on secret off-piste trails if you fancy something really remote.
Price: Doubles from £177
Morocco: Kasbah Du Toukbal
Time to rock the Kasbah. Set at 1,820 metres on the flanks of its namesake Toukbal mountain in Morocco’s High Atlas mountains, just waking up at this palatial hotel, once the home of a Berber chief, will have you itching to conquer the white-capped peaks you can see from your window.
There are day hikes straight from the door to suit all levels, or if you want to leave the walking logistics to someone else, the Kasbah offers different trekking packages including ascents of Mount Toukbal at 4,167 metres (on a clear day you can see all the way to the Sahara) with stays in their higher altitude and equally gorgeous trekking lodge.
Price: Doubles from £157 per night
Scotland: Kinloch Hotel
The Isle of Skye’s two mountain ranges – Trotternish and Cuillin – are beautiful but rugged places where black rocks straight out of the Lord of the Rings rise high above puny hikers, and where the weather can close in on even the balmiest day.
If you’ve been out hiking in the Scottish elements or wild camping for a week and fancy swapping your tent for a spot of comfort, head for this deliciously comfortable country house hotel. Kinloch is spendy but worth the splurge for the pleasure of nursing a whisky by a warm fire. Hike straight up into the hills that sit behind the hotel, or go searching for supper on one of their foraging walks.
Price: Doubles from £240 per night
